'< f " T "T" T t ' T ' y T T T 'T' t " 'T " ' y y" t" ' y y ' y y ■■ ' » THE WAGE -WORKERS OF AMERICA AND THE RELATION OF CAPITAL TO LABOR, JOHN STOLZE, M. D., AUTHOR OF "scientific LIVING," " CAUSE AND CURE OF CRIME," "treatise ON THE HUMAN FIVE SENSES," "mental HVGIENE," ETC. " Now to th' instruction of a humble friend, Who would himself be better taught, attend ; Though blind your guide, some precepts j^et unknown He may disclose, which you may make your own." READING. PA.: CHICAGO, ILL.: Eagle Book and Job Print. * ' "93" Columbia Publishing CoMPA^ ^: Sf, DEDICATORIAL! '■'■ He is next to the gods, whom reason, and not passion, impels."— Clxvdia'S. It may be a mere custom for an author to dedicate his book to some one of great accomplishment, or to a personal friend ; but in the present instance, the author is actuated by a sense of humble acknowledgment (hereby) of the character, attainments and endur- ing friendship of the Rev. H. W. Thomas, D. D., of Chicago, whose life has been devoted to the elevation and emancipation of his fellowman ; keeping in view social and political equity, promul- gating those principles which make of AU-of-Us Neighbors and Brothers ; this work is respectfully inscribed by the author. J. S. Entared accordir^g fej'-ihe Act'.cf 'CjorlgTAss, in the year 1893, by ' "OOHN JjTtoLZEi'M. D.-,' in the Offiof^ yf 'the,' Lit-'ranan. of C'jnfrrbse.'-at Washington, D. C. PRKKACK. " Frieyids ! Romans ! Countryrnen ! Lend me your earP* The lines we have quoted above form the introduction to Mark Antony's speech in defense of Caesar, which is an acknowledgment of the fact that the orator harangues in vain unless he secures the atten- tion of his audience. So we ask you, kind reader, to lend us your attention, and give careful perusal to the following pages to which you are hereby introduced. The wage-interest of the wage-earners of this country and the relation of capital to labor form the text of our dis- sertation. The object of writing this volume was prompted mainly by a desire to assist our fellow-citizens in solving the problem of the trotibled labor question, which we believe to exist principally in a misconception of the true relation o{ capital to labor. Civic disturbances, in the form of riots and lockouts, are signals, or evidences, to the inquiring mind that there is something wrong somewhere in the administration of the gov- ernment; for it is certain, peradventure, that so long as the self-evident rights of mati are respected and maintained by the laws of any country, peace and prosperity will reign supreme, for there will be no need for political reform, and, with this object in view, it will be worth any effort we are capable of in aiding to bring about such a condition. The relation of capital to labor is spoken of as an tinsolved problem. From the fact, then, that the question is profound and intricate, much deep study and extended research is involved ; still we hope our eflforts will be rewarded in finding a correct solution. Agitation keeps the subject before the people. Some of the most profound thinkers of the nation are beginning to search for the primary causes of the many un- desirable effects, demonstrated in the form of civic disturbances, which have not only cost millions of dollars, but thereby the lives of many citizens have been sacrificed. All of us are concerned in finding a proper solution of the so-called labor trojible, and, with this object in view, we hope this volume will be a great help, for the best that can be done is to educate, and to ex- IV. PREFACE. change, one with another, our most matured thoiighls bearing on this question, that in the near future proper means of correction may be at- tained to stay any further difficulty. It is said that all the laboring classes of the civilized world have been, and are, as a body poor. This is an incorrect statement, for the ques- tion arises who are the poor and who are the rich ? Poverty and wealth are at best only relative states or conditions. When the ques- tion is viewed philosophically, it is not proper to make a comparison from the standpoint of ownership, or how much wealth one has, but conditions. One may be miserably poor and have plenty of money. Our object, however, is not to champion the cause of the poor with a view of making everybody rich, or to make the rich richer, or to take from them what by right belongs to them ; but what we contend for is justice, that all men may have an equal chance under the law of the land to acquire a competency, the same right that nature gives to every man- The abolition of favoritism, trusts, monopolies ; to bring capital on an equal footing with labor, that both may make a legitimate profit, and arrest any further unprofitable means of correcting disputes, is our aim. But little has been written or said by the representatives of the medi- cal profession, and we believe that one who has studied man, physi- cally and mentally, and the effects of environment on his health and welfare in general, is especially qualified to treat the subject in hand, and thus bring forward the best thoughts from that source. Personally we have no grievances, neither have we a new and fan- ciful theory to offer, but shall follow datas well-founded in the fun- damental elements of good government. We furnish