Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-02-03
KENNA
CONTINUED from Third Page

tor has appealed 10
THE LABoR OF H COUNTRY.
When we would undertake to lift the bur
dens of the laboring man and give him
equal opportunities in the great struggle
for life, the Senator declares that we
would degrade him"
The Senator from Ohio has made history
on that subject also. On the 4th Of July,
1864. under his special patronage, a bill to
encourage immigration, afterwards known
rs the contract labor bill, became a law.
It's second section reads as follows:
That all contracts that shall be made
by emigrants to the United States and for
eign countries, in conformity to regulations
that may be established by the said CON-
missioner, whereby emigrants shall pledge
the wages of their labor for q term not ex-
ceeding twelve months, to repay the ex-
penses of their emigration, shall be held to
be valid in law, aud may be enforced in the
courts of the United States, or Of the sew
eral States aud Territories; and such ad-
vance, if so stipulated in the contract, and
the contract be recorded in the recorders
office in the county where the emigrant
shall settle, shall operate as a lien upon any
land thereafter acquired by the emigrant,
whether under the homestead law when the
title is consummsted or on property other
wise acquired, until liquidated by the emf
grant"
So unpopular did this section become
that a bill to repeal it was promptly passed
By Congress when the question was sgi-
tated here, aud more than once the House
OF Representatives assailed it.
1t brought the industrious laborer," Of
when the honorable Senator, has said our
protection system has brought q vsst ar
my to this country" 10 a strange and to
him y foreign country. 1t ~mortgaged for a
year his earnings and his liberty. 1t was
the first formal and official Introduction Of
foreign serfdom into free America. When
the bill was under consideration the hon
orahle Senator said:
'If an official document prepared from
official sources could he furnished them,
giving them accurate information as to the
needs of labor in this country, there Is no
doubt il would encourage a great deal OF
immigration. Iu the Western States labor
is absolutely demanded; common laborers
are receiving Il very high price"
SONlN IL Nv u NhatI ~ ShihS9S 49,
migration which poured into our western
gates created the very high price, OF
common labor" Of which the Senator
complained, or was this measure enacted
with q purpose of prophecy TO accoid with
the spirit in which he soon after declared
that ''our manufacturers did not need pro.
lection against the pauper labor of Flu
rope"
In very recent years the honorable Sena-
tor voted against a bill 10 restrict the i'm
migration of the ChinGman. He afterwards
pleaded for a limitation of the term OF the
exclusion to five years, and finally voting
for the last bill lie insisted that every skill
ed laborer should be excluded from its OPP
Grafton.
Mr.. President. these are matters of pub
lie record, and it is right they should go to
the country with the speech of the Senator
from Ohio.
1t is undoubtedly true that while IL
excess Of impost duties has had q ten
dency
TO BUILDUP AND FOSTER MONOPOLIES
and enrich the few at the expense Of the
many, it has had a like tendency to in
woke free competition to labor and to re-
duce the w~Orkingmen TO the minimum Of
compensation. 1t has drawn a vast army
from Europe, ~ the Senator says, who en-
ter into competition with the labor they
fluid employed when they reach America,
and who enter into like competition among
themselves. II has not simply invited q
tide of honorable and manly emigration,
to which extent we would all concur in its
benz fcence, but by the increased cost of
his living and the multiplied eXactions
from his earnings il has made life a prccar.
ious burden to him here. By artificial and
false stimulus to his industries for a time
it has invited millions into the walks Of
his open competition from every hilltop
and valley in u W country and from
every quarter and section of the civilized
world. The HungarianS, the Italians, and
the Chiuaman have crowded him alike.
They have come from every nation,
come from every way
Come as the waves come,
When nav! es are stranded;
Com rs the winds come,
When forests are rended.
Take for example your numbering inter
ests on the lakes. | am told, and by those
WHO huON, tudl NuCutNtl "uRtS III IL
United States are not satisfactory to the
operator, instantly the borders of Canada
are filled with posters and hand bills,
"Lumbermen wanted" at such and such q
place and at such and such a price in the
United States. And so, under q system of
protection to labor, the American operator
and owner is protected against the impor-
tation of Canadian lumber and the Cana.
dian lumberman is protected in his right
to come into the United States, drive out
our own citizens, and fell cor forests.
Thus the operator can maintain his profit,
while the laborer is destroyed under this
gigantic forgery OF his interests and his
name. And thus has our free trade in
subsection, and left it where it is to-day,
conscious of injustice and wrong, and bent
on their redress.
Yet our lahoring men are blandly told
that they are to bind themselves hand and
foot forever and forever, to a system which
gives them all the free trade and C0mpe-
tition, and TO others and the privileged
few the monopoly aud the profit.
Sir, | am mistaken, in the freedom, the
intelligence, and the manhood of Ameri-
can labor, natural born and naturalized,
il, with its power at the polls, it allow
this condition to exist.
Mr.. President, / have no further purpose
in this discussion than to indicate my Co
operation in the demand of the President
IN THE INTEREST OF THE PEOPLE
for the reduction of their burdens, as he
stands squarely by the platform upon
which he was elected. The only question
before the Senate is the motion Of tho hon
orable Senator from Ohio to refer the Pres
ident's message to the appropriate com
mittee.
A bill TO reform the revenue system and
reduce taxation will come from the House
of Representatives. lido not doubt that 1t
will be framed in a spirit Of conservative
fairness TO all sections of the country, and
to all interests.
Much has been said which seemed cal
culated to alarm the country, and | am
not sure it has not been designed for that
purpose, with reference to the Presidents
Recommendations for reduction Of taxation.
- I-- AAA-