neers get too old to run on the road, and you have no claim on the Company for sup-you, nothing but good is learned in the report, nor have they any right to do so. Right here I can give you an instance of that kind: useful men of them. For let me assure There is an engineer now working in one of the round houses on Col. Tom Scott's line, at one dollar per day, that worked for the State railroads of his State, and at one time when Col. Scott was dispatcher at Gaysporte, used to take his engine and assist Col. Scott's trains over the hill, at his solicitation. Now he is too old, and has been for many years, to run on the road; yet he has nothing to complain of, the company owe him nothing, and the old man at seventy years has but one consolation, "When I die my wife will have enough left to make her comfortable." He is insured and belongs to the band of the Brothei hood. If you that see the benefits of your Insurance Association and do belong would be more energetic and influence others to see as you see, no doubt you could swell your numbers. One word more, Messrs Engineers, many of your number belong to the Masons and Odd Fellows and other good societies, and yet how seldom any of you ever go inside of the Lodge. How can you expect to be good members, and I know many of you keep your dues promptly paid, yet seldom or never visit the Lodge. I also have an example of that. Not long since, meeting an engineer of my acquaintance, and seeing a beautiful letter "G" on his bosom, said to him, "You have the wrong letter. Yours is a 'B'" "Oh," says he, "I belong here, too;" and putting his hand in his side pocket and getting his pocketbook out, showed receipts for his Lodge dues for the last four years. I asked him, "Where do you visit?" "Oh," says he, "I've only been to one Lodge since I left my mother Lodge, four years ago." While we appreciate his prompt payments at his Lodge, yet we must say such members do not do their duty. Just think, were you to visit your Lodge when opportunity occurs, how much good you could do. How many times could you put your hand to the back of the young man, and push him in among the society of men, you could make cesses of your Lodge. While we say with a clear voice and conscience, we think a little more of engineers as a class of men than any we know of, while we hold you masters of more moral courage than any other class of men, while we boast of your charities, and envy you your good and jolly dispositions, we entreat you to see the benefits and beauties of your Society and Insurance Association as we do. Learn to be good men, not only to others but to yourselves. Bear in mind that right wrongs no one. Be true to yourselves and the world will be true to you. Keep on, only following the ways of your good leader, and keep him at the helm and your future is safe Yours truly, LONG HORN. MESSRS EDITORS: That the daily duties and responsibilities of locomotive engineers are of a more dangerous character than is generally believed, is evidenced by the number of deaths that annually occur among this class. In the performance of their dangerous calling, many instances are related of heroism, many instructive lessons are taught, many pathetic incidents and many amusing anecdotes are told of the various scenes through which they have passed. Among the ever-changing events incident to a thirty years railway life-most of those years spent on the foot-board-I could recall many a pitiful scene, many hair-breadth escapes, many an accident, with all their harrowing, sickening details. But selecting one incident, I will try to relate it: Seven years since, I boarded the Western bound express of the Atlantic & Great Western Railway at Union City, Pa., and having a little fraternal business to transact with the engineer, I mounted the footboard, was soon comfortably seated on his cushioned seat, and with "Brother Jim"› standing at my side-in which position we could converse freely, and undisturbed, and at the same time, both keep a sharp lookout ahead-we sped away from the station at a rapid pace. The time of the train was fast and we were a little late. The condition of the track at that point was favora ble for high speed-being a down grade man finds a home of human rights and Whether in the past our land has been RIGHTS OF LABOR. and we soon attained a rate of thirty or MESSRS. EDITORS: America is said to be thirty-five miles per hour. About a half the model Republic, and the wonder and mile from the station the track was moment-admiration of the world. Here, it is said, arily hidden from view by a curve in a deep cutting. Emerging from the cut, the view fully restored, a scene was before us that blanched the cheek and made the heart stand still, and engrave upon the tablets of memory, never to be effaced, one of the most pathetic incidents in the life of an engineer. About fifty rods distant, under the shade of a projecting oak by the roadside, was the rude abode of a track laborer