Valentine Democrat. (Valentine, Neb.) 1900-1930, 1900-09-13
Mr., BRYANS SPEECH
ON LABOR DAY.

in the forest or in the mine brings
forth the fuel? Why should the man
clad in the best products of the loom
forget the man whose callOused hands
make fine clothing possible? Both the
consumer and producer are necessary,
but of the two the producer comes first
in point Of time and in point of i'm
portance. Shall the rosebud, blooming
in beauty and shedding it's fragrance o
the air, despise the roots of the bush
because they come in actual contact
with the soil? Destroy the bud and
leave the roots and a second bud will
appear, as beautiful and fragrant as the
first; but destroy the roots and bud
and bush will perish.
LABOR ORGANIZATIONS.
How can the wage-earner secure that
share of the earth's bounties and the
governments protection which he de-
serves? The associa tons formed by
workingmen have been productive of
much good.
The labor organization as we now
find it, is the product Of industrial con-
ditions. The individual found himself
at a disadvantage when dealing with
the corporate employer, and the organ
ization not only enables him to con-
tend for his rights upon terms more
nearly equal but it stimulates him to
study and understand the conditions
which surround him.
The labor organization has been fore
most in advocating the reforms which
have already been secured. Several
years ago the secret ballot was de-
manded by the wage-earners for their
own protection. That ballot has been
obtained, and through its operations
those who toll for individuals or cor
porations are able to protect their po-
litical rights and to use the ballot &C
cording to their own judgments. This
is a long step in advance.
The labor organization has done
much to lessen the evils of child labor.
No one can visit the factories where
children are employed without con-
templating the crime which is being
perpetrated upon posterity. If there
is any temporary economic advantage
in the employment of children of ten
der afe, it is insignificant when meas
ured against the permanent injury
done to present and future generations.
To rob a child of its school days is bad
enough, but to bend its back by load
for which only the adult is fitted is
even worse.
SHORTER HOURS.
The labor organization has also con-
tributed toward the shortening Of the
hours of toll and it should not cease
its efforts until the eight-hour day is
secured. Approximately, one-third OF
the twenty-four hours must be given
to sleep; if another third of the day
is devoted to manual labor, only eight
hours are left for eating, for going to
and from the place of work, for the
reading of current news, for mental
improvement, recreation, social inter-
course and domestic life. Since the.
hours occupied in eating and travel
cannot be encroached upon, every hour
added to the days labor must be taken
from the time available for intellectual
Development, recreation and the family.
The labor organization has been
consistent and persistent advocate of
the doctrine of arbitration, although
it is difficult to see why the burden Of
this reform should be thrown upon the
laborfng man. Surely the employer,
if he would take comprehensive view
of his own interests, would be as much
benefited by arbitration as the en-
ploye, and because every prolonged con-
test between labor and capital brings
to business and pecuniary
loss to those who are in no way reSpOn-
sible for the disagreement, society in
general is even more interested than
employers or employees. The edsire for
justice is so universal that the public
can be depended upon to support the
finding Of an impartial board Of arbi-
tration as certainly as it can to support
the successful contestant in law suit
The court of arbitration is one of the
certainties of the future, and when it
is secured and perfected, we shall won
der why its coming was delayed so
long.
LIST AND ASIATIC LABOR.
The black list, by means of which
employers combine to deprive the dis
charged workman of unemployment, is
one of the more recent menaces to the
laboring man. The independence of the
Wage-earner decreases as the difficulty
of obtaining employment increases, and
the skilled workman, whose life has
been spent in acquiring efficiency in a
certain trade or occupation, becomes
practically the chattel Of the employer
if every opportunity to make use Of
his experience is closed by agreement
between employers.
Ike laborfhg man is also interested
in legislation prohibiting oriental i'm
It is unfair to the Ameri-
can workman, who is the foundation
of the nations wealth in time of peace
and its defense in time of war, to sub
ject him to the danger of having his
occupation given to an oriental laborer
often brought by contract, who has no
permanent interest in our government
If the ASiatics come here, work for a
few years. live on a lower scale, and
then carry home the net proceeds of
their toll, the drain upon our money
supply will be similar to that caused
by landlordism in other countries. The
political objections to oriental labor are
scarcely less weighty than the econom-
ic ones. Race prejudice cannot be dis
regarded, and we have seen how, in
every industrial depression, race ami
mosities result in riot and bloodshed
We cannot afford to bring into this
country those who cannot amalgamate
with our people. fra
USE OF INJUNCTIONS ALARMING.
The attempt to use the injunction of
a court to deprive the laboring man
of trial by jury should alarm all our
people, for while the wage-earner is
the first to feel its effects, the principle
which underlies government by injunc-
tion is so far-reaching that no one can
hope to escape ultimately. The thing
forbidden by an injunction would, with
out the injunction, be either legal or
illegal. If it would be legal, the judge
usurps the function of the legislature
when he forbids it. If it would be ille-
gal the injunction of the court is un-
necessary, for any one who violates
the law can, upon conviction, be made
to suffer the penalties prescribed for
such violution. The meanest thief and
the most brutal murderer are entitled