Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1892-07-27
PROTECTION SLAVES.
HEN SHOT FOR ASSERTING THE
PRINCIPLE OF PROTECTION.

The First REIMBURSEMENT of the Wage
Scale Since the Passage of the Mckin-
ley Bill, Which Was to Keep Wages Up,
Shows a Reduction Of so Per Cent.
The rioting at Homestead is most
deplorable incident of the great lockout
at that place, and is none the less shock
ing to the public mind that violence has
been expected as the almost certain re-
suit of the quarrel between the iron
masters and their men. II was known
indeed that the iron mills had been con-
verted into scientific fortification and
that preparations were being made on
both sides for a siege, but it was not
thought that open hostilities would be-
gin so soon or would be Of so serious a
character.
1t is most remarkable rs well as de-
plorable state of affairs. In the very
center and heart of the great protected
industries-protected, as claimed, in or
der to enable the manufacturers to pay
high wages TO their employees-work-
ingInen are shot down like savages by
hired police for asserting the great prin-
ciple which they have been taught Is
the basis of our national wealth and
glory and resisting a reduction OF their
wages. It is not the first time the pro
tected American workingman has had
to fight for living wages with the pxo-
tected American monopolist, who Is his
special representative and friend In
congress and for few weeks every
four years on the hustings, and it will
D.. not be the last time.
He is the convenient medium and ex-
cuse for imposing fraudulent tax sys-
tenn on the mass of the people for the
benefit of favored class, and he will be
wheedled and whacked, praised and
pinched, by turns, as occasion requires
so long as he can be employed to serve
the purpose he has served so well here
tofore. 1t is the pinching time at Home
stead now. The ironmasters, as we are
told by one of their organs, can well al
ford 10 have the works rest awhile just
now. 1t is the best season of the year
for lockout They determined to
make their fight now and have it over
and well ont of the way before the pro-
lection campaign should fairly begin
anew. If there is any shooting TO be
done, this is the time to do il. Voting
time will come little later, and it Is
desirable to keep the two seasons as far
apart as may be- OF course the work
ingmen will grumble and protest and
plead-but that does not matter. Iron
can hold out longer than flesh and blood,
and the white slaves must come TO
their masters terms III the end.
It's the old story told over again, that
has been told so often since the war.
The protected manufacturers having
bought the presidency and filled con-
gress with their agents and put the laws
they wanted on the statute books, arc
settling again with their men. The
Mckinley bill was passed two years ago.
This is the first readjustment OF the
wage scale at Pittsburg that has occur
red since. The reduction Of wages OF
the American workingmen at that place
under the bill to keep their wages up.
etc.-is 80 per cent, and they are shot
down by hired guards when they try TO
protect themselves from such protection.
It's the same old story and it will have
the same old ending. Let no Demo
crat deceive himself into tho belief
that the recent shooting will affect
the voting next November. The iron
masters know whom they are dealing
with. They have mastered them before
and they will mkTr them now. The
men their detectives are shooting at and
shooting down voted for protection four
years ago, and will vote for 1t again this
year. They are the slaves of the monopo-
lists-slaves body and mind-and there
is no help nor hope in them. They are
only fit now TO work for the Carnegies
and their class, and they will work out
their miserable lives in their service.
The power Of monopoly, we may hope,
will indeed be broken this year or soon,
but if an effective blow is ever struck
it will be by the farmers Of the south
and west-not by the humble and poor
spirited "worbngmen" Of the east
Charleston News and Courier.