The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1885-06-17

those engaged therein for injuries received
through hack OF necessary safeguards.
"VII. Tie r%ecognition, by incorpor alton,
of trades unions, orders and such other
associations as may be organized by the
working masses to improve their condition
and protect their rights.
"VIII. The enactment OF laws to compel
corporations to pay their employees weekly,
in lawful money, for the labor of the pre-
ceding week, and giving mechanics and labor
ers a first lien upon the product of their
labor to the extent of their full wages.
Xix. The abolition of the contract sys-
tenn on National. State and Municipal
work.
TX. The enactment Of laws providing
for arbitration between employers and en-
ployed, and to enforce the decision of the
arbitrators.
XXI. The prohibition by law of the em-
ployment of children under Is years Of age,
in workshops, mines Inc factories.
xxi. To prohibit the hiring out OF con-
Wet labor.
".XIII. That a graduated income tax be
levied. And we demand at the hands OF
Congress:
XIV. The establishment of a National
monetary system, in which a circulating
medium in necessary quantity shall issue
direct to the people, without the interven-
ton of banks; that all the National issue
shall be full legal tender in payment OF all
debts, public and private; and that the
Government shall not guarantee or recog-
nize any private banks, or create any bank
ing corporations. +,
credit or notes shall never be issued by the
Government, but that, when. need arises,
| the emergency shall be met by issue OF legal
| tender, Notwithstanding money.
@"XVI. That the importation OF foreign
| labor under contract be prohibited.
xvii. That, in connection with the
postofice, the Government shall organize
financial exchanges, safe deposits and facil-
ties for deposit of the savings OF the people
in small sums.
"XVIII. That the Government shall OBJ
tain possession, by purchase, under the
| right OF eminent domain, of all telegraphs,
! telephones and railroads, and that here
after no charter or license be issued to any
corporation for construction or opera
ton OF any means OF transporting intelli-
gence, passengers or freight. And while
( making the foregoing demands upon the
| State and National Government, we will
endeavor to associate our own labors.
xxx. To establish cooperative insti
buttons such as will tend to supersede the
wage system, by the introduction OF a CO.
operative industrial system.
"XX. To secure for both sexes equal pay
for equal work.
XXI. To shorten the hours Of labor by
| a general refusal to work for more than
eight hours.
"NXII. To persuade employers to agree
to arbitrate all differences which may arise
between them and their employees, in order
that the bonds of sympathy between them
may be strengthened and that strikes may
be rendered unnecessary"
Now, my friends, that is the preamble Of
our Constitution OF the Knights OF Labor
and | say without fear OF successful contra.
diction that if society could be re-organized
on the basis of the principles there laid
down we would be nearer the millennium
we would be opening the way to the ina
and complete emancipation OF the working
man. 1 have not the time in the brief mo
ments that we are to be together to thor
! eughly explain each article in that pream
| BILE. 1t would take a whole evenings lecture
to properly do that for each.
want to speak upon a few OF these AND
try if l can to leave the impression upon
your minds that those which | must OF ne
| cessity leave untouched are just as import
ant and just as easily explained as those to
which l shall ask your attention.
Now it is necessary for me to consider fol
| Il llOlltIU U1lC WHY dtlO " "
machinery. Once was the time when mar
almost wholly earned his living by manua
labor, and 1 mean by manual labor
the labor of his hands or brains un
assisted by machinery. Do you think OF
the wonderful achievements that Ia We been
made within the last twenty-five years II
machinery? Why, l have no doubtin youl
own trade OF mining you can see improve
ments that have been put into the mines
within the last twenty years that were un'
known previous to that time. 1t is only
seven years ago since
THE TELEPHONE WAS
and only six years ago since the Bell Tele.
phone Company was chartered by the
State of Massachusetts,. Now it is a neces-
| sity spreading all over the land. Take my
own trade. am perfectly at home when
/ talk about shoes. l can remember the
time when my father made shoes or the
bench, and when he was a shoemaker,
and when every man who worked at the
trade was a shoemaker because he made
the whole shoe. You can go into a shoe
factory to-day and you may work there
until your tired bones get ready to drop
into the grave and o would not be any
more of a shoemaker at the end than when
you commenced. You may be an edge
setter, a heller. a trimmer, a buffer, a
mailer, a SILVER, ora laster, ora shoe artist
which is what the cutter has been some
times called, or some one OF the siXty-fOur
parts of making a shoe. You would not be
a shoemaker, you would be only the sixty
fourth part of a shoemaker. Laughter.
The inv ention OF the Mckay sewing ma
chine, which came into operation about
1862 Or the first Of 1868 tx making army
brogans, completely revolutionized our
trade. 1 remember when all the shoemak-
ing of Massachusetts, was done in the little
7x9 shoe shops; which are fast becoming a
thing ofthe past. The shoemakers OF Mas
sachuseUts were proverbial for their intel,
ligence. Why? Becausei in their little democra-
cies, and [ use the word not in any political
sense, when the daily paper came, one fel-
low would mount on the shoemaker's
throne, the slop-tub covered with a board,
and he would take The daily paper and read
it aloud. OF course all heard for there was
no noise of machinery. Then after he had
read, the half dozen or more would discuss
what was stated in the papers and thus
each man became thoroughly conversant
with public affairs, and it was from the
BENCH OF A HUMBLE SHOEMAKER
in one OF these little shoe shops that the
American workingman took one Of his
ablest representatives and made a vice
president out ofHenry Wilson. [Applause.]
Al uHh q poooou. ""b
to-day is not d shoemaker. There
are sixty-four divisions in making a shoe,
as the industry is carried on to-day, and
if l had not learned to make a child's
'.cack' in my youth could not claim to
be a shoemaker here tonight. | would, as
l lave said, be only the sixty-fourth part
of shoemaker. [Laughter.] That is the
humorous side; now let us look on the sad
and bitter side: Man is no longer a me-
chanic; he is only the part Of a mechine.
Vow he can work so long as he can do his
part OF the machine, and when he cannot
keep up with iron, and steel and steam, he
can go OFF in some corner and die, or into
some county poor house and wear out the
end OF his life. We sent a million men in
the South land to fight out the problem of
human liberty. Men said, inspired by di-
vine wisdom, that human slavery was a
curse and a crime, and they said that here
in our land it was a blot upon the fairfame
of America that the shackles should bind
the limbs OF the slave. [Applause.] Only
a few days ago and you and | gathered by
the graves OF our dead heroes and watered
them with our tears, and strewed flowers
in memory OF their daring deeds. We can
even now almost hear the tramp of feet as
they vent to the war, and see the silent
procession that bore their loved forms to
the grave. We know the bitter tale of that
d. "