Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1888-01-27
FRIDAY MORNING, JAN. 81, 1855.
THE STA UNION LABOR
CON FENIIUN,

THE STA UNION LABOR
INVENTION.
We have given in the last two issues of
this journal very full reports not only of
the work of the Labor convention recent
ly in session here, but of tie debate which
showed the spirit of the body-something
often more important than the mere reso-
buttons. The debates of convention are
always of more value to the inquirer than
its platform, seeing that the latter may be
be put forward to catch votes, while the
former is the frank expression OF what the
men who framed it had in their minds.
The personele of the convention for abili-
ty. reflected credit on the cause it ad-
vocated; for among the few active repre-
sentatives of organized labor present--not
more than twenty-five in number-theIe
were as many good speakers. as much GEL
eral Information on the subject in hand,
and as great alertness iD polemics as will
be found in any public body of that small
number. Messrs. Hoover. Duncan. Bethel
and Tucker, who led the practical side of
nearly all the debate, were excellent
speakers, and one of the colored delegates
was not far behind them. OF course there
were not wanting wild propositions, and
arguments quite as wild to sustain them;
for instance, we suppose no wilder or
more cruel proposition was ever made
than the solitary confinement of peniten-
tialy convicts in order to do away with
convict Iabor-bnt such were soon voted
down by the practical delegates and con-
signed to the waste basket. And when il
came to the propositions of real and prac-
tical merit, which the convention adopted,
there are hardly two that we suppose all
our readers will not endorse with will.
There was but one move squirting at
poliucs-a proposition which in result
would have given prominent politician
boost, by commencing bill of which
he is the patron; but the shrewder heads
in the convention wIggled from under it
By substituting resolution in which the
subject of the bill was heartily endorsed,
all public men taking the same ground
heartily thanked, and the name of the
political patron of the bill heartily sup
pressed.
AS move on behalf of the interest OF
Labor the convention was success
in as much as it was the germ from
which annual conventions of labor dele
gates from all parts of the State will fol-
low, at which the wants of labor will be
fully and practically expressed and b,
which the world may know what is wanted
by this great factor in prosperity, and
what is its own idea of the best means for
obtaining it. A. weakening feature of
this, however, and one which it is rather
surprising the advocates of Labor present
should have countenanced, was the throw
ing open of the gates of the next annual
convention at Lynchburg to other dele
gates than those from Labor Organiza-
ti0ns This letting down of the bars
bodies no good for the elevation of skill
ed labor-such as that contained in and
represented by knights of Labor Assem-
blies, Trades Unions and WorkiDgmen's
Unions. In a large and Irresponsible con-
ventiou such as must result from delegates
being elected by neighborhoods'' the
voice of skilled Labor will be drowned,
and such speakers as expressed its senti
ments in Staunton last week will be over
whelmed by the great odds against
them. Besides that, the thinking men of
the country, who know that some better
ment Of the condition of Labor is sadly
needed and is inevitable in some shape
or other. will be puzzled where to find its
voice, and 10 know whether it is the voice
of Jacob or E5au. Such an irresponsible
selection as ''nelghborhood delegates
would swamp any organized movement in
the world, still more one, which, though
it may be destined to be a giant, is as
yet an infant. However, it is not likely
that skilled labor will allow this pre-
gramme to be carried out. At the con-
yention last week, while the broad call for
its meeting included 'sall wage.workers, !"
the representatives Of organized Labor on
reaching the ground promptly put stop
to that suicidal policy, took the reins in
their own hands and, decided that it was
a convention of that element, and that the
Lime Kiln Club" as Mr. Mullen ex-
pressed it, sort of members must stay out
or be admitted individually On the en-
dorsement of a member CT Labor organ
iZati0n.
The delegates to the Convention who
came from abroad made most favorable
impression on our people, and the discus
sons of the body which have been spread
before the world by the VINDICAToR, are
making favorable impression in the
State. The Norfolk Virgjnian in COM
menting on IL re port of the first days
proceedings says:
s'In the Staunton Labor Convention there
are many representatives who show by their
brief speeches that they are in line with ad-
vanced thought. A few of the most promi
nent have demonstrated familiarity with the
battles between capital and labor in the Old
World, and if the schemes of partisans are
Kept out OF their counsels, the action of the
body will doubtless be productive of good
The convention, as the pithy debate printed
below indicates, is thoroughly impressed with
the idea that a labor bureau should be estab-
lished in Virginia with a practical man at its
head. The following account of the discus
sion on this subject, from the Staunton VIM
DICTATOR. is refreshing and instructive"
THE F1RGINIA Psychological
ASSOCIATION.
We learn that the s'Virginia Pomolo-
iaal