The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1897-09-09

ed If were down stairs and it were my
work to wash and cook and sweep and il
were the duty Of the maid in the kitchen to
| preside in this parlor." The maid in the
kitchen must say: "If my employer seems
| to be more prosperous than /, that is no
| fault OF hers. Ishall not treat her as an
| enemy. / will have the same industry and
fidelity down stairs as would expect from
nv subordinates If 1 happened to be the
wife Of silk importer"
The owner of an iron mill. having taken
dose of my text before leaving home in
the morning, will go into his foundry, and,
passing into what is called the pudding
room, he will see mar there stripped to
the waist and besweated and exhausted
with the labor and the toll, and he will say
to him: "Why, it seems to be very hot in
here. You look very much exhausted. 1
hear your child is sick with scarlet fever.
IL you want your wages little earlier this
week, so as to pay the nurse and get the
medicines, Just come into my office any
time"
In this country the torch put to the fac
tories that have discharged hands for good
or bad reasons, distractions on the rail
track in front OF midnight express trains
because the offenders do not like the Presi-
dent Of the company, strikes on shipboard
the hour they were going to sail or in the
printing offices the hour the paper was to
90 to press, or In mines the day the coal
was to be delivered, or on ho.se scaffold-
ings so the builder fails in keeping his con-
tract-all these are only hard blow on
the head OF American labor and cripple its
arms and lame its feet and pierce his heart.
Traps sprung suddenly upon employers
and violence never took one knot out OF the
knuckle of toll or put one farthing OF
wages into q callous palm. Barbarism will
never cure the wrongs OF civilization.
Mark that
Frederick the Great admired some land
near his palace at Potsdam, and he resolved
to get it. 1t was owned by miller. He
offered the miller three times the value Of
the property. The miller would not take 1t
because it was the old homestead, and he
felt about as Naboth felt about his vine
yard when Ahab wanted it. Frederick the
Great was rough and terrible man, and
he ordered the miller into his presence, and
the king, with O stick in his hand-a stick
with which he sometimes struck his officers
Of state-said to this miller, Now, have
offered you three times the value Of that
property, and II you won't sell it I'll take it
anyhow" The miller said, "Your majesty,
you won't" eyes," said the king, 81 will
take it." Then" said the miller, eff your
majesty does take it I will sue you in the
chancery court" At that threat Frederick
the Great yielded his Infamous demand.
And the most imperious outrage against
the working classes will yet cover before
the law. Violence and contrary to the law
will never accomplish anything, but right
eousness and according to law will accom-
plish it.
After awhile crash goes the money mar
ket, and there is no more demand for the
articles manufactured In that iron mill,
and the owner does not hnow what to do.
He says: ''Shall stop the mill, or shall I
run it on half time, or shall cut down the
mems wages?" He walks the floor Of his
counting room all day, hardly knowing
what to do. Toward evening he calls all
the laborers together. They stand all
around, some with arms akimbo, some with
folded arms, wondering what the boss Is
going to do now. The manufacturer says:
"Men. times are very hard. don't make
S20 where I used to make 800. Somehow,
there is No demand now for what We manu-
facture,. Or but very little demand. You
see, am at vast expense, andI have called
you together this afternoon to see what
you would advise. don't want to shut
up the mill because that would force you
out Of work, and you have always been very
and like you, and you seem to
like me, and the BARNS must be looked
after, and your wife will after awhile want
a new dress. don't know what to do"
There Is dead halt for minute or two.
and then one Of the workmen steps out
from the ranks OF his fellows and says:
"Boss, you have been very good to US, and
when you prospered we prospered, and now
you are in atight place and am sorry, and
ha,, % ofh mil II
don't know how the others feel, but pro-
pose that we take Of twenty per cent. from
our wages and that when the times get
good YOU will remember US and raise them |
again" The workman looks around to his
comrades and says: "Boys, what do you
say to this? All In favor Of my proposition |
will say aye"
cave, ave. aye!" shout 200 voices.
But the mill owner, getting In some new |
exposes himself very much and |
takes cold, and it settles into pneumonia |
and he dies. In the procession to the tomb |
are all the workmen, tears rolling down |
their cheeks and of upon the ground, but |
an hour before the procession gets to the
workmen are at the grave, waiting for the |
arrival Of the funeral pageant. The minis |
ter OF religion may have delivered an elo- |
uuent eulogium before they started from |
the house, but the most impressive things |
are said that day by the working classes
around the tomb.
That night in all the cabins OF the work |
ing people where they have family prayers |
the widowhood and the orphanage In the |
mansion are remembered. No glaring pop |
ulations look over the iron fence OF the
cemetery, but, lowering over the scene, the |
of God and man Is soming for
The fulflliment OF the Christlike injunction, J
ye would that men should ds1
to you, do you even so to them"
"Oh," says some man here, "that Is all |
Utopian, that Is apocryphal, that Is impos- |
sible." No. cut out OF a paper this: "OAe
Of the pleasantest incidents recorded in d |
long time is reported from Sheffeld, Eng
land. The wages Of the men in the iron
works at Sheffield are regulated by board
Of arbitration, by whose decision both mas
ters and men are bound. For some time |
past the iron and steel trade has been ex-
.remely Improbable, and the employers
cannot, without much loss, pay the wages
fixed by the board, which neither employ
srs nor employed have the power to change.
To avoid this difficulty the workmen In one |
of the largest steel works In Sheffield hit |
upon a device as rare as 1t was generous. |
They offered to work for their employers |
one week without any pay whatever"
But you 60 with me, and will show you |
a., al Ppn1onA-faa. |