The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1886-09-17
.,IANKAYo f'REE PRESS.
FRIDAY. sEprEmRER II. 1890.
EIGHTY SIX YEARS OLD

10 tLc Eiiior IF The Inter ocean.
BATTLE CREEK, Mich, Aug, 81 can
well remember hnck for Scvenly-slN
years have been III active HE Tor
over seventy years on my own nook:
The hand that holds this pencil worked
for many years ut various kinds OF day
labor, mostly on farms The usual wages
was for day from sunrise till sunset, III
cents, or $40 u month and board IN sum
mcr, and - tn 81 Il month III winter.
Carpenters and all tradcSmcn worked
from sunrise till sundown; wages ~ fol-
lows: Carpenters, 81 Ia ~ .25; brcklaycrs,
81 - To 81 80; stone maSOnS, ~ - To 81 80;
plasterers, 81 To 81 80; mill wrights, 81 ~
~ "a; hod carriers, 10 To so cents Il day.
Prices of food from 1908 till the war of
1912 were, in Lancaster county, Pa, my
home: Wheat, 10 To 30 cents, corn, 20 To
80 cents; oats, - To - cents, rye, - 10 ~
cents; barley, - To 30 cents; flax seed 10
to 50 cents; clover seed, 81 To 50: Timothy
seed, 81 80 la Sl.75; beef, Ia q cents;
pork, To 3 cents; veal, 3 TOD cents; NUT
ton, ; To / cents; butter, q Ia < cents;
cheese, 1 Ia q cents; eggs, } To cents per
dozen; hay, 81 Ia $50 IL ton; coffee, Iii
To Is cents, green; sugar, II Ia Is cents;
tea, 81 % to 81 80 per pound; molasses,
~ la 81 % II gallon; rice, II Ia Is cents
per pound. Spices were enormously
high. Clothing was also. a suit OF
broadcloth, of English cloth, cost, for
coat, pants and vest, if finest quality,
$50 To $50. | knew II young man that
worked on II farm five months TO get II
homemade linscy -wolscy wedding-suit,
half iOw-yarn and half wooden yarn,
and his intended worked four months
IL, NIL Of "A
brogIns 10 get married in.
There were no unions i'm those times;
no strikes, no Knights of Labor, no base
ball gangs, no eternal games of billiards,
and a thousand other games, as now-,l-
days, which are running millions OF
young men: no rum-shOps to get Il IL
cense To sell liquor. Food and lodging
and keeping for ten horses and ten men
had To be shown before a license would
be granted. laboring people were con-
tented, even at the small wages then
paid. Thousands procured homes in
country. AS Il laboring man ! must say
that | have not i'll scventy-five years
known day that SO many comforts OF
life, in food and in clothing, in furniture,
and III fact in Injuries of all needful
commodities, as with Il days wages oi
only ten hours can be bought to-day.
This eternal howling against capitalists
Talk about monopoly is the worst enc
my II laboring man has. Let the labor
ing man (as millions do) who get 81 80 for
ten hours work and 90 off to II grOg-Shop,
remember that his employer is hard III
work laying ont his plans i'm order Ia be
able To pay him and others their wages
rs there he sips his beverage with curses
against his employer, with no thought OF
the thousands of perplcxitics his en-
ployer has To encounter, or the destitI-
ton of his own poor wife and children.
Oh, no; he has but little care while he
howls about hard times.
Take Chicago. No city on earth gives
so much labor the year round or so good
wages as Chicago does. Her slaughter
ing houses, the greatest on earth, give
employment to thousands of people an
nuallv; its capital, the laboring mans
trueSt friend, in the hands of men whose
lives are Il continued exercise and men
tai labor. There never was strike that
the strikers were not the victims of their
own folly. ! am surprised that any pa
per should advocate for Il moment any
war against capitalists. | am free To de-
clare that ! have never known men who,
in carrying on large works, wish to OPP
pitSS tiitif tihIloyttS, IL is utiFllIlcltil
Ia their own interests To do SO. | have
no doubt but that murlcrous affair ut
Haymarkct grew out of this eternal howl
of the labOring class. ! also believe that
ninetecntwcntieths of the liquor drank
in Chicago is drank by the laboring class.
1t should he fixed determination to ar
rest and punish every man who makes
II threat against the jury. No threats
should deter the city from its duty to
humanity and safety 10 millions yet I'M
born in our country. If ever men for
ieited their lives those men have, and
without the slightest provocatIon. WIS.,
tied, lust October, the House of Com
mons, III London, and saw the work of q
miserable wrctch's intention to destroy
hundreds uf lives, and without u oa,,ov
for the act. The charity of Chicago's
capitalists in behalf of the poor is with
out II parallel in any city on earth. Then
why this eternal howl about monopoly
and capitalists. Every farmer in Michi-
gan should feel an interest in the pros
perity Of Chicago. ii. WILLIS.