The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-10-16
PLAIN TALK.
Open Letters From Workingman to
the President of the United States.


DEAR SIR-About twenty-five months
ago you were elected President OF the
United States. Before that event you an-
nounced your discovery Of patent pro-
cess which you claimed would be sure to
benefit the country and greatly improve
the condition OF the people, and you
agreed to bring about such . result
IL you should get the job and be
provided with the political tools you
wanted for the purpose. Trusting
to your representations and promises,
and wishing to better our condition, II
possible, enough OF the working class to
decide the election were persuaded to
give you trial, and with 1t the machin-
cry and facilities necessary to the work.
In consequence, you secured the job, and
have now worked at II about q year and Q
half, in which time you have turned out .
large quantity of work, sufficient at
least to show the kind, and to de-
eide the worth of the process, and
whether you can be trusted to
fulfill your agreement. In accordance
with the general custom to periodically
straighten business affairs, collect and pay
debts, and make plans for the future, 1t Is
desirable to examine your account on the
to this time-what payments have been
made to you; what and the sort OF work you
agreed to turn out; how much you have
done of the kind required; what material,
II any, you have ruined and are liable for;
what you yet owe, and what steps you
are taking to complete the contract-and
therefrom determine whether to let you
60 on and accept your work, or to stop
giving you material and place the work In
other hands. We workingmen have .
special interest in the examination,
because to US you have made the loudest
promises and to our votes you owe the
job.
The Contract.
The first thing shown by the record OF
the case is, that when you bid for the job
you demanded pay in advance for all the
work you offered to do, In order to give
you the means to carry out the contract.
This requirement was complied with, and
payment made you In full to your satisfac-
tion by the Office OF President, with nearly
$1,000 cash every week during four years
$500. 900 In all-from the United States
Treasury, in addition to the free use and
control OF the Government mill, with its
machinery and . large supply of raw
material, together with enough special
tools, called Congressman, of the quality
you said was necessary to you, which tools
have cost US further outlay Of over $21,-
600 week to provide. These being all
you demanded, our part Of the contract
has already been clearly fulfilled.
The obligations you took upon your
self in return for these payments and
privileges were several, but many of them
were such as had long been satisfactorily
fulfilled by those who had been doing
work before you, and are not necessary to
refer to here. The principal ones-those
which are important 10 US and in which
we have a vital interest-concern the
special things you have promised to turn
out for our use and benefit.
These things have been repeatedly de-
scribed by you, and no dispute can there
fore now be made regarding their kind
and quality; your method for making
them, which was never fully understood
by most Of US, we have nothing to do
with; it is sufficient that you agreed to
supply them.
The particular things promised-those
which wholly induced us to give you tho
job-were that you would maintain and
increase the prosperity OF the country ex-
isting at that time; would keep our mines,
mills, furnaces, factories and workshops
In full operation; labor as well or better
employed and wages equally good, and
would materially lower the cost of living,
especially OF US workingmen, by making
the necessaries of life considera bly
cheaper. These you solemnly bound
yourself to secure, and upon that your
part Of the contract stands.
An Interesting Prophecy.
Your ability to fulfill such an agree
ment was tho subject of much dispute
before IL was made. You had acknowl-
edged that your success depended wholly
upon that of the patent low tariff
process which you had invented
and intended to use. A great num-
ber of people who were experienced
in such business, however, not only
expressed no confidence in the process
but insisted that you would produce the
exact opposite of what you claimed; that
in place OF maintaining prosperity you
would destroy it and give III harder
times; that mills, mines and other in
dustries would be crippled and many
forced to stop operations; that large
numbers OF workingmsn would be
thrown out OF jobs and forced to walk
the streets, seeking work, many into
want, and some to live upon charity; that
wages would be largely forced down by
the competition of the unemployed here
for the places Of those at work, and by
that of the half-priccd foreign workmen
engaged in making the additional
goods which you would bring
into the country to displace
those being made by ourselves; that the
cost Of the neccssaries Of life would not
be cheapened to any great extent, IL at
all; and that the mere acceptance of your
bid and a certainty of q trial of your pro-
cess would be quickly followed by general
depression and disaster. These doleful pro-
phecies you denied, claiming that those
making them were ignorant and fools,
and you only wise and experienced, and
expressed . willingness to take the ris K
and to insure the promised result. We
listened to your offer, and supposing you
honest and your guarantee good, con-
cluded to give you chance to show It by
an acceptance OF your bid, as