The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-06-12

Az Urls Attent2OM 10 the ErOBperOu6
Condition of the Federation--Con-
Wet We. Free LabOr-The Advis-
ability of supporting the Labor
Press of the State-UniOn Men in
the Late War. 81
Delegates to the annual meeting OF the
Minnesota branch OF the Federation Of
Labor will meet In Duluth for q two
days session this morning. At 10 o'clock
the president Of the Federation, George
C. Collins, of st. Paul, will deliver his
address, which will be as follows: 80
Delegates, brothers, friends: In the
city of Winona, one year ago. on behalf
Of 10000 organized men and women, I
welcomed the delegates there assembled
to the sixteenth convention of the Min
nesota State Federation OF Labor.
To-day. in the city overlooking the
great 'unsalted sea- in picturesque Du-
luth. surrounded by beetling cliffs. stately
public and private buildings, handsome
residences, immense shipping Industries,
Wholesale and retail houses. where trades
equaled by any other city in the greatest
Of Northwestern states, I extend you a
greeting in the name of more than q, 600
workers In the ranks of labor.
when the delegates to the convention
of the State Federation met at ST. Cloud
year ago last June the prospects for the
future Of the toilers In the North Star
state were anything but bright; the sun
OF prosperity was hidden beneath the
lowering clouds of doubt and uncertainty;
the fires in the furnaces of thousands of
the state and nation were smothered by
the ashes of business depression; our or
ganizatfons had decreased In number, our
membership had been greatly impaired;
men and women walked the streets In a
fruitless search for. employment; wives,
mothers and children went hungry to
bed; business men, who, for years, had
bent beneath heavy financial burdens
were respondent; capitalists refused to
invest their money; the erection of con-
templated buildings had been abandoned
and economy the most rigid was prac-
ticed by rich and poor alike.
During the past twelve months a
transformation most pleasing has taken
place throughout the commercial and
manufacturing world Nearly every CITY
| in Minnesota has felt It's invigorating eff
fects. Fresh fuel has been added to the
smothered furnace fires; factories that
for years had been closed to laborer and
mechanic are daily opening their doors;
| the daily newspapers and the labor press
announce the glad tidings of wages adj
vanced in a large number of industries
those who appealed for work in vain two
years ago are securing employment; men
and women are joining our organizat lions
by the thousands; wives, mothers and lit
tie ones wear happier faces; business
blocks, handsome residences and COSY
cottages are being erected in our cities:
the reports of trade by delegates to cen
trail labor bodies are most encouraging
the sound of the hammer, the ring of the
trowel, the buzz of the saw, the clicSSof
the types, the whirr of=presses the rlirnb-
ling of machinery, the welcome shrek of
factory whistles, the expression on the
countenances of business men all tell us
In language more forcible than words
that the long-promisedz prosperity, SO
often side-tracked, SO many times de-
layed, has at last arrived
Whether 1t is to be of short duration or
OF permanent nature; whether it is a
result of the war with Spain or arises
from natural or artificial causes is a
conundrum which / shall not attempt 10
solve: 1t is here, and for the benefit of
the workers In the shops, In the facto-
ries, In the stores, in the mines, on the
railroads, the rivers, the lakes and the
seas; for the sake of the mothers. wives
ard children throughout the broad do
main or Minnesota, God grant it may new
er again depart from us, end that each
succeeding day may see 1t increased and
multiplied
THE DIGNITY OF LABOR.
''Howttt, the English author. once wrote.
From the foundation of the world there
mas peen tendency to look down upon
iapor, and those who live by it, with con-
tempt, as though it were something mean
and ignoble Nay, it has been said
that labor is the result of Gods primary
curse pronounced on man for his diso-
peoience. But that Is great mistake
COD told Adam that the ground was
cursed for his sake: but not that his Ia
Dor was cursed. He told him that In the
sweat OF his face he should eat his bread
TIL ne returned to the ground But so
Tar from labor partaking of the curse. II
was given him as a means Of triumphing
over the curse What has made
the land like one great garden. laid down
It's roads that run like veins to every nor
ton OF the system of life, cut its canals
cast up its lines of railways and driven
along them, In fire and vapor, the awful
out beneficial dragons Of modern enter
prise? What has piled up all our cities
with their glittering and exhaustless
wealth, their splendid utensils their
paintings, their mechanic wonders. all
serving domestic life, and it's beloved
ftreside delights? Labor
1t Is labor which brings us to Duluth
this June morning. We are here to la
Dor Tor our organizations, for the better
CONDITION OF the workers, for a happier flu
ture for our families: to labor with orr
intellectual faculties, faculties which the
Great Architect of the universe has en-
doWed us with, which we leave as heir
looms TO our progeny, which no combi-
nation of capital, no trust, no monoDoIv
can rob us of. Through a tyrannical gov
eminent we may be brought to q eondi-
non never reached by the slaves of the
south or by the serfs- of Russia, but no
earthly power can enslaVe our brains
can prevent US from thinking. Armed
BODIES may corecc us, fnjunctions of cor
rupt courts may. restrain us, famines NAV
starve us, disease may weaken rs nris-
ons may confine US, but our fnteliects
are God-given, and He alone, unless
through Incorporate and riotous living
we ourselves destroy them, can take them
from us.
Let this convention be one which we
can look back to in future years with
piioe, let no act OF ours mar the pleasure
provided for us by the trades nnionists
and the ladies of Duluth during our brief
stay. II you have personal grievances.
II you bear enmity towards others, for
the best interests of the labor movement
IN Minnesota as well as elsewhere, coun.
sci you that when you again enter this
hall you leave them at the threshold
CONVICT LABOR VS.. FREE I.AROR
.'At Winona I called the attention OF
the delegates to the increasing compett-
ton or convict labor with that of free
labor. and endeayored to 1oint o,,+ ~