The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1898-02-18

Il
he belonged to no party, so each one
of you have got to be politicians. If
you don't you will find that, while
you are fighting for some trivial trade
affair, the weightier matters have
been secretly won, so that future
trade battles are almost sure failures.
While you are settling the standing
of some foreman in shop, you will
find thet monarchy has been revived
in this country-not monarchy in
name, perhaps, but when one man
sitting as Judge can make injunct-
ions which govern you by laws not of
your own max ing, then you have a
one-man power, and that Is mon
archy, whether the ruler is called a
king or Judge. You will find that
franchises which belong to the whole
people have been bought from venal
councils and legislatures for tithe
of their value, and that the price paid
goes into the pockets not of the peo-
pie, but of the criminal sellers. You
are bound by their actions. You
will find that monoplies have en-
trenched themselves behind legal
enactments so firmly that their reign
will be heightened for years. You
have got to go into politics, or you
will find that your life will be hem
4, To-, o1n n r,H alncpr III
its until you become serfs and not
freemen. Delay not too long.
Wendell Phillips says Of reforms
that "each and all came from the
protest Of the martyr and the victim
o workingmen! the little children
cry to you from the crowded tene-
ment house, factory and ru jhing
store. They lower the mems rate of
wages, and, what is worse, it lowers
the grade of the men and women to
be. Can you regulate child labor by
law? You've tried it and had pre-
tense, but nothing thorough. Why?
Because 1t Is the interest OF some
manufactures to employ children, 1t
is the interest of some landlords to
shut out light and air from the dwell
lings of the poor, and they own or
b1ibe the law-makers. The women
who are your sisters and wives and
who are to be the mothers of the fu-
ture, are overweight and overwork- :
ed. They call to you for help and
too frequently sink into that hell on
earth, the brOthel. How almost i'm
possible it is to get any legislation to
remedy this, because it means less
profits to some corporation. The
men who ere your brothers, toiling
in the sweat shops or in the mills,
tagged with number like slaves, or
penned behind Tulm ms or Home
stead's silent walls, or working for
$40 to 500 month in the coal mines,
demand relief, but some corporate
bars the way. Another squeeze of
some new combination or trust is
made on wages, land when the squeez-
ing gets beyond a certain point, any
more means life.blood. In many
places that point has been long past.
Is the pr test of the martyr and vic=
tim yet loud enough.
Representative government was
BIZ tn democratic and republican
when it was established in this coun-
try. But the world has made pro-
gress. We were then the oX-cart
period. 1t took week to go from
Washington to New York., 1t now
takes five hours. 1t took months fol
the result of presidential election
to be fully known. 1t is now known
the next day, if not the same night
But with the progress of time ano
invention came the development O
concentrated wealth and of great or
ganizations controlling it, and thi'
wealth and these organizations havt
touched the vital fault In the repre-
sentative system; they have corrupt
ed the men who have unrestainet
power. You give them that unre
strained power during their term o
office. Stop it: and you can stop |
by direct. legislation.
So to-day we do not have demo
cratic government. We do not hav
Republican government. We hav
a corporation and wealth governmen
: We have a government that, instea
of being an inspiration, is a degrada
tlon. We have a government tina
instead Of leading progress, is behin
: and clogs advance. We have gov
r ernment which, instead of being til
servant of the people is their maste
F., Your future as workingmon, as Gil
r izens, is bound up with Legislation
: with government. You have got
3 90 into politics; you have got
J make our government self-goverl
: ment through direct legislation, il
j stead of government by others,
. else-I will not think of the revers
: 18th g, emancipation Of the workir
$ people must be achieved by the wor
S ing people themselves" says We
d dell Phillips.
n You believe this. The very fact
n your organization for your own ben
e fit, without asking the help or pc
II mission of the upper class, is Gle
D.. evidence of it. Il you did not b
)f lava II then Won would mt he i'm