Newspaper Page Text
voi. Yu,
LABOR AND INDUSTRY
SOME ITEMS OF INTEREST TO
UNION WORKMEN.
Organization Rapidly Advancing in the
South—Why America Is Destined to
Read the World in Manufactures—Labor
Market and Danger from Immigration.
Tbe Stamp of Age.
When .. Time” begins to mark its flight
By turning gray the hair.
And otherwise its impress makes,
Alas! of wear aiul tear,
We pause and ask. Oh, why this change
That o’er us steals apace.
And leaves indelibly the stamp
Of age upon our face?
Yet none need fret, when youth departs,
And pleasures, many, cease.
For be it known that other joys
Abound as years increase—
The more so, too, since cankering cares
Are to the winds then thrown,
And gentler breezes on the brow
Are peradventure blown.
Talk not of joys, indeed, till thou
Hast seen the smile of age;
|^of the “hoary' laughter in the which
ones engage,
it is theirs in fellowship
^Kories ^^>ortray, tell, time galore, anil again,
^Lnes of days of yore.
he old man fail to find,
and strength permit,
I'orid [be compare,
fcne his to sit
sequestered shade, •
Yes the babbling brook,
re long the trout that hangs
■ from his hook.
■3 the grand dame, fair,
■owing lire,
■s Ko to wondering ears
never tire¬
s’ feels that life to her
pd pleasant still,
t brothers, sees in age,
to fulfil!.
Bain in Somerville Journal.
Keorgbi LeutU the South.
with pleasure that the state ot
Bpa has within the last few weeks
decided steps forward in the
of promoting organization
among workers. A largely attended
convention was held at Atlanta, and
prominent labor captains from the
south and north were present. The en
thusiasm was great, and the people
and press of the state took .the liveliest
kind of interest in the proceedings,
showing their approval of organization
b y word and deed. The time is
hand when Organization must be
universal, if possible. Many
have combined in the past to
the south to be behind the north in
matter. Several years ago it
as though labor would have to
a. long battle before organization
be made general there. Late events
warrant the hope that changed
tions have made unnecessary that
ticipated prolonged effort.
tion there is advancing by bounds and
leaps. It Is popular, not only
those directly affected, but among all
the people. It enjoys the approval
many solid, conservative business In¬
terests.
And the woman in the south is keep¬
ing pace with the man. At the
convention at Atlanta Miss Katie L.
Barrow of Augusta was elected one of
the eleven vice presidents of the State
Federation of Trades. She has the
unique distinction of being the first and
the only woman in the United’States
to hold a similar office in a labor or
ganlzatlon. Miss Barrow is employed
in King’s mill, in Augusta, and is an
enthusiastic member ot the Woman
Weavers’ union of that city. In addi¬
tion to her election as vice president,
she was. chosen to serve on the execu¬
tive council of the State Federation of
Trades.
Why America Leads.
Mr. Walter Dixon, a member of the
Institute of Electrical Engineers of
Great Britain, has been paying a visit
to the great workshops of this coun
try with the particular object of seeing
extent to which electricity and
appliances are used in our
Incidentally, he saw some
other things about American shops and
workmen which astonished him. He
found out why America leads the
world in character of its workmen and
plants, and is destined to soon lead it
in every other industrial particular.
In a paper read before the West of
Scotland Iron and Steel Institute, on
March 14, he tells of some of these
things.
The direct reason of his visit, he
said, was to find out the truth regard¬
ing the remarkable tales which'he read
in our technical newspapers of the use
of electrical machinery and appliances
in our shops.
“I have for some time had very great
difficulty in deciding to my own sat¬
isfaction what to believe and what not
to believe,” he says, “of reported Am¬
erican practice. Many of the descrip¬
tive articles which one was most in¬
clined to relegate to the side of fancy
were illustrated by what appeared to
be. photographs of actual machines and
actual applications, so that, while it
was difficult to believe In the fiction
theory, it was at the same time a.little
past one’s comprehension to believe
anything else.”
Mr. Dixon found, to his astonish¬
ment, that all of these almost incredi¬
ble tales were true. “When I state,” he
says, “that there is probably as much
electrical machinery employed In some
rH HH HH RECORD.
DEVOTED TO THE INTEREST OP JOHNSON COUNTY AND MIDDLE GEORGIA.
