The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-09-10
By John Mcguire

ported my own silk, and had it manufac-
tnred here. L left the trade in conse-
quence of the combinations among the
workmen. / called my weavers together
and they agreed TO make d considerable
reduction in the price OF weaving. When
they got the work out for the winter
trade the committee of the contributors
took the shuttles from them and would
not allow them TO finish their work in the
looms until agreed to give the full Lon
don prices in consequence of which
did not think it safe any longer TO con-
tinue in the trade. and retired from bust
ness This occurred in the year loo The
weavers were accustomed 70 fix the prices
of weaving. as / stated before. / called
them and said the facility Of getting
! could not with safety give them the Lon
don prices. / manufactured everything
! that could be made. from silks. velvets.
ribbons. etc. / believe there are very
few silk weavers in Ireland now. / at
tribute the withdraw of the trade in whole
silks TO the combinations of the men, VINO
at the instigation OF paid English agi-
tators. who frequently came along and
harangued the workmen into frenzy of
Manchester prices. but insisted on Lon
don prices, which were purposely adj
vanced I'm order that Irish competition
should be crippled. knowing the Irish
bankruptcy afford the same. O, God the
! pity OF it 'ris true, and pity it is. tbs
true" Ireland's chief industries were not
legislattd, but ogitated. out of existence.
In comparatively few years the
Vaccinations Of English merchants.
through the agency of the Sam Parks
| of those days, accomplished the total ruin
Of most of the manufacturing industries
until finally In 1910 there was not yard
| Of silk manufactured in all Ireland.
Ireland's famous wooden trade went in
the same way When Labor Day was
| celebrated, as already described by Sir
Jonah Darlington. there were ninety-one
| manufacturers of the wooden trade in
Dublin. and employing nearly five thou
! sand hands. Cork. with its forty-one en-
ployers in the same trade, giving employ
ment to $500 hands: Bandow. with its
"Camlet" cloth. produced over S5O0000 a
year; Limerick Roscrea Carrick and Kill
kenny were all centers of the wooden in
dustry. but from the causes already men
toned their glory had departed, and so
| had the false teachers of the new econom-
ical dispensation. Labor Day had been
| obliterated from the calendar nearly a
generation past. It's former glories were
only alluded to by the old men and women
by the fireside as winters tale" and
then but a vague. shadoWy. ghostly ira
dition, until at last all vestiges van
ished. shrouded in the cerements of OBJ
liviOn. 1t is then. with experience OF the
past, that he of discreet judgment viii
carefully apply it to the present. His, His
is to the mariner-a guidance to avoid
| 1.-The shoals and uuicksands' so deceit
fully covered by the treacherous waters.
The labor interests in this country have
grown to vast proportions. The labor
union of today is a necessity of the times,
and. rightly directed, is mighty bull
warl against the iniquitous trusts under
which the whole country is grooming. The
men who assume control of labor unions
should. on account of the immense
responsibility in their hands. have
the utmost integrity, a judicial mind and
above and bevOnd all other virtues. JUS
tice for a guiding principle. There should
be no place for the political pedder, who
poses as the controller of labor's vote on
election day. and brazenly stands in the
market place waiting for the purchaser.
AS the wears progress so may the strength
and glory Of Americas celebration of
Labor Day increase. and that a hundred
years hence no scribe will have to chroni-
Gle so sad a story regarding labor az ]
do now In sorrow relate the story Of the
decline and. death OF Labor Day in ireland
one hundred years ago.