New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-01-29
THE AMERICAN DEMOCRAT
HIS TESTIMONY AGAINST HIS OWN
COUNTRY AND THE USE WHICH IS
MADE OF IT BY HIS FRIENDS
IN ENGLAND.


been induiging in Of the usual British pane
gyrics on the Democratic party in America. ono
Of the usual British invectives against the Re-
publican party in America accompanies 1t. Mr..
Wilson'S Tariff speech supplied the text for this
sermon: especially for the Athanasan part OF IL.
Republican finance u.s. in the minds eye of The
Standard" Tammany finance. This may point
10 a slight confusion of ideas in the mind OF the
Brlton writing American affairs-which -
also usual-or 1t may be only a British metaphor.
Then follows an interesting sentence:
"a long and painful journey has now to DO
taken by the American people 10 sel pack 10 mo
honest finance Of the old days. when the gent1os
men planters OF the South governed the country
not always wisely. perhaps but sun h1' as rob
bers in possession of the National I'LL
think It might be said that. compared with
this British writer, Rip Van Wrinkle was fhodern'
and up to date. But he proceeds:
Instead of quiet development, and freedom to
all Corners with thrift and uprghtness N pubic
places Americans now behold not oniy lhei.
empty Treasury. but trade half in ruins, ana
saturated with dishonest practices. through tne
influence Of McKlnleyism and what went De-
fore It,.
Well IL we behold this appalling spectacle. we
behold others also not in America. but In the
country TO which this scrbbling Pharisee D.
longs He might be asked to turn his attention
to n passage in Captain Lugard's book on 'Ihe
Rise Of Our East African Empire" nave not
the passage before me, nor the booK anu
must quote from memory, but the substance VIII
be found accurate Captain Lugard is speaking
of the state Of trade in Uganda and the parts OK
Africa thcreunto adjacent The desire OF tho
African il for cloth which is the currency OF the
country as between him and the foreigner cap
tain Lugard thinks other desires may be cree
ated. and ought IN the interest Of British trade
Ip,,,. Il ret nj
II is he adds in a tone OF melancholy, that most
Of the cloth imported into Uganda Is not British
but American or even German. The natives
will not have the British cloth. They have dis
covered that Manchester sends them short meas
IRE and bad quality and they prefer the Amert-
can Let the scr.bbling Pharsee consider TINS
fact when next he wishes to discourse on trade
half in ruins and saturated with dishonest prac-
tices through the influence Of Mchinleylsm'
Manchester cannot even plead the influence OF
McKinleyism as excuse for those "dishohes'
practices" with which her trade and her cotton
cloths are saturated"
We may take one more quotation:
"Class is arrayed against class. handicratt
against handicraft. man against man III a WI D
ish struggle FOR existence. al over the rree we
public of the West. 10 an extent al present 10
be found in no other part of the world.
DO you recognize this true picture OF the
social condition Of the United States? Ana ir
Il be- Is Il true Of the United States only or
mainly? If there be a country In the worio
where class Is arrayed against class, 1t is Greas
Britain, l should have thought. They are NOT
only arrayed they are organized against eacn
other with a completeness elsewhere UNKNOWN.
Nowhere I apprehend. are tr2des-unlohs 80
numerous or 50 strong Nowhere Is the attack
of labor upon capital so systematic. nowhere
has 1t anything like 50 much legislative sahc'
ton as here in England Nowhere is the con"
test between classes conducted upon sucn
scale. or with such desperation on both sides. or
with such entire Indifference the interests or
the community as a whole Nowhere else are
strikes under the protection OF the police. Never
before has Il happened in the history OF great
manufacturing people that a great body OF men
who wanted 10 work AZ the wages offered by the
employer were prevented by greater body OF
those unwilling to work at those otfered wages
ard that society looked on while THIS long proc~
ess and settled policy OF intimidation by No~
Ience were carried out under the eyes OF the
guardians 81 public order. paralyzed by the
authorities over them. refer to the Dock
Strike and the action Of Mr.. Henry Matthew's
then Home Secretary. The ascendancy OF iawS
lessness in trade conflicts dates ftom that hours
and all that Mr. Asquit1 has done In the inter'
ests Of Labor. for which Mr. John burns euio'
pizes him. is as nothing compared with that ace
Of Conservative supineness.
Rut let us come down to a more recent date.
Was our RIP Van Wrinkle of THE Standard
asleep all last year that he never heard or tho
Coal Strike Did he ever read what was SAID
by the champions Of the miners against inc
ownersq The cclliery owners were denounced
dav after day in .he Socialist press as no better
than murderers and robbers. Riots were ior
time of daily occurrence throughout the STRIKE
districts Property destroyed. the troops
were called out. Lives were sacrihced' ms
authorities like the coal-owners were held up
70 hatred as responsible for the deaths Oh i'-
nocent men. Mr. Keir-Hardie. member OK
Parliament attacked the Home Secretary MI.
As1uith. as the guilty cause of the two deaths
at Featnerstone. All through the strike or
down 10 the moment when compromise WAS
imminent widely circulated and powerful
Manor in London. THE Chronicle" did its ut
most 10 set class against class, To infaine pas
sions. TO represent the miners as victims and the
owners as wicked oppressors. las America
seen ANYTHING in the nature of an economical
contest &, "wolfsh" as this? Have you held
mass-meeting anywhere like that in Hyde Park
last October with-if you accept the estimate
NJ those who organized 600 men attending
and solemnlv placing on record. as they SAID.
their emphatic condemnation OF the associated
colliery proprietors in endeavorns to deirauo
the miners?
Suppose we take the testimony OF MI John
Burns as to the arraying Of class against Glass;
Nobody will deny that NJ. John Burns IS an
expert He delivered a New-Years Address 70
his constituents of Battersea In the washington
Music Hall. Sunday evening. January l. He
says:
From 1889 to 1892 the success achieved by un'
skilled Labor has given a lesson TO the masteIs
and we now see a worldwide federation or cap!-
tai followed by amalgamation OF Labor unions
which will continue to grow so long as the Laoo'
question demands attention.
don't know about the "world-wide ieuera'
ton. Nothing in the history of the iapor s.rus-
gle Is more remarkable than the failure OF tho
attempts at worldwide federation, or OF any
kind of international federation between work.
ingmen. MIR. Burns never shrinks from a broad
generalization. He is however. good witness