At the first annual
picnic organized for the employees and friends of the Hamilton weekly workingman’s
newspaper, The Palladium of Labor, there was a literary contest for those who
might want to write and read aloud something about labor in Hamilton.
R. A. Langlois was
employed by the City of Hamilton as a general laborer. The poem he wrote and
submitted, titled Ninety Cents a Day, dealt with his wages and prospects as old
age approached. It also referred jealous to white-collar City of Hamilton
employees who were paid much more for much less work.
The Langlois poem
follows:
“We are off to our
daily work,
On the Hamilton corporation;
To pick and shovel
the dirt
Is our constant occupation.
Others as well as
myself,
In the city’s service have grown gray –
And now in our old
age,
We get but ninety cents a day.
Oh ! but we’ll soon
be rich !
You bet, and in our carriages ride,
For on such
magnificent salary,
We can throw dull care aside.
With our extensive
“bank” account
To creditors we can truthful say –
We are full-fledged,
bloomin’ aristocrats
On our ninety cents a day.
Others are paid by
our city –
For doing just nothing at all;
They are furnished
assistants to help them,
At their office in the City Hall.
They are paid their
thousands a year –
For doing what we would call play,
While the poor
laboring man who works hard
Gets his ninety cents a day.
But still the poor
man is rich
In the love of his family dear;
And while he has to
bite and sup.
No hard work does he fear.
The children will
gather around us,
And we’ll drive dull care away;
In hunger and rags we
are happy –
On our ninety cents a day.”1
1 “Ninety
Cents a Day”
Palladium of
Labor. September 12, 1885.
After printing the
poem prominently, the Palladium of Editor commented on it :
“The poem on Local
Labor matter was composed and read by R. A. Langlois, at the Palladium Picnic,
last Saturday afternoon. Bard Langlois was awarded first prize in the strength
of his declaring that he ‘scribbled it off in a hurry.’ ”1
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