and his family. Equi-distant between that home and the flying train was a little child of about five years of age who, hearing the approach of the train, was endeavoring with all the energy he was master of, to reach his home, and was running as fast as his little limbs would carry him right down the center of the track. It was but the work of a moment for me to spring from my seat, for the engineer to call for brakes and reverse his engine, and with trembling limbs and whitened features he watched the fast decreasing space between his engine and the doomed child. Standing between the engine and tender, I watched for what seemed to me would be the inevitable result. At this moment the mother of the child, hearing the signal of danger, instinctively rushed out of the door, and with lightning like intelligence, comprehended the situation. The distance was so great, and the moments so few, she saw that her darling child was doomed to a horrible death, from which she could not snatch him. She fell upon her knees, and with face and hands uplifted, she uttered an agonizing prayer to God that he interpose his 1. strong arm and save her child from destruction, and as if in response to her prayer, just as the pilot of the engine was about to crush out the life of the little one, he seemed to be lifted by some hidden power clear from the track and out of danger. Over the great sea of the past our ship of state has sailed triumphantly. Bravely she has weathered the storms of war, and, throughout all, the first thought and feeling of her liberty-loving crew has been for her safety. But lo! a dark cloud looms up in the horizon! The ship is on a lee shore. There are breakers ahead; and, unless we up helm, her doom is sealed. It is not the fear of a foreign invasion that has aroused us from our stupor. No; for that could be met and valiantly opposed. But from its many hiding-places peeps the demon Aristocracy. Among the heretofore true Americans dissension exists. Those who at one time were loudest in their demands for freedom have tired of the Government of their forefathers, and would no longer give free play to individual freedom. Not content with ease, comfort and luxury, they would at once set themselves up as philosophers and dictators. But equal to the emergency are America's sons of toil-the back-bone, sinew and life that has made this the foremost land of all the world. In looking into the future, and seeing nothing but want and starvation staring blandly at them and their children, and declining to become the serfs of those whose only aim is to keep them in F subjection, that they may thereby add still more to their already overflowing coffers, these hard-handed, smutty-faced workers have combined to thwart the craftily-laid schemes of there wealth-intoxicated wouldbe dictators, and preserve their rights as freemen. Seeing their plans overthrown, these philosophical lords who roll in wealth and luxury, and fatten upon the proceeds of labor, are now putting forth every effort to stifle the life of these combinations; and from the graphic descriptions that they everywhere give of them, a disinterested reader would be led to suppose that labor organizations were the consummation of all that is demoniacal; for but few of the journals of the day have any encouragement to offer, either to these organizations or their advocates. We are repeatedly told of our "impositions," frequently styled as 'organizations of rioters," "evils in the land," and in fact we are slurred, maligned and stigmatized from pulpit and press to every feast and banquet of "America's men of wealth and culture." 46 to express an opinion on these questionsand be it said to your credit that all this is splendid philosophy, taken from an aristocratic stand point-but we ask, in return, that you display just a sufficient amount of common decency to grant us the privilege of expressing an opinion taken from the stand-point of democracy. You ask what right we have to combine against capital? We claim, first, the right of selfdefense, i. e., the right which a man has to defend himself against the attacks of a midnight assassin. Does the comparison suit you? That it is a just one you may know by going to yonder hovel, around which the wintry wind is howling, and through the cracks of which the snow is rapidly beating. Gaze upon the lifeless forms of mother and babe, who have calmly met their fate of starvation. You ask, Who is the husband and father? Where is he? He, sir, is the victim of a heartless employer's tyranny-the victim of an infamous system of discipline. He is now compelled to wander up and down the country in search of work, sleeping in barns and cellars, and under side-walks, derings until he is known by the name of "tramp." His condition has been caused by the infamous demands of capital, and on its shoulders rests the martyrdom of this mother and babe. Does your heart soften at this sight? No; yours is the heart of a Pharoah-it