Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1885-06-21
ORGANIZATION.
An interesting Talk on the Question
by P. ]. McGuirs.
A thorough R,sume Of the Causes Of the
Present Business Depression
How It May be Remsdied.
OTHER GENERAL LABOR NOTES.

Tvertd By Mr.. P. j. Mcclure, at Z. Of L.
Hall, last Sunday afternoon. 1t will be
found exceedingly interesting to those who
bad not the pleasure of hearing the gentle
usn, and those who did hear him will no
doubt read it with much interest.
Mr. CHAIRMAN AND FFLLOw.WoREISGNES:
Il would rather have addressed you in the
open air, as IN Bellaire, last night, for it Is
not very comfortable to sit in q close and
c,oVded hall TO listen to q speech. 1t de.
uonstrates the earnestness OF your cOnvic
lions and your desire for further information
that in spite of these disadvantages you sP-
pear in such numbers The Ohio Valley
Trades Assembly is performing a noble work
spd feel that the tradesunion OF which
| am the official representative will be
strengthened BY your aid.
Look 81 the condition Of all industries IN
this country. From all over we hear the
weary account OF lockouts, OF strikes, OF
i%uCipient riOiing, of families evcted from
mill reusmenrs, of bankruptcies increasing
in nLm1sr, Of s~tsgnstion in sll the walks ut
life Is it due TO the change Of govern
nent? Is IL only in our country where We
see such deplOrable eo~ndIuOGs? Is Il due
N eur protective tariff? Or to oYerproduc.
SON What can be the cause OF this terri.
r.. state OF affairs which compels the men
10 idleness and the mills to rust, which shoE vs.
the warehouses and stores overcrowded with
the goods Ehich the great majority Of our
people need and yet are unable to purchaser
Friends it is not due to our change of
aiuinI Q on. The disc se on our indus
trisl body mad begun long previous. Neither
ia il confined TO our Government. The cries
sppear al over the world. In monarchial
FDgland the empire of Germany, in the re-
pubic of France and in dssPotic Russia,
/ everywhere the same facts a be observed.
I, canro, therefore be due to the political
/ form of government since it is found under
/ every form. Some general cause, however,
! s;miiariu all countries there must be,to which
4 his universal depression is due. Is it over
! production? Is it possible that men must
/ 90 hungry because too much corn has been
grown; hat they must walk in torn shoes,
/ because TOO many shoes lave been manu-
4 fscfursd: that, because the tsilors n the
Sewing girls have made up sn immense pile
o9 clothing the working population must
wear patched gsrmentI and these, most
Isranty? Are We poor, because we are too
rich? Must we be idle now, because we
have been too industrious2
All, | hear some one say, We must wait
until our surplus production is consumed.
Who shall consume IT'D Where is there a
better market than q home market2 Why
loo 70 Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, to the
fends Of the earth 70 sell, to trade off the
41bipgs We have manufactured, for the want
4of which our people are suffering? Why,
Sn this Ninaleenth century, in the very
heighrh Of civilization, should we hail with
adeight the prospect of a war among Euro
bean nations because it may enable Us to
10 more business. How disappointed are
tur merchants, manufacturers, spectators,
hid exporters, because the Wholesale killing
kui destruction has been postponed? Does
not prove how widely at variance Is the
h0-a,ry q our business world with the
~arisran morality supposed to govern this
fC40Uy?
Ba: why cannot our home market con-
ne the surplus? Becsure 1t hasn't the
b orey. Its wages has been falling until
L. repeated cut downs have .
DESTROYED THE PURCHASING POWER
seyen-tenrhs of our population.
Our last census showed that the annual
Product created by labor and capital
auounted TO eight billion dollars. Labor
Deceived one and q quarter billion as its
thsre and the rest went to capital. Labor
~kerefore received one dollar where capital
Received FIVE. therefore labor could only buy
be dollar worth back again. The bal
Ance went 70 create luxurious and extrsvs-
liant living on the part of the rich, but by
b. the greater portion is lying uneonsumed
b the warehoases, grsusries and stores. 1t
i because LABOR receives only one-sixth OF
De gross product that q fictitious, artificial
4yerproduetion Is created.
And when ~workingmen refuse TO work tor
bTer wages they import the
FAUPER LABOR OF ErROPE.
hat good then is production? Why pro-
be- Us from the products Of cheap Ia.
kcr and then import that cheap labor itself
D take our places? In those very indus
kiOus 30 highly protected from foreign com
De,iaon We see the greatest activity in this
HgOytauon. If they will be able to defeat
Nre6 COlsplEdCASS against n 2 OAAS -
] lo1ly be, because Of organization.
70 one will help the workingmen If they
b not help themselves. Wherever trades
pDiOns are organized, workingmen are bet.
p able to resist the downward tendency OF
PAGES. But some men when they put IN 10
eents or 25 cents q month, want 10 get q
tOllsr or more q week out of 1t, and II they
tOnt, they quit in disgust.
Look at the cigarmakers! They pay 20
tents a week or so cents q month and o.
IBIS means are able to maintain one OF the
be most powerful organizations IN the eoun-
~. Their wages have been increased IN
fsny cases from four to ten dollars q week
terelT through organization. In Baltimore
fecOO-ed hod-carriers have sstrong union.
tny stranger APPLYING for work Is lmmedl'
kely asked for his card. II no member,
p 5Css must pay his initiation tee at once
Ald in case Of refusal the whole force
pixies. These men have in several lnstau'
tes helped other branches Of the building
fades TO obtain their demand. On one oc'
8as,on when the bricklayers were on strike
ad there was danger Of their losing, the
fOlortd hod-carriers went out in q body. In
lain their bosses reasoned with them, trying
persuade them that that they had no in
tEest in the bricklayers demands The only
fPly was. Boss, youse got to give dem
thi,e men dar rights or else wese lone wrd
sst job" And through that course the
ntklsyers won.
In my own, the carpenter trade, wages
ave in many cases been increased without
~ strike, through the mere existence OF
lei organization. We are'growing in num-
RS and strength. We offer every member
good standing not only
PROTECTION TO HIS LABOR,
Ut insurance on his life. We pay to his re-
Mons the sum Of $3.50, in case Of death,
disability, and should his wife die, We
By $50 dollars towards the funeral expen
Attached to most of our local orgsni-
mons is a benevolent feature 30 that IN