Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-03-19
THE AMERICAN LABoRER.
His EsiE hts, Friends and Enemies.
Rw Han. n. M. Wfduey.

m IN 81 ass @AAAa- A%.A c@--@C
By Hon. n. M. Wfdney.
The American laborer is here; he is q
part Of American society, and no apology
Is needed either for his being here, or
for his existence.
What are his rights, and how can he
secure themi
1t is his duty and his right to secure
from his labor living, home and a
family. By this l mean that he is en-
titled to the necessaries Of life in auffi-
cient quantities for himself and family
to live. 1t does not include whisky and
tobacco. Neither does It imply that
idleness shall count as labor.
By the sweat of thy brow shalt thou
eat bread, is a law Of nature.
The native laborers in every nation
are entitled to living in that nation in
preference to imported or immigrant
laborers. Otherwise each successive
new conner has right to crowd out the
previous one. The people of nation
are bound to give preference to its own
citizens in business. This is a simple
business principle acted upon by the
people Of the nation. OF course there
are exceptions to the rule.
The laboring classes must be sup
ported by proper wages sufficient to give
them support or society must support
them as criminals, as paupers and as
tramps. That is they will not starve to
death in any great numbers. They will
live in some way. Failing to earn by
labor support, they must get the
support by criminal or immoral
means. II detected, arrested and
convicted, then society must support
them in penitentaries, jails, houses of
correction, asylums and other similar
places. To support them in this way
necessitates an expensive police system,
with all the expenses OF judicial pro-
ceedings. Add to this the loss to prop
erty by incendiary fires. by robbery and
destruction Of property. and it will be
found that to support the laboring
classes by driving them into the criminal
or immoral classes ia the most expensive
method.
When wages become so low that they
will not support the laborers, then the
deficiency will be somehow taken ont OF
the property owners to make the sup
port. In other words. the property
owners are forced, inexorably forced, to
pay out az wages or as expenses of gov
ernment support for the laboring
classes.
1t will be seen that the cheapest plan
for the property owner is in the first in
stance-to pay the honest laborer such
wages az will enable him to support
himself and family. 1t is better to
keep him as producer and consumer
than to keep him as criminal
consumer alone. As q sslf-supporter,
with family, he is interested
in the safety Of society and property and
in their protection. As person gaining
living by criminal or immoral means.
he is an enemy Of property and society.
He who employs labor at such low
wages that the laborer can not gain
support. is short-sighted indeed.
France has been compelled for years
to furnish labor on public works for its
laboring classes so as to support them.
France found by experience that too
cheap labor was the dearest form Of
labor and that it threatened the destruc-
tion of that nation and society.
Importing cheap labor or employing
cheap labor, as whole, is saving Ger.
tain amount on one side and losing a
greater amount in supporting the unem-
pioyed or the insufficiently employed. as
criminals, on the other. 1t seems to me
there is no escape from these laws and
facts.
The laborer is worthy Of his hire, is
law. In return for this right to such
wages the laborer is bound to do such
work as will give 0 proper return. To
whatever extent he fails in this he alone
should suffer, and must be content with
less wages. After laborer has been
paid wages sufficient to support himself
and family, he has no right to demand
in addition enough more to pay for
whisky, tobacco, gambling or other kin
dred things.
To employ laborers requires capital
and management. A country devoid of
capital and men to plan and manage has
no laborers. all are reduced to the low
est plane, as among the Indians and un-
civilized races. Capitalists and corpora
tions furnish labor. They are the labor
ers greatest friends.
The California system Of railroads
employs thousands Of men. The rail-
road system of the United States is
to-day employing more men than were at
any time in the United States army dur
ing the late war, and is paying over
double the wages for lighter work. But,
says one, Stanford and Gould have made
millions and built houses costing mil
lions. Suppose they have, Did not the
laboring men build the houses, do all
the work inside and outside. II the
house cost a million then the laborers
got the million. The inside furnishing
was all done by laborers. They got their
money for their labor.
These men are working night and day,
and what do they get, Only their board
and clothing. They are working for
nothing and boarding and clothing
themselves.
Suppose the railroad is making vast
sums OF money. What does it do with
it! Only spends it for labor to build
more roads, however, &c. These roads
have borrowed foreign capital by the
millions and brought it to California and
paid il out to the laborer. Senator
Stanford has probably caused more
money to be paid to the laboring white
man than any dozen other men in the
State.
The laborer never makes a greater
mistake than to wage war upon capital
and corporations, with a view to damage
| them. The laborer should be the body
guard of property and should rike
down as an enemy the man who would
destroy property, or property managers.
There are cases 10 which capital does
not properly compensate labor; and
there are cases in which labor does not
properly earn its wages. These will be
/ considered in the next article on the
practical application of boycotting to