WRIGHTS! ILLE. GA.. THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 1899.
of the single works in America as there
is in the whole of the steel and iron
works of our own country combined,
you will at once agree with me that
their practice is sufficiently wide and
divergent from ours to warrant some
consideration.”
Fearless of Competition.
The first thing that struck Mr. Dixon
as remarkable about our works was
the control exercised by young men,
and next the efficiency of our work¬
men. “I have been intimately con¬
nected with large numbers of our
workmen for the past twenty years or
more,” he said, "and I talked labor
questions over with many classes in
America and have come to the conclu¬
sion that, just as our men, generally
speaking, are bent on doing as little
as possible in a given time, the Ameri¬
can workman is bent on doing as
much as possible. So far as I could
judge,” Mr. Dixon says, “the Ameri¬
can appears perfectly fearless of for¬
eign competition, and is a stanch be¬
liever in the survival of the fittest;
and, what is more, that the weak will
go to the wall. He knows that If he
is weak he will go to the wall, and is
hence always on the move to do some¬
thing clever. You can see It in the
iron and steel business and every¬
where. It is this which makes them
what we should call ‘foolhardy’ with
one another, and, if one may so put
it, with ourselves; they do not care
who sees what they are doing. Their
works are equally open to the stranger
and to the competitor. It seems an in
bred idea with them .that if they can¬
not themselves keep up to date, be at
least as good if not better than their
neighbors, they are bound not to suc¬
ceed. That the American will continue
to harass our foreign traue nobody
doubts. Whether they will continue
to compete with our own manufactur¬
ers here in good and bad times re¬
mains to he seen, though in the minds
of the Americans themselves, and
those of our ration who best know
America, there is little doubt.”
The Labor Market. •
Last year many men sneered at
statement that prosperity was near
hand. Today every state in the union
recognizes that prosperity is here.
nlany sections labor is at a premium.
Wages have been advanced. They
further advanefng every day.
must still further advance before they
will represent the just dues of
who work. Now is the time to
the increasing inflow of undesirable
ements. American corporations and
foreign steamship companies
find it profitable to import tbe
and the Ike. It will be difficult to call
a halt even If organized;
altogether impossible. You have
choice. Exercise It like an
can.
Notes.
The leasted-out convict system has
been abolished in Georgia.
A new dredging machine is in oper¬
ation in Buffalo, N. Y., with which 10
men can do the work of 100.
Iron and steel workers In Pennsyl¬
vania and Ohio have received a sec¬
ond advance in wages—both within
the last thirty days.
Saginaw, Mich., has enacted a law
prescribing that all work done for the
town, whether* directly by municipal
employes, or under contract, shall be
done on the eight-hour day basis.
A resolution passed by the corpora¬
tion of Dublin, Ireland, authorizes the
appointment of an official to see that
the fair conditions of labor specified
in all the municipal contracts are car¬
ried out.
The International Typographical un¬
ion has about as many members now
as when the bookbinders and press¬
men were affiliated. The year will
show an average of 31,000 members,
an increase of 1,500.
The anti-Pinkerton bill was passed
by the Missouri legislature: It pro¬
vides that special deputies, marshals
and policemen must have been resi¬
dents of that state for at least three
years prior to their appointment.
The jury at Springfield, Ill., In the
case of the sixteen companies compris¬
ing the Springfield Coal association,
indicted on the charge of violating the
anti-trust law in forming a pool and
advancing the price of coal from 75
cents to *1.50 per ton without making
a corresponding advance in the wages
of their miners, has returned a verdict
of not guilty.
The agitation started some time ago
by the Amalgated Association of Iron,
Steel and Tin Workers, in conjunction
with the Federation of Churches, to
stop the rolling mills in and around
Pittsburg from working on Sunday, is
already having a good effect, says the
Labor World, nttsburg. The agitation
is to be kept up, and the “men behind
the guns” will not be satisfied until
the Industrial callings are given one
day of rest In seven.
Economy.
Patient—“What are your charges,
doctor?” Doctor—“My charges are *3
a visit, madam.” Patient—“Is that for
both the rheumatism and malaria?”
Doctor—“Yes.” Patient—“Well,, times
are hard now, and money does not
fetch the interest it used to. Suppose
you let the rheumatism stand and
cure only the malaria.”—Harlem Life.
