Workmen's advocate. (New Haven, Conn.) 1883-1891, 1891-03-07
The State of Massachusetts M A
Teacher.

Ld0oF Ltutef, IN It's ISSUE OF j inuary
3, 1891, gave about half a column in
presentation of the claims of tin < State
of Massachusetts, to be school teacher
in the sisterhood of the Union, an d more
as follows.
"ln the famous Freedom Speech of
Wendell Philips, he said: When Lib
erty Is IN danger, Faneuil Hall has the
right, 1t Is her duty, to strike Inc key.
note for these United States
ut is the pride of the sons of this
commonwealth that Massachusetts is
but lager Faneuil Hail. and that
when Liberty is in danger il is her
right and duty to play the part of
sChool-teacher in the siserhood of the
Union; her right and duty to strike the
Key note of progress; her right an q duty
to be the pioneer of advance in social
and economic reform
'ln what degree this right has been
asserted and duly performed may be
IN some measure Comprehended bv
reading the conclusion of the Report Of
the Bureau of Statistics for 1890. which
We pr in another column
las Chef Wadlln says, no other State
can approach this record, and the action
OF Massachusetts, has established many
presidents for other states to follow.
There Is much left to be done in
this commonwealth, but Massach usetts,
the SchoOl-Teacher, still has charge Of
the class and will be true to her n ancient
traditions and glOries in the ever widen.
ing held of economic reform"
The name of Wendell Phillips is mis-
appropriated to lead off Mr. Fosters
adulatory editorial. Wendell Phillips
was no tlatterer, but made it his life.
work to study the evils which preyed
on the honor and vitality Of his State
and to lead forlorn hopes for their. extir.
patton.
Even his language as quoted in the
editorial is characterless. He himself
never named any speech of his a Free
dom Speech" There is a speech of his
preserved to us, made in FaneuiI Hall
and in which are these words:
"Only he, whose soul and body refuse
to crouch beneath inhuman legislation.
has right to be heard here. Who built
these walls? A Huguenot built this hall,
who was MT permitted to live on the
soil of his own beautiful France, and it
may naturally be supposed that he dedi-
Gated it to the most ultra, outside, idea
of Liberty. 1t is a place for the running
slave to find shelter
The Labor Leader would have its
readers believe that Massachusetts is one
great cradle of liberty. He affects not
70 know that the man whose name he
has placed IN false position was
mobbed more than once in the streets
aud halls of Boston for his services to
humanity; mobbed, not by Socialists,
Anarchists, or outraged wage.work ers,
but by the elite of Boston, merchants
and city officials, at a time when in New
York and other cities outside the State,
he had respectful hearing.
No one will question what rights and
duties belong to the State of Mass achu.
sets 1t is the manner of her exc. rcise
of the right, and her futiIment of the
duty, to be pioneer in social and econ
Omic reform, which are to be cues.
toned.
The reforms which handful of re-
monstrants have brought to pass, often
in the teeth of mobs, the State can not
justly claim as her own. 1t is a m after
of history that the pilgrims Twin Q at
first in a tributary condition to the
merchants Of London, who had loaned
them money for the voyage to America,
at the end of three or four years wv hen
the merchants threw up their hard com
pact for lack of prospective protits) set
up the first monopoly on the shores of
Massachusetts. Eight of the colOnists,
with four London friends, assumed the
debts of the COlOny-Gl 800" Obtui71iHq
IN return a monopoly Of the foreign
trdde History is silent as to any voice
at that time pleading for a co opera ton
in place of monopoly. No thought of
the early Christian spirit and pract ice
which obtained for more than 800 ears
came to the bible worshiping pilgrims.
Until 1888 Massachusetts was as much
a slave,hOlding State as Virginia, but the
puritan economist clearly saw the lean
profit of African slavery on the barren
soil of Massachusetts. He had no co tton
or rice fields, or tracts for growing the
sugar cane. on which gangs of human
tools could be utilized for profit
But he saw way to take the cot ton
grown by unpaid coIored labor and
manufacture it to his profit, by the en-
ployment of his white neighbours and
their children. The puritan economist
foresaw larger profits from the toll of his
thrifty neighbors and kinsfok at his
door, than from the labor of untrai ned
natives of Africa. So in place of the
patriarchal system of southern slavery,
the wage system was planted in the
State By this system the Massachusetts,
employer was relieved of all respon-
sibllity, legal or moral Cnncerninp his