The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1890-03-15

workingmen themselves. The work.
ing man can live without the rich
mans capital, but the rich mans
capital is useless without the work
ing mans labor.
Because the working man is the
most necessary Of the population,
he shsuld be the chief consideration
of n wise nations political regime.
All law should he careful to protect
and encourage those who have no
means of livelihood but labor, and
to make the demands upon them for
the necessary services of State as
light as possible. Imposts, duties,
and taxes should be so regulated as
to throw most of their weight upon
the rich, the class best able to bear
them; and every fair and wise
means should be adopted by the
State to increase the earnings of
workingmen, by throwing open
every outlet possible for profitable
employment. Capital can and does
take care of itself, and rich men
can and do protect themselves. The
poor man is at disadvantage. Here
as well as elsewhere, the rights of
property are clearly defined and as
siduously preserved; but the rights
of the poor are surrounded by a
hazier atmosphere, and his claims
arc less zcalously y guarded.
The man of means is often prone
to take advantage of the poor mans
necessities, to purchase his labor at
the lowest price possible. 1t would
suit him to pay twenty-five cents a
day, and the workman find himself !;
or TO employ the fellow for his grub,
if he would promise to eat nothing.
This he considers legitimate. l
don't. On the other hand, the work.
ing man sometimes demands more
for his work than it is worth, more
than its value to the purchaser. 1t is
not reasonable to expect an employer
to pay more for labor than the pro-
duct of that labor returns to him.
Nor is it right for the employer to
grow opulent by another's labor,
while the laborer receives mere
pittance as his remuneration.
VI have too often noticed that the
man who was once a working man
himself, but has risen to atiluence
and become an employer, is fire.
quently the greatest enemy of the
working man and the strongest OPP
ponent of sufficient wages; while
the man who never knew what il
was to do days work in his life,
is often the first to champion the
cause of the poor, and to show
practically that he considers "the
workman worthy Of his hire"
have heard men talk like this: 81
know what it is to be poor. l have
had to work hard for what l have
got, and had to accept low wages
and eat the bread of poverty. Let
others do the same. The days Of
my adversely are over. "/These mer
who despise and oppress the class
from which they have emerged, like
a tawdry butterfly from an unpre
tentious grub, look like asses ant
talk like the mean, contemplate
balloons they are, in claw hamme
coats and white kidgloves, whicl
become them like necklace O
pearls on an unwashed pig. These ar
the kind Of men whose energy ant
liberalty would fertilize desert will
dishwater, and turn Paradise into
pigsty.
Another thing | have observes
more than once, fellows after growl
ing about the price of labor. goin
into liquor saloon and dissipatin
in cocktails as much as would SUP
port half dozen laboring men fO
a week. Their friends thought theI
l fine jovial fellows; ! reckoned ther
mean, miserable crawlers.
r High and low wages are compare
n tive terms. What are high wage
t in one place are low wagesin anothe
i place. The laborer may be we
f paid with two dollars day in Honc
. lulu, and badly paid with five time
e that amount in central Africa. /
: the first case the workman may b
8 able to live comfortably and la
:, aside money, and in the second hay
i to practise the most rigid econom
to make ends meet. 1t should L
e stated also that no government inte