OF CRIMES.
NEW STORY DEMONETIZATION
OF SILVER.
by E. Benjamin Andrews—It Sub¬
stantiates All Claims That Have Ever
Been Made—Criminals May Yet Be
Brought to the Bar of Public Justice.
When thp civil war ended, the federal
debt was *2,800,000,000; the debts of
various states, townships and mu¬
nicipalities about *1,400,000,000; of rail¬
ways and canals about $2,500,000,000,
and of other corporations about *300
together about *7,000,000,000.
Between a fourth and a third of this
sum was owing to investors in Europe,
who had lent or advanced it, in paper
which cost them on the aver¬
about half a dollar each in gold or
silver coins. An equal proportion had
been advanced by American capitalists
on similar terms. The balance was ad¬
vanced before the war, or else before
the paper currency depreciated, and
was therefore lent in coins, or their
equivalent. Leaving this portion of the
debt out of view, it is probably near the
mark to say that at the close of the
civil war there were owing nearly
*5,000,000,000, which cost the lenders
(Europeans and Americans), about half
that sum in coins. The whole of this
debt was payable, under the act of
February 25, 1862, in greenbacks; the
interest on a portion of it was payable
in coins of gold or silver. The first
move of the lenders after the war
closed was to open a newspaper war
upon the paper money which they had
themselves lent to the government.
The greenbacks, it was contended, were
“dishonest” dollars; indeed, not really
dollars at all, only worthless, disrep¬
utable rags, a disgrace to civilization,
disseminators of fraud and disease, etc.
This question was fought in the presi¬
dential campaign of ls68, in which, by
referring to the newspapers of the day,
it will be seen that the undersigned
bore no inactive part. As the election
day approached every sign indicated
the triumph of Mr. Seymour, the cham¬
pion of greenbacks, and the defeat of
General Grant, the champion of coins.
All of a sudden, and without a no^s of
warning, the then trusted organ ofjthe
Democratic party, to-wit, the New York
World, edited by Manton Marble, but
owned, as It was commonly believed,
by August Belmont, hauled down Us
flag, deserted the ticket on the eve of
the election, and left nearly two mil¬
lion voters to the effects of treachery,
panic and disorder. The first fruit of
this nefarious transaction was the
passage of a so-called “Credit Strength¬
ening Act,” dated March 18, 1869, by
which the United States government
pledged itself to pay the principal, as
well as the interest, of its paper debt,
in gold or silver coins. In other words,
without any consideration whatever, it
undertook to pay for every paper dol¬
lar which It had borrowed, a gold or
silver dollar, of the long established
weight and fineness, and by this and
its subsequent action, it compelled all
indebted persons and corporations to
do the like. Having by these means se¬
cured the payment of a whole metal
dollar for each half of a metal dollar
advanced to the government, thus
clearing cent-per-cent profit at a sin¬
gle bound, the conspirators next at¬
tempted to double the value or pur
chasing power of such metal dollars,
by means of destroying one-half of
them, to-wit, the silver ones. The fol¬
lowing is a brief account of their op¬
erations; At that time and for several
years previously a government com¬
mission had been occupied in the work
of revising and codifying the statutes
of the United States. The revision
commissioners being lawyers and not
financiers, merchants not metallur¬
gists, were not familiar with the tech¬
nical branches of administration;
therefore they made it a practice to
Visit the executive departments and
consult with the principal officers con
cerning the practical Interpretation
and administration of the laws. When
they reached the mint bureau its prin¬
cipal officer had already In his hands a
proposed codification of the coinage
laws, the model for which had been
forwarded to him by certain friends or
agents of the Bank of England in Lon¬
don. This new American mint code
apparently embodied all the existing
laws on the subject; nay, it even pur¬
ported to follow their very language,
and to blend them all into an harmo¬
nious whole; hut such appearance was
deceptive. This deception is not
charged upon the director of the mint
(since dead), but upon the men who
prepared and placed the codification in
his hands, some of whom are still liv¬
ing and who will doubtless take pleas¬
ure in reading this communication.
