St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-08-20
FACTORY GIRLS SUICIDING.
Speaker Charged the Finan-
eial Depression to a Ma
tional Conspiracy.
OUTLINED SOME REMEDIES.
Government Ownership OF
Railroads Would Help,
He Thought.

District Assembly No. 70. Knights of
Labor, covering the state. held largely
attended picnic at Union Park yeSter-
day. No contests were engaged in, the
chief amusement being dancing. Lem
onade and ice cream stands were on the
grounds.
The feature of the picnic was an ad.
dress by G. A. French, of Lynn, Mass,
who is member of the general eXecu-
tive board of the Knights Of Labor. He
began with statement of the depressed
condition of the country and its effect
upon mechanics, particularly in the
East. The factory girls OF the New
England manufacturing cities have long
been committing suicide at an alarming
rate, he said. "While in Manchester
recently observed long line of Crap
ping hooks on the canal that skirts the
vast multitude of factories. L asked
one of the superintendent what the
graphing hooks were there for, and he
replied: I'll tell you; the factory girls
have fallen so into the habit of jumping
into the canal that it became necessary
to place the hooks there to fish their
bodies out so that they would not drift
into and clog up the sewers
After outlining the condition of things
as he saw them, the speaker dealt upon
the causes. He charged that the de-
preston OF 1893 was brought about
through conspiracy OF the powers that
be to repeal the Sherman silver pur-
chasing act, and to force further issue
of bonds. decentralization of capital is
the great evil labor has to contend
against. The railroads control the
government. Both President Harrison
and President Cleveland were the nom
ineeS of Wall street, and not of the Re-
publican and Democratic parties. the
Republican party wanted Blaine and
the Democratic party wanted Dave
Hill; but Wall street said no, and had
its way about it,"
The speakers next point was the
remedy for the existing evils. He
maintained that the government
should issue money to the people di-
rectly, as outlined by the Populist
party. The government should own all
railroads, telegraph lines, etc. This
country, the boosted land of enlighten-
ment and advancement, is far behind
several countries that are looked upon
as almost barbarian. New Zealand and
the Australian countries, for example,
have taken government possession of
all railroads, telegraph lines, and in
stitutIons of that character. The result
is that railroad fares down there
frd nf inf
mile, and the wages of la.
Dor have advanced to more
than double what they were before.
recently received a letter from New
Zealand stating that that country has
passed into law nine of the plankS of
the Knights Of Labor. One of the most
important Of these planks reads as fol.
lows: That in connection with the
postoffice department the government
should organize financial exchanges,
safe deposits and facilities for deposit
of the savings of the people in small
SUMS New Zealand now has this ad-
dition TO its poStoffice department, aud
it works admirably"
Mr.. French called attention to the
no BILE work woman has accomplished in
behalf of humanity: to what she has
done III the way OF religion and charity !;
how she guards the footsteps OF her
children and struggles to make good
citizens of them. He wanted woman to
turn her attention to the cause of labor.
"The time will come when tine lords
and masters will concede to women the
ballot, and when she gets it she will not
sell it for pint of beer or a glass Of
whisky"
He wound up by urging labor people
I to vote less attention to evolving
strikes and more to studying and max
ing effective the deeper principles OF
the Knights of Labor.
1t was pretty day, and the pienick-
ers went home feeling greatly refreshed.