Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1892-07-07

Labor in Pennsylvania, says the New
York World, is very often in trouble
The state is in natural developed re-
sources the richest in the union, and
it has received the most ample tariff
protection. This protection, it is now
pretended, is for the benefit of the
American workingman, for the ad-
vancement of his interests, for the in
crease of his wages.
Notwithstanding all this, capital and
labor are at war in Pennsylvania
They often are at war. Protection has
made capitalists rich. 1t has enabled
them to live in luxury far from the
grim surroundings of their mines and
mills, to maintain palaces in New
York, in Paris, in London and in the
hills of Scotland.
Mr.. Carnegie goes back to his home
in which he was born peasant richer,
by means of taxes taken from the
American people, than tbs nobility
whose hereditary castles he rents. He
Pounds libraries and music halls and
lives like gilded prince on his bounty
fostered profits.
His workingmen, ON the other hand,
are always struggling for their rights.
IL they secure share in the growing
prosperity of the business of their en-
ployers it is because the latter cannot
afford to stop their works for struggle.
On a rising market the wage-earners
are the last to feel the benefits, and
usually they gain their end after pro-
test, threat, or an actual strike. On
falling market they are the first to
feel the reverse, for the protected man
ufacturer insists on not losing any of
the benefits of his bounty.
If prices fall off the workingman must
make up the deficiency out of his stip-
end. If orders entirely fail the works
close, pay stops, and in this way the
operatives of Pennsylvania lose from
two months to 200 days every year. If
labor becomes too troublesome by in
sisting on its rights the manufacturer
imports cheaper and more subserviept
men from abroad.
The story of labor in Pennsylvania is
one of painful suffering or strenuous
struggle. The fiction that capital is
asking for taxes and bounties from the
consumers in order to divide the money
with its wage-earners is not believed in
tho mills anI &c tln
state.
There the men who work with their
hands know full well that what they
gain from their employers is by compul-
sion, the compulsion of strikes or of the
demands of business.
Protection is for the rich to make
them richer. 1t is hostile to the poor,
and the poor are beginning to know it.
NOWHERE was the Fourth celebrated
with more enthusiasm than in New
York, where the Tammany Tigers held
their annual patriotic and political meet
ing. Addresses were made and letters
read from all the prominent Democrats
of the country, including Ex-President
Cleveland. His name was given one of
the greatest demonstrations it ever re-
ceived, and as it was mentioned by
every speaker the meeting was almost
one continuous cheer for our next
president.
THE expected fight between Scranton
and Connell for the Republican con-
gressional nomination in Lackawanna
county will not take place this year, as
the latter has withdrawn from the con.
test on account of illness. Great pre-
parations had been made for the battle,
and the disappointment among the G.
o. P. warriors in the Wyoming valley is