The Farmville herald. [volume] (Farmville, Va.) 1890-1934, 1904-11-25
Amerlcnn workman 10 me wnli.

UlNiA lDl At Allt same Allllt AAAA DAEn Jul
walls Of immigration laws TO protect
our native workers. Is not the Amer
lean laborer's sturdy arm as valuable
I'm the sight OF our government AS the
capitalists pocketbook? What do you
mean by such a statement as thatT
FOme one asks. would you start an.
other Know Nothing partyl Would
your ballot box slogan be American
work only for the American born
American political Offices only to he
held by those Graded under the shad
Ows Of Mount Washington and Pixies
peakT" Oh. no. l am not preaching
any such political nonsense. do not
believe there ever was a political party
wrapped I'm the swaddling clothes OF
so many errors as that born in 1853
and which, with eX-President Millard
Fillmore as its presidential candidate,
swept many of our northern states in
1856 with the political cry, "AuRrica
only for the American born" If you
blot from history all the deeds which
Americas foster sons and daughters
have accomplished for the land Of their
adoption you blot out some Of its
brightest pages.
But while we, as American citizens,
would welcome gladly into our midst
the German or Englishman or Scotch
man or Swede and the men Of any
foreign nationality who with intelli-
gence would come among us and say,
Brother, give me thy hand. for today
would be one with you and become
m American citizen" yet today we
would not welcome the ignorant, the
idle. the filthy. the pauper, the lazza-
roni or the criminal Offscourlngs Of
Europe or Asia. who would come TO
this land. not 10 become American clti-
zens. but to stay here just long
enough to scrape together a few thou
sand dollars and then 20 back to the
land OF their birth. We would not
welcome the ignorant and depraved Of
foreign lands. who would underbid our
American workmen and compel our
American boys and girls to live in
dugouts or as rats in a cellar as they
live.
Labor's next great afiiiction is to be
found in the absurd and tyrannlcal de-
mands made 10y some labor unions,
which seem to have the suicidal policy
Of antagonizing capital at all times and
under all pretcxts and Of widening the
breach between capital and labor with
the result that labor itself is the heav-
lest sufferer through their insane fol
lies. The most brutal tyrant the south
ern negro knew in antebelum days
was not the white man, but the negro
himself who was made the Overseer
of the plantation. In the same way in
many cases the most brutal tyrant the
laboring man has today is not the capt.
talist. but the walking delegate" or
the mercenary political trickster who,
as a labOring man, manipulates the eX-
ecutive committees which govern the
labor unions for their own ruin. OF
course this indictment is not universal
in its application. There are many
honest and upright and benefcent
labor organizations Ike that Of which
the late Mr.. Arthur was president
namely. the Brotherhood Of LOcOmO-
tive Engineers. Mr.. Arthur brought
that organization up TO such perfec-
tion that il not only looked after the
interests Of the owners Of the different
railroads. but after the interests OF
the engineers themselves. There are
many clear Drained, sagaciOus and no
bic minded labor leaders whose object
Is not to disorganize the labor market,
but TO steady il, so that employers as
well as the employed may have their
due. Il do not believe in strikes for
the laboring man." said Terence V.
Powderly a few months ago. 1T Is
true we had some when I was at the
head Of the Knights of Labor, but we
settled LOO labor disputes without
strikes. Indeed, might say we pre-
vented over 1000 strikes" Yet, strange
to say. where there has been one able
and sagacious leader whose chief OBJ
feet seemed to have been to make
every man do his honest quota Of work
and get his just pay there have been
many whose chief object has been to
find out how little they can permit a
laborer to do and how much they can
make an employer pay without literal
" breaking his back. Such men are
an incubus on labor. Like the Old Man
of the Sea, who sat on the neck Of Sind
bad, they sit heavily upon the work
lngman's shoulders, impeding his prog
ress and involving him In endless dis
putes and trouble The sooner he rids
himself Of such incumbrance the better.
Now. my labOring friends, mark you
this. am not claiming that capital Is
all right and labor Is all wrong. |
think some Of the most merciless men
in the world are TO be found in the
ranks of capitalists. Some Of them will
squeeze out OF worker his last drop
of blood. Some of them have no more
sympathy with the hunger and power
tv Of the worker than Marie An
loinette had with the sufferings Of poor
Paris when she heard the cry Of the
mobs: Give us breadl We must have
breadr "Why," said the shallow
Drained French queen to one Of her
attendants. do they ask for bread:
II they have no bread, why don't they
sat cakeg" But, while capital in some
Instances may be merclless, 1t is quits
certain that II the labor unions Will
stop their petty chickering's and their
unjustifable tyrannles and unitedly de-
mand what IS right capital will be com
PEELED to yield to all Of labors just de-
mands. SO long as labor persists In
making absurd claims Just so long
will labor not only be refused such de
mands. but labor will lose much OF
what she justly and rlghtfully ought
to have.
But | would speak also IN reference
TO another great afillction from which
labor today is suffering. / allude not
to the competition Of American labor
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