St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-09-16
operative association and IL. .upuo.

ne should have al his friends in TOT
who had made the;same kind Of expeni
iture, do the same thing, and this
should be added up and put into a c.
operative association. And then tax
all that money expended for overdres
and overstyle and everything on the pal
of toiling people in order that they ma
appear as well as: persons who hav
more gather that all up, an
you could have cooperative association
all over this land.
/ am not saying anything now abou
trades unions. You want to know wha
/ think of trades unions. think the
are most beneficial in some direction.
and they have a specific object and il
this day, when there are vast monopc
lies-a thousand monopolies concen
trating the wealth of the people int
the possession of: a few men, unles
the laboring men OF this country and III
countries band together they will g
under. There is = lawful use of trad
union, but then there il an unlawful
use OF q trade union. If it means sym
pathy in time Of sickness, If it mean
finding work for PEOPLE when they ar,
out of work, If it means the improve
ment Of the financial, the moral or til,
religious condition Of the laborins
classes. that is all right. Do not artist.
band together in an art union? Do mo-
singers band together in Handel ani
Haydn societies? Do not newspaper
men band together in press clubs? d
not ministers of religion band together
in conferences and associations? There
is not in all the land city where clergy.
men do not come: together, many OF
them once week, to talk over affairs
For these reasons you should not blame
labor guilds. When they are doing
their legitimate work, they are most
admirable, but when they come around
with drum and fife and flag and drive
people of from their toll, from their
scaffoldings, from their factories, then
they are nihilistic, then they are COM
munistic, then they are barbaric, then
they are curse. If man wants to
stop work, let him stop work, but he
cannot stop me from, work.
But now suppose shat all the laboring
classes banded together for beneficient
purposes in cooperative association un-
der whatever name they put their
means together. Suppose they take the
money that they waste in rum and to-
bacco and use it for the elevation OF
their families, for the education of.their
children. for their moral. intellectual
and religious improvement, what a diff
ferent state of things we would have
in this country and they would have
in Great Britain!
Do you not realize the fact that men
work better without stimulant? You
say. "Will you deny the laboring men
this help which they get from strong
drink, borne down. as they are with
many anxieties and axhausting work ?"
l would deny them Eothing that is good
for them. l would: deny them strong
drink, il I had the power, because it is
to them. Ny father said: 81
became temperance man in enrly life
because / found that in the harvest
field, while was naturally weaker than
the other men. could hold out longer
than any of them. They took stimu-
liant and I took nome"
Everybody knows. they cannot en-
1ure great fatigue--men who indulge
IN stimulants. All cur young men un-
1erstand that. When they are prepar-
ing for the regatta or the ball club or
the athletic WRESTLING, they abstain
rom strong drink. Now. suppose all
his money that is wasted were gath
cred together and put into cooperative
nstitutions-oh, we would have a very
lifferent state Of things from what we
nave now!
A clergyman in Iowa told me that his
.hurch and the entire ncighborhood
lad been ruined by the fact that the
'eople mortgaged their farms in order |
Q 60 down to the Philadelphia centen-
ial in 1876. First, one family would
o, then another family. and finally it
Tas not respectable not 10 60 to the
entennial at Philadelphia, and they 4,
aortgaged their farms. The church |
nd the neighborhood ruined in that |
vay. Now, between such fools and |
there is only a very short |
tep. In time of peace prepare for war.
n time Of prosperity prepare for adj
ersity. Yet how many there are who
rive on the verge of the precipice and
the least touch Of accident or sick
ess over they 60. All. my friends, it
J not right. it is not honest! He that
rovideth not for his own, and espe-
tally those Of his own household, Is
orse than an infidel. A man has no
ight to live in luxury and have all com
'rts and all brightness around him,
king his family with him Mt that rate
everything bright and beautiful and
lxurious, until he stumbles against a
and falls in and they all 60
the poorhouse. That is not common
,nesty. / am no advocate Of skinfiint
wing. abhor it. But / plead for
tristan providence. There are some
,ople who are Disguised if they see
lything like economy, such as a man
ight show in turning down the gas
the parlor when he goes out. There
e families actually embarrassed If
u ring their doofbell before they have
Z hall lighted. There are people who
'ologize if you surprise them at the
bic. Now. it is mean or it is mag
ficent to save just according to what !
u save for. If it il for the miserly
arding Of it. then it is despicable. but
1t means better education for your ,
ildren, if it means more house help :
( your wife when she is not strong ,
ough to do much work, il it means
at the day Of your death shall not be
horror beyond all endurance because
is to throw your family into 1isrup- i,
n and humiliation and the poor T
use. then it is magnificent il it is to J
Did all that.
again / remark, great relief is to ]
ne for the laboring classes Of this q
lntry by appreciation on the part Of !
ployers that they had better take !,
ir employees into their confidence. {
an see very easily, looking from my Il
ndpoint. what II the matter. En- /,
yes, seeing the employer in seem A
prosperity. do not: know all the :
hts. all the hardships, all the losses, =
the annOyanceS They Ink - him |