The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1886-10-08
WORKINGMEN TO THE FRONT.
BY GEORGE R. SCOTT.


country have better chances for improv-
ing their position than what is known
as the wage-workers.
Demagogues may talk about how they
are opposed to monopolies but, if so,
whose fault is it? Where there is one
bloated bondholder" there is one thou
sand "sons of toll" In this country the
aristocrat and the laborer each have a
vote. Jay Gould can vote but once on
the day of election, and so can the hum
blest citizen in the land. If the work
ingmen are abused by the men elected
to Office, it is their own fault if they do
not prevent its reoccurrence.
The duty of wage-earners, as of every
other class in the community, is to make
intelligent efforts to improve their condi-
ton in life, and to increase their efficien-
cy and power to do good.
All can't be bosses. The effect on
some, if placed in charge of grave re-
sponsibilities, would be to be sent to bed
with a splitting headache. The capacity
to endure responsibilities comes after
years of preparatory education.
All cannot endure prosperity. Give
some men $1,000 tonight. and in less
than month their pale faces and anx-
ious looks would prove to you that you
had done them an injury instead of ene-
fitting them. The power to use 81 900
Alright usually comes after an experience
of properly taking care of R10O.
The wOrkingman in the rural districts,
who has steady employment and q neat
little cottage, with garden to occupy his
spare hours, is generally the happiest
man this side of heaven. Of course all
men have their troubles. So far as the
wealthy business men of our cities are
concerned, one look at their forlorn
faces, marked with "crow's feet" from
the forehead to the chin, ought to satisfy
the most skeptical that all that glitters
is not gold"
In mining districts there is no doubt
that the honest toilers are treated more.
as brutes than as human beings. The.
reason for that is that monopolies are
protected by Congress, while the labor
ers are severely left alone by that august
body of legislators. Whose fault is that ?
Let the ballot-boxes of the mining dis
tricts answer.
In this country almost every intelligent
mechanic can earn enough, if he studies
economy, to buy ground on which to
build a house. The price he must pay
for that is to let liquor and all unneces-
sary luxuries alone.
The children of the workingmen are
generally the best looking and heaIthiest
in the land. All they want is an educa-
ton, that can be had free in our public
schools, after which they can take care
of themselves. AS to their wives, ifpapa
keeps sober and speaks kindly they will
cheerfully bear the tolls of life while the
children are young, waiting for the day
when John, Dick and Mary can lend a
helping hand in filling the family purse.
Workingmen of America, your lot in
life might be worse. The grindstones
of Europe have not been placed around
your necks. If you listen TO the advice
of your wives instead of listening to lazy,
imported discontents, you will be more
contented and better prepared to fight
the real battles of life.
Goodness, industry, sobriety and fru-
gal habits will make pleasant and thrifty
homes. A horse and cow in the barn is
better than a cellar full of empty bottles.
A neatly dressed wife, singing about the
house like canary-bird, beats all the
fun you will ever have by visiting the
country bar-room or other places of
temptation or doubtful amusement. A
walk through the woods with your chill
dren will be better, and the company
more congenial than serpentine walk
with Bill Granger and Tom Smith, with
bricks in their hats"
The future for the sober mechanics in
this country is full of possibilities. They
number legions, and if they will only
study their own interests, and each en-
deavor to excel in his own department
of labor, so as to be ready to rise as the
opportunity comes to him, they are the
real masters of the situation. Most oil
the capitalists in the country began poor,
and they did not make their way up by
growing at those who got ahead of them.
The days of sitting down and crying
because you are not born rich are past.
The victory over poverty and adverse
circumstances is TO those who have the
get-up-and-get" to leap over every bar
rier. The price it costs to rise from OBJ
security to comparative comfort is honest
intelligent toll, and the letting alone o.
all those things that disgrace men and
keep them down.
Horace Greeley when he went tt
church used to sit with his eyes closed
thinking about what the minister said
A nephew of his once told him not t.
act that way, as everybody noticed him
The reply that he got was, eff you g
on playing billiards in saloons nobod.
will ever notice YOU" Mr.. Greeley wa
right, for the young mechanic wht
drinks and Dlays billiards stands e. poo