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and equal,” and substitutes that otherauthority to be found on page 130 ofthe political Economy manufacturedby Prof. Arthur Latham Perry of that Christian Institution known as “Will-Mr. Talmadge next told a story of a woman who worked on a sewing machine, and who, when she was questioned as to her condition bysome well-meaning person, made the following reply:iams College,” Mass., as follows:“Let the workman by all means make the very best terms they can; let them insist to the last penny, on all which they can get elsewhere, for the value of their labor is determined, as the value of all labor is determined bywhat it will bring. Let the employer do the same. Let a fair bargain be struck.”“Oh, I haven’t any God. I work from Monday morning to Saturday night. When Sunday comes I haven’t any bonnet so that I can go to church. Oh, sir, it’s hard to work on from year to year as we poor people do. I don’t get any nearer to God. Oh, if I could only die!\So what is “just and equal,” in theBible phrase is to be determined by thelowest or highest red cent to be paidor received according to the closestand most scientific bargaining.And yet the Congregationalist,which boasts of its age,—not muchless than the allotted three-score andten—does not seem to know that thetalk about “eye-service” is out of date,and therefore goes on to exhort bothparties, commencing with the stereotyped “Let, let, let,” and closes bysaying:“We urge upon those of our readerswho keep ‘help’ a more careful consideration of what is due to them; and if these words, should reach the eye of any of the ‘help’ themselves we exhort them to every virtue, earthly as well as heavenly, to the end that peace may reign in our homes, as well as in our hearts.”These remarks of Mr. Talmadge were good and well-pointed, but hetook care not to offend his rich audience by denouncing the infamous system which destroys the manhoodof men and the womanhood of Women. On the contrary, he wound up by simply telling his hearers that those who will bask in the brightness of Heaven’s throne are the poor sewing girls who have never earned more than two shillings a day on. earth,, and the poor operatives whohave wasted their lives in mills andworkshops. This prospective future may be very good, but working people are tired of the “live horse,—get grass” policy. The workers are entitled to good things not only in the future, but in the present, and no amount of eloquent palaver will make the people forget the duties and necessities of the present. Earth is at present a hell for the toilers and a paradise for the idlers, but all this can be altered by genuine labor organization.Fvda0nDli0haysIpaybaIaIuDSItWe think that the Standard iswrong in saying that Mr. Talmadge “took care not to offend his rich audi-8Yes, let them have “every virtue,’* ence ky denouncing the infamous(at the lowest market price—for our sys^em which destroys the manhoodbenefit; but let them know their places, nor presume to be anything more than servants; and let themof men and the womanhood of wo-1men.” We think Mr. Talmadge did1much more to wake up the consciencesfully understand that a “China-boy,” ^ew oppressors of the1or some cheaper human animal may be rightfully allowed to oust them atpoor may have been present than heany time.conld have done by coarse denunciations. His “remarks,” as the Stand-In the “judgment of charity” someexcuse may be found for such talk inard says, “were good and well-pointed,” and that is sufficient. He de-lt;the supposition that the weakness ot serves thanks and encouragementsage has begun to affect the paper, the editor, or both.not reproof and insinuations of evilmotives from labor papers.In the good old times of slavery aLet us learn to agree among our-t“pious nigger” was a valuable institu-selves in regard to the causes andition,—bartered and worked, however,remedies of socicl evils, or to tolerate)“our”Las any other nigger, and all for benefit. The same spirit prevails yet,honest differences of opinion in ourown ranks, before we indulge thealmost everywhere. An excellent, in-fItelligent, Christian girl, a highly es-.teemed member ofspirit of denunciation,others to do so.and call uponfChristiana professedly family, remained in that family circle six years. Suddenly, however, the mistress of the family found herself in a fine house, in aiiHARD TIMES!”The following explanation of “Hard Times” is taken from the Children’sj fashionable point of the city. Sherose with the circumstances, and in-Department of the Congregationalist. Let the old folks learn wisdom fromformed “Mary” that she could not beit:treated as formerly, as' a memberof the family, could not come to theWhat are “hard times?” and what makes them?table, nor occupy the sitting roomwith the rest—must, in short, “knowsther place.” The tears of the children, the entreaties of the husband,all availed nothing. Mary went, andeifretributive justice gave that mistressa series of servants that made hertwish for Marv a thousahd times, no doubt. But