The Peril Of Enlightened Labor

An uiisccn toe Is oftcn the most danj jrerous. The strlfe tor food, raimenl and shelter Is but a milder form of actual warfare, and enlightened labor is ever mcnaccd by an unsecn foe. A San Francisco manufacturcr, when asked why he did not eniploy the Chinese, sald, "They are too smart for me. Once haviug learned my business, they would t.tke it from me at picasure. Having 'caught on,' a Chinaman can clean out nny other man on earth except a Chinainun." To the Chinese as a foe of enlightened labor the teeming maascs of India and Japan must be added, and when the combine)] forces are inarshaled for the great Industrial contest, they number 700,000,000 or 800,000,000, or more than half the population of the earth. So long as the wide ocean separating us trom tli is alert inass of brains and muscle was crossed only by small, slow sailiög-ships, and labor-savinjc machinery was onused; so long as extensivo internal trafflc was impossible, and Asiatic produets could not be moved to the seaboard for export, the enlightened labor or America was comparatively safe. But tlie triple-compound engine now rapldly propels great ships against wind and tiiic; monster four-masted iron sailing-vessels, mauned by a handtul of seamen, lly to and fro upon the wlngs of the wind; sub marine cables convey our thoughts with therapidity of llghtning; labor-saviiiii inachiuery Is introducid; railroads are being built into the interior, and enlighteni'd labor is brought face to face with this mighty industrial army, wilb uiiicli 1,0 other can successfully cope. Herttofore the Europeau Industrial forces alone Lave menaced the exalted position occupied by the enlightened labor of America, but now this enemy is dwindling into comparative iiisignilicance. By degrriding our manhood and sacrificing our citlzeusuip we can match the Europeaas. But when the great forces of Asia massed bcliind t.hè Europeans come down upon us in solid columns, flanking us on rightanü lef t, intelligent labor will be ulterly overwhelmed. A four-masted 2900-ton iron sailing-vessi-1 recenüy carne into the port of New York laden with Asiatic product?, having made the voynge from Calcutta in 109 days. Twenty-nine men at üfty cents a day, costing $1,580.50, or fi(ty-four and one-half cents a ton, had sailcd the great ship successsfully during the long V03age. If we doublé the amount paid for labor to cover other expenses, the cost o the trip is only $1.09 per ton, or less tlian six cents per 100 pomuls. Henee lt will be seen that goods are being cumed a thousand miles by sea almost as cheaply as a dozen miles by land, and a mili in New York City has no more advantage in freight over a competing mili in C-ücutta thaa over a èimilar mili iu Paterson. Ifweturnto the pages of indusliiil history ve fiuil tliat the Asiática were far in advauce of the Europeans before tlie invention of labor-saving maobiuery. It was only wlicn tlie intioduction of uit chinery multiplied tlie producing power of the European that Asia was conquered in the great industrial battle. The vvry best labor-saving niachiiiery, ncarly automatic, can now be operated by nutlve help in Asia quite as successfully aa in Kurope or America, and no gift of prophecy is necessary to foretell that Asialic labor operating machinery on an extensive scale, and under even conditioni, will again triuinph. Thisunpleasantconclusion is warranted not alone by logic, hut also by absolute demonstration. TWi ■ - -----ttnr ing establishments, containing the most improved labor-saving machinery, are even now in successful opcration in Asia, einploying native help at one-tenth the wages current in the same Unes of busiines3 in America. Cirds, spindles and looms are being driveu as rapidly there as here, and the native operLtive3 are as efficiënt and reliable as auy in the world. Ifitisvvise to enuct laws prohibiting the coming here of a few tliousand Oriéntala to degrade Intelligent labor, it is also wise to tax the products of the millious who stay at home. It can be demonstrated that a day's work will procure more food, raiment and shelter in America than elsewheie In the widu world, and therefore the workiiijj people do not need foreign producís simply bic.mse they are cheap. That American working people now obtain the necessaries of life from their own hands relatively cheaper than any other people, is selfevident from the indisputable fact that they are better fed, clothed and housed than the people of other countries, This is pre-eminently the working people's battle, and if it shall reeult in the triumph of cheap labor, intelligent labor will suffer most severely. Organized labor has made a successful fight for the protectiou of the woiking people against destructivo competition at home, but in resi8ting the greatest of all enemies, tho American working people haye heretofore manifested an unpardonable indiflerence. Employers cannot suecessfully grapple with this free-trade giant alone, and continued indlffeience on the part of working people may euablc it to triumph. Having done such heroic service in battling against underpald labor at home, intelligent labor eurely must be ready to rtsist the greater peril of undcrpaid labor abroad. Every step toward "free" foreign trade brings us nearer and nearer to the polut of actual contact with this perilous foe.- E. A. Hartshorn in Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. Allen G. Thurman says llial when he wan choseu U. S. Senator for Oblo ou Iwo occasions hls elección (lid not cost liiin a penny- not even a drink of whUkey, TlmeH have changed since the old Komun sal in the senate.- Dundee Reporter. Indeed there has .been a chango since those days! In the olden times they called thein statesmen; now Ihey are teimed "boodlers."' The editor of the Courier acknowledges the receipt of an invitation, from II. E. llilton, Esq., of Washsngton, D. C., to attend the 53rd annual recoptlon and banquet of the Michigan associntion, in honor of the Congressional delegation, and in commcmoration of the 53rd anniversary of the admission of Michigan into the union. The affair was booked for last Monday evening, but some wny the republicans decided upon a caucus tliftl evening and the banquet was postponed for a mouth at least. Kev. Nelson Eustwood, of the Cth ward, one of the most resyécted and csteemed of Ann Arbor's old cltizens, died on the 21st inst., aged 79 years, of Britfht'l diseasei together with heart failure. Funeral services were held Frlday, at 2:30 p. ra., from the residenee.