no special index, for the book should be read co7isecjitively in order to be fully appreciated^ and by so doing we feel assured that our object will be attained. Respectfully your fellow-citizen. The Author. THE WflGE = WORKERS OF AMERICA. I The Relation of Capital to Labor ; Logical Points Regard- ing the Problem of the Labor Troubles Noiv More or Less Agitated by the People of the United States ; Labor Unions vs. Capital ; The Right and Wrong Side ; Where the Means of Correction May be Found; The Working Classes and Capital ; LLappy LLojnes at Last for All Who Will Study the Subject ; The Wise States- 7nan ; The Man Who LLas a LLead and also a LLeart^ Etc.y Etc. If a man is in harmony with what surrounds him here, No power can enslave him, no matter what be his sphere. _,, ^ , _ , , Doubtless there exists at tiie The Labor Trouble. ^ ^- ^ ^ . present time a greater antagonism between capital and labor in this country than was ever known since the Declaration of Independence. The liain reason may be assigned to the fact that the people are more wide-awake to their own personal interests; or, perhaps, that the spirit of jnoney-7naki7ig has taken possession of them, and, hence, a greater strife for supremacy has been brought about by various causes. We would mention, first, the rapid growth of the nation — not alone in population, but in wealth, in power, in enterprise, in commerce — so that, notwithstanding its being still a young republic, it is already leading the nations of the earth. This has created a national pride, and every true iVmerican citizen feels proud of the country he lives in. Second, the success of American enterprise and commercial supremac}^, already being felt in every land, has created such a potential inonientuni in the direction of gaining more and more of the same glory which has been attained in the past (and no one can at this time predict, with a certainty, the limit which may be reached), 6 THE WAGE-WORKERS OF AMERICA. that, to a very great degree, the individual citizen has caught the same spirit — that is, to accumulate, to gain wealth, to be rich. Primarily and naturally nations and Limits of Right, i^^ji^j^i^ials have a right to use every means, within the limits of right, to gain in power and wealth — to get all they can, all they want, and, particularly, all they need. But there is a limit ; and this limit, both legally and morally speaking, is the great problem to ex- emplify and plainly outline its safe boundaries, so all peoples can see where to pause and not trespass on nature's reservation. The idea of right implies a limit or boundary. Per- sonal liberty is a principle based on inalienable rights and pursuits, as one's own inclinations or conscience may dic- tate ; there is a limit in unbounded freedom. The same, however, is true of the restrictions placed upon man in re- gard to indulgences in partaking of food or drink, or in many other methods or habits of living ; in exercise, labor, rest ; in acquiring possessions, in traffic and many almost innumerable relationships of man's surroundings where nature prescribes certain limitatiaus which circumscribes his liberty. Physiological and moral limits, however, do not enslave mankind, but, on the other hand, by obedience to these lim- itations the perfect enjoyment of freedom is the reward. Man is never more free than when his conduct is within the boundaries of right. The moment these boundaries are ignored, either by laws enacted or by individual citizens, ignorantly or wilfully, straightway a condition of slavery is incurred and man is no longer free. Now comes the law of responsibility, which holds a charge against him, and which must be liquidated before perfect freedom can be enjoyed. This perfect freedom is misunderstood or misinter- preted by many in this country, who take license, or, in plainer words, "take the kiw into their own hands," and think their natural rights are invaded when they encounter THE WAGE-WORKERS OF AIMERICA. 7 restrictions, which, if they understood their "inalienable rights," as prescribed by the Declaration of Independence of the United States, would make them grateful for the lim- itations therein. The moment these principles are violated that freedom becomes a state of servility, a charge, a re- sponsibility, and freedom of conduct becomes a subject of legal regulation. The greed and avarice of mankind, indi- Inharmony. ^.-^^^^jg ^^^^ nations, often carried beyond nature's limitation, and infringing on natural rights, has been, and is now, the primeval factor in bringing about strife and discord, which, if not checked, may bring on ruin as the final result. That there does exist a spirit of antagonism between capital and labor in this country cannot be denied, when the many strikes and revolts, culminating, in some instances, in actual insurrection, have, during the past decade, too fully demonstrated this fact. These are symptoms of a de- ranged state of the dodj/ politic^ and to find and prescribe some radical cure for this ailment is the sacred mission work of the present generation. If not attended to in time abso- lute destruction will follow, and those who have now the power to avert this catastrophe wall bitterly regret their negligence when it is too late to arrest it. It is not a matter of pleasant