The law (not the proposed codification)
made it the duty of the director of the
mint to receive deposits of either gold
or silver; to coin such metal into dol¬
lars—the silver ones to contain exactly
sixteen times as much metal as the
gold ones—and to return the same to
the depositor; and it declared all such
dollars to be money of the United
States and legal tenders for all purposes
and to any amount, The public debt
was made payable under the act of
March 18, 1869, in suph dollars, whether
ver dollar. It did not demonetize it,
but by omitting to include it in the
various coins which the mint director
was authorized to strike, it was
dered unlawful and impracticable
him to strike any more of them, As
to the means by which this codification
was palmed upon the director of the
mint, and afterwards—that is to say,
before the codification commissioners
dealt with it—how it was palmed upon
congress, the subject has been du^
quentiy deait with aiready The
who afterwards attempted to defend it,
utterly failed and are dead; the men
who worked the trick are some of them
still living and may yet be named and
imp( ae le .
E. BENJAMIN ANDREWS.
BATTLE HYMN OF THE EMPIRE.
-
(“The conqueror rides glorious in
liis iron car, round which submissive
hosts flow like a mighty sea.”—Asiatic
Epic.)
Mine eyes have seen the “glory of the
empire that has come;
I’ve heard its mad hosannas in the
trusts’ marauding hum;
I’ve seen its golden standard flaunt
above its sullen drum.
Its might is marching-on.
Chorus:
Power and glory to the empire! *
(Hearken to it’s hungry roar!)
Glory! Glory! Hallelujah!
Power and glory evermore!
I’ve seen It in the watch fires of the
sable soldiers’ camps;
I’ve heard it from high altars ’neath a
thousand magic lamps;
I’ve seen Its subtle suction in the
graves of tropic swamps.
Its might is marching on.
I’ve beheld its red libations and its
serried ranks of steel;
I’ve heard its voice of menace whilst
submissive millions kneel;
It has seized their wealth as ransom,
chained them captive to its
wheel.
Its might is marching on.
It has sounded forth a trumpet call
that meaneth no retreat;
It Is sifting out its victims ’fore its
dread injunction seat.
Oh, be swift, my soul, to cheer it on;
be jubilant my feet!
Its might is marching on.
I’ve felt it ip the thousand hints that
words cannot explain;
I’ve scanned it in the billowing smoke
of far Manila’s plain;
I’ve felt It in that demon deed, the mys¬
tery of the Maine.
Its might is marching on.
In the stable of Judea Christ was born
beyond the sea,
But imperial law and judgment hailed
Him high upon a tree.
Thus “woe unto the vanquished” is
taught to you and me.
Its might is marching on.
Oh, mine eyes have seen the terror of
the empire of the “lord”;
He is auctioning off the vintage where
the treasury bonds are stored;
In his grasp are navies and armies and
a scientific sword.
His might is inarching on.
—Richard Thorland, LL. D.
POINTS FROM THE PRESS.
With a great deal of patience and
perseverence a hog has been taught to
play seven-up, and even to turn the
knave from the bottom of the deck.
So why despair of teaching the people
how to vote?—Southern Mercury.
There’s a new tale of Kansas pros¬
perity to unfurl this week, gents. The
crime of April 29 consisted in the trust
closing a linseed oil mill at Topeka,
Kan., and tossing a number of work
ing mules out on their uppers. This
crime pressing so closely upon the heels
of the pleasing function of closing the
Topeka starch mill must certainly give
the “business men” of Topeka a bad
quarter of an hour. Cheer up, work¬
ers and business men of Topeka!
Aguinaldo is about to surrender, and
it is reported that Mexico is going to
the gold basis. And what more could
you ask for than that? It’s what you
vote for.—Appeal to Reason.
American imperialists have chosen
for themselves a remarkably appro¬
priate name. They want to be called
“loyalists.” By all means let them be
gratified. The same designation was
assumed during the American revolu¬
tion by the torles.—The Public.
The administration thinks Atkinson
Is a traitor, but it is not going to do
anything about it. The administration
has troops in the field proceeding
against the Western Federation mi¬
ners. It is a greater, crime in the eyes
of McKinley to be a union man than
a traitor.—Appeal to Reason.
The little street band has a very
brazen way of playing before lager
beer saloons.
A timely question.
is THIS RUSSIA OR IS THIS
AMERICA?
^ California Citizen Is Much Mired on
the Point—Trust Methods of To-day
and Those of the Near Future—A
Timely Hint.
