The Portland daily press., 1894-05-03

eeemly domination. AL election laws
have been repealed, and the South hav-
ing been set free from a fear which new
er had any sound foundation, will be left
at liberty to decide her destiny accord
ing to her industrial needs, which are
the same as those of the North. Instead
of a set OF men who represent the obso-
lete politics and principles OF dead
generation, their successors, let us all
hope, will then represent what the North
longs to see, an industrial, prosperous
South, full of the life of new country.
l do not dwell nor mean to dwell on
the unfortunate condition OF this coun-
try. That condition speaks for itself in
LOUDER LANGUAGE
than any which / can use. My life too,
as Republican, has been passed in
choosing fitting words to describe pros
perity and success, and not in making
lamentations of sorrow and despair. I
would rather try to extract some conso-
lation, half dreary as it must be. from
the present situation. than try to make
es of rhetoric with which our opponents
used to decorate any little lull in BUSH
ness during, the last 80 years. During
those same years we did have one menace
to our prosperity, and that was the
political attitude of the workingmen
themselves toward the employers. 1t
used to seem strange to me as | went
through such States as Connecticut, a
swarming hive of industry dependent for
its very existence upon the tariff and the
system of protection, to know that in
spite of facts which seemed as clear as
the sun at MONDAY, that State would
go Democratic, and that too by the very
votes which were most of all dependent
upon the tariff. And yet it was not
really strange. Human nature is the
same everywhere. A schoolboy ought
TO he in love with his schoolmaster, but
never is. A Congressman ought to be
polite to his speaker and his speaker to
him, but it is not SO always. And so,
perhaps a workman ought to like his
employer but the truth is that when you
are fighting man on one subject, and
that subject as important as wages, it
is only too natural to suspect him on
all other things.
If he wants tariff. it is natural to
think he may want it for his own pur-
poses alone. Such, think, was the gem
eral feeling, and that idea com bined
with that nobler feeling, sense of person.
al independence. causes US to find the
WORKER AND EMPLOYER
in many places opposed to each other
on the very subject on which they
ought to have been united by the most
commonssand most vital interest. don't
mean that was SO everywhere. for
learned years ago from Pennsylvania
workingman great practical statesman
like truth, in the answer made by one
of delegation, perhaps from this very
place in response to the suggestion of
a free trader that the tariff only benefit
ed the employer. The reply came quick
and strong: You give our employer a
chance to make more money, and we
will take care that we get our share.
Nevertheless while this idea was in
many minds, recent events have brought
home to great mum bers who had never
thought of it with su fficient seriousness
before. What impoverishes the mill
owner impoverishes the mill worker.
You cannot divide nothing. The apple
must be grown even for the small boy to
get the core, and no body ever had cut
of fish until he was caught.
Another lesson think will be learned
by all the world from this sharp season
of distress, and that is that underneath
all the prosperity Of this country lies the
QUESTION OF WAGES,
a question which concerns not the wage
Garner alone, but all the world besides
I have no extravagant talk to make to
any body as to their duties as to wages.
World problems are too complicated to
be disposed of by sentences. But this
I do say, that the whole world is inter-
ested, employers as we'll as employed: the
receivers of what are called fixed in
comes, retired capitalists, all the world
In word are interested in the mainte-
nance of good W ges. Good wages mean
purchasing power, for every mans wage
is multiplied by the whole number of
men and the product is fund so i'm
mense that one week of the United
States before Democracy came into pow
er would purchase the whole yearly pro-
duction of England under good Queen
Bess, with all the Spanish galleons
thrown in which her rovers captured. !.
What makes water come in pump?
In my day, the boys who nad not got
scientific said it was "sutcion." That is
what purchasing power is to the human
life. Purhasing power is the great in
centive to production. No man knows
who will ultimately buy his goods, but
he makes them without fear when he
knows that the purchasing power of his.
country is in full vigor. When the
PURCHASING POWER
is in paralysis, the mills stop, and spro-
duction cases. Need dwell on the con-
sequences of this truth? If do will
use the language of Democratic editor,
when he talks OF the "bitter cry of
distressed people," and says: "The
country resounds with the tramp OF I'M
employed men marching upon Washing
ton there to exDlain their oriayances