The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1896-08-07
WANTS M'KINLEY TIN
THOUGHTS OF A WORKiNGMAN DUR
ING IDLE HOURS.

Upon tho Kitchen shelf-"Chcap" Goods
Cannot Tie Bought by "Chcaper" Labor.
why the Masses Arc For Mckinley.
In public discussions as to the fitness
of the several aspirants for the Repub-
lican nomination to tho presidency it
seems to me that very few important
essentials are entirely overlooked. News
paper writers who do not appreciate or
who are not in touch with the sentiment
of the masses of the people fail to reach
q true understanding of their desires
Moreover, they overlook all future pos
sibilities, as rule. There arc very few
newspaper writers who look far into the
future or who really think. They arc
content with the business Of the day,
with the events of the day, caring little
for the morrow or taking heed what a
day may bring forth.
But there is more real earnestness in
the minds and considerations of the
masses Of the people than we would be
led to imagine, judging by the tenor
and tone of our daily press. And the
events Of the past few years have devel-
oped this earnestness of thought. Men
have been brought face to face with the
affairs of the morrow. They have been
compelled to take heed what day may
bring forth. "a condition, not q theory,
has confronted them" Dwell for mo-
ment upon the position Of q man who,
year in and year out, has been able to
sell his labor for good wages. He has
lived WE'LL he has given his family far
better education than he was himself
enabled to secure; he is procuring O
home for them; he is giving them COM
forts and little luxuries, the ability to
do which cheers him at his work and
adds zest to his Homecoming. Let such
a man, through no fault Of his own, be
brought face to face with the fact that
on the morrow there will be no demand
for his labor, that he cannot sell his
finished product-the strength Of his
arm and the mechanical skill of his
brain-in the great markets of the Unit
ed States.
It has taken many men long time
to realize fully the true depth of what
this means At work day after day,
wages earned week after week, year in
and year out but tomorrow cannot
sell my labor My boss has no use for
it. What does it mean?" Imagine q
steady, hard working man suddenly con-
fronted with such condition. Imagine
him. if you can. going home to his wife,
to his children. telling them that he is
an idler, that he cannot earn for them
their next days bread and meat. There
is no demand for his strength or skill.
Nobody needs him. He feels his arm,
his muscle. 1t is good and strong as
ever. The paralysis is not there. But the
the cheap labor products of foreign
mills, sent here from foreign countries,
admitted into our markets by the Demo
cratic party, that promised him higher
wages, more work, cheaper goods and
period of prosperity and revelry such as
he had never dreamed of.
And where are his higher wages? He
has no work Where is that period Of
prosperity and revelry? Alas, he has the
time to enjoy it, his time is all his own!
But he sees no prosperity, no revelry.
Even happiness, the true happiness Of
industry, has fled from his home. And
the cheaper" goods, the product Of
cheap" foreign labor that has sup
planted his own labor, that has made
him an idler, how can he buy these
cheaper" goods when he lacks the
money to buy such food as he had been
accustomed to provide for his family
and which they must now do without?
OF what use to him are these cheap"
goods? They have "cheapened" his la
Dor and stand far more costly to him
today because of his inability to earn
the money that will buy for him the
yeriest trash that was ever made in q
foreign factory or in European prison.
Such are the "cbeap" goods that he
was promised They are offered to him.
cause they have made his labor still
"cheaper," so 'cheap" that there is no
demand for it ut any price
Has not this man been thinking? Has
he not been talking with his fellow
workers in their hours of compulsory
idleness Of the reason for this changer"
Don't they know that they have run
their heads up against a condition."
How long does it take these hardhead-
ed thinkers to fathom out the facts, to |
reach bedrock, to get down to the root |
of their evil? They know that every |
case Of foreign goods sold here repre-
sents, say, $50 to foreign labor and that |
It represents 500 taken away from
American labor. 1t doesn't take long to |
think that out And tho empty dinner |
pail still stands upon the kitchen shelf, |
that dinner pail which was such "tax"
to them in 1892. There is time now to |
polish it up and smooth out the kinks |
that it incurred through daily use. Bat
tered in the honest service of honest soill |
Rusting i'll idleness! Oh, for the chance |
to buy another Mckinley taxed" din |
ner pail Oh, for the chance to brand |
the Democratic free trade lie with the |
infamy it deservesl The chance is COM
ing; tho opportunity will soon be here |
Hold on bravely for few months longer,