The Portland daily press., 1899-08-17

IHHt. ana their wives anu tallurtfi mutt
20 half iolothed because the mills turn out
more cloth than the people can buy or
An army Of in-fed, in-clad men backed
by hunary wives and sQualid children. is
a dangerous thing In any country; in
no other country 30 dangerous rs ia our
own, where the poorest and most iQnor.
ant are clothed with full political rights
and Rave been taught the burning doc
trine OF human equality ana individual
sovereignty. 1t Is hazardous In the
extrsme to foster conditions under which
thousands look upon life as burden and
welcome death as release. The Ameri-
can working-man is not the Incarnation
OF seliishness nor the fos of good order
and Just laws. He merely demands that
1 he mar nave a chance to labor for living
wages The denial Of that opportunity
Is bringing him to the verge OF despair.
Animals make use cf such weapons as
God has given to them for protection and
| self-preservation, and man. driven to the
i last extremity, will resort to radical
measures rather than stand by and zee
his own offspring perish from starvation
In land CT almost p'easureiess wealth.
| You have not forgotten what n mighty
wave OF sorrow and Indignation rolled
over the country when the battleship
Maine was blown up In the harbor Of
| Havana, and 268 brave eehmen were
treacherously robbed OF life. Ii was to
I ~
| can patriotism that the stern resolve was
taken to tx responsibility for the appall.
| ing crime, and TO infiuict suitable punish
ment upon the c0wardly assassins. God.
given human life Is a prenious thing,
| whether IL is found en- q battleship or In
the alleys and attics of great city. It
is not we'll that all the nations sympathy
should go out for lthose who man the
warships and march in the ranks Of the
army.
1t Is fact to which we can not afford
to shut our eyes that thousands Of indus-
trious and temperate American citizens
are sent to the grave each year by the
greed 4 capitalists, victims OF an indus
trial tyranny that Is wrecktng the lives
Of men and women and little children in
every corneTEof the land. African slavery
has been abolished at Tremendous cost
of treasure and blooi, but another form
Of serfdom exists toisy In this country,
binding with the chsins cf ahject poverty
the bodies aud fouls CT millions Of the
earnest and Inspiring sons and daughters
of the republic. You Will flnd these
white slaves working 10 our factories and
miues. You Will see them In the form CT
weary. haRgBrd women crowded into
dingy workshops and dark basement
tenemepts They toll through the long
hours for pittance which hardly sullices
to keep soul and boiy together. Of en-
they are unable to o5tain employment,
uuu stAIfattuu Auchs tHeut In Cno lace.
They see no doorway Of escape except the
one leading TO the pcorhouse or the
prison.
Where shall we look for fearless cham.
pions Ct the tolling millions, oyer-worked
and half paid, Of the hungry and ragged
army e the unemployed who fight and
fall daily on the fields CT despair? We
ought to find them In the newspaper
Office, in the pulpit, on this platform, In
tate legislatures, In the chambers of the
national Congress-; we ought TO find them
wherever VIC find conscientious men and
sy mpathetic women. We have wrenched
Spain's cruel fingers from the th-oats of
Cubans and Bilipinos; let us now lift ths
iron heel of the plutocrat from the necks
of our own reople.
Every patriotic citizen ought to give
his best thought to the study of the labor
question, for 1t lies at the foundation of
our national prosperity. Whatever inDu-
ences tend to degrade labor must ineyita-
bly, retard the progress and lower the
standard of civilization. Nothing, except
out and out slavery, is so potent In bring
Ing about such degradation as the mass
Ing OF the wealth OF the country In the
hands OF the few. The safety OF society
and the stability OF government depend
largely upon the existence OF thrifty
middle class which shall be continually
recruited from the lower strata of society.
1t is OF utmost Importance that those who
t.hc ht eub 1oJb u buo AhuueE huOulu De aDle
TO cumb upward round by round by
patient and intelligent labor and wise
and sustained economy. III the men and
women who toll with their hands and
occupy humble places In society are looked
Gown upon and treated as mere beasts
OF burden then all hope. all ambition.
ana 1t may almost Re said all virtue, will
die cut of their souls, and the republic
will quickly enter upon the road to decay
TIE wisest and most unseliish states
manship Is needed for healing the breach
between capital and labor, and bringing
ahout harmony between employer and
employed. Present conditions must not
be allowed to continue. The safety of
the republic demands that more amicable
reli ons shall be established between
capitalist and wage-earner. In the jeal-
opsy and hatred which exist today, as
d selosed by hoycotts, by strikes, by riots,
by destruction OF property. by sacrifice OF
uman life We find one OF the republics
unoonqusred foes, one Of lis unsolEed
problems.
A secon peril to the republic, and In
tlmately connected with Che one TO which
have alTead referred, lis found in the
rapid growth of the trust octopus In re-
cent years. The capitalization of trusts
organized in the single year 1898, includ-
ing bonded indebtedness, amounted to
more than 81, 800 900 900. This exceeds
ths combined value If all the horses.
of the United States. During the months
Of the present year the same form of
capitalistic combination has gone on with
increased rapidity. The trusts are oapi-
talizsd on fictitious valuations, and their
promoters enriched at the start by sales
Of watered stock to the public. They are
al 10 to flourish under an enormous weight
CT hogus capital by reason of the mo-
nopoly they Dj)y and by the practice of
economies that are disastrous to large
numbers of laboring men and women.
They diminish the employment of labor,
and are filling the land with a restless
army of unemployed. The building up
Of these gigantic corporations, and cloth
Ing them with unbrldled powers, is fast
bringing the masses of our people to q
condition cf industrial slavery, and Is a
menace to the life OF the republic
Shall We denouIoe tyrannous combina-
tons OF capital, AMI have no word of con-
domination for equally tyrannous combi-
nations of laborp Certainly not. The
citizens of this republic ought mot to be
compelled TO live under despotism
either OF plutocrats or wage-earners.
m o., H. ~.