Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1888-02-04

4 He lleSSdSt WAS sent 10 lHcSe men al Ter
the gallows had been erected in their
sight. What was the answer! 1t was
clear and distinct and worthy an age pc
culiarly heroic-"We love life, and our
wives and little ones, but there is one
thing dearer to all of us than even that,
it is the cause of the wronged and robbed
wage workers that we have espoused;
and rather than that should be degraded
by our begging for that which by right
is ours, we will give our lives"
| turn with feeling of loathing from
such thing as Oglesby. From the mo-
ment these men made up that decision,
until they died there was no surrender
nor turning back. can hear the still
hour of that awful night the clear Ger
man voice of Engel as he recites in his
mother tongue that wonderful poem,
''The Weavers." | hear the rich tenor
voice of Parsons, as heard it years ago,
as he hears the last stroke of the hammer
on the scatfold, singing without break
or quiyer in his voice. "Annie Laurie. ="
Remember these men were not like the
Christian martyrs who before so fearless
ly faced death by fire and the sCatfold.
They were buoyed up by the hope of in
stant transition to 'realms of bliss. !"
These men were all agnostics and looked
forward to nothing but the cold dream
Christian minister called only a few
hours before he was to put on his shroud,
Spies, cheerful and happy, told this man
OF God, pray for yourself; you need it
more than l do"
In the worlds history of crimes COM
mitted in the name of law, there is none
to my mind SO black as this; and when
the names Of the judicial tools of a rob
Der system, who wrought this crime shall
take their places by the side of the exc.
Grated judicial prostitutes of the past,
the names of these labor agitators will
blaze in the temple OF fame among those
who died to pave the way for human
progress.
have not yet touched the real subject
upon WEIGH | came here to speak.
came, not in the name of rose-tinted and
rose-scented charity. | came to talk of
something grander and better-some-
thing which when it becomes universal
will deprive two classes of their present
ccupaton-beggars and robbers. | am
here demanding justice, She has been
pictured as blind. Judging from the
present condition of the world one woui.
| think that she is not only blind but deaf
and dumb as well. These men who died
in the interest of shorter hours and bet
ter pay for wage-workers left wives and
children behind. They went calmly to
| the gallows with the assurance that the
workingmen and women of America
| would see to it that the wolf of want
should be kept away from the sorrowing
| one, and to do it not the work of charity,
but simply fulfilling binding obligation.
| What less can the workers do? The
price of one glass of beer apiece each
| year will more than fulfill this sacred
contract, and keep the homes of those
widows and orphans materially comfort
able.
viii you allow the enemies Of justice
to hold up your ingratitude as a justitica-
ton for their crime. The obligation on
your part is so little and the considera-
ton on the other so vast, you must not
shirk in the least If there is not graft
tude enough in the hearts Of American
workingmen and women to furnish food,
| shelter and clothing to the widows and
| children of the seven sacrificed on the
altar of the eight-hour movement, then
indeed may 'the martyrs stir in their
bloody graves" Wherever there is any
labor organization-an where is there
not? someone must be selected to re-
ceive and forward funds to these families
| Capitalism has grown more arrogant in
| its demands ever since November l1th
| and whenever the nine hours, or nine
and one half, as in the case of the taiIors
of New York had been granted, notice
| has been given to return to ten hours as
of old. This, my friends, is only the re-
ceding wave from the rising tide in the
great industrial ocean, and when the
great flood-tide shall come, as it must
and will, there will not be prisons, gal
lows, PinkertOns, nor ermine coated ras-
Gals enough to keep it back, as they to
their sorrow found, who hanged that
poor old man at Charleston, Va, in 1859
By and by justice will tear the bondage
from her eyes, pull the cotton out Of her
ears, stiffen up the muscles of her arms
| then her sword shall flash in the air and
the world will learn that the souls of the
Chicago martyrs are marching on with
strides such as were taken by the soul of
"Old Ossawatomie Brown" in 1862, as it
was stamping slavery and shareholders
to death. As died chattel slavery, SO
must die wage slavery, sired by greed
and born of competition.
In the place of industrial anarchy must
come cooperation and industrial order.
Gauvain, the night before his death,
took look into the future and spoke
thus; They that toll shall have; there
abundance for the poor, for all men shall
he brothers, This is the future.
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