The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-03-03
ORGANIZED UNEMPLOYED
Issue an Address to Their Fellow
Citizens

The following address of the organ
lied unemployed of st. Paul to their
Fellow citizens has been issued:
Amid an abundant and overlooking supply
OF every comfort and luxury that can minister
TO the material well-being and pleasures of
existence, labor, the source of all this wealth
nnds itself outcast, outlawed disinherited
and tantalized by the very prosperity it
has itself produced.
Nor is this all; as If it we're not enough
that the unemployed, through enforced idle
ness, are deprived Of their share in the
common heritage of wealth, the outgrowth
OF the science and industry of all the ages;
as IL 1t were not enough that the legal stand
ing OF men, without visible means Of sup
port, is that Of workhouse slavery we have
been 1nsulted and outraged by the very ones
70 whom we have appealed, not for char
fty, but for Justice.
snort time ago a meeting Of the IN
employed passed resolution requesting the
council to appropriate money for the en-
ployment OIL men who needed work They did
So put from hrst to last the unemployed
and those representing them have been
snubbed and insulted.
1t Is not enough that poverty and misery
inevitably ne.,i must happen tc those who get
lelt IN the scramble for wealth the game
OF grab by which the collectively earned
product Of industry is distributed; in addi-
ton to this, the orthodox in religion and
politics have determined that their unfor-
tunate brethren shall be made to feel and
to feel acutely, their misfortune Those
who aspire to the special privilege of earn
IHs CleIr hVlng at dollar a day must pass
strict and thorough examination as to
their fitness
How loyal to free institutions" must be
the one who has failed to pass the requisite
examination, and, without visible means of
support" finds in the chain gang of tbe
workhouse that equality before the law
Whlch. the politically orthodox profess to be-
Over. eighteen centuries ago there lived one
| who was without visible means of SUPPORT )?
LOT ne had not. to use His own words
Where TO lay His head" He did not anil
late with the respectable, orthodox pharisee
nor cooperate with the thrifty money chang
ers, those who believed in "honest money!
and law and order" On the contrary, He
di.Gu among the lowiy and destitute, and
Chained as His special Representatives in
society the most miserable and unfortunate
Of these, He said ''Inasmuch as We did II
unto one of the least Of these nv bhethran
we did 1t unto me-"
AND now we, the unemployed Of this CITY
make our appeal, not to the orthodox"
those lmlnently respectable pillars of So
clety VINO are outwardly whittier and cbaster
imam the best whitewash, but we appeaI 10 the
manhood of ST. Paul We do not come before
you as beggars, asking for charity, but as
men VINO nave right to Justice The mis-
fortune that is ours today may be yours
tomorrow, and your best claim to that lust
treatment due to all men is your recognition
OF the same claim by those now deprived Of
every natural right He who would with
hold from drowning man the fragment of
wood necessary to save him would be just
thew
gu1ltless, then, who hoard up the food fuel
and shelter that might alleviate the hunger
ana cold OF those who would gladly exchange
for these necessities their labor, their sole
possession?
The unemployed have formed a comprehen
slve plan of cooperation the details of which
will be unfG-ded in industrial effort as rapidIv
as possible That we may render effective our
labor IN producing the things we require It
VIII be necessary to have such cooperation
by the public as will supply any deficiency
mai RI yuh; oh
good. We do not ask that a cent be given
u.s. we do need, however the good will and
moral support of every justice-loving, public
spirited citizen in st. Paul.
We propose to do away with the extreme
poverty in this city, and to draw dead
line beyond which arrogance, greed and
hypocrisy may not go. We shall deny to the
most wealthy and powerful any legal right
that the humblest may not enjoy and shall
give to the least all that the most fav-
cred could reasonably require. We are deal
ing with an emergency which is without pre-
cedence in the worlds annals and in grop-
ing our way towards a better condition of
things we shall be guided by the actual pres
ent nature Of the economic problem rather
than by past experience, which furnishes no
parallel to the present Human life Is more.
sacred than precedent justice more tmpor-
tant than law, and when there arise evils
for the remedy Of which law and experience
are lacking. 1t is time that precedent and
law be created for the crisis.
We are upon the threshold Of a new era
The light Of new morality is breaking upon
US, a collecting conscience which will not
permit any life, though helpless as that of
a new born babe, to perish unheeded. To
this public sense of Justice we the unem-
ployed of St. Paul, make our appeal.
F. r. Hays,
&C. Fisher,
"A. Paradis,
Committee of the Organized Unemployed.