Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1889-05-09
Who Is In the Soup?

pears, forfeited all claim to he consid.
cred friendly or well-iisposed by oul
persistence in saying unpleasant
things; and we must sadly acknowl-
edge that we have had to say great
many unpleasant things within the
last few years-things unpleasant far
us to say, and unpleasant for the work
ingman to hear. We have had to say
that many of the leaders in whom the
workingman puts his faith are incom-
petent, insincere, dishonest and mis-
chievous. We have had to say that
the laws of this country were made to
protect all citizens alike, and that all
citizens alike should respect and obey
them. We have had to say that one
wrong was not the best corrective of
another, ANA that even an eXasperate d
striker owed Il certain respect to the
community i'm which he struck. And
We have had to say what seems tn
have been hardest of all to hear. that
SD long as the majority of wOrkingmen
preferred unskilled to skilled labor,
so long would both branches of the
labor market suffer-because there
would be too many uDskilled laborers
for the natural demand, and too few
skilled laborers to make it safe for
manufacturers to risk capital in en-
plnying them.
Having thus forfeited all claim to the
title of friend of the workingman, it
would he indelicate for us to argue the
matter, or to try to prove that there is
more friendship in n bitter, wholesome
truth than there is i'm a sugared but
innutritous lie. In truth, from what
we have seen of the professed "friend
of the workingman," We should prefer
to be the workingman's friend without
either making the profession or getting
the credit. But if we renounce all pre-
tensions to the honor, we are certainly
at liberty to inquire oil the working
man how much good he is getting out
of the friends he has chosen of late
esp, cially out of those whom lie Crap
led to his soul with hooks of steel last
November. How goes it with you,
brother? You heard them then; you
heard how they loved you, and how they
yearned for the opportunity of serving
yOu-how jealousy they guarded your
interests-now uuselfishly they sought
to protect you against your foes-hoW
little they thought of themselves, how
much they thought of you. How fares
it with you and your interests now
now that the mists of November have
cleared away, and the fresh Spring
sunshine is bringing in the dull Sum
mer season?
You remember the terrible things
that they told you would happen. i
you did not let them save you? You
remember how, if Mr.. Cleveland was
elected, a period of depression was to
come upon the business of the country
factories were to close, wages We're &c
be reduced-whereas Mr.. Harrison's
election was to bring you good bust
ness, good wages, IL good market for
your labor, and prosperity generally
Well Mr.. Cleveland has been defea ted
and Mr. Harrison has been elected
And where are you? And how are your
wages? Have they been increased or
reduced? Are the ia ctnries running
full time, or are they shutting down?
Is the labor market booming, or is it
true that never in years were your
strikes so hopeless, the power and in
fiuence of your unions and knight
hoods and declarations so crippled and
weakened? Looking at the matter in
the light of ,mmon sense, how fares
it with you, brother? Or, if we may
put a comprehensive question in the
language of those same friends of yours:
"Who is in the soup?"
You are in the soup, ust where your
friends, the politicians, left you when
they were done with you last Novem-
Der. You are in the soup, and there
you will stay for four years, aud there
you will go again at the end of those
four years, unless, in the meantime,
you learn the wisdom of exercising
common sense. Six months ago. you
let these men lead you by the nose
You marched around, shrieking for
Protection. prOclaiming that you did
not want British Free Trade-which
nobody had offered you-and asserting
that Home Market was good enough
for you. Well, then, you have your
PrOtection-and are likely to Rave
more of it-ynu have no Free Trade
and none too much trade of any kind
and you have your Home MARI ct
what there is of it. And, right and
left, mills and factories are shutting
down on you, your wages are reduced,
and business is bad all over, with no
signs of lettering. Does the flavor If
the soup satisfy yoL? 1t is likely to be
your diet while you support these same
expensive friends. For while you
drink the thin "skilly" Of hard times,
they live comfortably on the turtle
soup of protected prosperty-which
you pay for.
And what did you expect, brother?
Have you not known these friends
for years and years? Chief among
them was Mr.. Andrew Carnegie, who
can manage a lockout better than any
man in this country; and there was
hardly one in "a the list who had not
been denounced, at some time, as an
oppressOr OF labor. We are not discus
sing the justice or injustice of this de-
nunciation: we merely state II fact
that your "friendsn were of the very
class which you are fond of accusing OF
capitalistic tyranny.
What led you To think that they de-
sired To serve YEA, or 10 serve any bad y
but themselves? They wanted protec-
ton, of course. Protection is the
governments guarantee IL the manu-
tacturer that no foreigner shall be al
lowed to compete with him, and that
he shall be allowed to fiX his own
prices as high rs he chooses. They
wanted Home Market-naturallv.
AS they owned tue market, aud made
the prices TO suit themselves, it is hard
to see why they needei more. But
what under the sun did yOu want OF
these things? They are Just W hat you
had then what you hau had all your
life-times-and having them, YOU
were far from being satisfied. And
yet you felt sure that you didn't want
British Free Trade, or even an Ameri-
can reduction of seven per cent. in YOUR
tsriff taxes.
And now you are in the soup-you,
the unthinking, as we'll as your most
Thoughtful and intelligent brothers,
whom you have dragged down with
you. But, after all, the position has
its advantages. Nobody will disturb
you tbere-nobody will interrupt your