Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1893-02-13
LABOR AN ISSUE.
A Cursory Review of the Late Election
Goes to Prove 1t.

Goes to Prove 1t.
The discussions of the campaign were
largely economic. Such questions are
abstruse and easily mystifed. Hence
labor has sought industriously for a few
fundamental facts and principles to
which 1T was easy to refer and were i'm
pregnable to the attacks of sophistry,
calculated to mislead the mind and cul-
mlnatlng in erroneous conclusions Man
hestly the pivotal question of the cam
pa1gn was that of the tariff, and we
doubt If within the entire realm of eco
nomlc questions there is one upon which
there is such wide and honest disagree
ment, and yet in this, as in every other
question of national Importance, there is
a principle involved which, found and
embraced, emancipates the mind from
the thraldo1ns of error
Admitting that the principle of pro
lection is right, the next question is,
Should 1t be 80 warped and distorted as
to protect favored few to the neglect of
the many? If tariff does that, then
Justice Is discarded, and wrong triumphs.
In nutshell, should Carnegie and Frick
be protected, whereby millions accrue to
them, while their workingmen have their
wages reduced and are made to realize
that, though employed in carrying for
ward a tariff protected industry, the
same tariff affords them no protection,
but even makes their condition worse?
Nor is this all. Labor has asked the
question, Why should certain industries
nrnfnPfnH xrrpt Ia ~. 1,e+ DO
ceed If they can without such protec-
ton! Various reasons were assigned for
this admitted injustice, but it is evident
that labor was not satisfied with the ar
guments adduced. Such protection was
not in the first place fair play. 1t did
not afford all industries the same advan-
tages. 1t taxed one to support another
and was therefore in direct conflict with
the genius of American institutions.
Again, it was held during the cam
paign if high protective tariff pro-
tected certain Industries against the i'm
portation of what is termed foreign
pauper labor products" it furnished
labor no protection against the importa-
ton of foreign pauper laborers;" they
came by thousands and by tens of thou
sands and offered their services for "pau-
per wages" and as a result, while the
hue and cry in favor Of protective tariff
was loudest, organized labor, as in the
case of Homestead, found it impossible
to maintain wages, and thousands of
workingmen are suffering because they
had the independence to resist not only
reduction in wages, but the murderous
policy of a protected industry to intro
duce scabs and thus compel unprotected
labor to submit to conditions fruitful of
poverty and degradation. In all of this,
in so far as labor was concerned, strictly
speaking, there was no partisanism. 1t
was an economic question, and as O high
protective tariff, as we have shown in
the case of Homestead, did not protect
organized labor, it was pronounced
failure, and the edict has gone forth for
the modification of existing tariff laws.
There were other economic questions
involved in which labor has vital in
terest, as, for instance, the free coinage of
silver. Here again comes into view n
question in which labor has right to be
heard: 1. Because mining silver is
great American industry and gives en-
ployment to thousands of workingmen.
2. Because free coinage affords market
for the product of the mines. 8. Because
silver coin is honest money, and no man
ever failed whose silver dollars were
equal to his debts.
Again, free coinage is in direct oppo-
sition to the policy of plutocratic mil
lionaires, styled "goldbugs," whose pol
icy has been and now is, by virtue of
the single gold standard, to control the
financial affairs of the nation and con-
troll values. Labor takes no stock in
such a policy, and on direct vote would
overwhelmingly declare for the free
coinage of silver, and the fact that
when silver certificates are issued there
is silver dollar behind every certificate
emphasizes the fact that whether man
has the coin or the certificate he has hon
est dollars.
We could extend illustrations showing
that in the political campaign just closed
labor was everywhere an issue, and that
all political parties sought to give it
prominence. 1t remains to be seen what
the victorious party will do in legisla-
lures and in congress to redeem the
pledges made to labor. Much is required
to modify present laws and to enact 9th
ers which shall give to labor a standing
in the courts of the country equal in all
respects to that occupied by those who
command money, and who hitherto,
when they have wanted court, went out
and bought Locomotive Firemen's
Magazine.
VIII Pinkertonism Go?
1t isn't likely that the subcommittee of