Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1886-12-23
LAnoR IN TEE sourR.
FROM tho stand-poinss of Hiaine
and william ~. Kelley.

FROM tho stAna-points Of Blaine
and William ~. Kelley.
New York Timee-
For some time Mr.. James q. Blaine has
been telling thelaboring mon Of the north
that the leaders Of the Democratic party
in the south have oonspired TO degrade
and impoverish them by employing col
ored men in Southern mines and iron
mills and factories at extremely low
wages. He began to arouse the northern
workingmen on this topic in the address
which he made TO bis friends and neigh
bors in Augusta, few days after the
election of Mr.. Cleveland, when he said:
With the southern Democracy triumphant
In their states and In the nation the negro
will be compelled to work for Just such
wages as the whites may decrea-wages
which will amount, as did the supplies OF
the slaves, to hare subsistence equal Ia
each perhaps to So cents per day, II ave-
aged over the entire south. The white
labor-r will soon fsel the destructive effect
Of this upon his own wages. A mere differ
ence In tho color OF the skin will not sufilcs
to maintain ian entirely different standard
OF wages In contiguous and adjacent states
and the voluntary will DO compelled to
yield to the Involuntary.
During his journey through Pennsyl'
yania before the last election he was CON
tinually harping upon the starvation
wages of the colored laborer and warning
his hearers TINT they were on the brinkof
ruin. AT Pittsburg, on October goth, he
said:
Several weeks ago called the attention
of the laborlug men OF Maine, whom was
addressing, to the fact that formidable COM
petitors we're rising up against them In the
south, where there are 1 800 ,000 able-bodied
laborers with dark skins. These latter were
originally employed almost exclusively In
raising cotton, tobacco, sugar, and rice, or
in wholly agricultural employment. They
are now, and have been for ten years, en-
tering into many Of the mechanical indus
tries. In Birmingham, Ala, In Chatta-
noogo, Tenn, and In various parts OF Ntr-
ginia they are making pig iron, and this
they are making at wages of from 60 to 70
cents per day. The product OF their labor
has thus far been 30 small that the impor-
tant fact am now stating has attracted
comparatively no attention. But II the
quantity which they manufacture attains
large proportions 1t will necessarily COM
pete In the markets of this country with
The pig iron made in Pennsylvania and
Ohio, and they themselves will compete
with men hero who are paid s1.59 per day.
These starving laborers must be fairly
paid, he added, and the people of Penn
sylyania must exhibit their disapproval
OF low wages in the south by electing
Beaver. Probably he INDUCED in mental
reference to person named Blaine. And
in Lewisburg, on October 9th, he re-
marked:
With the power Of the National govern
ment In the hands of the Democratic party
there Is no possible hopefo the rise orpro-
gress Of nearly 2,020,000 colored laborers
In the south. They keep them living in
huts on starvation wages, and they are
| hurrying them by the millions into COM
| petition with northern men. Now, If the
Democratic party holds the government OF
this country and keeps that labor as SER
vile as It Is Its competition with the white
labor OF this country will grow more and
more fierce and more and more will they
have to confront this direct ind important
| truth, that either that great mass OF laborers
In the south must be raised in the scale OF
intelligence aud compensation, or they will
/ pull down northern men to the level OF their
wages. GApplause.l
He dwelt upon this as ''the one idea"
which he hoped ito leave for considera.
| tiop"-the downward equalization be-
tween the colored laborers of the south
and the millions of white workingmen in
| the north" And ut Hazleton, on the fol
lowing day, he spoke Of "this gigantic
conspiracy against northern lsborers.
| Northern voters must increase the wants
and wages of the southern laborers or be
/ content to fall to their level. "You can
not draw an imaginary line across this
continent and have man on one side of
that line paid 40 cents day." said he,
land on the other side of the same line
paid $l.50 a day for the same line of
/ work.
When Mr. Bl5ine began his series of
| speeches in Pennsylvania he was welcomed
on the stage of the Philadelphia Academy
| of Music by the Hon. William d. Kelley,
the unyielding advocate of high protec-
ton and champion of protected pig iron.
MIR. Kelley has just returned from six
weeks tour through the south. He spent
most Of his time in the coal and iron
region, where Mr.. Blaine says, the colored
laborers are ON SO low level as regards
wages and comforts OF life. He was sur.
prised to find those oppressed laborers
"enjoying not only progress but pros
perity greater Than is enjoyed in the
north.n Here is EN- extract from his re-
marks to the Washington correspondent
Of the World:
I Lho DhhNehetOAtS HtlNAiohtH VI lub tDlDTSu
people alo nOw better than th1ae { To Nhilas
rlj0yed when I last visltni ihNaaBth flo
1851 and those Of the whites IRE greatly
improved The class distinctions, which
| were the curse of that section, exists no
longer, or only TO a limited extent, and the
social position Of citizen Is no longer
reckoned by what his father was, but by
his own conduct and ability. Ii Is no longer
degrading to work, but The producers are
more respected than the oilers,
And here is information for Mr.. Blaine
touching that gigantic conspiracy to de-
grade northern labor by paying starvation
wages OF 80 or 70 cents day in Birming-'
ham and Chattanooga
"Thenegroes are industrious and thrifty
on a class, and the man who earns a dol
lar in mine or mandatory has pur-
chasing power in these little towns equal
to five times that of the planter who is
dependent upon the yield and the prices
of cotton. The rate of wages paid work
ingmen is about that which is paid in
Pennsylvania for the same class of Ia
borers and the same kind OF employment,
and the negroes are proving themselves
admirably adapted to mechanical indus,
tries"
The fabric of falsehood raised by Mr..
Blaine ia oVerthrown in a moment by
Mr.. Kelley, whose testimony is that of an
ardent Republican and ultra-protec-
ZIONIST, as everybody knows. MIR. Kelley
saw the negroes in the mills, in their
schools and at their homes. He was
deeply impressed by what he learned.
Whom will the people of Pennsyl.
vania believe, the demagogue from
Maine trying to stir up strife between
the workers of the twn aantionu n,
their veteran Representative who gets his
facts by personal observation2 And does
not MIR. Blaine again deserve the con.
tempt of honorable men for his repeated
public utterance Of the assertion which
MIR. Kelley SO easily, though unconsciously
sweeps swayP Perhaps Mr.. Blaine viii
in time learn that it is better to know lest
than it is to know SO many things thai
are not SO.