cannot be softened, But while you gloat over the success of your plans to "starve them to terms," just score one for the self-defense of labor. From the highest pulpit in the land we are told that the workingman can live on bread and water. From a leading paper-begging his food, and continuing his wanNew York World-we learn that "the American laborer must make up his mind henceforth not to be so much better off than the European laborer," that "men must work for less wages; in this way the workingman will be nearer to that station in life to which it has pleased God to call him." And by the vast monopolies and corporations we are told that the working men have no right to combine against capital, and make demands collectively; that we should treat with our employers as individuals, and not as organizations, composed of men whose interests are the same; "that we should trust wholly to the good faith and generosity of our employers." Excellent effrontery! Admirable assurauce! Trust wholly to the good faith and | generosity of the leeches that are daily sapping our life-blood! Yes, the forests are filled with wolves; let us drive our sheep thither. There was a big crop of hawks this year; let the chickens from their houses! Secondly, we claim a natural right, i. e., the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We do not believe, with the capitalist, that men, women and children were born into the world to be starved to death in a land of plenty. We do not believe, with the capitalist, that, because a man is compelled to earn his bread in the sweat of his brow, that he should be made a pauper against his will. We do not believe, with the capitalist, that one man should become the property of another, or that he should become the cringing, crawling animal that the capitalist would make Gentlemen, we acknowledge your right him. We are told that we are organizations of "impostors" and "rioters." We deny the charge. We are peaceable, law-abiding citizens-the supporters and defenders of the nation-and should in turn receive the support and defense of the nation. But when it fails in its duty, our only alternative is to defend ourselves. The workingmen of America are not its manhood, and says there shall be no beasts that creep in filth, but human be- mortgage on either. It must and will be ings. Rough and uncultured though they free-peaceably if it can, forcibly if it may be, yet they are human beings, with must. human hearts, human feelings, thoughts, ideas and principles. While we believe that the evil of the world springs from selfishness, we also believe that its whole good is consummated in happiness. If, with your ease, comfort and luxury, you still lack this happiness, we can in no way assist you in attaining it; and if our duty to each other can only be performed through our Union, we claim the right to that Union. If with their existence you are unable to make money as rapidly as heretofore, we are not to blame, for at no time have our wages been less exorbitant than at the present; and we cannot consent to wear the shackles of slavery that the usual fat dividend may be declared. These are our natural rights, and when capital seeks to deprive us of them, we claim the right to rebel. Score one for the natural rights of labor. Again, we claim a democratic right, i. e., the same right as has the capitalist to form his railroad, steamboat and vessel monopolies, coal and lumber combinations, and his mouth-piece-the Associated Press-and other vast corporations; all of which are organized for the oppression of labor. So we claim the right to resist that oppression. Score one for the democratic rights of labor. In reply to the gentlemen of Brooklyn and New York, we say that what is good for them is good for us; and the man who will not grant to a fellow-being the same rights and privileges he asks for himself is a natural-born rascal. We do not believe with them that this is a land of retrogression, but claim it is a land of progress, and that labor has given to it all that makes it such. Everything that has added to the comfort and lessened the burdens of the millions, has been contributed by labor. It demands in return its freedom; for it is only in the atmosphere of pure freedom that a continuation of this progress is possible. The brain of labor cannot work when the body is in the dust, with the foot of capital upon its neck. So for what it has done it demands its liberty; it demands They say that, with the markets glutted with labor and produce, our demands are unjust Yes; we have heard much about over-production and under-consumption; but who is to blame that the market is glutted with either? When a nation becomes an asylum, and throws open her doors to the world, she should prescribe conditions, and erect safeguards against the pauperism and subsequent crime of her citizens. When she fails to do this, it is simply a breach of trust on the part of those holding the reins of government. An