It has often been explained how the
™
single gold sta ndard basis made the
trusts of today a business necessity,
Constantly falling prices made the
continuance and new enterprises and
the financially weak enterprises im¬
possible, and combination to check the
gold standard downward tendency of
Prices imperative. And one of the
first trusts, the secret railroad trust,
has given its powerful aid in estab
Ushlng all other trusts,
In considering whither we have al¬
ready drifted, Howard H. Hogan, a
wholesale grocer of San Francisco, in
a letter to the Examiner of that city,
rises to what the San Francisco Star
calls a social point of order.
Mr. Hogan wants to know—will
some of our economists or statesmen
please enlighten him, for he Is but one
of many—whether this is America or
Russia. Mr. Hogan has troubles
which are not peculiarly his own. He
has built up a business in the sale of
sugar to retail dealers, which sugar—
and here his troubles begin—he im¬
ports from Hong Kong, paying freight
and duty, and even then impudently
underselling the Pacific coast branch
of the Sugar trust at the very doors of
its refinery. The trust has tried, and
is still trying, the plan of undersell¬
ing Mr. Hogan, but that is costly. To
make the grocer lose *100, it must sac¬
rifice at least *5,000 of the profits it
would otherwise make. Sovereignty
over the sugar market comes high at
that price. So now the trust is play¬
ing its card of coercion, which is more
effective and far less expensive than
old-fashioned competition by under¬
selling. The trust has notified the
wholesale grocers, and they have noti¬
fied the retailers, that those who buy
any sugar at all from Mr. Hogan will
not be allowed to buy any of the trust
made sugar from anybody. Hogan has
not enough to supply the market, and
grocers have reason to fear further re¬
taliation if they persist in patronizing
him. The part of prudence for them
is to make no such powerful enemy,
at the risk of being cut off altogether
from the wholesale market. As a con¬
sequence Mr. Hogan’s trade wanes, and
he wants to know “where we are at.”
Mr. Hogan’s suggestion that this is
Russia, not America, is not well made.
Such usurpations of imperial authority
are not allowed in the land of the
czar. Nicholas alone, and no mere
self-appointed combination of robber
barons, Is empowered to lay waste
men’s businesses and vender worthless
their property. It is certainly not Rus¬
sia, Mr. Hogan. Perhap3 it is Eng¬
land—or, say, three centuries ago. In
the Long Parliament, which broke the
power of Charles I., a member com¬
plained of the monopolies instituted
by the king and his favorites, in utter
defiance of law, that “they dip in our
dish, they sit by our fires; we find them
in the dye-vat, the wash-bowls, and
the powdering tub. They share with
the cutler In his box. They have
marked and sealed us from head to
foot.” —
If that is not a good description of
the operations of the Sugar trust, the
coal trust, and the balance of our new
predatory nobility, it would be difficult
to frame one in words. The Sugar
trust has its whole fist in every sugar
howl, and it is teaching Mr. Hogan
that its prerogatives are not to he in¬
terfered with.
Not Russia, but the England of Char¬
les I., before the activity of Pym, and
Hampden, and Milton, and Cromwell,
had broken the power of these monop
olles and the king’s neck into the bar
gain—that seems to be “where we are
at,” Mr. Hogan.
While considering this matter, Mr.
Hogan, and all others interested, would
do well to remember that the situation
is constantly growing worse, not bet
ter. Advance sheets of the Coinmer
cial Year Book, issued by the Journal
of Commerce, of New York, and quoted
by the Evening Advertiser, of that
city, show that the Increase in the
number and capitalization of industrial
combinations during the past year is
unprecedented in the history of the
world. Says the Commercial Adver¬
tiser, "they are now the dominating
factor in the industrial and commer¬
cial business of the country.” Nearly
‘twice as many exist today as a year
ago. Following are the statistics
showing the situation March 1, 1898,
and March 1*1899: 1899.
1898.
Organizations 353
Common stock ....31,217,918,981 *2,889,757,419
Preferred stock ... 870,675.200 393.764,033
Total stock ......*5,118,494,181 *3,203,521,452
Bonds .............. 714,388,661 378,770,091
Stocks and bonds*5,832,882,842 *3,662,241,543
NO. U.
These figures show an increase of 76
per cent in the number of organiza¬
tions and of 60 per cent in amount of
bonds and stock. The census of 1890
valued the entire mechanical and man¬
ufacturing, Industries of the country at
*6,525,000,000, so that the capitalization
of these 353 Industrial combinations is
90 per cent of the census estimate for
the whole country.
