In 1877 the New York Labor Standard, edited by an Irish socialist, lamented: “There was a time when the United States was the workingman’s country, … the land of promise for the workingman… . We are now in an old country.” Nearly a decade later the Detroit Labor Leaf used nearly identical language: “America used to be the land of promise to the poor… . The Golden Age is indeed over—the Age of Iron has taken its place.
