Year: 1876




, demned to involuntary idleness. Their
/, are few boys who, would not feel a rea
, pleasure in being permitted to learn


trade but in many branches Of busines


all chance of SO doing is denied to then


OF all the cruel wrongs inflicted npo,
society in the aggregate, and upon indl


viduals personally, it is the forced con


demnation to the order of unskilled laborers


of the thousands of boys who cannot fint
place to learn trade, and hence rele


CATION to that class. What fate awaits on'


of that order; the almost certain one Of be-


ing harrassed as debtor through life, if he


marries, to die after life of hard labor in
poverty; leaving in all probability misera-


BILE widow and family. One of the argu-


ments used by working men, against ap-


prentices, is that their employment tends


to lower wages, by competition. That


may be in measure true, but what is to


become Of the untaught, idle children, Of


the present generation, upon whom is set


the seal of disqualification for skilled


labor. In debate upon this vitality i'm


portant question in the Senate of Pennsyl-


vania, few days ago, Senator Cooper
spoke as follows:


Labor unions, carried on in the right
spiriA, may be productive of immediate
and future good, but to maintain this OBJ
ject they must blot out any oppressive fea.
ture. Labor must be free, and its hand
should be the last to apply shackle. 1t
is criminal to withhold a privilege which
inherently belongs to our youth. 1t is
theft Of useful rights-a robbery Of the
next generation in the mad belief that it
will profit this one. Even if it were true,
it were better for this generation to suffer
from competition than that "the seal Of
disqualification shsuld be set by il upon
those coming after" Let us restore the
apprentice system-let us at least attempt
return to it by giving legal protection to
our youth in their right to acquire useful
trades. 1t is an inherent right, and it is
unmanly to deny it. The unm lrried jour-
neyman does not need the actual, much
less the imaginary "pound of flesh" thus
extracted from his married co-laborer,
and if he will not willingly loose his
grasp the law should compel them to do
so. Our greatest want is skilled labor.
We have magnificent school system, to
the support Of which we annually contrib
ute millions We educate our boys, and
at the age when they should enter upon
the more useful duties of life they lind
every door to skill slammed in their faces. |
Upon every door of every work shop in |
every great business centre of the State is
marked with painful plainness: "No 4Ap-
prentices Need Apply" Then where do
they go? They go to swell the clerkships |
and places where the knowledge which |
the State so carefully gave them may find
some appreciation. This is true of some,
but the figures show how false it is Of the
great majority. Those which l have
quoted in the main show that this path is
not of their choice. If pr,de in parents or
children prevents the seeking Of useful
trades, surely there would be more pride
in release from labor as applied to girls
than to boys, and yet we find in our own
State the servant girls to exceed seven
times over the apprentice boys! How can
it be pride alone, when the wages of the
average clerk nowadays does not equal
half that realized by the skilled mechanic?


We want skilled labor, and we must
have it if our people are to continue their
if they are to avoid ruin.
The time has come, and l believe it has
come to stay, when skill of hand is neces-
sary to success in life. Take registry OF
the tramps who daily march past your
doors, and see how many are skilled lab
orers. Go to your prisons, and you will
find less than four per cent. of men there
who have ever acquired handicr5 #.
with the present restrictionsupon traaes,
in this State alone it takes but five years
to recruit and train an army of one mum
dred thousand idlers," and these are the
men who now defy the wisdom of legisla-
tion. But as they are, they are more
" sinned against than SHINING" A false
system of labor has made them what they
are, and that system is extending its para
lytic touch to every State of the Union.
Massachusetts, quoted as the most favored
State in point Of prosperity for her work
men, quoted everywhere as the most tenn
perate State, is yet a victim TO this system,
an! as result shows 33 per cent. more
criminals than ireland. l tell you, and
the truth is as old as the world, that
idleness opens the widest doors 10 vice
and crime. Let us check it by opening up
every avenue to trade. Let us by solemn |
law break down the barriers placed in the |
way Of our boys. Let us make labor free
to all who are strong enough to undertake
it, and instead Of suffering from, it will
profit by the compel ton. Let us remember
the recent utterance of Gladstone that
the best way to elevate labor is to keep
our childie en- in it,"