St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-07-28
JUDGE FLA NDRAU ON THE
PROTECTION Of LAROH

JUDGE FLANDRAU ON THE
PROJECTION OF LABOR.
On the It'll day of May, 1856, Judge
FLANDRAU delivered an address before
the Ramsey County Pioneer associa-
ton. in which he portrayed the history
of the growth and progress of the state
of Minnesota from its birth to the date
of the lecture. which was the twenty
eighth anniversary of the admission of
the state into the Union. After having
dwelt upon the marvellous advancement
OF the commonwealth, he spoke of its
future prospects with reference to the
question of capital and labor, and as
that subject Is at present of most ell.
crossing Importance, we lay before our
readers his views as then enunciated.
Judge FLANDRAU is we'll known to be
lifelong Democrat and friend of the
worhiDgman, and his views on this all
important matter may at this time be of
service TO the wage-earner, and espe-
ciaily as the presidential campaign will
be fought ont on the question of protec-
ton or anti-protection. The Judge said:
Having erected such model state,
tention to the subject of perpetuating
30 our posterity the traits OF our handi-
work? Will the present advance to-
wards greatness and wealth continue
uninterruptediy and sinilingly in the
future as in the present? Are our DO
lltical and economical systems on a
solid basis? Are there no worms gnaw-
ing at the roots of our supposed security
that some day may overthrow all we
have achieved, threaten the foundation
Of our liberties and plunge US Into civil
war and anarchy? | am not a croaker:
l always take the roseate view of pass
ing eyentS as far as possible; but we
cannot Shut our eyes to the serious
questions that are daily forcing them
selves upon orr consideration. The
whole Union today is convused with a
strife between capital and labor, and no
country Oh earth except our own could
stand the strain we are now undergo
ing without civil war and terribly
bloody consequences.
There are only two causes, in my
Judgment. that can overthrow our
institutions, and they are universal
suffrage and universal immigration
Our safety valve for both these evils, for
evils they are. has been heretofore our
unoccupied territory. which carried off
surplus population and left room enough
in our older and more denselY settled
communities for labor to find remunera-
tive occupation. This safety-valye has
not yet been closed. but with the rush of
immigration consequent upon The great
er facilities afforded by improved ocean
transportation, it soon will be, and
all labor will find itself as cribbed
and cramped as in Europe Is
there any remedy? On the subject of
universal suffrage, l fear not. We
started wrong, and the evil has grown
to such proportions that all avenues of
retreat seem to he cut off. 1t would be
like appealing to the devil to establish
reform. The privilege of sharing IN
the government of this nation, which
should be regarded as an inestimable
boon, only to be enjoyed by those who
Rave proved themselves worthy of it. is
now largely in the hands of people who
are alien 10 our traditions, alien to our
language. and hostile to all forms of
rnment-communiStS. anarchists,
nihilistS, and enemies of society. If
this power cannot he recalled, may it
not be checked before it is too late?
see but Que way.
Il have always been inclined towards
the doctrine of free trade. but the SUBJ
ject of free trade and protection has
heretofore been confined to the prod
ucts of labor. and not to labor
sugar, wool, iron, and ten thou
sand other things, much to the
impoverishment OF our agricultural
interests and the muitltudes of our con-
! sume1S of all classes and occupations :;
but no one has ever yet presented any
| plan for the protection of our labor: on
| the contrary, until the Chinese prohibit
lion was recently enacted, the effort of
all our people has been to throw our
| doors wide open, to increase competi-
| ton in all branches and grades of labor,
and consequently to lessen its
value and Cypress the laborer.
| to see the manufacturers of New Eng
| land, when they have reduced the wages
| of their operatives TO starvation basis,
| and driven them to strikes and rebel
| lion, to fill their places with new i'm
portations Of Chinese, Poles, Hungari-
| ans. Italians, Bohemians and people of
| all foreign nations whom they could i'm
| D TT by the cargo to supplant American
| free labor. This has occurred in almost
| all branches of American industry, and
| with the one result of driving the Amer
lean to the wall.to poverty and want, or
| out of the natural channel of his occu-
| lion of things become in our Pacific
! states, that the congress of the nation
decreed that the Chinese immigration
| should stop. and we all say amen. None
| more gladly than the laboring man.
New, when you come to reflect on
| the subject. the poor Chinaman was
| only offensive because he undermined
our American labor. That was his only
fault. lie did not carry any red flags,
| nor elalnor for the blood of everybody
| who had been industrious enough in
life to have accumulated some property.
| he did not want TO subyert the govern
/ ment and substitute the rule of the
| proletariat. Not at all. He was a
patient, submissive hard worker and
| orderly man. but his competition was
| ruinouS, and he was very wisely told
| that for this sin alone we did not want
HIM and would not have him. Now,
| where is the justice Or the sense of eX-
Polling the Chinamau, or prohibiting
his coming, if the gates of the nation
are thrown open to all the rest of thu
| world, and they are invited to swarm
| into our labor field. and not only drive
| our laborers to poverty and starvation
but f1aunt their bloody emblems in the
| faces of Our people, threatening rapine
| and chaos?
| IF it was a good thing to exclude the
Chinaman because our labor could nol
| stand bis competition, then it must he
an equally good thing to cut off other
| streams of competition, that bring with
! them not only distress to our laborers
| but danger to our institutions. Let
statesmen who are ever ready to pander
| TO the votes Of the laboring masses, and
who have been taxing the people of the
nation by high duties Oh imported
4 goods. take up the subject of protect
| ing American labor. Let them either
cut off foreign immigration, as they
! have done in the case of the Chinese,
| will exclude the paupers and Grim
inals OF all the world from our
land, protect our laborers. aud pu-
| rify the sources of our governmental
! fountain. The laboriDg man who can't