Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-04-26

| to continue In this course He dWeft
with particular stress upon the wisdom
OF proper department as essential 70
a continuance OF public sympathy. He
closed by predicting successful ter
mination of the strike.
! Mr.. Hall, a member OF the Midnight
Alarm" company, contributed a mono
lOgue, act, little nonsense, as it were,
to diversity the programme of the ev-
ening.
| Chairman Tighe stated that he de-
sired to publicly correct the report that
a MOundSville glassworker was seen to
ride upon the street cars He then in
troduced the Rev. Harry Altmyer. OF
! the clergy of st. Joseph's Cathedral.
| Father Altmyer was received with an
| outburst of enthusiastic applause, and
his very earnest and forcible address
was exceedingly well received. The
cheering was prolonged when he an
| nounced-'sIll walk for a year to en-
! able these men to win their strike -
! When he concluded the crowd urged
him to go on" and applauded until
| he stepped to the front of the stage
and thanked them. He said in sub
! stance:
| FATHER ALTMEYER'S ADDRESS.
| Citizens Of Wheeling and Vicinity
am here tonight becuse l sympa-
! thize with the strikers; because I be-
lieve that their demands are just. /
am here tonight because / sympathize
| with the laborer; because my heart is
with the men who earn their bread by
| the Drawn of their arms and the hot
sweat of their brows. | am here to-
night because l believe in labor unions
in the workingmen uniting for their
mutual protection and advancement
believe that labor unions are the only
feasible, practical way at present by
which the toiling masses can hope to
| get hearing and preserve their rights
and dignities.
l believe not in socialism; I believe
not in anarchy. Socialism is imprac-
ticable-anarchy. AS long as men
have the faint of Adam in them, as
long as men are prone to evil, govern
ments there must be; law there must
| be. But, gentlemen, do believe in So
cial reform-not the sudden revoIu-
| tons of old-established customs, not
| the sudden upheaval Of old-cherished
principles, but gradual social Chris
! tian revolution in the labor world.
| Something must be done to relieve the
| toiling, struggling masses; when men
are crying for work and children for
bread-and there is plenty in the
! land; when boys and girls of tender
age are huddled together from early
morn till late at night in factories,
! performing the work of men but not
! given the wages of men, but the miser-
/ ly sum of two Or three dollars a week,
compelled to do this to help keep away
| hunger from their fireside; when moth
ers are obliged to leave their sucking
| infants in the morning to the care and
charity of friends and remain away
from them until the dawn Of evening
remain away from babes and small
children performing laborious work
all to get only the small bite they eat.
is not something wrong, gentlemen
Is their not call for some social re-
form? This picture is not drawn from
imagination. You who have observed
and have travelled, some who have read
and reflected does not this picture
meet you in every large city?
| POOR ALWAYS WITH US.
Gentlemen, believe poverty will al
ways be in this world. Christ, the
| Goldman in His infinite wisdom has
said so. The poor you shall always
have with you" / believe, too, there
must be inequalities in wealth and So
| cial position. I do not condemn
wealth, but do raise my voice against
! its unjust use. | raise my voice as a
priest of the Catholic Church, with
| Leo Kill, it's present earthly head; /
raise my voice with him and many
other bishops and priests Of the Cath
Ole church, and say to the rich-say
to the employers-say to the capital
| lists that they have not an absolute
ownership over their wealth; that they
are only Gods stewards to use their
wealth to give out work, happiness
| and life to their fellow-men. | raise
my voice with Leo XIII. and say to
the employers and the rich that they
must not look upon mans labor SIM
ply as commodity; that they must
consider man as a social being with
social wants, and in forming a contract
with him for his labor they must con-
slider the wants of his family, give him
enough wages to keep his family in
frugal comfort, sufficient that he may
put aside some for sickness and cid
age and other miSfortunes; that the
employer in bargaining with him must
not oblige him to work so many hours
as to deprive him of family social life
and the time necessary to improve his
| moral and intellectual being. Where
the rich and employers take not these
things in consideration they commit
an injustice against the workingman;
they do him a great wrong.
Gentlemen, l am on the side of these
strikers because l believe they are only
asking for just consideration-$1,S 80
a day for nine hours labor is just
demand. A family cannot be kept
properly on less wages Increase the
number of hours, and what time have
they for family social life and moral
and Intellectual improvement.
Citizens of Wheeling and vicinity, 1
am personally acquainted, l believe,
with two-thirds of these conductors
and motormen, having met them rid
ing to and fro on the cars on my err
rands of mercy. l say am personally
acquainted with them, and | know
them as a rule to be respectable, law
abiding, industrious citizens. They re-
spect law and order, and, l know, have
not and will not interfere with the
property of the street car company, nor
have they nor will they encourage in