Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1901-10-16
ANDREW CARNEGIE.
A WORKlNGMAN's OPEN LETTER TC
THE MILLIONAIRE.
Tells Him How He Can Help Labor
Better Than by Endowing Libra
ries - How LnbOr's Enslavement
Abets Commercial .swfndlInK.

Especial Correspondence
Andrew Carnegie:
Sir-Having been requested by men,
bers of our union to write you letter
and fearing that private communica-
tion from workingman would not be
permitted to reach you, l address you
through the newspaper press.
With your knowledge of Industrial
conditions, the needs and wrongs of
those who toll; with your great Or
gani&ing abilities and your millions,
you have a magnificent opportunity
for becoming one of the worlds great
est benefactors. But not by giving
libraries will you become so.
Nothing can really benefit the wage
worker, as you must know, till he has
shorter hours Of labor and better pay.
The free library is not the boon that II
may have been fifty years ago. With
the coming of the penny paper, which
keeps us In touch with life everywhere,
and the best of books to be had for 10
and even 8 cents we are not SO much
to read 1t. There are few books that
we own and carry about with us, read
ing them with grimy hands, as we Of
ten must, If we read at all. They are
ours without a weary walk and q lot
of trouble when we want them and
with no burdensome fine to pay should
they be injured or lost. Your costly
libraries will be patronized by school
children, INDECENT professional men and
the leisure class, who are able to buy
their own books, but not largely by
the workers.
Does 1t ever occur to you, Mr.. Car
negie, that we are entitled to homes OF
our own with such requirements OF
civilization as baths and books and the
leisure to benefit by them? If order ls
heavens first law, Justice must be the
second, which you know Is almost
lacking in present industrial methods.
Were 1t not so one man would not be
groaning under the weight of $780,
100000, while those who have earned
It live in abject want during their
working years and are pauperized
when they are no longer able to work.
If to die rich is to die disgraced. what
Is 1t to live rich, with these CHASTITY
wrongs crying to heaven for venge-
ance all unrighted?
Among the many deadly abuses only
hnted at here of which we complain
Is the fact that we are not allowed to
be honest men. You pay literally those
wolves In Sleeps clothing who talk
"rot" about "faithfulness to employ
ers" which means only that we are tc
aid them In getting rich as fast as pos
sible by whatever methods they choose
to employ. If employers were always
honorable men, this talk would be less
offensive. But many are scoundrels
who deserve hanging for their brutal
disregard of the rights and lives OF
others, and to be faithful to them is to
be faithless in almost every other rela-
tlon. To illustrate:
When u contract Is given to the low
est bidder, It must mean cheap labor
and 1t may mean poor workmanship
and inferior material. But the man,
faithful to his employer, is expected tc
ignore defective girder in the bridge,
insufficient supports to the building and
insanitary plumbing that will require
frequent repairs. Without protest he
uses paint that he knows will fade and
peel in a season, and paste that will as
soon as dry leave the paper loose from
the wall. All, what stories we could
t.n % nd icnS 70.
ing from the dishonest work we have
been forced to do In being faithful to
our employers! Yet should we report
these things you know what would
happen to us, for what will not money
do? We workers are everywhere and
know the moral fiber of every rich maD
In the country. We know the tricks
they resort to in order to reduce output
and keep up prices and how they de
fraud the public.
Those of us in mills and factories
know why costly fabrics fade and dc
little service; why shoes and rubbers
so soon become worthless. We see
candies, ice cream, beer, tobacco. cof-
fee and every article of food adulterat-
ed that can be and with material more
or less injurious to health.
Stevedores and longshoremen tell
grewsome stories of why the ship was
lost with all on board and trainmen
that but for the greed Of employers the
catastrophe would have been averted.
1t is folly to blame the conductor and
motorman for the beastly crowding of
the trolley car and for the frightful
speed at which it dashes through
crowded streets, doing its deadly work
every day in the year. These men are
only being faithful to their employers,
gathering in as many nickels as possi-
Bile. And these are the things we have
to do or become tramps. The rich
man, cowardly as he is crafty, knows
how to shield himself behind helpless
employee.
In all of the horrible atrocities in
which the wageworker is compelled to
participate the most revolving are in
cattle cars. pens and slaughter houses.
OF course there are inspectors paid by
the state to keep an eye on these places