Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-17
Statistics Show That Half the Work
ers of go Are Paupers.
THE POLITICIANS SEE THE WRONG.
No Wonder English Labor Sticks Better to
Its Organizations.
A LESSON on THE FREE TRADE POLICY


u
than that afforded during general election.
The true condition of an army is best
shown in the tug of war. France had a
tremendous military force in 1870. So at
least she was led to believe; but in 1871,
after her struggle with Prussia, she knew
better. On the same principle, such bat
tie of the ballots as is now imminent in
England is calculated to show, in stronger
and truer light than the same facts could be
brought out in any other situation, what is
the real condition of the working classes in
this country.
Under the old regime this would not have
been SO. 1t ls$nor very long since cleo
tions for the so-called House of Commons
were the exclusive diversion of the titled
and wealthy. Parliamentary seats were
carried about in the pockets of the great
landowners, and doled out at election times
like so many aristocrato tips to their own
retainers. But it is different now. In these
days the masses take hand in this busi-
ness. The battle of the ballots is battle
of the people for their rights
All Men Are No. Equal Yet
1t is hardly what might be called fair
and square battle, for in this country one
man is not as good as another even yet.
Spite of repeated extensions of the fran
chise, there are still thousands of worthy
toilers who for one reason or another have
no vote, while, on the other hand, many
thousands who are not toilers, and some of
whom, alas, are not very worthy, have sew
eral votes. Nevertheless, this is substan-
TALLY the day of the people in this land,
and the pending contest is, to large ex-
tent, battle of the masses against the
classes. 1t is a time, beyond all others,
when the working man comes to the front
to air his grievances and to demand his
rights.
Consequently, it is capital time to find
out what is the British workman's true con-
dition and how he compares in his material
and social surroundings with the daily
toiler in the United States.
From careful study of what is going on
am forced to conclude that the real ques-
tion in this contest is the labor question
In a different sense from that ordinarily in
tended by the words, it is campaign for
home rule; or rather, reducing it to its last
analysis, it is a campaign for the home
itself-the working mans home.
Tho Workmen Arc Desperase.
Better dwellings, better pay, better sani-
tary conditions, fewer hours, better pro-
lection in law, better prospects for old age
after life of honorable toil-these are
the issues so far as the masses are concerned
The British workman just now is almost
desperate, as he NAV we'll be, in his demand
that chance shall be afforded him to accom-
plish three most reasonable objects: to earn
o. l.
habitation, and to save himself in advanced
life from the awful disgrace of the poor
house.
How very serious he is in the demand he
makes tor these reasonable things is at
tested in most striking manner by the
attitude toward him of those now asking
for his suffrages. If straws show which
wav the wind blows, so just as surely do
politicians always know which way the
wind blows. Everybody now is the friend
of the workingman. Between the plat
forms OF the two parties there is no choice;
and as regards this issue there is hardly
any choice between individual candidates
if their own protestations amount to any,
thing. To the workingman himself the
situation must be embarrassing in the ex-
treme To be courted so effusivelv by
Tory and Liberal alike is a new expert
ence, and 1 cannot wonder that many, from
modesty or in sheer perplexity, are turn
ing from both these fair charmers to candi-
dates of their own.
Statesmen Must Come to His Rescue.
But this spectacle is no more bewilderi ng
than it is instructive. To the thoughtful
observer of social movements it is an un-
mistakable proof, not only that the condi-
tion of the British workman is deplorabie
one, but that the time has come when bv
direct efforts in his behalf, or by some radi
cal change in the principles upon which
trade is conducted, the craftsmanship of
the country must come without further de-
lay to his rescue.
1t is quite immaterial to the observations
I am offering how many of the 25 labor
candidates will be elected, or upon which of
the great parties to this contest the mantle
of success may fall These things will be
fully known in a few weeks; possibly before
this letter appears This, however, will
not in the least affect either the truth of my
remarks or their timeliness. 1 am not so
foolish as to expect that the party which
shall get in, be it Tory or Liberal, would
revolutionize matters Immediately; nor is
the British workman expecting anything of
this kind. His reliance for final redress is
not upon the promises of politicians, but
upon himself and upon the splendid and
powerful organizations into which his forces
have been massed Having waited so long
already, he can we'll afford to wait few
years more, especially as every year Of wait
ing is year which registers increased pre-
paration and greatly augmented strength.
Model for the W world's workinSmen.
In the readiness and tenacity with which
they combine and hold together, the work.
ing classes of Great Britain are model for
the world. And that which fits them for
this distinction-that indeed which impels
them to it's the fact that such vast num-
bers of them are doomed by the conditions
attending their labor to drag out misera-
BILE existence upon the same lox level of in
adequate remuneration, and to grapple
daily, from youth to old age, with the same
awful problem of how to make both ends
meet. Thus, that which has so long been
the shame of England has finally become
in the strong incentive it affords for organi-
zation, the brightest omen of much needed
change.
The English workman complains sadly of
his fellow toilers in the United States The
laboring classes on our side, he says, are not
sufficiently alive to their own interesta
They do not combine sufficiently. They are
not active enough as class In politics
They proceed too much upon the principle
OF every man for himself met recently
very intelligent lady, Miss Mary Forster,
one of the numerous and most noble women
of this country, who in these days are work.
ing with might and main for social reform.
She had just returned from protracted
visit to the United States, and the COM
plant noted above, which 1 had previously
heard from others, heard again from her.
Naturally, too, coming from the lips Of one
who had spent many months in organizing