unwise emigration policy will ultimately overthrow any nation. Again, a casual observance tells us that low wages, frequent reductions, short hours and seasons, and a hand-to-mouth system of living has taken from the masses the power to consume. These are the causes of glutted markets, stagnation in business, idle men, starving poor, bread riots, plunders and murders These are the causes which affect our State prisons, county jails and reform institutions throughout the land. We hear that our organizations are demoralizing in character. It is false! false as they who assert it. And to prove its absurdity, we ask you to search the long, dark catalogue of crime, and answer if, among the names in this black record, you find one who will say that his crime was caused by teachings inculcated in these organizations. But search again, and mark the many names of those who were once numbered among America's men of wealth and culture. It is a bitter pill, but you must swallow it. Our history is open for inspection, and we invite any man whose reason is not a compound of prejudice and passion to scan its every page, paragraph, sentence and We then looked with suspicion, but we word, when he will find that the charges that have been preferred against labor organizations are exaggerations, falsifications and distortions of fact. The idea that these combinations are an evil in the land will not for one moment be entertained by any man who has a sufficient amount of brains to keep him out of an asylum for idiots. An organization that seeks to lessen the hours of toil, to make better homes and better education for the children of its members, is no evil. An organization that protects the widow and fatherless-an organization that promotes the interests of and elevates in social, moral and intellectual scale its every member, must and will command the respect of any fair-minded man. thought best to wait and see, and we did see President Sherman come out in the JOURNAL and exonerate Abbott. We are well aware that it is not the doctrine of the Brotherhood to slander any man, publicly or privately, but we honored Bro. Sherman, we respect him as a Brother, and we think an explanation from him would be in order, through the JOURNAL, in regard to this. CLEVELAND, March 11, 1878. MESSRS. EDITORS: We have noticed a falling off in our insurance, which we are sorry to see. There has been a great deal said through the JOURNAL about the doings of Abbott. To restore confidence, we think we must show some spirit towards it, and retrench in the Brotherhood. In regard to Abbott, we do not fairly understand it, for this reason: we elected Charles Sherman, of Dunkirk, N. Y., our President. He has served for some years. We paid him two hundred dollars a year salary-for what? Simply riding to and from Port, Jervis twice a year. His duty was to examine Abbott's financial accounts thoroughly, and report to us. We ask, has he done so? If he has, why comes it, all at once, that Abbott turns out to be a defaulter to the amount of fourteen thousand dollars? There has been a great deal said in regard to restoring confidence. To do this we think economy and encouragement would be in order. To commence with, we should do away with our annual Conventions. We think once in three or five years would be often enough. This we think any fair-minded man will sanction, for he will see what we can save by so doing, as our Conventions have proved to be very expensive. With all due respect to our Grand Officers, and thanking you kindly for your past services, we think we will have to depose one of you. This we regret very much, but in order to practice economy we will have to do so at our next Convention. Now a few words in regard to encouragement. We must give that in our insurance, and how shall we do it? We say that all members that have belonged to it ten years should be entitled to draw three hundred dollars. Should said member see fit not to draw out his three hundred dollars at the expiration of ten years, but let it remain for fifteen years, he should be entitled to draw five hundred dollars; or should he let it remain for twenty years, he should then be entitled to draw one thousand dollars. Should said member see fit to draw out his three hundred dollars, he could do so at any time between ten and fifteen years; or should he see fit to draw out his five hundred dollars, he could do so between fifteen and twenty years. His wife or lawful heirs should be entitled to draw this amount, besides their insurance, in case of said member's death, provided said memMessrs. Editors, it will be remembered ber had paid up all dues and assessments, that, some two years ago, Brother W. L. and had never been expelled from the Needham-whose name we honor-was the Brotherhood. Should said member be susfirst man who charged Abbott publicly pended or expelled during this time, he or through the JOURNAL with dishonesty. his heirs forfeit all. By doing this we say |