Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-11-05

ana Injuries tnat the Americans en-
10y.
quote from letter written by Samuel
Gompers, who stands at the head Of
American labor: IS
Living is cheap to the waSo
worker of Europe only because he
does without what In America
soon becomes necessity to him
food in good quantity and quality,
presentable clothes among his
aspiring fellow workmen and their
families, and comfortably furn-
ished home In quarters respond
Ing to his awakened desires for
equality with his American neigh
bors and In general larger and
freer life.'
when I first reached Europe In dis
GUESSING the conditions of labor l ad.
verified to the fact that large num-
bers of laboring men In America have
telephones and bathtubs In their
houses They did not tell me was q
liar, but they looked it, and after a
time ceased to make the statement
because I only found was making
myself ridiculous.
HS 6uVOHSoU SVOP0O"S'
"1he average laboring man in
Europe eats meat but once week,
usually at the Sunday dinner. An in
telligent German laborer in Berlin,
who at once time had lived year
in the United States, made this state
ment to me and said that when Ger
mans went out on Saturday night to
buy meat for the Sunday dinner the
man with an average sized family
buys a pound to a pound and half,
and to quote him literally, he said,
We just get SMELL" If an Ottumwa
butcher would send to one Of his
customers a European soupbone the
lady Of the house would feel like
throwing it at his head. l did not see
any soupbones in Europe that had
been sandpapered, but they had GER
tainly done everything else to them,
because they were as free from meat
as 1t was possible for human in
genuity to make them.
1T was common sight for us to see
laboring men on their way to work in
the morning holding under their arms
loaf of rye bread and breaking OF the
pieces and eating them as they passed
on their way to their employment. We
looked into their dinner buckets at
noon and saw as q general rule at the
bottom cooked vegetable, such as
string beans or, cababge and cubes of
rye bread. The farm laborer In Great
Britain receives the pricely stipend of
about 81 week. In Berlin | found
that the laborers on the street earned
from 20 to % marks per week, equal
IN about S5 Of orr money
Europe Wants Wilson Elected.
I'm Great Britain was Intercepted
daily and asked if did not think that
DR.. Wilson would be elected. In re-
Spouse to my inquiries why they de-.
sired his election they said that If the
democrats succeeded the tariff would
be reduced and that would create a
large foreign market for English manu-
features. They do not seem to mis-
understand the Issue, though l am
sorry to say large number OF Ameri-
cans seem to be somewhat befogged.
I find that in many European countries
many of the steamship companies are
selling tickets upon the weekly in
stallmeft plan, accepting payments
of as low as fifty cents, and that the
hope Of the average foreign laborer Is
that some day he may be able to get
enough money together to bring him
to the United States, the land OF
promise.
What Removal Of Tariff Will Do.
"The cost of ocean transportation
has been so largely reduced that IN
most manufactured articles it has be-
come almost negligible quantity. AS
an illustration Of the reduction, IN the
seventies it cost about forty cents to
transport bushel of wheat across the
Atlantic ocean. Today the cost is
about cents. If the tarif Is re-
moved the European laborer and the
American will stand almost side by
side and either the wage Of the
American laborer must come down or
the American manufacturer must close
his factory and turn his labor IN the
street as he did in the years from
1893 to 1897. This in turn will de-
prive the American farmer Of his mar
ket and thus bring poverty and destiI
tuition to the farm homes Of America.
The question is to be settled next
Tuesday whether the laborer and the
farmer will vote to bring about the
conditions that obtained In those four
awful years from 1893 to 1897.
Tho Homo Market Threatened
"While In Europe took occasion to
Investigate the source Of the meat
supply and found that in Great
Britain very large quantity Of Aus
tralian and Argentine meat was upon
the blocks. When laboring man IN
England does buy meat it may be from
Argentine or from Australia or from
the United States, but when laboring
man in Massachusetts or New York,
or. II you please in Ottumwa goes to
the meat market he is sure to buy
American meat. This is also true In
reference to other products. Our
manufacturing industries since 1897
have gone forward by leaps and
bounds and as consequence the
american farmers market at home has
largely expanded. His poultry pro
ducts, his garden produce and many
other Of his products have found a
largely increased market at home. His
lands have increased in value and he