The weekly tribune., 1894-10-19

WEEKLY TRIBU
member, the supreme court of the
United states said the minere were right
after all. [Applausel But it cost US
$4,000 to do it. and we were fighting
Helena people all the time; it was the
people who lived in Helena; it was that
man Essler in particular that we we're
fighting all the time. Now, the idea of
Col. Sanders and Gov. Toole going to
Butte and asking the workingmen Of
that town to vote for such a scab hole
as that! Applousel. They'll never do it.
A few boys came to me only few
days ago and said they had been down
to see Joe Woolman and had got some
money to work for them for the capital.
l told them / was ashamed of them do
ing such thing as that, and they said
"You might as we'll go down there be-
cause this is the only opportunity we
have ever had In our lives Of getting any
thing from Helena. and we will never
have It again." Laughter. That is the
reason they will never get the capital.
They will never catch up for thousand
ersysr sssss 'ts SelieVs Uss0 uSset ssS 0'in IN
labor; thoroughly convinced that
organized labor il perfect success and
is thoroughly scientific. The constitu-
tion of the United States grants to each
and every individual the right to make
q contract with every other individual
that he wants to; but we say that ia not
right, that is unscientitic; because il
that right prevailed men would be work.
ing in this town for so cents. We say
that man has right to defend his
$3.50 day for working in the mines, a
perfect right. To me it is almost my re-
ligion, because the creed of labor says
that living wage shall be given for toll.
ALIvING WAGE MEANS
good home; living wage means an
honest, upright man; a living wage
means splendid wife, we'll fed and we'll
clothed children; it means character,
honor, virtue every time. (Applause).
You must have money; you cannot do
without it; low many times have we
seen poor fellow IN tho mining camp of
Butte, or in any other camp, stranger,
probably, out of luck, no money, no
home, kicked from door to door, sneak.
ing around to get money to eat on, raps
at the door: please lady, will
you give me something to eat
See the man when he goes out
into the mountains, prospects, comes
| back again with few thousand dollars
| What do you see then? Hundreds OF
friends-upright, manly, he Is all right.
That is what good wage does. be-
lieve it is thoroughly right and thor
oughly proper. The man who does not
defend his own home and his own fire.
side is not fit to be citizen in any coun
try. Applause.] l don't care whether
he ls doctor, or whether he is lawyer
or whether he is mechanic, or miner,
or a common laborer, believe that each
and every one Of them, like the lawyers
and the doctors, should have their work
ing card. / believe in working card
Take the dentist, the physician, and the
lawyer, every one Of them has his work.
ing card. Let some snide pop into town
and see how quickly they will jump on
him and see where his working card is!
And yet when a poor laborer wants a
card he is an anarchist l believe it is
perfectly right and proper for men
to defend their wage system. When you
are working for $3.50 in the mines the
grand, powerful Miners union is at the
back of it, an organization that in four
teen or fifteen years has spent over one
million dollars, and never a miner has
been buried in pauper's grave. They
say in Butte, and you say it here, and
rightly too, that the man who wants to
work for less scale is your enemy, not
only your own enemy, but he is his own
enemy also; and I will tell you why:
He comes and takes away your employ
ment for less than you are working for;
he says am just as good man as he is;
l will do that work for $500 day; the
employer being possessed with the same
feelings of avarice and greed that other
people are, says: "All right, / will give
you the job" Two or three days after
that, another man comes along willing
to do it for $3.50; that is all right-pri-
vate contract. A couple of days after
that another come along and will do the
same work for Sl5O; the next week a
four-footed Chinaman will pop in from
Helena and do the same job for SO cents.
|[Applause.] believe man has per-
feet right to defend his wage, a perfect
right, because the wage system
means the home; without decent wages
you cannot have it. Give a man $40 q
day aud he will live in little palace, in
q little home that belongs to him, that
is his own. Give him a dollar day and
he will be in dug-out, and you know
it every time. And l want to say to
everybody, every business man, that it is
to his interest to see that good wages are
paid, because without good wages you
cannot carry on your business. say
to any man who owns land, who has
lots to sell, that it is
| TO HIS OWN INTEREST
to see that good wages are paid, go that
these men can buy lots and build homes
and live in them. Because unless good
wages are paid mai cannot buy clothes
and proper food, the storekeepers and
business men could not hand over the
taxes to the treasurer from the profits
they have received from the goods in
trade. Every man who works in the
mines, mills and snelters, every man
who chops wood upon the mountains to
feed the furnace fires, every woman ir
her home, every boy and girl going tc
achool. every laughing, smiling little