Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1896-10-26

( event of the election of Mckinley, or that
! the present rate Of wages shall be main
/ tained. or finally demand an absolute
I guaranty that no cut in wages shall fol-
low the triumph of The single gold
| Standard. This will settle the whole
/ business Do not take any ones word
for it. Have a contract made and sign
ed, and let it specify at least two years
in which there shall be no material
/ wage reduction.
! This is not an unreasonable demand.
Mr. Mckinley is announced as the "ad-
vance agent Of prosperity" Employers
are asking their men-and
EVEN THREATENING THEM
i'm an attempt to perpetuate the gold
/ standard, which thus far has been fail
ure. If these factory owners and bust
ness men have any confidence in their
/ political sagacity, if they really believe
/ that Mr. Mckinley is the advance agent
of prosperity, if they really believe the
gold standard is a good thing, they GER
,8inly should be willing TO agree not to
cut down wages just the moment the
people have voted to nave four more
/ years of gold regime. Their conf
dence should go 10 the extent of making
legal contracts with the men they are
now urging to vote for Mckinley and
prosperity.
"Workmen are advised TO put their
I employers TO the test. Il will cost them
nothing, and may settle a disputed
point
-,t:- g.; ,t,ot Nror1y IIappo terms eedi-
ton. An inquiry as TO
WHAT KIND OF PROSPERITY"
the workmen may expect under a con-
tinued gold standard in denounced as an
attempt to array the industrial masses
Of the nation against their employers
In order to comprehend the Hanna
idea cf the relations which should exist
between employer and workman a care
full examination of his proclamation is
necessary. He starts out by denouncing
the newspaper clipping as "seditious
bulletin" and charges that men VINO
connive to destroy the peaceful relations
existing between capital and labor are
none too good to 60 even worse.
Mr.. Hanna then gets squarely down
70 business and dashes off the following
in answer to a suggestion that workmen
ascertain how much the Mckinley aG-
ministraiOn will reduce their wages
JONES ON HANNA AND LABOR.
Here Mr.. Jones quotes a portion of
Nr. Hanna's bulletin, then concludes
thus:
What do the people of the United
States think of tha. as a political doc
Urine? The workman who asks his en-
ployor 10 guarantee him against fur
tber reduction in mis- wages-in the
event that the advance agent OF pros
pr-itv" is elected President, on the de-
mand of the employers-is guilty OF
soliciting a bribe." That is a step in
advance of government by injunction.
Every Republican paper and every he
publican orator in n country Is pro
claiming that the -rinmph o. MciAlhley
and gold means prosperity. The rail-
road companies and the great corpora
ti0ns are demanding Of their men that
they vote for Mckinley. They assure
the men that good times will follow the
trirmDh Of sound money" Their en-
movers want good times, but they are
eusDicious of Mr.. Mckinley. They
voted to pass the Mckinley tariff Diu,
and as soon as it was enacted wages were
reduced
AND STRIKES FOLLOWED.
Mr.. Hanna says a promise TO maintain
.ba nresen. wage scale would place the
emDlovers in position no citizen should
be compelled TO occupy.
In making this statement Mr.. Hanna
admits what every employer Of labor
knows. viz. that under the gold stand
ard .here must be a reduction in wages.
He i3citlv admits that no honest en-
plover with ordinary business sagacl'y
win bind himself to pay the present
scale of wages after election. lie knows
thar wages must fal. He knows that
they would have been reduced before
This had not an election been pending.
II would be interesting to know II Mr.
Hanna will permit the wOrkmen OF the
Tniied States 10 ask of their employers
a contract that under the gold standard
wages shall no, be reduced more than
25 ner cent. In view of the fact that
most forms of property and produce has
declined more than % per cent, suCh
a demand might be construed as unfair
but il does not seem like sedition to ask
about how much of a reduction may be
expected if the advance agent OF pros
perity" is elected by the votes OF wage
earners.
Much as Mr. Hanna and his associate,
Mr.. Payne would like
STRIKE AT THIS TINE,
with an opportunity TO call out the
or.nv and militia. they will be doomed 10
5isannointmen,. From now until The
close of The campaign the toilers IN the
great factories and on the raIlroads may
exDec1 TO be subjected 10 treatment
which ordinarily might justify an Or
g9nized protest, but if they are patrlotc
Inc, will calmly submit and remain a.
work They may rest assured that CO.
ercion will cease the day after election.
T-r1a self-sacrifice and exercise or
oood Judgment az this time will insure
The defeat of Mark Hanna and prevent
The proDosed reduction Of American
wages 10 The scale of gold standard Italy
and Turkey.
II is the deliberate opinion Of the head
of ono of the greatest retail firms in the
world taat the election Of Mr.. McKin-
I=v and the establishment of the single
gold Standard inevitably means national
h9nkrup-cy and the foreclosure by Eng
lish and European creditors OF our great
industries and the lasting ruin OF our
agricultural classes.
The American workman VINO votes TOT
William Mckinley votes for perma-
nent reduction in wages.
The American business man or manu-