The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-10-24

There is one man on the republican
ticket whom worSlngmcn should spot.
That man is William y. owen. who heads
the ticket as candidate for secretary of
state.
owen has a labor record. Not n record
of labor performed, for he has never
earned his bread except by the sweat Of
his jaw. When owen hasn't been preach
ing for a living he has been holding Of
flee.
Nevertheless owen has a labor record.
It is not very long but it is especially
unsavory. 1t was made about two years
ago. and it hasn't been forgotten by Ia
boring men. Owen made his record as
commissioner Of immigration. 1t may
also be positively remarked that he
made the office OF commissioner of inn
migration also. 1t will be remembered
that the people of the Tenth Indiana dis
trIct, in a moment Of thoughtlessness, once
sent Owen to congress. OF course they
quickly realized their mistake, and when
the proper time came they turned him
down." owen realized that he was
doomed and set about preparing a soft
place on which to fall. He devoted his
entire time and attention as congressman
to the work OF getting through bin TO
create the office Of commissioner of i'm
migration. The passage Of this act oc-
CURED, owen regarded himself as fixed,
for his friend Harrison, at that time pres
ident through the grace Of Matt Quay
and William Wade Dudley. had promised
to make him the first commissioner under
the new act.
When the people of the Tenth district
said 10 Owen, III done, thou bad and
faithless servant, get out" President Har-
rlson picked him up and made him COM
missioner of immigration at $500 per
wear. At once Owen began making his
labor record" And such a record Owen
hadn't fairly gotten his newly-found Off
cial chair warmed before he was involved
in a red-hot row with his superior Off
cers-a row in which he was officially
charged with being incompetent and dis
honest But of this we will speak in an
other issue; at present we have TO deal
with OWENS labor record.
Workingmen remember with sorrow and
anger the odious contract labor system
under which this country was flooded
with the cheapest and most vicious ele-
ments from the p1uper labor class Of
the old world. These were brought over
like cattle. or more properly like slaves,
to displace more intelligent and higher
priced Americans labor in the mines and
great industries of the land and their
importation proved to the East the curse
that Importation Of Chinese labor did 70
the Pacific coast. II will be remembered
that the law under which this pauper
labor was imported originated with John
Sherman during the war to give the
barons Of protection cheap labor and 70
bear the wage market 50 that the sol
diers returning from their campaigns
would be forced to take whatever their
employers chose to give. l. was virtually
a law to establish a system of wage
slavery in the North very little different
from the black slavery which had just
been abolished in the South.
Alien Contract Labor Law.
In 1873 a democratic house of repre-
sentatives had forced the repeal Of this
odlous law and the enactment Of one in
it's place to prohibit the importation of
labor under contract. One of the princ-
pal duties of Commissioner of Immigra-
ton owen was to enforce the provisions
OF this law. Right here it is interesting
10 note that Levi p Morton, ex-vice-presl-
dent and republican candidate for gov
ernor Of New York, is just now being
prosecuted for violation Of this law in
having imported a cOachman from Europe
under contract. To his anglomaniacal Wis
ion an American cOachman wouldn't look
distinguished enough on the box of his
carriage-carriage with its gorgeous coat
OF arms.
1t was in administering the alien con-
tract labor law that owen made his now
famous or rather infamous labor record.
The Mckinley law had just gone into
effect. That law had placed an enormously
high tariff on tin plate. The object was TO
give gang Of republican politicians, chief
among whom were Col. A. L. COnger, ex-
congressman and chairman of the Ohio
republican state committee. and Congress
man Niedringhaus of St. Louis, the chief
contributor 70 republican campaign funds
in Missouri, a monopoly Of the American
market for tin plate. In other words, this
gang was to have the privilege of levying
a tax for its own personal benefit on every
tin roof, on every tin gutter, on every can
for the preservation Of fruit and on every
tin house utensil in the land When the
Mckinley bill was passed It was loudly
proclaimed that the new tin plate factories
would give remunerative employment to
tens OF thousands high-priced. American
wOrkingmen. But this wasn't the scheme
OF the tin-plate ring. They wanted cheap
labor-EurOpean labor. which didn't need
10 be trained IN the work OF making tin
plate. To bring In this labor was vi0-
lation Of the alien contract labor law But
these little things made no difference to
the tin-plate ring. They went ahead Just