Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-10-03
A SOCIALIST LEADER.
John Burns, His Early Life and Per-
sonal Characteristics.

John Burns, His Early Life and Per-
sona1 Characteristics.
| Paris Correspondent ~. Tribune.
John Burns and the strike Of the London
dock laborers being now the burning topic Of
the hour, some personal impressions Of the
former may be of some interest Three or four
years ago accidentally saw Burns, Of whom lit
tie was then known, and asked him to come to
see me. He came with his wife, . delicate
little woman. to whom he seemed attached, and
who had ears to hear only what he said. I
found him interesting, sincere and unsophisti-
Gated, and saw that he was going to be force
for good or evil in the world. At frst sight he
startles, but the impression which his darkness
| OF complexion causes wears of. He is Q
west Of Scotland Celt. In former times he
would have been known as Burns Dhu.
His beard, which extends high on the cheeks
and advances ON the cheek bones, and his
eyebrows. which are beetling and broad
| and nearly meet, are Of that deep black that
| one findsin coal. His complexion matches. The
eyes are light hazel, shot with green, as bright
! as felnes in the dark, but more canine than
| feline in expression. saw a likeness in Robert
| Burns, the poet, and ascertained that John
Burns is descended from one of Roberts I'M
cles-an Ayrshire man. Burns laughs heartily
and openly and shows a set Of cleaning.
evenly set teeth, which add to the startling
| strangeness OF his physiognomy. He talked
pleasantly out Of the fullness of burning
thoughts and Of meditations forced on him by
| a hard experience, but though in a state OF
permanent, whitehead anger against what he
! deemed the injustice of the present social
| state, he was not bitter or malevolent. /
should say that he was destructive, as were the
prophets when they called for the ruin OF
Jerusalem by declaring that for its sins ruin
would overtake it. Burns called second
time and invited him to come and spend an
afternoon in the country. There, in answer to
questions dropped, he told me
THE STORY OF HIS LIFE.
His mother who is still alive and whom he
reverences and loves, is q woman of great mind
| and exceptional firmpess Of character. She
emigrated with him from Scotland when she
was young widow and he small boy. She
| bound him to blacksmith, and he afterward
| improved on his early training and became Q
| mechanical engineer. He was Injured to hard
ship. In the capacity Of a mechanical engi-
neer, his mother being infrm and needing
some comforts, and he himself wanting to save
| little money to have time to think, he sc-
cepted employment on the Congo river to re-
| pair engines Of disabled steamers which had
broken down there and on the west coast of
Africa. He was bound to stay at least a whole
year and stayed two years, keeping in health,
| but suffering fearfully from the heat Of the
| forge and that Of the climate His companions
had not probably his vitality, and none of them
| could repair the wear and tear Of working in a
smithy ten hours q day and sleeping in bunga-
low which had not time to cool at night, but
kept hot as An oven. Burns was
TEMPERANCE MAN,
which he is not sure was to his advantage when
SO much was taken out Of him in work and his
stomach unable. without the aid OF alcohol, to
assimilate meat. He could not think how he
| outlived the strain on his constitution. He
| used to drink gallons Of water daily, which he
gave out IN perspiration. When in the Congo
an early edition Of Adam Smiths Wealth of
Nations" was found as trench was being dug,
imbedded in deep alluvial deposit 1t must
have been there more than three-quarters OF a
century, and how it came there nobody could
conjecture. Some of it was petrified. Burns was
| always q great reader, and books, save those
| circulated by missionaries for the negroes were
| not to be had. His mind kipdled in reading
Adam Smith, and was thrown into q new chan
| mel 1t was on the Congo, where civilization
was represented by the forge, the steamers,
some bungalows and . tin tabernacle for the
natives, that Burns vague socialistic notions
| took shape. What nodded them was the work
| Of the staid, sagacious Adam Smith. But az
| Smith wrote before the relations Of capital and
labor we're affected by steam, there were pages
in his book which Jared with many things
which Burns had learned from hard export
ence. Burns, l remarked, was abstemious in
| food as well as being water drnksr. Ipressed
him to partake Of the dishes had ordered for
him. At last he told me that his mother had
all his life sxhortsd him to keep the body in sub
lection.
BxsxANaKD SOME DAY.
Burns among other things said that he fan.
cied he would be hanged some day, and that il
he did as much by swinging for the labor cause
as John Brown did for the cause Of negro
l. I
was always exhorting him to gain in self.
mastery, to keep down sel6shness and not to
| shrink from any sacrifice that might serve as q
| means for bringing about the reign Of justice
| upon earth. / have said that Burns il not ma
levolent. While we were at dinner he inveighed
| with violence (Which was not that of rhetori.
clan) against the capitalists and the high divi.
dends they took through grinding down labor
but softened and said: The system Is wha,
should be hated, and not the individual capital.
lists, in SO far as they are not WilfulIy op-
| pressive and grinding" When was
taking him from my house to the railway on
the road we walked between two tall domain
walls recently built by stock broker. There
was an accidental breach in the walls, through
which we obtained o glorious and gladdenine
prospect OF the surrounding county, country
Of hills, dales and forests, with Q wide and
luminous horizon. Said Burns: What an afro
| cious usurpation OF the owner OF that domain
to block out that view! Have not wsyfarers a
right to be gladdened by it? Has any radical
member Of the chamber Of deputies ever
thought Of proposing d crushing tax on wall.
of this kind?" l did not remember that any
had.
This year I had two calls from Burns. Since
the day he spent in the country with me be
had been in prison and elected o member oil
the London county council. / found him al
socialistic as ever, but less irste. His horizon
was wider. and he had the concise way Of put
| ting things Of q man who has a good deal tc
do. He told me that he had come to a socialist
congress here. Marxist congress was COINS
Oh simultaneously. Burns rather wished for
fusion, which could not, he afterward learned
be negotiated. His idea was to form, as much
as possible, body OF all nations, peoples
tongues and languages, who would that i
was to their interest to combine for certain
specific objects. He was
NEGOTIATING THE GREAT STRIKE
which is now going forward. The class of mer
engaged in it are about the most uncompromis
ing that ever an agitator took in hand, ant
have never been in any great anti-capital com
blnation. They are the drifts of civilization
brought down by hard times and Incapacity fol
any sort Of skilled labor to the mouth Of the
| Thames, and form d large percentage Of thai
Whitechapel district to which Jack the Ripper
exploits have given worldwide fame Burn.
| seems weighted with sense OF responsibility
but to sec what he was about while he was will
me German diplomatst dropped in. This
gentleman had served as first secretary Of lega
ton in Copenhagen, Paris. London and st
| Petersburg. and belongs to q celebrated diplo
| matte family I introduced him To tho socio1iot