Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1886-09-09

millions of dollars in savings banks, tho
vastly greater mass Of workingmen in
England, Ireland. Scotland and Wales,
the whole United Kingdom, all working
| under free trade, have less than four hun.
| dred millions of dollars in the aggregate
both in savings banks and postal banks.
| These figures and tho conclusion they
teach is SO plain that the running man
may read.
THE LABOR QUESTION.
The leading feature in the industrial
field Of 1885 and 1886 Is the discomfort
among the men who earn their bread by
skilled and by unskilled labor, unoasi-
ness and uncertainty arc found on all
sides; there are wise aims among many,
and with not few there is aimlcssness
with its inevitable result Of disappoint-
mont and Encouragement, The man
who could by any prescription remove
| this discomfort and at once restore har-
mony and happsness would DO philoso-
phcr, patriot and statesman. Tho man
who Processes to DO able to do II will
generally provo to be u compound Of
empiricsm aud ignorance, But in tho
end, perhaps by toilsome paths, with
many plumbers and some wrongs. no ono
need doubt that sound aud
JUST AND RaIrrEpus CONCLUSIONS
will be reached. Perfect freedom to test
the virtues and secure tho advantage OF
organization, to exert strong power
through combination, ara certainly
among the common rights Of all men and
u Republican Government Labor ASSOC
Citations have the same sanction and tho
same rights that any form OF incorpora-
ton may assume-subject, as all must
be- to the condition that the persons and
property Of others shall DO respected. IL
is well for every citizen Of a FREQ govern
mont to keep before his eyes and in his
thoughts the honorcd maxim that "tho
liberty Of one man must always end
| where the rights of another man begin"
have no new nostrums to offer for
the cure of labor troubles, l have no
quack remedies to propose, am firm
believer In tho efficacy of tho protective
tariff, and can look back with serene
satisfaction to my record In Congress as
never. plotted by single vote that was
not friendly to the interests Of American
labor. never proposed anything when
was n candidate for public office, and
now as a private citizen | have no temp.
tatlon to ilatter any man or state any.
thing else than tho simple truth as l SEQ
the truth. II is in this spirit that offer
some suggestions which seem TO me
worthy of attention under the existing
situation OF the labor question.
In what may be termed tho political
creed Of the various labor organizations
have observed some singular omissions
! of pertinent and, think. controlling
facts--facts which in spirit of friend.
ship and candor beg to point out. !
read, few days since, in creed put
forth by an association Of knights Of
Labor, in another State, recital OF
eighteen distinct ends which they dc.
sired TO have secured or maintained by
notional legislation. Among these there
was not the slightest mention Of
PROTECTIVE TARIFF.
That might have been accidental; or IL
might have implied perfect sense Of
safety In regard to the continuance OF tho
tariff; or il might have meant that those
| who proclaimed the creed are indifferent
| to the fate of protection.
In any event IL would be well for tho
labor organizations to diligently inquire
and ascertain how the wages Of labor in
| the United States can be kept above tho
rate of wages in England, Germany and
| France on the same articles of manufac.
turc without the intervention OF protect.
| i've dutiesl With the present cheap
] modes of interchange and transportation
| Of all commodities, inquire of these
| gentlemen how, under the rules of free
| trade, can wages in the United States bc
kept above the general standard OF Euro,
pean wages2 | do not stop for the dc.
tail Of argument, l only desire to lodge
the question in the minds Of tho-millions
OF American laborers who have IL in
their power to maintain protection or to
inaugurato free trade; who have II In
their power to uphold tho party Of pro-
lection or the party of free trade.
Another portentious fact has been omit
ted--so far as have observed-from tho
consideration and judgment OF the labor
organizations They seem to have taken
| little or no heed Of the existence OF more
| than a million and half Of able-bodicd
| laborers in the South with dark skins,
but with expanding intellect, increasing
intelligence and growing ambition.
While these men were slaves, working
| in the corn and cotton fields, in the rice
swamps and on the sugar plantations OF
| the South, the skilled labor Of the North.
crn States felt no decomposition from them.
But since they became freemen there has
| been great change in the variety and
skill of the labor performed by colored
men in the South. The great mass arc,
of course, still engaged in agricultural
work, but thousands and tens Of thous-
| ands, and in fact hundreds Of thousands,
have entered and are entering
THE MECHANICAL AND EMI-MEcHANIcAI
FIELD.
They are making pig and bar iron in
Tennessee and Alabama. They are man
ufacturing cotton in Georgia and the
Carolinas. They are bricklayers and
plasterers everywhere; they are carpen'
tiers and painters, they are blacksmiths
they make wagons and carts; they
make cigars; they tan leather ant
make harness; they are fremer
and pilots on river boats: they
calk vessels in Southern ports; they
ay railroad track; they are switchmen
and section men on the line and firemen
on locomotives. In fact, they are gen
orally entering all the avenues and chan
nels of skilled labor. OF course they arr
underpaid They receive far less thar
has been paid for years past to Northern
mechanics for similar work. They arr