Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1904-06-11
AS AFFECTING LABOR
REPUBLICAN LEGISLATION AL
WAYS FOR WAGE-EARNERS.
1t Began by Freeing Four Million
Slaves and Has Constantly Con-
tributed to the Welfare of Many
More Millions of American White
Toiiers.

fines himself to a purely historical re-
view of legislation in the different
congresses, and the nominating con-
ventions of the party and their pro-
ceediugs. He concludes this histori-
cal narrative, however, with a chapter
which we believe will be found to be
one of the most interesting portions
of the work. In this chapter he enum-
crates the various OBJECTIONS from the
party, with their causes and results,
Analysing very emphatically but most
respectfully the Liberals of 1872. the
Mugwumps of 1884 and the ants OF
the present day. While Mr.. Curtis
comedies that many of these men who
have left the party, and who endeav-
ored to thwart its success, have been
men of character who may have been
actuated by the purest motives, yet
later events have proven that they
have been entirely unwarranted in
their actions, and that every defec-
ton of the party has been unwise, I'M
called for and unjust
Mr.. Curtis claims that in only one
instance, if indeed in any, have the
Mugwumps had any influence upon
the action of the Republican party or
upon the history of the country. Con-
Guiding this point, he says:
cit may or may not be that the
Mugwumps elected Grover Cleveland
in 1884. If they did, then they precipi-
tated the tariff fight which ended in
the Wilson-Gorman tariff, and which,
according to the Republican conten-
ton, brought untold misery to our
people. If they crave credit for that
they are certainly welcome to it,
In discussing the negro question
the author says:
1.-The coming generation of South
erners must in time acknowledge the
mistake their fathers are making, just
as the present generation are free to
acknowledge the errors of the aAces-
tors of a generation or two ago. Cal
houn, Hayne and McDufie were mis-
taken in believing that the South
would be always an agricultural sec
ton of the country, and that low
tariff would be necessary to their
prosperity in order that they might
sell in the dearest and buy in the
cheapest markets. The Democratic
leaders of to-day in the South are
mistaken in believing that they must
constantly vote the Democratic ticket
at all times against their own CONNER
cia1 interests, simply for fear of be-
they are not ready to grant the ad-
vantages guaranteed by the Fifteenth
amendment"
Speaking of the effect of Republican
legislation in connection with our la
boring classes, the author says:
Nowhere is the beneficient result
of Republican legislation more con-
spicuously seen than in it's relation to
the so-called laboring classes of our
country. 1t began at the outset by
freeing four million slaves and giving
them the opportunity to labor, to ac-
Quire and to enjoy the rewards of
their own exertions. Coming down
through the decades after the war,
from 1870 to 1880, from 1880 to 1890,
and from 1890 to the present time, it
has, through it's various tariff laws,
given opportunity to the workingmen
of the United States such as is en-
| joye1 by the laboring classes of no
other country on the face of the globe.
| 1t has by it's legislation concerning
| immigration given to millions from
foreign lands an equal opportunity for
advancement in their standard of liv-
| ing, through high wages and constant
employment, increasing our home
market, which is the envy of the en-
/ tire COLnm6TC1dl WOTlQ. 1n1S nome
market has awakened and maintained
| competition to such an extent in all
| lines of industry that our people in
| large measure have done their own
work and reaped the consequent fruits
of their toll. There need be no proofs
| given of the assertion that the work
ingmen of the United States are far
better OF than the laborers of any
other country. The statement is un-
| questioned and universally accepted
both at home and abroad. The whole
situation can be briefly put in the
words of the eminent French scientist,
Prof. Emile Levasseur in his work on
L'Ouvrier American. In summing up
| the conditions of the American work
ingmen as compared with those of
| Europe, he says:
Wages in the United States are
about double the wages in Europe;
objects of ordinary consumption by
working pepole excepting dwelling
houses) cost less in the cities of the
United States than in those of Eu-
| rope; the American workingman lives
better than the European; he eats
| more substantially, dresses better, is
more comfortably housed and more
often owns his dwelling, spends more
for life insurance and various social
and beneficial associations, and, in
short, has a much higher standard of
life than the European workman
Not only has the Republican party