Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1906-09-07
GAVE AN EXCELLENT
LABOR DAY ADDRESS
NEED OF POLITICAL ACTION
BY WORKING GLASS;"
Delivered Yesterday by w. A. Ar
mold of Milwaukee Strong Plea
for Ownership of Public Utilities
Cites Remedy for Evils and
Gives illustrations.


union of Milwaukee, and the labor
candidate for mayor last spring of his
city; who for thirty years has held
the position of superintendent of the
immense job printing department of
the Evening Wisconsin. Mr. Arnold
made very urgent and eloquent ap-
peal to the laboring men, taking for
the subject of his address, 1.-The Ne
cessity of Political Action by the
Working Glass. He spoke in part
as follows:
Il believe that the working class
have nothing to expect from either the
Republican or Democratic parties. [
feel that if they were to expect to
better their conditions as class, they
must nominate for political offices those
who are in sympathy with the wage
Garner. The necessity for this action
comes about from the large number of
children who are employed in the
different factories and mills of the
country. Government statistics prove
that l 400, 900 children under fourteen
years of age are at the present time
engaged in the mills and factories of
the United States; that fully 5,000,-
900 women are working for wages that
do not furnish them with the necessi-
ties of life. Robert Hunter in his
book Poverty, makes the statement
after careful investigation as to con-
ditions, that there are in the country
at the present time, in spite Of the cry
of prosperity, fully 10, 900, 900 people
who are living below what is known
as poverty llne-that is, people who
do not know from one day to the other
whether they are to have the necessi-
Ties of life or place to sleep. This
would mean that one child out of every
eight, one man or one woman in the
same ratio has not the proper means
of subsistence.
CHOW | do not believe that such
conditions are necessary and if the
working class as class wish to
change these conditions, they GER
tainly have the power to do so in the
proper use of the elective franchise.
That they can do SO, has been fully
demonstrated by the conditions that
prevail in foreign countries where as
class they have become class con-
sclous and simply support such men for
office who they. know to be true and
tried friends of labor, notably the
conditions that prevail in New Zea-
land, where the working class controls
the entire government. They have
brought about the government owner
ship of all public utilities, also the
eight hours per day schedule, where
no man works for less than 81 per day.
In addition to this, they have adopted
what is known as the old age pension
law, where any man or woman sixty
years of age who has been good and
respectable citizen of the country for
twenty-five years or more is entitled
to pension which shall be sufficient
to keep them for the balance of their
lives without constant dread of the
possibility of ending their days in
county institution. Some may say
that this is an impossibility. but per
sonally | do not think so. | am
enough of an American citizen to be-
lieve that which can be done by other
countries can be done by the Ameri-
can people. The first steps to be
taken is to get government control
and ownership of all public utilities
as rapidly as possible. Some may
say that this is confscation of proper
ty, but not necessarily so, if the gov
eminent of the United States would
do as is done by the other foreign gov
ernments, a sufficient sum of money
could be realized to purchase the
different public utilities in such way
as to pay every legitimate investor
the money which he may have in
vested in the stocks and bonds of the
vast corporations which own and con-
troll the various monopoMes which
now exist.
Germany, Switzerland and France
said to the railroad companies: For
the privilege you have of going
through our countries and doing bust
ness you must carry the mails of or
people for nothing Suppose the gov
eminent of the United States was to
adopt the same law. $50, 900, 900
which is now paid to swell the Golfers
of the already rich could be applied
to the purchase of some one railroad
and the profit derived from this pur
chase with the millions which could be
saved from year to year could be ap-
piled to the purchase. 1t would be
but a short time before the people
could own and control every trunk
line in the United States. Apply
the same principle to every other
monopoly and you could soon see that
before the present generation would
pass out of existence, the people of
the United States would be the po-
SCISSORS of those things which at the
present time are a constant menace
to free government.
LET me site another absolute ne
/ -,l,