The examiner., 1886-01-16
MRS. CHARLOTTE SMITH
ON THINGS AND THUGS OF
 WASHINGTON LIFE.
NO TIME FOR THOUGHT OF THE POOR OR OPPRESSED; ALL DEVOTED TO
 SELF AND FRIVOLTY.
GgWOrnnt Danes of Fashion and Their Youthful Spawn of Foul Indecency


 The administration, so far, as shown no kindness either to our cause or to the in dustrians of our country; and if we expect any favors from the powers that be, we can gain it only by persistent effort.
 We have many friends in the Senate and House, but they have many other matters engrosaing their attention as general ser wants of the people, and it is but fair to them that when the leading prominent friends of labor need any legislation on that subject that they prepare the bills and petitions, setting forth the objects desired in plain language, thus saving the Senator or Representatives much valuable time.
 Among the distinguished friends of the labor cause in the Sane--as--slAeessee~- speech .--s% -s%s:fe--mpoffation of Foreign Contract Labor" delivered the 17th of February last, was masterly argument in favor of the passage of the bill. I give the following extracts from the speech of Hon. O. H. on the Labor question:
 "It becomes, then, the duty of all men who have to do with the legislation of the country to see, first::of all, that such policies are adopted and such laws enacted as will tend to elevate the laboriEg citizens of the country. I said. therefore, that you must add to virtue and intelligence the prosperity of the citizen, if you expect the Republic to endure; and prosperity of the citizen means fair, remunerative wages for his labor. The tendency in country which seeks to lower the standard of wages below fair remuneration is wrong and vicious and destructive of republican institutions. We owe our marvellous growth ill this country more to the character of the men who have worked with their hands from the founda- tion of the Government to this time than to any other one cause. It has been so here tofore in this Government that the man who would honestly work could receive fair compensation for his work, by which mean enough so that he could do some thing more than keep himself alive and keep his family alive, and avoid the poor house. !"
 "We must have intelligent laborers in this country. The foundation of our whole governmental and social fabric is the intel ligence of the man who works; and the majority of our men work. l have no pa tlence with that philosophy or that states manship which does not regard the worker as the equal of the man of leisure. I have no patience with that kind of legislation which does not seek to ennoble the worker in 1T this country" Y
 ssThey are the majority of the voters of this land, laborers, men who earn their bread by the sweat of their brow. Tho most important problem presented to the American people to-day is what shall be the condition, what the character of that class of it's citizens. Other government 4s,1, governments, arbitrary governments, governments of the strong hand, may live and prosper and thrive to certain extent, although the character, the social, the men tai, and the moral condition of it's laboring classes may be neglected, and may not be deemed proper subjects for legislation. But in a republic believe, and I state as the result of mature thought, that it is impossible for the system of government long to survive unless there be passed such laws, unless there be adopted such policies as tend to elevate, to dignify, and to ennoble all its laboring classes. In this Governrpent the working man votes, and hungry men do not vote intelligently. Men who can only receive as the result of their toll just enough to keep from starvation and the poor-house, are not patriotic, or if they aro will not long be patriotic to the extent of being willing to fight for and defend the institu- tions of their government"
 It is a subject of congratulation to the friends of labor to number among it's ad- herents so clear-headed statesman as MT. Platt, and together with Blair of New Hampshire, Miller of New York, Palmer of Michigan, and other leading spirits in that august body, much may be expected from the present Congress. The bills of Hon. Mr. Morrow of California offered in the House on the Fist Ultimo in relation to Chinese migration restricting certificates etc., will if passed, do much to settle the vexed Chinese problem. ...-- E.z-.-
 Thus much for legislation so far.
 The Women's National Industrial League still continues the fight against the Chinese laundries, and the vices and immoralities of the capital. We have a gigantic fight on hand, and should have the countenance and support of all classes here, but we have not. Much of the time of the President of the Laague is en- grossed in relieving cases of pecuniary dis tress. At Christmas and New Year the women out of employment, food and shelter, find their way to our headquarters, and never go away hungry. We have tried in vain to interest the wealthy classes here. Appeals to them remain unanswered; and amid the ball, the party and the rout, they seldom or never think of the widow of the poor soldier in the attic, or the vail of the children of the poor for bread. This is truly selfish world. The United States Senator, after securing palatial residence grandly furnished. puts his son, pr sons, if he has them, in lucrative pay ng offices, to the exclusion of those better qualified and more deserving. Their wives md daughters are the pillars and orna- nents of the social circle, aud amid the ,hoddy aristocracy of Washington as they lance and commingle, wine and dine, what care they for the poor? #@zE
 Washington society is heartless, selfish lilly set, having no common sense engrafted Il it. Very few of them possess any useful ,ducation. The reason why education is o poor among women of fashion is, that it S not needed for the life which they elect O lead. With good figure, good clothes, handsome equipage, with a little reading or,1 of f ho Soc1 hi