The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1888-01-27
REFoRM AND LABOR PRESS
Aavoea,iae re nights Of 5, Men WI who
M.sttsr Assist Nor Appreciate the

Advooa,,as re Nights Of Men who
Nestter Assist Nor Appreciate tho
Work That Is Done For Them.
We pen these words because We, knev
hey will be read by ma,N t6i'effssiihh whose
behalf lie tetftttifihh press of this nation is
Conducted. 1t is with a feeling of
humiliation and sorrow that we are com
PEELED to speak as we do.
rur two years or mere the lahsr harefr
OF ,his. Lard taeR lsbBied to spread the
WI " tfhtihl among tic masses, The
Hhlt9!fs and writers, whose self sacrifice
eas beer, that Of martyrs, from Maine TO
California. have with prophetic eye sem
and with .tnrophetin eyehpoiIted out; the
injustice under which the masses suffer.
They have told You in earnest words, and
often in agony almost like that of Gethse-
maine, that the present capitalistic system
would grow up more and more oppres-
sive-building up an ~aristocracy of wealth
on one hand, and pauperism and dcgra-
dation on the other-lhcy have told ovcr
and over again that our ruling classes,
withttcir methods, tended to and would
result in precisely the slime way az things
are in Europe. Hundreds of these roya.
Inch have sacrificed Brilliant prospects
aid expended their SHE and
neais tb shbw YOU, the t8ilcrs, the
way tn a more Just and equitable system
IA system which would insurcthat which
you know you do moi now enjoy, viz,
the full measure of the wealth your labor
creates. Scores of these men. discouraged
and disheartened by your stupid disre-
gard of your OWL interests, have aban-
doncd the fight altogether, or. actually
Disguised, goue over TO the enemy of in
dustrial reform, cNclaiming as we have
heard some: THE w~orkingmen get more
than they deserve; they think more OF
men and systems that rob them than they
do of men Who would pour out theil
blood for thcin:"
We tbi,fess that at times we have felt
IN the same way. When Thbs. A. Arm,
strong, the editor ut the Labor Tribune,
run for governor Of Pennsylvania Il few
years agb, we said: surely the work
ingmcn of that state. for whom Arm
strong has devoted his life, will for thi:
once refuse to assist the known cnemie!
of organized labor and vote the labol
ticket headed by such a friend to laboi
as everybody knows Tom Armstrong Il
be. But when election day came min.
out of ten OF the wage workers of Penn
sylvanih, who had struck and stared ant
gruwlcd, and damned the men and TIL,
system that kept them practically in sla
very, voted for the men who We're ownet
by the coal and oil baluns, and against til,
devoted champion. Tom Armstrong j
dead, and he died of a broken heart at tht
base iigrititude Of those whose condition
| and hnJ,pjrrcc ln wp,11 nJ,n,,a
Men like Swinton, Armstrong. Weaver
Norton. Harper and GilIctt have assume,
that the wage workers of this generation
are more intelligent and would rise to
higher plane simply by having the wa,
pointed dut, instead Of having to be drag
ged, as 1t were, up higher, rs the toilcr
of past generations have been, but the
are mistakeil-those who suffer The mos
bad systems and oppressive laws ncvc
obtain relief by their wv efforts, and III
chances are they would cruelty those VIII
would assist them to better conditions
Aid the way in Which the labor press O
this country is not supported by the wage
Garner whose battle it fights shows this
If the men who work for wages andth
men who would if they could find en-
ployment even at starvation rates, AZ
ever lifted into Il system where millioi
aires grow no more on their pcnury.
will be against their will. They will forl
societies and unions like Knights of j.:
Dor and trades councils, and spend none
and cticfgy on idiatie hoycotts and strike
and then go around and cuss the papl
and editor who tells them the only way t
change the laws that made these Cona
tons is to take possession of the law mai
ing machinery and stop voting for tn
parties which insist the laws are Just ri"l
now. The wonder to us is, that in tn
face of such continued and deyilish il
gratitude there is a single labor papel
speaker or writer TO stand between til
~avaricc and greed of the ~monopolisli
robbers and the weary toilers whose day
are spent amid the crash and dangers G
machinery, or down in the mines work
ing for the lowest pittancc, exposed I
the dangers of that calling.
There are vices which exist anon
workingmen. that we are aware interior
much with their supporting labor paper
Too many Workingmen suffer their il
~tellccts TO be clouded by that whic
steals AWAY mans brain" Such men, q
n rule, whether they be members fthe Il
Of l.. or not, can be depended on. not {
pay for nor read Il labor paper. but al
too ready to follow %pot-house politicians
to the polls and vote to rivet more tight
the chains of industrial slavery.
Ignorance is the stronghold of the labc
robbers today, rs in the past. Hence
is, that those who live on the fruits oful
rcquicted toll do all they can to poiso
the mind of, the average toilcr against Ii
Dor agitators and labor papers. for the
know full well that when their mcthoc
are known to the masses there will be Il
end of the system which makes those VIII
, build palaces live in novels, while III
jewellers in the palaces toll not, neitherd
5 they pin.-Nangatuct, Conn, Agitato