Industrial freedom. [volume] (Edison, Wash.) 1898-1???, 1898-08-20
THOUGHTS. S Ss Uncle


THE scientific statement that the
average length of whales jawbone is
seven feet leads one to thank heaven
that the average politician is at least
more of jackass than he is a whale.
The fact that the hair of man turns
white five years sooner than that of a
woman is due, | suppose, to the won
derful lack of worry and dread con-
fronting the breadwinner within our
competitive system.
4 4 Il
1t now turns out that the New York
Judge who decided that the working
mans child, killed by street car, was
worth only Is cents, has numerous rela-
tives on the pay rolls of various New
York and New Jersey corporations.
Hence it is no longer a mystery why he
might have been so merciful to the
strong box of the street car company.
The police authorities of New York
bear witness that the majority of the
10000 girls and women who 90 to the
bad in that city every year graduate
from the sweat shops. | hope some of
the goody-goody women will think of
this the next time they rush to bar
gain sale at Wanamaker's, or at some
other merchants equally noted for his
piety and nose for large sales and
small profits" Over the counter with
these wonderful bargains goes unheard
many a sob and many a cry from the
tortured souls crushed into the mud and
filth of a corrupt and decaying indus
trial system.
SOME thimble-headed people wonder.
in their simple, idiotic way, why the
the New York garment workers have
again gone on strike. But to THOSE
who know that the greed of the sweater
is having full play under the rules of
the merciless competitive game, anG
that the average pay of the thousands
of girls and young women employed in
those dens does not exceed $3.50, the
result is not at all wonderful. The only
thing that appears wonderful to the
Socialist is that IA just and good God al
lows the earth to be encountered with
the peanut souls of people who are hor-
rified and draw aside their fire-sale
skirts every time one of these tortured
and starved girls forsakes that path of
virtue which the struggle for exist
ence under a Christian u civilization
will not allow her to pursue.
= = =
How nice it is to vote for capitalism,
even if you do destroy your own well
fare and future. How splendid it is to
have system of private ownership
that makes fool of the workingman
voter and hog of his master, What
a magnificent spectacle is afforded by
the workers, blinded by false patriot
ism, rapturously allowing themselves to
be plundered by those who are kicking
up the dust and yelling Look there"
Who stood more loudly for national
honor" in the last campaign than cor
porate wealth? And you thought they
did il out Of love for the welfare Of the
country: You voted that way, anyway,
even to swallowing their disgracing Of
Old Glory 10y printing political and TOM
fool catch-phrases across its stripes.
Yet il was only an easier robbery OF
your labor they We're after. and they
didn't, nor they don't care two pins
about either real honor or real patriot
ism. The American Steel and Wire
Company, with capital of several mill
lions, and an employer of several
thousand men, has just cut the wages
Of its employees 80 10 per cent. OF
course the men struck. They know
enough TO do that. even if they don't
know enough TO go in when il rains on
election day. Without waiting for
trouble the concern appears to be look
ing for it. 1t has already erected II 10
foot board fence around its works at
Anderson, Ind, and has threatened to
import Hungarian laborers to take the
place of the strikers If the latter do
not accept the pauper wage that Me
Kinley prosperity and private owner
ship would force upon them. Vote for
it some more, boys. Aren't you glad
you breathed kerosene smoke and red
fire a couple of falls ago and dutifully
followed your timekeepers and bosses
to gaze on the Advance Agent and his
front porch at CantonY DO it some
more, will We?