Continue Wall street in control at
Washington a few more years, and ul¬
timate trustism will be reached. All
industries will be controlled by trusts,
and a central committee of all the
trusts will be charged with the duty of
seeing that no merchant who handles
any non-trust article shall be allowed
to buy any trust-made goods of any
class. When such an edict can con¬
trol the market, where will we be?
And what good will our right to vote
do us then?
DIRECT LEGISLATION.
A New York Newspaper’s Plea tor
Popular Hovernmeut.
On Manhattan island there is a voice
crying in the political wilderness for
direct legislation, and it proceeds from
the Verdict, Oliver Belmont’s Illustrat¬
ed weekly. The Verdict says:
"Monopoly, fecund of trust, spawns
like a pike; while principle, unmated of
popular effort, lies in a barren bed. The
enemy strengthens himself while we
idle. The growth of the trusts marks
the growth of ignorance; the sun of
American progress borders narrowly
on an eclipse of money and another
dark age may yet descend. Someone
once said that: ‘Law is the safest hel¬
met.’ The value of the apothegm de¬
pends upon who wears this steel cap.
If it be honesty, good! But if some
trust robber go to Albany or Washing¬
ton and forge himself some head piece
of a statue, the story runs blackly dif¬
ferent. It is not always true that a
state has added to its safety because it
has added to its laws. As things are,
the Verdict is free to say it despairs of
fair and virtuous legislation. In those
lists of house and senate, tight seems
ever to go down before the spear of
riches. There must be change—change
unusual and change that reaches far.
In this storm of money that beats for
evil upon our capitols, the Verdict,
steering for safety, finds the public’s
best harbor in the initiative and refer¬
endum. Is it radical and what then?
Lincoln and Washington and Christ
and all they strove for were radical.
Novelty is not, per se, a defect, and
justice has its skirmish line. Improve¬
ment its pioneer. The initiative and
referendum would hut put In the
hands of the people the power to di¬
rectly propose a law, or pass a law, or
repeal a law. Is that a suggestion of
topsy-turvy revolution? If a people
may be trusted to select their lawmak¬
ers, may they not be trusted to select
their laws? The trusts' might corrupt
a congress or buy a legislature, hut
they could not bribe a whole people.
Give us the initiative and referendum,
and give us the income tax. The firat
would be a lattice to let in the day; the
second a broom to bring down those
law cobwebs, spun of money, and in
which the rights of the public are
caught like flies. ‘It is better to be a
poor fisherman than to meddle with
the government of men,’ said Danton.
But the Frenchman was a tumbrel at
the time and suffered no doubt some
coming confusion of the guillotine. Had
he been given freedom and a sober
second thought, he would have seen
that one is driven to meddle with gov¬
ernment, to keep it from meddling vil¬
lainously with him. Therefore, let us,
the public, become promptly, popularly
meddlesome, a.fd let it be by that sys¬
tem of initiative and referendum above
rehearsed. Democracy could do this,
and democracy should. The party
should not hesitate nor go half way.
Its cry should be; ‘All or nothing!*
Its war should be to the death. There
should be no blackmail of partial peace
paid to monopoly; no traffic with the
enemy whereby he gained the least It
is the worst of oppression that makes
coward terms with tyranny, or which
would—to use a colloquialism—‘divide
the pot’ with the trusts. This is an
era of potato bug politics, and the
trusts devour what the people grow.
Some stand must be made; some near
and stubborn stand, or two decades will
witness us overrun and swamped of
money. He- will be wise In that day
who, living without flag as without cit
itzeuship, carries his country on the
sole of his shoe.”
A Mortgage on Heaven.
Over the door of a church In Arizona
are these words: “This Is the gate of
heaven,” and on the panel of the door
is a notice which says, “Closed by or¬
der of the American Loan company."
The corporation foreclosed the mort¬
gage which it holds on the church, and
thus actually closed the "gate of heav¬
en” to Increase its profits.—Sierra Gaz¬
ette.
A book agent recently tried to sell us
a copy of Swedenborg’s “Heaven and
Hell.” We would like to know more
about heaven, but, running a reform
paper in Chicago, wo get quite enough
of the other place.—People’3,Press.