New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-09-29
A SOCIALIST LEADER.
JOHN BURNS, HIS EARLY LIFE AND PEN
SONAI, CHARACTERISTICS.
fprov THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT or The TRIBUNEI
' Davis Gentpnlbpr 4 4.


John Burns and the strike OF the LONDON
dock laborers being now the burning topic oi '"o
hour. some personal impressions of the former
NAV he Of interest. Three or four years ago l
accidentally saw Burns, of whom little was then
known, and asked him to come to see me- lie
came with his wife. delicate little woman, TO
when he seemed attached, and who had ears TO
hear only what he said | found him interest
ing. sincere and unsophistcated and saw that
he was going to he a force for good or evil Ill
the world At first sight he startlcs, but the
impressjon which his darkness OF complexion
causes wears off, lie is a West OF Scotland
Celt In former times he would have been known
ms Burns Dhu His beard which extends hlSh
on the cheeks and advances on the cheek bones,
and his eyebrows, which are beetng ana Droad
and nearly meet, of that deep black that one
finds in coal His complexion matches. Inc
eyes are light hazel shot with green, as prlsht
as a tene'S in the dark but more canine IMAM
feline in expression. l saw likeness in Robert
Burns the poet, and ascertained that John burns
is descended from one of Roberts uncles-an Ayr-
shire man. Burns laughs heartily and openly
and shows q set of cleaning, evenly set leetl'
which add to the startling strangeness Oh MS
! physiognOmy.
lie talked pleasantly out of the fulness of burn
a hard experience; but though in a state of per-
manent whitehead anger against what he deemed
the Injustice of the present social state, ne was
| not bitter or malevoIcnt | 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 ovcrtake IT, Burns called
| a second time, and ] invited him to come ana
spend an afternoon in the country. There, IN
answer 10 questions l dropped he told me the
| story of his life.
| His mother. who is still alive and whom he
| revercnces and loves is a woman of great mind
| and exceptional Grmness of character. She emil
| grated with him from Scotland when she was IL
Young widow and he n small boy. She bound
! him 10 a blacksmith, and he afterward improved
! on his early training and became mechanical en-
| qineer He was Injured to hardship. In the capacity
/ OF a mechanical engineer, his mother being iniirm
and needing some comforts, and he himself want
/ ing to save little money to have time to thank,
! he accepted employment on the Congo RIVER TO
| rcpair engines of disabled steamers which had
| broken down there and on the west coast of
| Africa lie was bound to stay at least a whole
year and stayed two years, keeping in health, but
suffering fearfuly from the heat Of the forge and
that of the climate His companions had not
probably his vitality, and none of them could re-
! pair the wear and tear Of working in a smithy
! ten hours day and sleeping in bungalow which
had not time TO cool Mt 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 help of alcohol, TO aSsimlate meat
lie could not think how he outlived the strain on
his constitution He used to drink gallons
Of water daily, which he gave ont
in perspIration. When in the Congo an early
! edition Of Adam Smiths Wealth Of Nations
WAS found as a trench was being dug imbedded
in n deep alluvial deposit 1t must have been
there more than threequarters OF a century.
and how it came there nobody could cOnlec-
ture Some of il was petrihed Burns was al
ways great reader and books, save those cir
| culated by missionaries for the negroes, were
not 10 he had His mind kindled In reading
Adam Smith. and was thrown into a new chan
mel II was OH the Congo. where civilization
WAS represented by the forge. the steamers,
some bungalows and tin tabernacle for the ma
! tiyes that Burnss vague Sociaishc notions
took shape. What moulded them was the work
NJ the staid, sagaclous Adam Smith. But as
Smith wrote before the relations OF capital and
labor were affected by steam. there were pages
in his book which Jared with many things
which Burns had learned from hard experience.
Burns l remarked, was abstemionus in food
as well as being a water drinller. l pressed him
| 70 partalxe of the dishes | had ordered for him.
At last he told me that his mother had all his
life cxhorted him to keep the body in subJect1on
and that he never well understood her wisdom
until he saw how French Republicans were de.
based through their love of good eating and how
the woritfnen in the House of Commons had
crown to dread being cut off from the sort OF
| fellowship to which they were admitted with
the rich. because if they were they
should have no delightful dinners
| He WAS drilling himself to be Indifferent to food
When riding from the railway to my place on
the TOP of an omnibus amid orchards laden Win
apples-which fell in quantities on the road-he
wondered how any Frenchman should, If he had
money enough TO buy roll of bread and cup
of milk be at a loss for food, with such Gut
of apples.
Burns amongst other things said that he fancied
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 elnanclpd-
ton liz should not mind. His mother was always
exborting him TO gain in self-mastery, to keep
down sclfshness and not 10 shrink from any
sacrifice that might serve as means for bringing
about tine reign of justice upon elrth. L have
said that Burns is not malevoent. While we
were Al dinner he nveighed with violence (which
was not that of II rhetorician against the capital
lists and the high dividends they took through
grinding down labor. l said to him: The
capitalists can no more help themsel YES than a
man in a train can help going with it, l, who
sympathize with many Of your aims looked
about twenty years ago for an investment OF
about 200 pounds. l was told TO put 1T IN "a
railway which was being made, and the success
Of which was problematcal But per cent
interest was guaranteed by a solvent Govern
menn The railway is now made, and the dlvi-
dends bring me in an interest of 10 pounds a
year on the 200 pounds. Do | seek to grind
any one? II | had not subscribed the money