St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-02-07
THE OTHER SIDE.
A Minneapolis Writer Defends the
Church and Denounces Agitators.

]
Church and Denounces Agitators.
! To the Editor OF the Globe:
For some time past I have read. with a
great deal of pleasure. and 1 think with
profit, the several communications con-
tributed by workIngmen to the labor de-
partment of the SUNDAY GLOBE. Re-
Gently read the little brochure by ]. S.
Rankin entitled lizard Times; Their Cause
and Cure" in which the author displays
vast familiarity with the writings of polit-
ical economists and social reformers, and
presents his own views in graceful and
! forcible style and with no mean ability.
The reading of this pamphlet whetted my
appetite for more reading on the same sub
ject, and procured Working People and
! Their Employers" by Rev. Washington
GLADDEN., of Springfield, Mass. With your
| permission / would give some extracts
/ from this work for the benefit of your
readers, and if they don't entirely agree
with this author, / think they will admit
| he has uttered some unpalatable truths
which merit their serious consideration.
As regards myself / will merely say that
/ am friend of the honest. working
labOrer in every branch of business; that l
abhor schemes of all kinds. but more es-
pecially the sham refOrmers who frequently
|
detriment, and who identify themselves
with labor movements for the advancement
of their own personal and selfish ends.
While in this city have had an opportunity
Of witnessing the pranks of several so-called
| friends OF the wOrkingman. About two
years ago mechanics institute was or
gained here, and had it been left to the
borny-handed mechanics, for whose benefit
it was ostensibly founded. to manage the
affairs Of the organization il would undoubt-
eddy have become a success: but velyety-
handed demagOgues obtained control of il,
and the result has been an utter failure. A
small coterie of
ARIsToCRATIc MECHANICS
who deemed themselves superior to the
common herd. wanted TO run the institute
and TO give it prestige and eclat, what did
they do? They elected D. V. Tousley, the
eX-consul TO Trieste. the pedantic superin-
tendent of city schools. the political stump
orator of the GOd-and-morality party in
Minneapolis, to be the presiding officer;
and they admitted as an honorary member
William III. Eustis who brayed so vocifer-
ously during the late presidential campaign
for the Plumed knight of Maine. When
the name of Eustis was proposed for men,
bership aplebeian mechanic asked whether
the gentleman worked in wood or iron. and
fellow-wOrkman who knew the legal
luminaTy Immediately answered, 'He
works in brass" Of course there was
laughter. but w. II. Eustis was admitted
all the same. AS real friend of
the labOring man / would say, don't
allow politicians to run your organizations.
but give them the cold shoulder. Don't in
vite as speakers TO your meetings any men
whose moral characters are publicly known
to be leprous for they do you more harm
than good. The men who are deficient in
self-respect and bear unenviable regulations
should receive no honOrs at your hands.
Admit no person as member of your soci-
cites who has no visible means of support,
who tolls not nor spins. even though he had
the elOquence OF DemoSthenes and could
electrify an audience. Keep
CRANKs. OILERS AND Willy
political demagogues to the rear and let
your own men of brain and Drawn step to
the front They may not be well educated
or possess the facility of the demagogue;
they may make grammatical blunders and
be unable TO convey TO the audience the
burning thoughts in their brain, but what
they say, no matter how imperfectly, will
make better impression. II you manage
your own affairs as suggested. you will be
more respected and every man of human
instincts will accord you his hearty sympa-
thy and wish you god-speed i'm your legiti-
mats efforts 10 ameliorate your condition.
And now let me give you what Mr.. Giud
den says:
So far as the work Of labor societies is OF a
social character, no fault can be found with it,
Morkingmen may promote by association
their own knowledge and enjoyment. They
may also assist one another to find employ
ment, care for one another in sickness,
shield one another from temptation. Such
efforts are worthy of ali commendation.
Besides thisthey may wish TO consult about
their own interests, and If they do this soberly
and peaceably, no fault can be found They
have perfect right to deliberate together
concerning the wages they are receiving, and
10 unite in refusing TO work unless their
wages are increased. The law gives TO capital
an Immense advantage in permitting its con-
soidation in great centralized corporations
and neither law nor justice can forbid labor
ers to combine in order to protect themselves
against the encroachments of capital, so long
as they abstain from the use of violence and
rely upon reason and moral influence.
But it needs no prophet to tell that these
societies are liable to become instruments
OF evil as we'll as of good. 1t happens
that large proportion of the members of
most Of them are ignorant men, whose pas
sions are easily excited, and who NAV be
led To take very fanatical and absurd views
OF the labor question. And whenever any
large number of such men are brought into
company the devil, in the form Of the DEM
agogue or the charlatan. comes also among
them. 1t makes one sick and sad to see the
kind of leaders to whom the workmen in
these societies often intrust the management
OF their affairs,-noisy, crazy, crack
Drained creatures, whose capital stock of
political philosophy consists of one or two
half-truths, and full assortment of lies
",
the dreadful stuff that they write, and then
TO think that they are the chosen represen-
tatives of the wOrking-people, is very dis
couraging. We have in this COM
monwealth Massachusetts, a few such
persons, who have been promi-
nent in the councils of the labor
leagues. and whose nostrums have been
freely vended i'm the shape of tracts among
the workIngmen. They are always opposed
to any peaceful solution of the labor
question; they want to win by revolution.
or not at all. Their creed is simply
dilution of the doctrines of Proudhon,
whose works they are printing and dis
trioutlng, and whose fundamental
maxim Is that property is robbery.
OF course intelligent American mechani cs
know too much TO be imposed upon
by such nonsense, and quickly refuse to
follow such lead. A large number of
those who constitute these associations,
however, are not intelligent American
mechanics; and therefore the fanatics often
get control of them, and contrive TO shape
their policy. Men in masses often do
very strange things. This is not only of
workingmen, but of all sorts of men. 1t
is sometimes said that in multitude of
counsebrs there is wisdom, but that de-
ponds on the kind of counselors. A thousand
wise men may be wiser than one wise