The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1886-11-05

wHEELING, ", VA NoyEMHEH ., 1851
rhe Morklnsmnn IN rolllIe..

The men who work Tor wages maze up
the overwhelming majority Of tine people
Of this country, II they were to cast
their votes on one side Of any question
the few left to represent the other SIDE
might as well not 80 to the polls But
wage earuers are no more likely to vote in
bulk than employerF, physiclans, clergy
men or lawyers, and In no country has
there been q successful effort to array them
as class.
The workiugman is very like any other
man; he has bis partisan and his personal
preference, ard whether the effort is made
by employer or labor agitstor lie is quick
to resent a proposition to set him oil by
himself. he likes to think and act for
himself, and when he Gads that somebody
ia irving to huddls workingmen In herd,
nothing ia more likely than that he will
step aside and let somebody else do the
budding, /,
shrewd agit&torB may get certain kind
dictatorship for time, butaoon itappcarp
that the men well characterized by Mr.
Powderly as "workingmen who do not
work" must be supported by working
men who DO work, and then the s2ltaloIa
begin to feel the chill Of the cold shoulder
Workingmen arLociate Themselves for
trade purposes, as they have right to
do, and ought TO do, and then comes tho
inevitable attempt to use them inpollsles'
Tho professional agltators try to Halter
them with eulogteD Of their strength, and
II the sgitators can make the politicians
think they can deliver the goods they are
ready for fairly profitable business" The
failure 10 deliver lie, perhsps, the first
realization that they really had nothing
10 hand over. Their supposed followers
have been thinking aui acting for them
selves, and tho leaders didn't know It,
Tho thing has been tried in many places
It has been tried in Wheeling, and 1t has
failed, because 1t deserved TO fail. 1t has
been tiled on higher plano In New
York and failed there.
A different labor movement in politics
has been tried with success in Kentucky
and Illinois. In Mr.. Carliale'a district
the people rallied around 0lsbor repre-
sentative who commanded their conll'
deucs and respect, aud away went Nj.
CMlisles majority. In Mr. Morrison's
district tho psople-necessarily including
large number OF wage.earners-ilocked
to tho standard OF man who ia not la
Dor leader, and they overcane Mr.. MOrri'
sons $500 majority.
In Pennsylyaniathe samecombinationo oil
clements, responding to the exhorsAttOn Of
Mr.. Blaine. Aockcd to General Beavers
standard and made him governor by an
immense majority. The success in Penn
sylvania Is as much workingman's tri-
umph as though Beaver had been taken
from the blacksmlth's anvil or the shoe.
makers bench. Yet 1t was not accom-.
p!ishsd by tying up waGe.earners in bun.
dies for delivery on the order Of alleged
labor leaders.
There is q good deal OF miachievous
cham about the workirgmsu in politics.
It is no compliment to the man who
works for wages to treat him SIS q helpless
child or an imbeclle to be cared for by the
aHitator who has no time to labor. tits
not in the interest Of the public welfare
that he shall be regarded as 60 much raw
election material in bulk to be loaded. up
by the professional leader and disposed Of
according to that sCheming individuals
will. He has as much right to his free.
dom Of thought aud Of action, IS the mil
lionaire; and he has an American sort Of
way OF asserting that right