Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1890-05-30

or bad reason: Instructions ON the rail track
In front OF midnight express trains because
the Offenders do not ike tine President o. the
company strikes on shipooard the hour they
were gong 10 sail, or IN printing offices the
hour the paper was to 90 10 press or in mines
the day the coal was to be delivered or on
house scafoldings 30 the builder fails in
keeping his cOntracL-aii these are only a hard
blow on the head of American labor, and
cripple its arms, and lame its feet. and
pierce It's heart. As result of one OF our
great American strikes you find that the
Operatives lost four hundred thousand dol
lars worth of wages. and have had poorer
wages ever since. TraDs sprung suddenly
upon employer. and violence, never took
one knot out of the knuckle of toll, or put
oPe farthing OF wages into a callous palm.
Barbarism will never cure the wron1s of
civilization. Mark that!
Frederick the Great admired some land
near his palace at Potsdam and he resolved
10 get It, Il was owned by miller. He Of
Tered the miller three times the value OF the
property. The miller would not take it. be-
cause 1t was the old homestead and he felt
about 1t as Naboth felt about his VINEYARD
when Ahab wanted it. Frederick the Great
was rough and terrible man, and he ordered
the miller into his presence; and the King,
with stick in his hand-a stick with which
he sometimes struck his officers of state-said
to this miller: NOW, have offered you
three times the value of that property, and
if You won't sell it I'll take it anyhow The
miller said: "Your Majesty, YOU won't"
Yes" said the King. Il will take it."
Then" said the miller, eff yor~ Majesty
does take it [ will sue you in the eaancerv
court" At that threat Frederick .ne Great
yielded his infamous demand. And the most
imperious outrage against the working
classes will yet cover before tne law Vic
Ience and contrary to the Law will never ac-
complish anything, but righteousness and &C.
cOrdlng to law Will accomplish it,
Well, if this controversy between, caDital
andlabor cannot be settled by human wis
dom, tits time for US to look somewhere else
for relief, and it points from my text rOseata
and jubilant, and puts one hand on the
brOadclOth shoulder Of capital and puts the
other hand on the hOmespun covered shout
der of toll. and says, with a voice that will
grandly and glOriOuSly settle this and settle
everything. 'WhatsOeVer ye would that
men should do to you. do ye even 50 to them"
That is the lady of the household will say:
II must treat the maid in the kitchen just as
l would like to be treated if [ were down
stairs and it were my work to wash and
cook, and sweep, and it were the duty of the
maid in the kitchen to preside in the parlor."
The maid in the kitchen must say: IF my
employer seems to be more prosperous than
l, that is no fault Of hers; I shall not treat
her an enemy. | will have the same in
dustry and fidelity downstairs as | would ex-
pect from my subOrdinates if [ happened to
be the wife of a silk importer"
The owner OF an iron mill, having taken
dose Of my text before leaving home in the
morning, will gointo his foundry, and, pass
ing into what is called the pudding room
he will see man there stripped to the waist,
and beSweated and exhausted with the labor
and the toll, and he will say to him: ''WRy,
it seems to be very hot in here. You look
very much exhausted. / hear your child is
sick with scarlet fever. II you want your
wages little earlier this week, so as to pay
the nurse and get the medicines, just come
into my office any time"
After awhile, crash goes toe money mar
ket and there is no more demand fer the
articles manufactured in that iron mill. and
the owner does not know what to do. He
says, ''Shdll stop the mill, shall ] run it
on half time, or shall l cut down the mems
wages" He walks the floor of his counting
room all day, hardly knowing what to do.
Toward evening he calls all the laborers to- |
gether. They stand all around, some with
arms akimbo, some folded arms, wondering |
facturer says: men, business is bad; don't |
make twenty dollars where [ used to make |
one hundred. Somehow, there is no demand |
now for what we manufacture, or but very
little demand. You see, [ am at vast expense, |
and have called you together this afternoon |
to see what you would advise l don't want |
to shut up the mill, because that would force |
YOU out of work. and you have always been |
very faithful, and [ like you, and you seem |
to like me- and the BARNS must be looked |
y
new dress I don't know what to do"
There is dead halt for minute or two
and then one Of the wOrkmen steps out from !
the ranks of his fellows and says: Boss |
you have been very good to US, and when
YOU prOsperei we prOsperel and now you |
are in tight place, end | am sorry, and we |
have got to sympathiZe with you. L don't |
know how the others feel, but propose that |
we take off twenty per cent. from our wages,
and that when the times get good you will |
and them
workman looks around to his comrades and
says: 'BoyS, what do you say to this? All
in favor o. my proposition Will say ay."
''Ay. ay! ayr shouted two hundred voices. !
But the mill owner, getting IN some new
machinery, exposes himself very much, and
takes cold and it settles into pneumonia and
he dies In the procession to the tomb are
all the workmen, tears rolling down their
cheeks and Off upon the ground; but an hour
before the procession gets to the cemetery the
wives and children of those wOrkmen are at
the grave waiting for the arrival Of the fu-
neral pageant. The minister of religion may
have delivered an eloquent eulOgium before
they started from the house, but the most
impressive things are said that day by the
working classes standing around the tomb.
That night in all the cabins Of the working
people where they have family prayers, the
widOwhoOd and the Orphanage in the man
sion are remembered. No glarlng popula~
tiOnS look over the iron fence OF the ceme-
dictiOn of God and man is coming for the
fulfillment of the ChriSt-hke injunction,
Whatsoever ye would that men should do
to you, do ye even so TO them"
oh" says some man here, ''that is all
Utopian. that is apocryphal, that is i'm
possible" No, [ cut out of a paper this:
''One of the peasantest incidents recorded in
a long time is reported from Sheffield Eng
land. The wages of the men in the iron
works at Sheffield are regulated by board