The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1894-09-13

the public advice Of few heads of
labor organisations to their members to
support the Peoples party. But, the
laboring man il no such fool. His
political opinions are his own, and sout-
side Of the matters on which his union
properly assumes to control his actions,
he intends to be his own boss. Those
who assembled to listen to the political
speeches Of Labor day were few in num-
Der and mostly those who think that the
organization Of labor is a means to q
political rather than to an economic
end. The vast body Of working people
took their holiday quietly, enjoyed
themselves in their own way and left
the political orators to their own de-
vices. The time has not come in this
country when the laborer will accept
anybody's dictation as to the disposition
of his vote. The average laborer, more
over, at least in Minnesota, is intelli-
gent enough to know that the most
suicidal use which he could make of
that vote is to bestow it on the Populist
candidates. a% q " $''1@ .2>
Popalist Strength Il Rapidly Decreasing.
1t is the unanimous opinion Of those
best situated for observing the course
of public opinion and the shifting of
political feeling among the masses. that
the Populist strength is already declin-
ing rapidly from day to day. The only
hope of that party lay in fusion. But
Ehe Democrats have had enough Of that
dose. Fusion has gone out of fashion
everywhere. In Minnesota, in the d.
kotas, everywhere throughout the
Northwest, the party has put up a
straight ticket of it's own, and left the
Populists to founder in the mire. This
is the part of wise party policy and of
true public spirit. Any decent Demo
GRAFT prefers Republican and any de-
cent Republican prefers Democrat in
office to crazy, law-defying, anarch-
istic Populist. The day of fusion is
over; and as for the Populists carrying
any state this year outside of the
Rocky Mountain tier, where patriotism
and even love of liberty have been sac
rificed to the interests of the mine own
ers, it is out of the question. In Mime
sofa the party is badly torn up. The
fight between the representatives of
rival candidates for the senatorship and
rival aspirants to the position of news.
paper representative Of the organization
grows more bitter instead of becoming
composed. The latest issue of Donnelly's
Representative is full of the foul
mouthed abuse for which he is noted;
but turned this time with as much
energy against his Populist associates
as against the members of either of the
other parties. He roasts Tom Lucas
and J. L. Macdonald in good shape, re-
gardless Of the fact that the latter is
chairman of the Populist committee,
and entitled therefore to titular respect.
1t is impossible, in the nature of
things, that the hoped for alliance be-
tween the farmers vote in the country
and the labor vote in the great cities
can be brought about. Either of these
two elements has but to stop and think
for a moment to see that it's interests
are Numerically opposed to those of
the other. What the farmer wants is
cheap labor and high prices for
agricultural products. What the city
workingman wants is high wages and
low prices for the necessaries of
life. 1t is as useless to try to harmonize
these elements as to bring the American
Association of Bankers and a free silver
convention into line on the money
question. Every farmer in the State of
Minnesota knows that the most serious
fn i1h hn io hat
the labor required to help him put in
and gather his crops. The wages of his
help have been rising constantly for the
last twenty to thirty years. They must
be paid in cash. On the other hand,
the only source from which he can get
cash is the sale of his farm products;
and these have been bringing him in
less money year after year. Anything
that would increase this tendency must
be simply ruinous to him.
The aim Of the labor unions, on the
other side, is to raise wages steadily in
all employments. Their work reflects
powerfully upon farm labor. For,
while the unions themselves do not in
clude farm workers, they establish a
scale to which the farmer must conform.
If a man feels that, by going to one of
the cities, he can command certain
daily wage, even as common daily
laborer, he will not remain upon the
farm unless at least an equal amount is
offered to him. In the fact of the in
creased wages in cities lies the explana.
ton Of the growing scarcity of fam
labor and the decreased profits of the
farmer. But the mechanic and artisan
is bent upon accelerating this tendency;
while any increase in the price of flour
or beef or pork or anything that the
farm produces would be serious mis-
fortune to him. No thoughtful man
can fail to preceive that all the antag-
onisns that have been pointed out be-
tween capital and labor are less serious
than those existing between the man
who tills the farm and the man who
works in the shop or factory. 1t is
these irreconcileable elements that the
Peoples party hopes to unite by appeal.
ing to ignorance and prejudice. But
the result could be only to make one
faction a cats paw to pull chestnuts
out Of the fire for the other. The legis-