Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1890-11-28


as long as the bread lasts. I have got to
get rid of that bread" How does he 90
to work to get rid of that bread?'. He
commences to hire men and he keeps hir.
ing until he has two men to one lob.
"Now,' he says, I have got them where
[ want them" And he goes to one of
those poor fellows and says, 81 want
twenty per cent of that half loaf'-and
the poor fellow is obliged to accept it, be-
cause the other poor fellow IS hungry
enough to do it for twenty per cent off if
he doesn't. Now he has got them down
twenty per cent What do the working
men begin to do when they get in this
position? do not want to tlattcr you,
working people. l know you better than
you know yourselves, I have made it
my business to study you for twenty-five
years. Let me tell you-a majority of
you-your BRAINS are IN y0ur stomach,
and never work, until you get hungery.
When you get hungryyou begin to think
and then one of you say, ''How did we
get into this scrape?" Another, who has
been more hungry, says, 81 see through
it.; these fellows here pooled their issues;
they have associated their labor; they
have associated their capital; not only
that-they have taken the state into part
nership with them Then they say that
we have not time to run this machine;
we have to work ten hours per day
when we get it to do. "Why," says one
of them, Hire an agent to do it for
you" Who will we get? Well down in
Scranton there is a fellow by the name of
Terence V. Powderly We will send for.
him, and sayto him, "Mr. Powderly, we
would like: to hire you to be our agent.
''Well," he says, 'what do you want me
to dor ''We want you to sell our labor
in the dearest market you can find, and
we will give you for your services 81, 500
per year. Not ten thousand; and I have
known Mr.. Prwderly to serve his organ
ization for S400 per year. every WE'LL"
says he, and he accepts the situation on
these terms. The next morning he goes
down to the office of the Missouri Pacific
railway. Seeing q man sitting there, he
inquiries if this is Mr. Hcxie the agent Of
the Missouri Pacific railway. Receiving.
an affirmative reply, he says that his
name is Powderly, and, that he is the ap-
pointed agent Of the Knights of Labor
who are in the employ Of his road, and
ho ic fhoro TO 81. ho, I,
in regard to labor. The moment he an
nounces that fact there is a frown on the
brow of Mr.. Hoxie, and he replies. II
don't know you sir. I don't know you
sir. don't known any agent for my
help. If my employees want to deal with
me they must come to me individually,
and not through an agent" Now, fellow
citizens, hear is the situation: Incor-
porated capital claims the right te trans
act its business through an agent, and
denies that right to associated labor 1t
was the demand for the establishment
of that principle On the part Of labor that
caused the gre;;J strike on the South
western system, and not the discharge of
a man named Hall, as was claimed by
the capitalistic pless. Hence, we say in
this section that we desire the incorpor-
alton of trade unions under the law, that
shall place them on an equal footing with
incorporated capital.
But, say they, you fellows are awful
mean. You won't let any person work
in the shop that does not belong to your
union. Now, do not know how it is
with the workingmen in this city, but in
my trade if we can prevent it. we will
not let any man work in shop that does
not belong to our union. But, say you,
that is arbitrary. Not bit of it. You
ask ME why? Well, let me tell you.
The United States census, the bureau of
labor statistics of fifteen different states,
records this fact, that wherever labor
organizations exist the wages are from
Is to 20 per cent higher than where no
labor organization exist. Why is this SO?
Well, it is because the members Of these
labor organizations pay taxes in the form
of dues and assessments to keep their
wages up. That being the case, what
right has another man to come along and
take the benefit of this high price and
not pay his share of taxation? You
would not allow u man to build a house
here without paying his share of the taxes
to support the city government. No:
you would send the collector to collect
the tax, and if he did not pay it you
would sell the house and take the taxes
out OF the proceeds.
We read that the Hon. Ben Butter
worth has been telling the farmers Of
Kane county, Ills, that mortgages are
an evidence Of prosperity. There is no
proof that his rural hearers at once put up
the prices of their lands. The fact that
the sheriff is about to put much Of the
said lands up at auction would have de-
tered rise in price even had the buoy
ant Ben succeeded in proving his COM
forting proposition to their satisfaction.
Field and Farm.