The times., 1897-04-25

| ana injustice OF their acts, and they, to
compass a just revenge tif revenge is
ever Just). may commit outrages thai
VIII bring disgrace upon the cause in
which they are engaged. But working
people have seldom joined in sedition
they have seldom, IL ever, looked To armed
revolution for their remedies, and they
have never been vindictive when the heat
of contest was over. In their successes
they have been generous, and they never
have pursued their enemies with the In
tention Of depriying them of the means
or making a living, as employers have
often done, and today are doing by
the blacklist, in opposition to all human
feeling, as well as against the law
During the next fifty years, the working
men continued to perfect their organiza-
tions, often, as in 1888, in the Owenite
movement, In the wrong direction. There
was more or less industrial depression in
| all trades In England until 1850, when
the increased production of gold caused a
| rise In prices The period of the civil
| war in this country was one of great suffer
Ing In the cotton trade and the depression
extended to other trades also A s it is in
prosperous times that labor organiZa-
tons make the greatest advancement so
1t is in periods of depression that they
experience the greatest trials But the
progress of the labor movement IN England
has been marked and the success achieved
wonderful. In 1875 labor organizations
were recognized by law, and theysare bow
as free as any other organizations, and
they have Increased in numbers and in
strength. They have been the means of
extending the electoral franchise in Eng
land until there are few persons who do not
vote, and the working people have all the
rights OF fTeemen. Union men have been
elected to Parliament and to local offices
III cities and counties They are now in
situation to beginthe achieve ment for them
selves and their feIlow-citizens of the
settlement Of those questions which are
pressing for solution, and which they are
so well equipped to solve for the benefit of
all
The United States inherited English h
laws, and to some extent English ideas,
preJBdices, and policies affecting their
social state The poor laws OF the States
have been tfnctured with the ideas and
policy of the poor law of Elizabeth, and
We are SO prone TO follow precedent that
the legal fiction OF master and servant
has continued to disgrace our laws though
in England IL disappeared from the statutes
twenty years ago. Even the workers
in their organizations and methods OF
procedure have taken the older English
organizations for their models, and EN-.
ployers In this country have not shown
themselves any more liberal than those |
of Great Britain They have used the
document, the lockout and the blacklist !
with equal, IL not greater, cruelty and /
pertinacity. Contests between capitalists |
and laborers have been as numerous in the /
United States as In England, the la rs have /
been appealed TO as frequently, and judges |
just as frequently have strained the law |
against the workers, though p'>ishments ,
have not been as severe, more bec<1se of
the difference in the temperament OF the
two peoples than for any other reason
The American working people look to
the form OF their government for protec-
ton from industrial oppression, and the
American workman was 10th TO acknowl-
edge that Industrial conditions may be g |
lntolerable under a republic as under
He has been slow to realize !
this fact, and many workers do not realize
t yet, and Insist that. under our system
the Individual has the same opportunity to
get along and rise in the world as he ever
had. and he points with pride TO the num- |
Der OF men who have risen from poverty
ana almost deStitution TO be among the |
greatest IN the land. But they forget that |
he number of men who have risen of late |
years is very few, and that 20 acquire a |
position in society and government they |
must abandon their occupations, and that |
here was no advancement for those W ho |
lave risen, great in genius and capacity |
or affairs as they were, until they had |
zone into other occupations
1t has only been possible for a few man. {
al workers to abandon their occupation,
nd those who have remained In them
we're compelled by the logic of events TO
cknowledge that republic could dis
,riminate between it's citizens, and that
wealth was as powerful in our country as {
n any other This led many of them as ;
arly as 1925 to organize labor unions and +
o battle for better conditions Their first J
reat contention was for ten-hour day.
or they then worked from 'sun to sun"
employers resisted the movement as de-
as they now oppose an eight
our day. The labor organizations have
one on increasing until there is probably {
million and half of workmen. skilled
- "AACOi NhiOAASu Az idpoi oiBdHlZd- |
ions, and who, Notwithstanding differ
noes among themselves as to policies and {
erSons, are united 10 advance the inter {
sts Of all labor people. V
Though the American workman has had '
lie ballot to protect him and advance his i
lterests, the English workman is better 2
rganized than he and works shorter hours fl
his is not because of any inferiority of p
le American workman; it s because he /
as not yet fully recognized the fact that n