pride was uppermost,«and she would ne^er acknowlege hermeanness and brutality.And the great majority of professedly Christian families in our cities andlarge towns would not receive an in-n11telligent, well-bred, efficient young lady into the family, as ‘help’ if said help did not know and could not keep her place in the kitchen or out ofsight of the young ladies and gentlemen of the family. And yet such apaper as the Congregationalist wouldi.dustify this odious tyranny and injustice.iDENUNCIATION.itWe take the following from the La-e1,yyhrbor Standard, of New York, desiring to use it as an encouraging proof thatthe pulpit will not long remain silenton the wrongs of labor, and for apurpose that will appear in the conclusion of this article:7•rL-ititnt,f11Talmadge Is the name of a professional preacher in this city. He is an eloquent, sensational talker. Indeed it is mainly to the sensational character of his sermons that he owes his popularity. There are times when this clever preacher speaks wholesome truihs about the condition of the people, but we have yet to learn that he has ever pointed out a means for their material redemption. Like some of our friends, he loves to dwell on the miseries of the present and the glories of the future. The other day he delivered a sermon on Toil, in the course of which he said:These questions are more easily asked than answered, and we are not sure that we can explain the subject sufficiently for our young readers to understand it..Here, let us suppose, is Mr. Capitalist, who owns a tract of land in the outskirts of the city. He concludes that he will build suine houses upon the land, and then sell them to people wh) want to buy at such prices as will pay a fair profit. But he has not in hand money enough to build them, so he borrows some money of his neighbor, Mr. Banker, and then buys some of his materials, such as his lumber ahd bricks, on credit, giving his note for the value, payable a few months after, hoping by that time to have finished the houses, sold them, and got the money. Then he hires his carpenters and his masons, andthey go to work.Bnt it proves that Mr. Capitalist wasmistaken as to the need of more houses in that part of the town, and when he has completed two or three, he cannot sell them. Consequently, he cannot pay back the money which he borrowed of Mr. Banker, and it is as much as he can do to pay the carpenters and masons whom he has hired. He began with the intention of building twelve houses, but, after building four, hs finds that his speculation is going to be a failure, and so he stops short, discharging the mechanics whom he has engaged.;o(iie3-S,dlrofreaofs,storst?eatrestMost people who labor through ten hours every day get weary. Occasionally there may be one who does so labor, and who never wearies; whose hammer keeps time ceaselessly to the rhythm of the whirring belts and the sounding anvil with an exhilaration always such as the soldier feels when marching to the stirring strains of the martial trumpet and drum, and who comes away at night elastic and whistling. That is the exception. I have noticed that when the factory-clock taps six theordinary mechanic puts his arm wearily into his coat-sleeve, and comes home with a heavy step. And even home is not much for him; even as ne enters it he thinks how soon again he must leave—be rung up relentlessly before the sun has brought the blessing of light and warmth above the house-topB, Day in and day out, the same unceasing round of toil, until he comes to think there is only one place of perfect rest; I think they call it the grave. ”Among these mechanics, we will suppose, is Mr. Handsaw, the carpenter, who comes home one night much depressed, and tells his wife that there is no more work for him. “Mr. Capitalist cannot sell the houses he houses he has already built, and is not going to build any more.” Mrs.Handsaw has just engaged the dressmaker to come and make a new dress; but now that her husband is out of work, and sees no prQspeet of having any for some time to come, she feels as if they should need all their money for food and fire and rent, and that she must get along without a new dress. There are other people in the same predicament, and presently the dressmaker, Mrs. Baster, finds that, instead of having twenty ladies to make dresses for, she has only ten. That cuts down her work and her profits. She had been intending to have her house painted this spring, but she finds she is not going to earn as much by half as she usually does. The sees that she must postpone herhouse-painting.And so the writer goes on swinging around the whole circle of trade and business without even finding an end and without having a beginning.We will add a word or two for thechildren:If Mr. Capitalist had said to MrHandsaw, one of his workmen, “Youneed a home of your own, and I cansell you one of these cheap and take
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Minneapolis Free Flag
Minneapolis, Minnesota, US
Thu, Jun 07, 1877
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