The state herald., 1890-02-28
EIeHT.AouR MOVEMENT.
Preliminary Meeting to Pave the Way
y for this Popular Reform,

Preliminary Meeting to Pave the Way
| for this Popular Reform.
The largest hall in Denver was
crowded to its utmost capacity last Sun
lay BY those interested in shortening the
hours Of labor for the working man. The
meeting was held under the auspices Of the
Denver Trades Assembly and Building
Council.
Among the prominent speakers were
Rev. Myron Reed, who said.
Mr.. President, Ladies aud Gcntlcmen-l
am en- cight-hour man. Applause.
have already worked that number OF hours
today, but have the advantage over some
OF you that can take it u little easier to-
morrow. This question comes up to day
and has boon coming up now for several
years, because 1.-THE introduction OF labor
saving machinery. No sooner does n
young man learn trade, spending years
ut 1t, than some man, with a knot in his
iorehcnd, goes to work to make machine
TO do the work One man with machine
will dispense with ten men, and in some
machine, l,O0O. Wo want less hours OF
work that moro men may labor. Ap-
plause. There nrc some l7,0C0,00O who
work with their hands In the Urited States
when they can. or these l10OO,00J there
arc 100000 now idle, not because they
like to be idle, but because they cannot find
work. III you reduce your hours OF work
YOU will give place to this idle million. 1t
is libel on human nature to say that man
won't work. have had us much to do for
thirteen years with what is called the
tramp:as any man1n Colorado. He did not
choose to be n tramp, not once In u thous
and times, but has evolved into n tramp,
seeking work md not finding II, and that
Is fall from which he seldom rises
LABOR ABUNDANT.
IfColonel Randolph will put three lines
OF an advertisement in the morning paper
calling for 1900 men to tear up our streets.
they will come and tear up the streets,
Applause. Eight hours work In day Is
enough. What does ten hours work mean I
When you get home from ten hours la
COR, you do not get home to find servant
bringing your slippers, and another ser
want bringing your horse round by the
| front door. You GO homo TO do chores
Ten hours day means fourteen hours for
evory laboring man. Ten hours in the
| shop or factory and four hours at home. ]
| have n brother who is II farmer up In
northern Wisconsin. spend some weeks
every summer vita him. He rises be
tween five and six and does chores. Be
| tween six and seven he gets out and works
| on tho farm until noon; has thirty minutes
| perhaps, leeway at dinner time, works all
the afternoon until dark, comos home then
and does n lot more chores milks cows, cuts
wood, and, plumb tired, goes TO bed. He is
a college man, and when | ask him II he
| has read certain book, he says he has no
time 10 read and that II he had the timo he
is too tired Life TO him is rising up, go
ing to work, eating, sleeping, and rising up
again. Now ladies and gentlemen, is life
| OF that sort worth living. Well, that de-
pends altogether on what life is. II life
is sleeping and eating and working, for my
part, ] would Just us soon be In Riverside
Applause. ] object TO making life lone
| long dcmnition grind,n as one of Dickens
| characters puts it, There are several
| sides TO man Thcrcis the working side.
and tn, thinking side, and the side that is
| to be amused. want the laboring man of
| America to have time enough TO read u
boox, and to look Mt n picture, and to walk
out and take ride, and TO 20 and see Joe
| Jefferson applausel, and to go and see
| Patti, although that Is too thin laughter
or rnthcr too thick laughter: 81 u seat
won't do for the laborng men In America,
not now or ever. Applause. l am not
| only In favor of the laboring men of Amer
| lea reducing their hours to eight, but am
in favor of making all men in America
work eight hours, Applause.
| We have got u lot Of grandsons OF rich
mcn; more t'nn NrA lister and his 100.
There are 100000 OF the They are as idle
as the .nsii .nIns nies. They toll not,
| neither do they spin. You see them In
summer time all along the coast, at the
watering places from Florida to Maine aud
in club houses. They have never carned u
| dollar, never will earn dollar. II would
be better IL they had To WORK eight hours.
| When all men work eight hours day, the
| work OF the world Is done, aud done easily
and without toi! and without exhaustion.
People speak Ct the evils arising from
strong drink. Tho evils OF strong drink
spring often from overwork Appnusc
The horses cannot 20 further on oats aud
so you give them the spur. When n.cn
have fed well and slept well there viii be
| no more occasion for laws on liquor. Ap-
| plause. ] mean in this way: ] have been
In London on Sunday and on Saturday, and
| ] have watched the people and looked nj
their homes. have seen the little dcns
F., .hey lived In aad many story tenement
houses with people Of 10th sexes and all
cO.ors piled into one little room together
| aud calling that home. and eos, by that
home gin shop, flaming with light aud
full of color. Do you wonder that man,
when he goes home from his toll and gets
| his supper should turn over TO that gin
shop for drink. i, is ouly natural. You
can expect no more and no less. la this
| city, III we close up one door we should
open another. ] believe In poor mems
clubs, coffee houses, places where men can
assemble. II is not good for man to be
| alone. Let them come together and chnt:
talk politics and religion and social qucs
'ions. We ought To have plenty OF such
/ places all over the city.
But what will men do with themselves
and their Old hours after you have takca
| them from the shops. That is none OF my
business OF OF your business. Applause
| might care what mau does with his
| time. ! might persuade him us far us pos
siblc whit to 10 with his timc; but i, Is
| not my business To legislntc what he shall
do. Applauscl Let him amuse himself
as he plcases Applause And now, gen
temon, do you ask me tho question whcih
ar this cnn be carried. What kind OF
| people do SEQ before me here: | sec
square heads; heads well set on muscular
bodies. people that eau read and have read,
and have thought Thcrc Is no question OF,
earth but what can be settled by the labor
lug men OF America. Applause. You
have IL all In your own hands. II will he
settled sacciully, happily and finally.
| What will you do with this question
Talk IL, talk II at home, on the street, nt
| the shop, anywhere, everywhere, keep
talking IL. Things grow By talking In this
| country. Talk means thought and thought
moves the wheels In this country. | sup
pose you do not want this thing 10 come
violently In Mt n certain day Of tho month
| Only Insist that II come In. One of the
most happy things tia, ever occurred on
earth, TO my mind, was the success Of the
London strike. Applause. Have you
ever thought what tuat means That 100,
UO1 dock laborcrs, not trndesincn, not m,
chanics, but so-callcd ignorant dock
labcrcrs, unskillcd lnborcrs. that those
men could eo out on strike aud remain
out seven weeks and the name OF no, one
OF them appeared Mt tho police rour,s OF
London, not one loud applause, The next
remarkable thing about thu, was, how
everybody lent their car 10 H. Archbishop
| Manning, eighty three years OF agc. one OF
tho high dianitarics OF the Roman Catholic
church, worked with his head nnd with
hls heart and with his hands tina, the
t.rikc might succeed. Applause.
Az iNNi>cibiE rNIoN.
When the high dirpitarics Of tho church
and state listen 10 the cry OF tho poor aud
lend their hand 10 tho cause, thnt cause ia