The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1886-10-06
THE STRUGGLE FOR Bread.

delivered an address at fair at
Dunkirk, in New York, in Which he
discussed the burdens of tho working
classes, from which we extract the
following:
1T may be laid down as a general
rule that it is the duty Of the State
to encourage and aid, in so far as
the same can be legitihately done,
every honest man in his efforts to
provide a living for himself and his
family. 1t is not asserted that this
duty requires the government itself
to furnish work to Ilaboring men
but it does mean that every reason
able facility should be afforded
whereby a mar willing to work
may earn a reasonable livelihood.
In a country, SO extensively great
as ours, and with resources SO abun-
dant, no honest man should be per-
mitted to starve or required to exc
out a miserable existelce when he
is willing to be Industrious. If he
is so required; then there must be
something wrong in u system OF
government or in the administration
Of public affairs. Labor, unofgan-
lied labor, is weak, while capital,
especially incorporated capital, is
strong and the M should not be
permitted to Cypress the other, but
both stand on an equal footing
before the law and be equally pro-
tected and fostered by it. Fair,
reasonable and living wages for
labor should be demanded on one
side and should be cheerfully paid
on the other-wages which should
be sufficient to decently and respec-
tably support and educate the fam
lily of the workingman. Neither
should he be required to work
unreasonable hours in order to earn
such wages, and the growing senti-
mcnt for less hours for labor should
receive respectful consideration. No
man should be compelled to make
his whole life a drudgery simply to
earn enough for existence. The
fowls of the air and the beasts Of the
field get a bare subsistence and that
is all. A man should have more; he
should have work, but he should
have recreation also. He should he
afforded some opportunity for study,
for pleasure for association with his
family, for observation. Of the world
and for rest
There is a vast deal of good hard
sense and unvarnished truth in this
extract, which it would be well for
men entrusted with governments,
national and State, to ponder upon.
For the past quarter Of century
beginning during the civil war, the
tendency has been to the accumu-
lation Of great fortunes by the
few, these few beipg favored by
protective legislation to the detri-
ment of the mary. Within this
period colossal Hrtunes have been
built up, ranging from the few mil
lions up into the hundreds of millions,
fortunes that in the eyes of the gen.
GRAFTON before would have been
looked upon as impossibilities. It
is a fact that these favored few have
to a great extent shaped the policy
ofthe general and State governments
and dictated the Legislation in which
they had any interest while the toll
ing millions had few or no represent
tatives to look after their interests.
And SO while the few have pros
pered, the toiling millions have not
prospered. The result has been
unrest, labor organizations and labor
strikes, sometimes involving thous-
ands Of men, extending through
periods of several months and retard-
ing more or less the business prog
ress OF the country. The laws of
the country should not be SO framed
in the interest Of certain classes as
to enrich them, while the laboring
men of the country, the bone and
sinew, are so poorly paid that they
find it difficult to live, and live hard
at that. Capital should be protec-
ted by good laws, but so should labor
be-. There should be no discrimina-
ton in favor of one agains t the other.
If either, the discrimination should
be in favor of the latter, for capital,
which is generally pretty we'll
organized, as Arufe IS pretty well
able to takecare Of itself.