Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-06-01

D
when their absence would make the
builder fail in his contract-all these
things have given American labor heavy
blow on the head and crippled its arms
and famed its feet and pierced it through
the heart. Take the last great strike
in America-the telegraph operators
strickland the loss to the operators was
100000 and poorer wages ever since.
Neither sudden trap sprung upon
employers nor violence ever I'M
tied the knots from the knuckles
of toll or put money into the callous palm.
Barbarism will never cure the wrongs OF
civilization. Frederick the Great wanted
the property OF a miller adjoining the
grounds near Potsdam. The King offered
the miller three times the value of the
properly. The miller would not sell be-
cause it was the old homestead, and he
felt about it as NabOth did about his vine
yard when Ahab wanted it. Frederick
the Great was a rough and terrible man,
and he ordered the miller into his pres
ence. The King, hourishing stick
with which he was sometimes ac-
custOmed 10 strike the officers Of
staJe, said to the miller: Il have
offered you three times the value of your
property, and if you will not sell it l will
take it anyhow The miller replied
calmly: "Your majesty will not take it. -
Eyes, will" yelled the King. Then"
replied the miller, II will sue you before
the Chancery Court" Then the King re-
linquished his demand. So the most i'm
perious of outrages against the poor and
the hard working shall cover before the
law. Wrongs will be righted, not by vio-
lence and against the law, but by JUS
tice and according to law.
Yet all attempts at reconciliation be-
tween labor and capital SO far having
failed and the two standing with their
thumbs on each others throat ready tor
strangulation, it behOOYes US to look else
where for relief. And from my text it
bounds out, roseate and jubilant, and put
ting one hand on the brOadcloth shoulder
of capital puts the other hand on the
homespun-cOvered shoulder Of toll, and
says with a voice that will finally and
gloriously settle everything: "Whats0-
ever you would that men should do to
YOU, do We even so to them" That is, the
lady of the household will say: 81 must
treat the maid in the kitchen as ] would
like to be treated if / cooked and washed
and swept down stairs and she entertain
ed in the parlor." And the maid in the
kitchen must say: "If that lady up stairs
seems more fortunate than /. her pros
perity is not to be set down as a fault, and
[ will manage her affairs with an industry
and fidelity such as | would expect from
a subordinate if happened to he the wife
of a silk importer" The manufacturer
will look over his resources and say: Il
mean to do the best for my employees that
l can, and ! Will treat them in the
matter of wages as | would like to be
treated if l turned the iron bar in the
furnace or stood at the factory
wheel or had my foot on the treadle."
And the toiler will say: Though my face
10 no NsTifh fnruaao nd
hardened on the wheel, must be a gen
tleman, and l will not act as though my
employer were an enemy, and / will do
my duty among these wheels as well as
though l We're up in the counting-roOm
among the ledgers." An iron manufac-
turer, having taken a dose of my text be-
fore he left home in the morning, is walk
ing through the foundry, and, passing
through the "puddling roOm," where are
the men, besweated and stripped to the
waist, the employer says: "GoOd morn
ing, Donald; you look uncomfortable in
this heat. / hear your child is sick with
the scarlet fever. If you want to draw
your wages little early this week to buy
medicines and pay the nurse, just come
into my office" Passing along into the
Finishing rOOm,' he sees a young man
very white and pallid and hardly able to
stand up to his work, and the employer
says: 81 guess you don't feel very well
to-day; better rest little once in while.
What are you taking for this illness? Call
at my house tonight and | will give you
a vial of medicine that will set you right
up" THANK you," says the workman,
as he sweeps his arm across his forehead
taking of the beads of sweater God
knows he is more fit to be in bed than
there.
After a while crash goes the money
market and the demand for manufactured
goods ceases, and the question is whether
to shut up the mill or run on half time, or
to lower the wages, The boss calls all
his hands together. They stand around
him wondering what he is going to do.
He says: ''Men, the times are hard, the
demand for our work is very small.
W here | used to make hundred dollars
don't make twenty. You see / am
under great expense here; now what
shall do. hate TO close up and throw
you out of employment, for you have been
very faithful, and like you and you seem
TO like me, and you have families to sup
port and the BARNS must be taken care of
and the wife must have new dress be-
fore long. What shall doY Silence for
a minute or two, and then one of the
wOrkmen steps little forward from the
others and says: "Boss, you have been
good to us. When you prospered we
Now, when you are hard
pressed l propose that if you will keep
the place open we throw Oh 20 per cent.
Of our wages, and as soon as times
get better you will remember us. Boys,
all in favor Of my motion will say ave.
'AyeW ayel" shout two hundred voices.
After a while the manufacturer while
getting in some new machinery takes
cold and falls sick OF the pneumonia. In
the procession to the tomb are the work
men with sad faces, the tears running
clear down the cheek and of on the !
ground. and their wives and children
have been waiting an hour at the open
grave in the cemetery for the arrival of !
nave delivered eloquent eulOgium, but the /
most impressive utterances are by the |
working classes who stand around the /
asst resting place-"Dear, me, is it not |
sadV "HOw good he was to us alll' /
We shall never have so kind a friend |
lgainn' Don't you remember when our
Charlie died he sent his carriage TO take /
as TO the graveW "Oh, is IL not dreadful /
Tor his wife and children God pity !
.hemv Aud that night in all the cabins |
where the toilers have family prayers the /
and orphanage up in the man. /
sion are remembered. No irate pOpula- |
lion scowllng through the iron fence Of /
he cemetery, but lowering over all the |
scene the benediction Of God and man. /
- Whatsoever We would that men should /
10 20 you, do We even so 10 them"
son." you say, shat is arcadian,
ipOcryphal, impossible No: 1 can /