We would have "the poor white man" of the South,
born to a heritage of poverty aud degradation
like his black compeer in social life, feel
that labor in our organization seeks the elevation of all its
sons and daughters; pledges its united strength
not to advance the interests of a special class; but
in its spirit of reasonableness and generous
catholicity would promote the welfare and happiness
of all who "earn their bread in the sweat
of their brow."
With us, too? Numbers count, and we know the
maxim, "in union there is strength," has its
significance in the affairs of labor no less
than in politics. Hence our industrious movement,
emancipating itself from every national and
partial sentiment, broadens and deepens its
foundations so as to rest thereon a superstructure
capacious enough to accommodate at the altar
of common interest the Irish, the Negro and
the German laborer; to which, so far from being
excluded, the "poor white" native of the South,
struggling out of moral and pecuniary death into
life "real and earnest," the white mechanic
and laborer of the North, so long ill taught and advised
that his true interest is gained by hatred
and abuse of the laborer of African descent, as well as the
Chinaman, whom designing persons, partially
enslaving, would make in the plantation service of
the South the rival and competitor of the
former slave class of the country, having with us one and
the same interest, are all invited, earnestly
urged, to join us in our movement, and thus aid in the
protection and conservation of their and out
interests.
In the cultivation of such spirit of generosity
on out part, and the magnanimous conduct which it
prompts, we hope, by argument and appeal addressed
to the white mechanics, laborers and trades
unions of our country, to our legislators
and countrymen at large, to overcome the prejudices now
existing against us so far as to secure a
fair opportunity for the display and remuneration of out
industrial capabilities.
We launch our organization, then, in the fullest
confidence, knowing that, if wisely and judiciously
managed, it must bring to all concerned, strength
and advantage, and especially to the colored
American as its earliest fruits that power
which comes from competence and wealth, education
and the ballot, made strong through a union
whose fundamental principles are lust, impartial and
Catholic.