Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1886-09-05
OUR ca Did A 7 E.
GEORGE MANSFIELD NOMl-
MATED FOR CONGRESS.
A Veteran Worker and Rrlormer A
Wage.W Orker at Seven Chart
isl. AbOliti0nist. Auti.M0n-
opolist, iand-lcag'
ucrand Il. Of l..


field has given extraordinary salts.
fadtion to all independent labor men,
and has crried II proportIonate feel
ING Of dismav into the ranks Of the
politicians, both "dcmocratic and
"repubIican, so-call"d.
Before the congressional convrn-
ION of last Saturday it was generally
supposed that the nomination of an
honest. independent candidate by
the laboring men wouId draw more
votes from the "dcmocratlc' = party
than any other. Since the nam" of
the nominee was published there has
been decided change in that opin-
ion for there are many workIngmcn
who formerly voted "rcpublican "
that have signiied their intention of
leaving the old party rut tocast their
vote for George Mansiirld; and, bet
ter still. there are hundreds Of work.
ingmen in this city to-day, who have
been awakened to Il SENSE Of their
duty by the vile attacks Of the capt.
talist press, and who will not only
vote for IMbor's candidate, but also
work for the growth Of the indcpcnd-
ent workingmcn's political move
ment.
As to the candidate himself, read his
letter of acceptance published III an
other column; ask honest men who
know him, whether the working
men are not capable of choosing their
own candidates without the aid Of
groyclIing, dcspicabIc political heel
ers. What is his record? His ear
lirst rccOIIrctions are associated with
labor. He had not completed his
seventh year when he was sent to
work in a WOODEN mill. When in his
ninth year the British parliament
passed an act forbiddmg the employ
ment of children in factories under
eleven years Of age This law gave
him the privilege OF attending school
for two years, during which time he
managed to Get a common school
education, and he had to work for Il
part of that, even, for the branches
of arithmetic and writing were
charged extra in those days, and the
Young student paid for lessons in
those branches by tcaohinga primary
class. At the ear y age Of fourteen
years he became an enthusiastic
Chartist, and he helped the move
ment in an humble yet liycI Iy way by
going about the town and announce
ing public meetings Of the WORKING
men. with tn" aid of a rattle. After
Gathering crowd about him. he
made the announcements, and thus
helped the good cause Of the Chart
lists.
The Chartists. by the way, were
Just as much reformers in their day
as our labor reformcrs are now.
They demanded, first, annual parlia
ments; SecoUi, equal electoral dis
tricts: NiW. vote by ballot: foUrih.
no property qualification; nm, man
hood suffrage, and Sirth, payment Of
members of parliament. This was
considered at that time very rcyo-
lutionary programme. Fcargus
O'Connor. the leader Of the Chartist
movement, was imprisoned for
eighteen months in York gaol for
advocating it; Frost Williams and
Jones were transported for liz, diri
. manv a-wnrknan- -wls- prosecuted -tpl
advocating the just dcmnnds Of the
Chartists. Less than half a century
has passed away and every demand
Of the peoples charter has been in
corporated into the laws Of the
realm except annual parliament and
payment of members.
In 1S4S George Mansfield came to
America. and after many yiciSsltudes
he settled down in WestvilIe where
he has resided for upwards Of thirty
wears. Here he raised a family Of
four children, two sons and two