Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1894-02-02

ain my own State, the effects of the
Wilson bill will be disastrous. Every
thing the farmer produces is reduced in
value. Horses, cattle, hay, oats. pota-
toes, eggs, corn, wheat, rye, barley,
wool, pork, lumber-in short our entire
agricultural industry is subjected to a
ruinous competition with like products
in Canada, where the women and cheap
farm hands do the labor; where wages
are lower and the scale of living vastly
inferior. Not only this, our marble, gran
lite, slate and lime industries are disas-
trously affected if not absolutely ruined.
Canada is doubly fortunate. She has a
parliament at Ottawa honestly and pat
, riotically striving to legislate TOR the
good of her people and another at
! Washington legislating i'll the same di-
rcction.
but tho farmer is not alone affected
Our manufacturers of wooden and knit
goods must throw large number OF
persons out of employment. have re
ceived many letters and rcmonstranccs
from both employers and employees, pro-
testing against this monstrous infamy
and can confidently assure the House
that the workingmen of Vermont do not
belong to the class of men who can be
coerced bv their employers into signing
these remonEtranccs. They are reading
thinking, intelligent men. who carry their
sovereignty under their own hats, and
YOU might as we'll undertake to cocrCe
! Niagara to run the other way as to
cocrce a Vermont workingman to act
against the dictates of his judgment. The
Irishman, the Scotchman, the Welshman.
and the Swedc, who work in our mills
and quarrics, know that legislation which
closes those mills and dismantes the der.
ricks in those quarries is blow at then
wages, and have an altogether more i'll
teligent apprehension of the effects OF
your legislation than the farmers Of the
Chicago platform,
| Labor is the source Of all wealth, and
the highest aim of legislation ought tC
be the continuous employment of all our
labor in way to swell the grand aggre.
gate Of our wealth, If this policy be pre-
served, labor will be we'll paid, the work
ingmi u's condition improved; he may
enjoy the comforts and luxuries of q
home and lift his children to a higherlevel
and broader plane i'll the race of life
Under our system Of government we can
not afford to dcpress labor. It should be
and it is as honorable to produce wealth
from the bowels of the earth as to pro-
ducc it on the surface Of the Garth. No
policy is safe that reduces our working
mon to the low wages and consequent
low status in life that has ovcrtgken the
pcasantry OF the Old World.
|
"We do not ask for prohibitive but for
preventative duties upon imports. We
build our wall no higher than we build
the wages, the condition, and the happi-
Hess of American labor. 1t is for the
workingmen that we build at all. Capt
tai needs no armor of defense. But labor
can tolerate no unfair competition. II
should have continuous employment and
advancing wages. AS it is honorable il
should be honored. As it is faithful, il
should be rewarded AS it is defenseless
it should be protected. Today it is par
alyzcd. 1t cries out with the Psalmist:
Establish thou the work of our hands up
on us; yea, the work Of our hands establish
thou it,"
Grant it's prayer and every furnace
fire will at once be lighted and every mil
wheel begin to turn. Pass the appropri
alton bills and go home, aud all the peo
pie will rise up und call you blessed"