The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-10-14

but this is the case everywhere. Sir Joseph
Whitworth, the great steel manufacturer in
England, did not die pauper. and Lord Arm
strong and the Rothschilds hardly seem in the
way of imroyerishment. My consolation when
see these great riches. for L own up to the
same envy that affiicts my brethren of those
who are better off than myself, is that all those
riches are of no profit 10 the owners thereof
unless they build railroads or mills or dig
illuminants for the poorest OF us out of The
bowels of the earth.
The more prosp ery there is the more there
is 10 distribute and there Is The chance that
the worker, whether with brain or muscle, had
TO wrest from his employer his share. 1 am
not the author of this idea 1t comes from a
Pennsylvania wOrkingman, who declared before
the Committee Ways and Means that II
Congress would only pass laws which would
enabIe enterprise TO make profits the working
men would see that they got their share. And
this very day, In the strike which is. or was
going on in Massachusetts, the very basis OF
the argument on both sides is the price of the
goods and the consequent profits. The orators
en- the other side have always declared that
strikes would not come when they bad power,
yet on he contrary, there are more looms IDLE
than we have ever had in the past.
Strikes are always unfortunate things, but
not always bad things. Their success consists
not In their victories, but in their possible ex.
lStouct well WHO see tDelr Way GEAR 10
profits will not refuse recompense to those they
employ when the great disorgauZaton OF a
strike is possible under a sense OF Injustice on
the part OF organized labor. To borrow again
Mr.. Eyarts' illustration, the wit OF which is
only eQuaed by its wisdom. the only way thus
far discovered 10 distribute conSumabe and
enjoyable wealth Is first, to give the chance TO
create, and then let each side struggle for its
share. l do not say that this is the only way
thara mill o. I bnn 10 will
more gladly welcome than L any method for
fair and peaceful distribution. But there IS
one thing certain-unlii you have profits they
cannot be distributed.
Why do desire fair dis ribution of profits
Is 1t because / profess 10 be the special friend
OF those who labor? Anybody who does that
from political platform had better be
watched. l have no such motive. My motive
Is the good selfish one that such distribution
leads TO general prosperity, of which 1 hope to
get my share.
What is the motive power that lets on the
water and feeds with coal and sets the ma
chinery in motion? 1t is the market, the power
OF purchase. Whence comes that? From the
rich and the poor; from he who is rich a little.
from the poor much. II you were to give ME
alone for myself million dollars l should not
spend ten thousand of it in eonsumabe wealth,
though might put il into plants, into works or
railroads. but ii l were TO give you a million
dollars. distributed among you all. every cent
OIL IL would be spent, none in looms or in
machinery, but in the product of looms and
machinery. This is what makes the market
which is The motive power of production, not
tie large contributions OF the few but the
small contributions of the many. This large
market also makes legitimate cheapn SIS. l
say legitimate cneapness. for a cheapness with
no money 10 buy is mockery to the SOUL
while che pnesS with good wages is the delight
OF life. The broader and richer the market the
more of each article VIII be consumed, and the
more there is consumed the cheaper each will
be made.
Machinery has Its foundation GU this. You
would not build building to make single ak
handle. Most manufacturers re aliZe these
things and the great fact that good wages so
far frOm being hostile 10 their progress is It's
very foundation. When manufacturers all see
their interests that way we shall witness the
happy dea b, for this country at least, OF that
old political economy doctrine that profits aie
dependent on low wages. Business prosperity
will come from the extension OF business and
not from the diminution of wages.
But as protection tends to division of the
wealth of the country, why have the working
men voted the Democratic ticket? Why have
they who are most concerned failed TO see this
great advantage TO them of which you preach,
my friends? This human nature of ours is
queery made up. a man cares Infinitely more
for little thing which Is present than for a
great thing afar OFF. A man will be set wild
with sand in bis shoe and give no thought 10
the question of the final place OF punishment
for the wicked A man VIII be deeply outraged
by a bug In bis cup and give heed TO a
thunderstorm lowering black in the distant
sky, but when the storm breaks and capsiZes
his tent, as this one has, beats him black aud
blue with hail, and leaves him damp and SHY
erng he realizes the difference between the
storm and the bug.
Therefore / believe that the workingman this
year and hereafter will say to his employer:
lyon and VIII adjourn our fight; we viii 60
together TO get something to divide, and after
that we Will fight on the division, for we can't
longer fight when there is nothing 10 fight for"
Another thing VIII oh led this country into the
error of 1892 was the history of thu last thirty
years. During all that time we had been pros
porous, wages had Increased so all parties
agree in the ratio of from 81 10 81 II. so that
whoever got 81 in 1860 in 1891 got for the
same work 81 Il and that 81 II bought nearly
as much as 81 did when the world was thirty
years younger.
The generation which lived under Robert j.
Walker and James Buchanan had passed away.
new generation had come. Having lived all
their lives in prosperity. with creasing wants.
people came to feel that prosperity was nat
haps or of the soil ana utterly disconnected
with the Government. For the last eighteen
months it has slowly crepI into the minds of all
The p Ople that there may have been some
brains put into the Government OF this coun-
try during lis thirty years of prosperity: that all
this happened not by luck or chance. but by
good management and sound ideas.
am not going TO make any panegyric OF the
Republican party. 1t is party like any other,
with many good deeds and some bad ones.
On the whole the friend of sound currency, of
honest living, OF business prosperity and fair
interpreter of the peoples wishes. Virtue In
this world is comparative. We never get per-
feet. All we can say is that one man is better
than another, and that it is wiser to choose The
better.
One piece of goods rescued for the general
jettison of the last TWO years Is the fact that
the Dem ocraiic party has been tried in actual
command. We can DOW make comparisons,
not between what each party says 1t will do
but between what each has done. 1 notice that
this fact troubles The Democratic orators. The
laie Governor OF Massachusetts, In presiding
over the convention to nominate the other Rus.
sell. who has already been soaked with the
coming storm, demands to know what the Re-
publican party proposes to do.
be and all the rest want to get back on the
old platform, which was OF professions and not
of deeds. The country has had enough Of prom.
ises. What II wants is character. ANYBODY
can make promises. Even the Democratic
party, dissolved and torn, continues to promise
and is ready, notwithstanding ream OF dis
honOred paper, already protested at the bank