St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-09-06

ana conSecrated TO the welfare and prosper
lty OF the laboring people. He intended to
partisan or a candidate of any political
party. He then proceeded to consider in
detail some of the present problems of the
labor question. The history of the move
ment for shorter hours first having been given
III detail. the Speaker declared his belief in
the justice and feasibility of the de.
mands of organized labor III this direc-
ton. He commended that the high
est paid labor is the cheapest to the
employer; that the labor can render better
service i'll eight hours than in ten; that the
man who is given two extra hours to the cul-
tivatlon of his mind, to the legitimate enjoy
ment OF the society of his family and neigh
bors, is better workman, better employe
and a better citizen than the man who is
chained tG the hard task of daily life without
lntermission and without opportunity for
self education. He reviewed the arguments
against shorter hours in detail and con-
are now made against the reduction of
the day of labor from ten hours to
eight were formerly made against
the reduction from twelve to ten. He quoted
from the report of the labor bureau Of the
state of Massachusetts for the year of 1891,
which showed that the la5orer of Massachu-
sets. working twenty-five hours per week less
than the labOrers of Maine New Hampshire,
Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York,
received s.. SO per month more wages than
similar laborers in the states mentioned.
AS to the right of organization. Mr.. Lawler
commended that the laws of the country gave
such right. He referred at length to the
important ana patriotic record made by the
labor organizations in the United States i'm
mediately prior to and during the war of the
American Revolution. He pointed ont that
those who fear organized labor as rule
are men who have TO fear of trusts, which
today almost control the price of the
necessaries of life in this country and which
are under the ban of written law. The con-
influence of labor organizations
was touched upon, and special reference
made to the benevolent feature and the edu-
cationai influence of labor organizations
The speaker maintained that the mos. prac-
tlcable method Of settling disputes between
employer and employe was The establish
ment OF court of arbitration by the con-
gress OF the United States, to which should
be referred disputed questions. Arbitra-
ton was resorted to by nations to prevent
war, how much more should it be resorted
to to avert the terrible calamilies which
often result from strikes and lockouts? He
contended that the public had right to
prevent such scenes and injuries as had re-
Gently been caused by strikes in three great
states. He pointed out that there could he
no dispute as TO the legal right of congress
in regulating trade and commerce and in
the regulation of corporations chartered by
congress, especially III the control of pro-
tected industries to provide for such court
OF arbltration. In conclusion. he expressed
the opinion that the forbearance, the moder-
alton and intelligence of the laboring popu-
lation of America would do more to solve
the great questions of labor than all the po-
litical platforms and all the declarations of
a politician
The next speaker on the programme was
the redoubtable Sage of Nininger, but he had
slipped cog some way and was not present
When MS name was called. MI Martin eX
planned that he was sure Mr.. Donnelly would
put i'll an appearance very soon, and as a
diversion for the audience while committee
sought for him, members of the trades assem-
bly, would pass through the grand stand and
about the field ana take up q collection for
the strikers at Homestead. The collection
was taken up, and Mayor Winston being
called upon for a speech delivered himself
or Few apropoS remarks He congratulated
the laboring men upon the success of their
celebration, but regretted that the day was
not more universally observed in tine city.
Rev. 5. W. Sample was next called for, and,
with his usual good nature, kept the audi
ence interested until it was announced by
loud cheering that the poet. novelist and
political seer. Donnely, was approach ing"
The novelist-pclitician began his discourse
after his usual fashion, striking popular
chord by lndul2ing III some of the wit he has
stored within his massive Uranium; He was
facetious. and before branching
OF from levity 10 seriousness had the audi
ence in roar. 1t was hard Tor him TO re-
frain from talking politics, he said, though
ne mad been especially admonished to refrain,
lnaSmuch as the gathering was a nOn-p Oliti-
cal one. During his discourse he said:
''There was a time when labor represented
solely unintellectual suffering when labor
was performed by slaves. The improved con-
dition of things shows the wonderful ad-
vancement of mankind and the evolution of
time. Every farmer III Europe in the olden
times was serf. but this state of things has
long passed away. Mankind has reached
condition where men ask themselves how
4 t,r,v
there be another world or not every man is
entitled to get as much out of this world as
he can. We are equal in human rights in the
eyes of God, the law and at the ballot box,
with all men. Every man i'll this country. ac-
cording to the Declaration Of Independence,
formulated by that grand man, Thomas JEFF
ferson, shall have equal rights, equal rights
10 live an honest life, fill his stomach and
keep his back warm
Mir. Donnellv could not refrain from speak
ing on the tariff, though he referred to no
political party in doing So The protective
tariff, as operated at the present time, was
law, according to Mr.. Donneily. whereby the
manufacturer was protected i'll the sale of his
goods, but the labOrilg man was not protect
ed as to his labor. 1t was protection as to
commodity, but free trade as to labor.
Il have new suggestion to offer in the
line of the protective tariff said MI Don
nelly. while we may concede that man
who starts business on his own hook with
ont the help of any one else has the legal
right to run his own business as he sees fit,
and hire men at the lowest figures possible,
he hos not the right under the laws Of Chris
tianity. If this man goes to the government
OF the United States and says he cannot keep
up his business any longer and needs help,
aud the government says it will go into part
nership with him. and take out of the peoples
pockets money, also aid him to secure larger
prices for his stuff. he has ceased TO run the
business on his own hook and for himself
He has become the partner of the government
and the government is the people. The
people, then, have something to say about
the way this business shall be conducted.
When Carnegie can exclude competition
from other countries with the aid Of the gov
ernment, he becomes member Of the gov
ernment and his business is the publcs
business under the firm name of Carnegie,
Z. 5. u Co. The men who are ground down
by Carnegie are not the slaves of Carnegie,
but the slaves of Carnegie, U. s. & Co. If we
are to have protection in this country il must
be for American industry, and not Carnegie
in his castle in Scotland That isn't Ameri-
can industry; it is Scotch fiuukeyism If
were III congress, and don't hope to be or
any place else either, save in the retirement
of the classic shades of Nininger, would in
troduce supplementary bill to the present
bill. 1t would be a bill to establish a
department of labor and commissioners to
see to it that the tariff law for the protection
of American industry did protect American
industry. l would have these commissioners
fix scale of wages for the laboring men and
penalty for going below. Then divide the
profits from this protection to American in
dustry by giving the laboring men better
wages"
Mr.. Donnelly's speech was loudly ap-
plauded.
In the evening Mr.. Donnelly spoke to a
large gathering of lsboring men at Nor
mama hall. He spoke on the same lines.
though he was by no means SO careful about
eliminating politics. The poll tics was the
kind Mr.. Donneily advocates.