The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1901-09-07
ers, who today. are held in deeper bond
age than the negro Of 81.

ers, who today. are held in deeper bond
age than the negro Of 81.
For labor is q slave to capital!
The only free man in America today
IS the man with the money, he defies
the law. he defies Justice, he defies that
nag that was washed in the sacred
blood of our dead forefathers; he says:
Down you slave, down at my feet.
vote for me, honor me. or see yonder
wife and child die of starvation before
your very eyes" This is what stares
the laboring man in the face. This is
what makes criminals of men, and fills
our state prisons. Our state prisons
and jails OF today are not places OF
punishment for the betterment Of the
world. but they are academies Of crime;
places where the unfortunate poor are
aged to create capital for the politi-
clan. Shall this state of affairs exist
long; shall we disgrace that flag till the
dead heros shall rise from their graves
and snatch it from our very grasp, or
shall be band together, unite in one
great union and sweep from our midst
these bloodsuckers that are tearing our
very lie out OF existence.
We are all aware that the laboring
men Of today far exceed those of CAPT.
tai, still we lay down while the black
snake Of capital is lashed across our
backs and with our wounds bleeding,
until in the agony of the hour, we i'm
plore death to relieve us, we walk forth
silently to renew the same torture, hop
ing of course that some day something
will happen to relieve us of our pain,
forgetting that in our own hands lies
not only our own fate but the fate Of
the great masses around US.
Ours can be the victory if we will.
If every man of labor was equal to his
trust what glorious results would fol-
low. We believe in an age of inspira-
tion and influence, which must either be
for the uplifting or degrading of hu-
manity.
We are all awake to the fact that the
labor cause of today stands on the eve
Of triumphant success or utter failure
and which it will be, lies entirely with
you and to determine. In this grand
cause of unionism there are few unions
that are endowed with the true loyalty
that should enthuse them. There are
men and women who are working
physically and mentally for this great
cause of humanity. Many of them
meeting their greatest discouragement
among their own unions. This dis
enlargement is not Intentionally but
thoughtless; and it leaves it's mark
not only on the individual but upon the
cause at large.
When President Lincoln called for
troops to fight for the liberation of the
colored people of the south, when Presi-
dent Mckinley called for troops to free
the enslaved Cubans, he did not say,
they shall be English, Irish, Scotch,
Dutch or Swedes; he did not say they
shah be Catholic or Protestant; he did
i1otssA they Shotiitf frbe-.repubIican-er
democrat, ,populist or probitionist; but
would go bravely> to fight for the cause
of freedom, with the words, conquer
or de- stamped on their faces, and
that is what labor must do today, band
together in one great loyal band, that
will say, 1--WE will have liberty or we
will have our grave. What need of life
If liberty is gone, If we are slaves?
It does not matter If the Creator has
decked the earth with countless beau
ties for mans enjoyment. It does not
matter that the ocean TEEN with wond-
ers to challenge mans admiration and
investigation. It does not matter that
nature spreads forth all her scenes Of
beauty and grandness for mans deleca-
ton, If liberty is gone, and man IS d
slave, and the world rolls in space and
whirls around the sun, q gilded prison,
doomed dungeon, and those who call
for the vocabularies Of nations, living
or dead, their flashing phrases with
which to apostrophize liberty are en-
gagged in the most stupendous delusion
the ages have known.
Strike down liberty, no matter how it
is done, the spinal cord Of humanity is
broken and the world is paralized by
an indescribable crime. Strike the fet-
ters from the slave, give him liberty,
and he becomes an inhabitant Of a new
world, emancipated by liberty he as
pires to all that is noble and beautiful,
he feels himself allied to the higher
order of intelligence, he beholds life
and Joy in all things around him.
"A new being throbbing with glorious
life. Oh! brother and sister laborers,
these is no greater, grander cause In
the world today than the elevation and
liberation Of our own enslaved world
Of labor. Let us realize the great work
before us, then clasping bands in one
great circle let us go forth to victory,
with the noble words of our martyred