Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1896-10-21
VICIOUS CLASSAPPEAL
POPOCRATS INCITING WORKING
MEN AGAINST EMPLOYERS.
Bryan Insidious1y Working Upon Wage
earners to Create Such Feeling of
Hostility-An Insult to Patriotic Man
hood.

The indications are conclusive that the
Popocratic campaign managers have de-
termined to make their fight chiefly upon
the class issue which Mr.. Bryan has
made prominent in all his speeches since
the beginning of his campaign and to
which he owes nearly all the popularity
he enjoys. The plan is to 1ncite work
ingmen against the employers of labor,
to instill into the minds of those who
work for wages that they have no inter-
estS in common with the corporations
and the manufacturing companies which
employ them and that in order TO sub
serve their own interests they must ar
ray themselves in political opposition to
employers.
Mr.. BRYAN has been insiduously work
ing upon waGe-earnerS to create such 4
feeling Of hostility He has not had the
courage OF Altgeld and Tillman TO tell
them plainly that they ought to vote
contrary to the political views of en-
ployers. but he has constantly insinuated
that wage workers were being cOerced,
expecting thereby to arouse among them
the spirit of resentment. On various Oc-
casions he has said that he had heard
of cases where employers sought to die
tate how employees should vote, but he
has never ventured TO specify any EN-
ployer who did this. None the less the
charge has undoubtedly been accepted
by some Workingmen as true and thus
served its purpose. The PopOcratc
organs have emulated the example Of the
candidate. They tell the wOrkingmen
that they are industrial slaves; that they
have subjected themselves to the control
of heartless masters and that their only
hope for the future is in the success of
Popocratic doctrines. But this arraying
of workingmen against employers Is TO
be promoted from now on by systematic
work So-called labor leaders are to be
put into the field to work upon wage
earners on the lines marked out by Mr.
Bryan and the POpocratic national COM
mttee. An organized plan of this kind
is already in operation IN Chicago and
will undoubtedly be extended to other
Industrial centers as rapidly as possible.
The national committee is said TO be
sparing no effort TO incite among work
ingnen hostility to employers.
Men who are capa bic of doing this
must have 9 low estimate of the intelli-
gence and the manliness of working
men. In the first place. in nearly every
state Of the union the voter is protected
from intimidation or coercion by the
secret ballot. He is permitted to cast
his vote without anybody but himself
knowing fer whom it is cast. if he has
sufficient Intelligence to read and mark
ticket. Anything like coercion is there
fore impossible and no employer with
common SENSE NOtllu attempt II. L . Scy
that an employer may not express his
political views in the presence of his
employees is to say that he shall not ex-
ercise the right of every American citi-
zen. Mr.. Bryan is going about the cOun-
try asking men to vote for him on the
ground that his election would benefit
them. Why has not a manufacturer an
equal right 20 say 10 those he employs
that he believes the success of the Re
publican party would be to his and their
advantage? There is no more coercion
in the one case than Ill the other and SO
far as the question of self-interest is
concerned It is hardly necessary to say
that the candidate is quite as likely to
be influenced by it as the manufacturer.
But we do not apprehend that any
considerable number of intelligent and
fair-minded Workingmen are going to be
misled by the class appeal They know
that their wages were steadily increased
down TO the time that the Democratic
party came into power and that their
purchasing power is greater now than
ever before L many of them are not
so fully employed as they were four
years ago they know that it is not the
fault Of the monetary standard, but of
Democratic policy, which produced fnan-
cial distrust and business depression.
Such men have no objection to the
money they get because it buys more
than formerly. What they desire is the
chance to earn more of it and they I'M
derstand that this will come with the
resumption of industrial activity which
the restoration of confidence will bring.
There are millions of these men who
are anXiOUSly waiting to vote the Re
publican ticket-Omaha Bee.