Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1888-01-14
A PREACHERS SAY.
ASTONISHING STUPIDITY OF
BUSY PEOPLE.
Building Temples for PhantOms and
Huts for ThemSelyes-The Ma.
chine and the Man who
Tends Dey0uring
The Workers.

Invention has filed the world with
competitors not onl y of laborers, but
of mechanics mechanics of the high
est skill. To-day the ordinary labor
er is, for the most part, a peg III
wheel. He works with the tireless-
he feeds the Unsuitable. When the
monster stops the man is out of en-
ployment-out of bread. He has
not saved anything. The machine
that he fed was not feeding him, was
not working for him-the invention
was not for his benefit.
The other day | heard II man say
that it was almost impossible for
thousands of good mechanics to get
employment. and that in his judg-
ment the government ought to fur
nish work for the people. A few
minutes after | heard another say
that he was selling patent for cut
ting clio hes, and that one of the ma
chimes could do the work of twenty
tailors, and that only the week before
he had ;old to a great house in New
York, and that over forty cutters
had been discharged. On every side
men are being discharged and ma
chimes are being invented to take
their PAGES. When the great fac
tory shuts down, the workers who
inhabited it and gave it life, as
thoughts do the brain, go away, and
it stands there like an empty skull.
A few workmen by the force of habit
gather about the closed doors and
broken windows, and talk about dis
tress, the price of food, and the com
ing winter, They are convinced that
they have not had their share of
what their labor created. They feel
certain that the machines inside were
not their friends. They look at the
mansion of the employer, and think
of the places where they live. They
have saved nothing-nothing but
themselves. The employer seems to
have enough. Even when employ
ers fail, when they become bankrupt,
they are far better off than the labor
ers ever were. Their worst is be- ter
than the toiler's best.
The capitalist comes forward with
his specific He tells the working
man that he must be economical =
and yet, under the present system
economy would only lessen wages
Under the great law of supply and
demand every saving, frugal, self
denying workman is unconsciously
doing what little he can to reduce
the compensation of himself and his
fellows. The slaves who did not
wish to run away helped fasten
chains on those who did. So the
saving mechanic is certificate that
wages are high enough. Does the
great law demand that every worker
live on the least possible amount of
bread? Is it his fate to work one
day, that he may get enough food to
be able to work another? Is that to
be his only hope that and death?
Capital has always claimed and
still claims the right to combine.
Manufacturers meet and determine
prices, even in spite of the great law
of supply and demand. Have the
laborers the same right to consult
and combine? The rich meet in the
bank, the clubhouse or parlor.
Workingmen. when they combiue,
gather in the street. All the organ
ized forces of socicty are against
them. Capital has the army and
the navy, the legislature, the judicial
and the executive departments.
When the rich combine it is for the
purpose of Exchanging ideas"
When the poor combine it is "con-
spiracy." If they act in concert, if
they really do something it is a
''mob." If they defend themselves,
it is "treason." How is it that the
rich control the departments of gov
ernment: In this country the polit-