The Globe-republican. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1889-1910, 1891-04-22
woRkMEN HERE AND ABROAD.

WORkMEN HERE AND ABROAD.
Oar Laborers Constantly Trying to "Bext
the Record"-They Are Far More Pros
porous. Better Fed, Better Clothed. Bet.
ter In Every Way.
1t seems as If nearly all Of the visit
ing ironmasters. who were here last fall,
had addressed meetings of their fel-
lows Many have decried our methods
and products. Nearly all have asserted
that if it were not for our tariff we
would not be able to compete and hence
objected to its effects; while not a few,
exulting in what they claim was free
trade victory last November, call atten-
ton to the set back it gave to projects
which would lead to increased employ
ment of labor in this country. claiming
| with pleasure that our wonderful prog
ress was to be stayed through the exer-
tiOns of men of the Mills, Holman and
Vest type.
Mr.. j. Y. jerks, however. at Wolver-
hampton, spoke in a different strain.
saying in part of the times Immediately
preceding the election:
was especially impressed by the vast con-
trast which was presented by the American and
the British operative classes particularly the
iron and steel trades Nothing was heard there
OF short hours and OF continual disastrous
strikes. The one idea that the working classes
like the capitalists. seemed to be attempting
their utmost to work out. was to beat record"
Every man seemed intensely in earnest The
object OF every one of them was to get out as
much work as he possibly could, and that in the
best possible style. How different this was to
the state Of things which existed ia South
Stanordshre and other iron making centers Of
this country he need not remark.
This is remarkable admission,
though Mr.. jerks does not mention its
cau>e-the higher wages paid here. A
man who is ill-paid, ill-clothed and ILL
lodged, cannot be expected to beat the
record. 1t is the well-fed and satisfied
man that is anxious to see his mill beat
the record and demands an opportunity
to DO an increased amount of work to
accomplish it. While the man on low
wages is too apt to drink too much in
the exhaustion which follows less
amount of work on an empty stomach
and go home to beat his wife.
This fact also is brought out by Mr..
jerks, who says, without mentioning
the reason for it:
Another remarkable thing was that never In
the whole course Of his visit to America did he
meet q drunken man. The first drunken man
he met from the time he left Liverpool till the
time he returned, was when he got back to
Grove station.
But a large proportion of the sober,
self-respecting. record-breaking work
men. particularly in the iron and steel
trades. were fellow-countrymen of Mr..
jerks, who.:n they had staid in South
Staffordshire. or in other iron-making
centers of Great Britain, would not
have shown the vast contrast noted.
The difference in the prosperity of the
same men in the two countries has been
SO often remarked, particularly the
greater self-respect and freedom from
drunkenness which goes with the better
feeding of this country, that it seems in
applicable that men who are not profess
sional philanthrOpists or temperance
agitators, but who do care for their
kind. should advocate fiscal sys-
tenn which condemns the working pOpu-
lation of England or any other country,
to a residence, without recourse to emf
grafton, in a country where short time
and continued disastrous strikes have
been the normal state for nearly fifty
years: where the workman through his
prime cannot feed himself so we'll that
he is not forced to supplement his food
by strong drink, and where the home of
his old age is almost invaria bly, the poor
house.