Workmen's Advocate

A SOLID THOUSAND.

THE RESULT OF A MONTH'S FAITHFUL WORK.

New Haven in Line With New York.

The Labor Party Going Forward—Honest Politics vs. Boodle Politics—Sacrifice Necessary.

LABOR'S HOPE.

Defeated? Not by the eternal! Though fraud and corruption were strong:

When discipline, power and riches were called to the aid of the wrong:

Unflinching the phalanx of Labor met every assault of the foe.

And stood with their columns unbroken all the day in the cold and the snow.

Defeated? Not so! Let them ponder the lesson the battle has taught,

That Labor will ever remember her captains and legions unbought;

And solemn and deep was the warning that rang in old New Haven town,

That the Party of Labor had sounded—the Party that never will down.

For it told of an era, new-dawning, when poverty, ghastly and grim,

Shall no more for the toiler a chalice of misery fill to the brim:

Defeated? We stand as the victors, and ours is the joyous acclaim:

Hurrah for the Party of Labor, and blest be its object and name.

The battle of the ballots is over, and the result is that that portion of the capitalistic party called "democratic" will, for the most part, have the great pleasure of saying that they voted for the fellows who were elected. To be sure this will not fill their stomachs nor procure them anything but the contempt of honest men, unless, indeed, we may except the pity with which Socialists regard the dupes of the ruling class. The workingmen who voted the capitalistic tickets, it is but fair to believe, were honest men, and thought that they were doing right. As time goes on, and they apply some of their time to study of their interests, the hopelessness of a betterment in their condition under existing circumstances will become apparent, and they will come out from the corrupt old wings of the capitalistic party and swell the ranks of the young and vigorous Labor Party—the party of honest politics, which in due time will usher in a new order of things and secure to the workingman the results of his toil.

The following table shows the vote of last Tuesday's city election, taking the vote for mayor as a basis:

THE VOTE FOR MAYOR.

Total vote . . . . 12,665

The vote for Ward representatives to the City Council was about the same, and the vote for Town officers was about 200 less. For reasons not of particular value to the Labor Party, some of our candidates received more votes than our candidate for mayor, but it is reasonable to calculate upon the mayorality vote as a basis for comparison. This gives the Labor Party a gain of nearly 1,000 over the vote cast for Governor at the election last month. Not a bad showing for a month's agitation, and a satisfactory and healthy vote that augurs well for the future, provided the workingmen do their duty in the way of permanent political organization.

The largest labor vote cast for members of the City Council was that of the Ninth Ward for George Goering, for alderman, which was eleven votes more than were cast for our nominee for mayor. Comparatively few of the Labor tickets were "scratched," the Labor men casting their votes more for principles than for men. This being the case, and the endorsement of correct principles and the Labor Platform being of more moment than the record of votes for individual candidates, we shall spare our readers the waste of figures, and ourselves the useless labor of printing them.

One thing was made plain to the noble men who sacrificed their time and day's wages on election day, and that was that the conditions and customs of our elections are very unfavorable to the workingmen, and decidedly in favor of the wealthy and their political heelers. Not to say anything of the cost of ballots and necessary printing and the loss of a day's work and wages for active workers, the fact that many of our voters must walk great distances to get to the polls is a matter that deserves serious attention. And yet there seems to be no remedy save that of continued sacrifice on the part of the workers till they can elect a majority to represent them in the law-making bodies. And when workingmen come to realize the solid benefits to be obtained, they will readily make sacrifices in order to gain control of the government. They must advance or they are doomed to greater trials and more hopeless conditions than those which environ them to-day.

Workingmen of New Haven: Organize permanent political associations in every ward. Agitate and educate in order to be ready for another step forward when the next opportunity offers itself to right your wrongs at the ballot box.

Wards.	Labor.	Capitalist
First	31	629
Second	113	785
Third	216	790
Fourth	135	924
Fifth	67	581
Sixth	139	653
Seventh	216	924
Eighth	34	699
Ninth	182	815
Tenth	48	750
Eleventh	38	829
Twelfth	46	454