The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1892-10-26
HOW THE FACTORY BECAME A
POORHOUsE.
By MICHAEL LYNCH.


Yes, this was a factory one time, but the
whistle don't blow any more;
The fires are out. the chimney is down, and
they've nailed up the great front door;
Here where the loom ratified cheerfully, not
30 many years ago,
Is sorrow and silence and paupers beds, stand
ing side by side in a row.
What closed the factory Why. we did. You
see we thought we were wise.
But we let some smooth -tongued rascals pull
the wool right over our eyes;
They said il we'd vote in tariff reform-thats
what they called free trade
Why. we'd get our goods for one-half the
price. while double pay would be made.
And we listened to them and believed them
Elected their man TO the "whte House." and
most of the Congressman, too.
And the vote so frightened the Senate, that
not an objection was made,
When they brought in a bill, not for tariff re-
form-they boldly called 1t free trade.
And everything that the rich man used, they
let come In duty free,
But doubted the tax on the poor mans wants,
on sugar and coffee and tea;
For they'd got to raise taxes somehow, and
these things, tobacco and beer,
Were taxed so high that it somehow seemed
the good time wasn't so near
So things wasn't very much cheaper and that
foreign market of theirs,
us all our surplus produce and wares,
Seemed somehow glutted to death with things
that were cheaper that wa could sell,
And the end was we lost mat entirely and
our market at home ~ well.
For the tariff all gone, and trade made free,
all of Europe's pauper-made trash
Was sent over here and sold to US for what il
would fetch I'm cash.
But what could we sell to them in return who
earned n few cents dayf
Well! we wanted cheap things, and the cheap
est thing that we got was the cheapest of
paw.
You've read that story about the dog with the
bone that was crossing brook,
And saw beneath him another dog and bone
with a tempting look,
And making a snap at the second bone his
own dropped into the stream.
Well, just that greedy dog did we when
we snapped at the free trade scheme.
For every man that was set to work In Europe
supplying our needs,
Was man let go in America, and an idle
nation soon breeds
Discomfort, poor pay, and a thousand things
that we never knew of before;
And want soon followed idleness and factories
closed by the score.
For why should they run their factories when
they couldn't sell what was made;
And they didn't pretend to run them, then
followed panic in trade;
And our good friends who'd let Us into this
That the way To beat foreign labor out was to
take less than foreigners pay.
But that had been tried, we'd been cut and
cut, and at every cut we'd struck,
But what was the use of striking, that
couldn't change our luck:
We could stop our own men from working,
but Europe worked night and day,
And how could we win when half OF the world
was working for half our payS
Twas then, sir, that in this village the factory
closed its doors;
II had run without stop for thirty odd years,
and might have run thirty more,
But things had got down so cheap at the last
they were running il at loss
Not wages enough TO feed the men and not
cent for the boss
We were idle, hundred or two of us, what to
do we didn't well know.
For building, the first thing to stop in dull
times, with us had stopped long ago.
The farmers, too, were wanting no help, for
who could buy what they grew,
And To &C away seemed useless thing, for
where could we find work To do?
so we fingered around the village hoping
something would soon turn mp,
With our wives and oar little ones getting an
occasional bite and sup.
And our little ones grew from childhood and
left us by twos and threes.
A nd we, who were old and useless, were left |
paupers by slow degrees.
Where never a pauper was known before, save
the idiot, crippled and sick
Were paupers enough and in plenty; in fact, |
they grew paupers so quick
That there wasn't place to keep them; till |
at length somebody proposed
TO take for q poorhouse the factory, that |
tariff reform had closed.
There wasn't any objection to that, and the |
owner he sold IL cheap;
For factory property now was t.og that |
II wasn't worth while to keep.
And in went as pauper 10 the building /
where long ago
had drawn good wages for honest toll, and |
single cent didn't owe.
Md now, when sit in the sunshine-they
haven't reformed that yet
And think OF the times that will never return, |
the thing that most regret
s the hand that l had in my ruin, whom I |
thought to grow rich in day,
BY competing in work with foreigner, who
didn't get half my pay.
fIk. noetot, NNaolIv Indax