The Labor enquirer., 1886-05-01

| Some men said, How about foreign
competition and the rights of property p
To them he replied, How about the
rights of human beings to live in de-
eeney and comfort2" What did they
(the Socialists) demand? They de-
manded nothing unreasonable. Tney
demanded public works by which the
unemployed should get immediate relief.
That course had been adopted on previ-
GUS OCCASIONS, notably in the case of the
Lancashire cotton famine. Was it un-
reasonable to suggest that men should
work only eight hours a day? Was it
sedition to say that the land should be
properly cultivated Was it seditiOn
for men who represented the workers to
say these things if it was not for men
like Lord Salisbury and Lord Randolph
Churchill, who SAID they were prepared
to invoke the aid OfCivil war rather than
allow the union with Ireland to be re-
pealed? (Applause.) He asked them
to recall the time when the Irish party
did not number more than thirty mem
bers, but by means of propagation and
organization that party now numbered
eighty-six members. Ireland would soon
have legislative independence. Hear,
hear The question naturally arose that
if elghty-s six men could make this a
burning question in two or three years,
what ought they not to do with the 400
or 500 members whom they returned =?
The Irishmen succeeded because the Y
had put into the minds of the upper and
middle classes not the fear Of God, but
the fear of their felloW-men. (Applause.)
The Irish representa- tives have told the
house of commons that unless landlord
ism terminates very speedily the Irish
party, representing the Irish nation,
would see that it had a very decent
burial. lLaughter)
The tories, as a rule, get their rent
from agricultural land and landlords,
and the liberal took his profit, which
was Just as bad, from the mines and fac
tories, and until they demanded the
naturalization of the land and the state
appropriation of the mines and royalties
this inequality was sure to prevail. Ap-
plause) How was the material we'll
being of a nation to be measured if not
by the stalwart limbs of its citizens and
healthy homes? Aud, Judged by that
standard, modern civilization has sig
nally failed in its duty to the workers,
and it was time they demanded better
state in which to live. The distribution
of wealth was regulated very much like
the distribution of prize money before
the end of the las century. The bulk
of the monev Mt to the superior Off
GERS, who received their rewards with
the cry Of God save the King" senti-
ment, Mr.. Burns remarked, which they
would hear very little of in the future.
The w)rkingmen produced the wealth,
but the giant share of it went to the non
producer, aud portion only sufficiently
keep body and soul together to the artl-
san. How long were they going to COun-
tenance this system of Unequal dlstrlbu-
ton? A voice, mot long.") Just so
long as they were not sufficiently intelli-
gent to comprehend the causes Of the
present system, When they realized
their degraded condition, organization
would necessarily follow, and with one
united effort the non-produce. 8 would e
swept away. Hear, hear they de-
nanded work for all. He was told that
Glasgow was city of churches, but 1t
was also city of slums and alleVs IN
which disease abounds; and it would be
a true religion If ministers, instead OF
preaching so much against drunkenness
and dIssoIuteness of the poor, spared
some time to the denunciatlOn of those
vicious men in nigh places who Counte-
nanced the robbery and degradation OF
men who live by labor. He asked was
it not true that, co, existent with the
enormous fortunes that had been made
by iron and ship builders in this city,
the most frightfuI poverty and destltu-
ton did not prevail Hear, hear.)
Scotchmen in the past had shown an
indifference to physical suffering IN
fglting.the wars Of England abroad and
Spartan contempt of death IN the days
of Wallace and Bruce. Would they were
infused with the same spirit to-day. II
the degenerate sons of brave and valor-
GUS Scotchmel had the co lrage of their
forefathers they would not allow them
selves to be slowly starved to death
while the idle fattened on their misery.
(Applause) They demanded the right
to work, the right to labor, and the right
to ENJOY the full value of their labor, and
the right to hand down TO future genera
tons something better than the mis- ra-
BILE condition in which they existed at
present.
In conclusion, Mr.. Burns said he
hoped the meeting would SO home qul-
etly, and recognize that the property in
that district was property created by
labor, and as result of labor thing
that should be ke2t sacred and not de-
stroyed. Go home, he said, and do not
be melted by police spies to break win
dows. go home to your slums, your
allevs and your novels" Laughter and
hear, hear.) He asked them to returl