The Portland daily press., 1894-11-08
HONEST JOHN BURNS.
A Friends Sketch of the Famous English
Leader.

flames W. Aitken in Philadelphia Tele-
graph.l
Circumstances have so decreed it that
during the last twelve or fourt cen years
l have had a close and intimate ac-
quaintance with the gentleman VINO now
represents me on the London county
council and in the British House OF Com
mons, and am rather curious TO note
the kind of reception he will meet with
on the other side of the Atlantic. where
questions similar to those in which he
is SO deeply interested have been rather
to the front of late. Mr.. Burns has been
several times invited to undertake
occurring tour round your big cities,
and I have no doubt that, had he been
so inclined, he might have made very
satisfactory financial arrangements with
any one OF the agents who have APP
preached him on the subject. But John
is lust one of those men to whom pecun-
iary considerations appeal in vain, when
thew at the same time threaten to inter-
fere with the work to which he has set
his heart. Three years ago he might,
had he been so inclined, have been voted
to the position of del MY chairman of
the London county council, with the
comfortable salary of 81. 500 per annum;
and it is fact, which no one has yet
ventured to contradict, that on two
separate occasions he has refused TO ac-
cept an Office of profit under the Crown
which his friend Lord Rosebery would
fain have had him accept. Unlik esome
labor leaders who could be named, John
Burns does not seem to have had one
eye on the labor movement and another
on the main chance. and in this fact is
to be found much of the secret of the
influence which ne Undoubtedly pos
sesses over such large bodies of men. To
look at him, one would imagine that at
least half century had passed over
his head, SO gray and grlzzled are his
HAIR and beard; but the eyes which
eyebrows. and the voice, which rings out
so defantiy over the broad expanse of
Hyde Park, show the still glowing spirit
of youth, and as matter of fact the
labor leader is but thirty-fve years of
age.
John Burns birthplace is but a short
distance from the house in which he
unique distinction as a labor man of rep
resenting in the council and in parlia-
ment the place in which he was born a"d
educated. sAs the name implies, his
family is of Scotch extraction, and 10.
unconnected with that of the famous
Northern poet whose name is SO widely
known They were of the ordinary
work ng class rank, and John was edu-
Gated at church school in the neighbour
hood of Battersea. At the age of eleven
he donned he top boots and breeches
as a gentleman's tiger; but not caring
for the calling he applied himself to the
work of engineering, in which he speed
lily became a proficient. AS was to be
expected his elementary education was
made up for this in the days of his
youth, and some born in the purI le
might do better did they possess half
the knowledge he does of men and books
But the more he studied the less he
was able TO perceive that everything was
for the best in this best of all possib BILE
worlds. He went in for solid reading
no penny-dreadfuls or fiction of the kind
in which the average boy delights, but
sound, straightforward essays on politi-
cal economy and social questions. This,
combined with what he saw around him
of the condition of the working classes,
made him, even in his teens, an agitator
Before ne was sixteen John Burns had
tasted the fruits of adversely by being
discharged from his employments for
making political speech during work
ing hours, and year later he tackled
big political question in the columns of
London daily paper, afterwards gaining
no little notorety as street corner ora
tor of most imprisoned character. In
the year 1880, think it was, ne went
out to the west coast of Africa j. pursuit
of his vocation, and had very rough
time of it indeed, the results of which are
even now apparent at times 1t was
soon after his return from this excursion
during which he was instrumental in
saving one or more lives-tha Burns
entered fully on the pu bile career which
has been SO successful. I can remem Der
him. in 1888, as one of the finest speakers
possessed by local parliament which
BaItersea then possessed, fine cut So
cialist who would have nothing to do
with either liberal or tory, and who
dreamed dreams of good time coming,
when poverty should be no more and the
social revolution should set right all
that is wrong in the condition of the
working classes. Then he continued his
outdoor propaganda, and got into trouble