contemplation for the people of our great country to entertain the idea that not all is peace and happy harmoniousness in the land. The actual warfare between capital and . \^Q^^ gradually inaugurated, for obvious reasons is not reconcilable with the plea that we are in ad- vance of other nations, or that we have a republican form of government, with a constitution recognizing the "natural rights" of all men, whatever they may be — rich or poor, wage-worker or capitalist. The very fact that a conflict is waged, by whomsoever it may be, arising from disagreements between the wage- workers and those who control capital, in a country whose 8 THE WAGE-WORKERS OF AMERICA. fundamental principles of government vouclisafe peace and plent}- to every household, suggests an honest and thorough investigation of the cause of the grievances ; and, if possible, to find proper means by which to stay any further disturb- ance. The factors which lead to disputes, Not One-Slded. ^^^^^ ^f wrongs, imaginary or real, do not, in fact cannot, arise from one side alone. As the say- ing goes, " there are two sides to a question." Mistakes are, as a rule, easily made, more easily made than corrected. Doubtless those in control of capital cannot be pronounced free from blame, or, in other words, faultless^ and charge all the blame to the wage-workers, and, forsooth, vice versa. This now opens the question, and we invite our reader to proceed with us to examine some of the principles relating to capital and labor, for these are the factors that enter into the main make-up of the " labor qiiestion^^ to be settled by the American people in the near future. A short story may be of interest A Co-operative Body. ^^^ ^^^ ^^^p ^^ ^^ ^^^^^ ^ correct basis or point of observation, from which to sally forth in search of the truth bearing on the question under consider- ation. We were honored not long ago by a visit from our old friend. Dr. Isaac H. Stearns, an old veteran surgeon of the late war, and in conversation on various topics the labor question was broached, and we were pleased with his re- marks — though metaphorically spoken — but fully embody- ing the truth, and that is what we want. The doctor is widely known for good, sound judgment in matters apper- taining to statesmanship. To the question we propounded he said: "The natural relation of capital and labor may be likened to the human body. It has a head and it has hands. Then there is a vital system. The head thinks and com- mands and the hands execute and labor. Work exhausts the body. The head, hands and all parts ivear more or less by the business of life. The vital system supplies nourish- THE WAGE-WORKERS OE AMERICA. 9 ment by digesting food and thus prepares it for the builder's use in all parts of the body. The hands work and gather food for the vital system to sustain the head and also give to the hands a proper quota for subsistence. Through the sympathetic system of nerves all parts of the entire body enjoy the £-ood in common with the head, and also partake each its share of suffering." This sympathy of one part with another he compared to that human nature with which all human beings are endowed, and which gives birth to the common law of humanity. The hands then may labor hard yet come in for their share of enjoyment, when ztJe enjoy the good things the hands provided for us — a sort of co- operative /Z^;//, where the head [capital) divides with the hands {the ivage-ivorker). "Thus," he said, "the capital, which we will call the head, canrot, after all, get on very well without the hands and other expert workers which con- stitute the body — one grand system of reciprocal operation, Avhere the slightest inharmoniousness will shock the entire economy of the whole body." So let us remember that the head and hands cannot well be separated and continue that liarmony necessary to a perfect existence. It might be profitable to tarry Push and Enterprise. ^^^^ ^ moment longer and say that the trouble popularly denominated the ''labor trouble'' in this country largely arises from a simple misunderstanding of the true relation of ''capital to labori' Capital alofie is inoperative without the help of labor. The same is true, to some degree, of labor. Yet labor can get on somehow without capital. However, in a country like ours, with as much push and enterprise, which will, in this particular, give the nineteenth century a place in the world's history as an epoch of remarkable activity, we can- not well afford to abolish capital and thus clog the wheels of progress. Capital is here, labor is here, and Looking Forward. ^^^^ business is to harmonize the two, and in, some way put and end for all time, in this country, lO THE WAGE-WORKERS OF AMERICA. to any further violence or carnal strife among men, looking also toward means of a humane way of settling disputes that may arise between labor and capital in localities or those of a national bearing. If, as a civilized and honorable people, we want to be recognized by the nations of the world, we cannot afford to have many repetitions of the so-called " Homestead troubles," recently perpetrated, or the "Idaho troubles," or the "Coal Creek troubles" of Tennessee, or the " Pittsburg riots," of some years since, and others, or many of lesser magnitude, which threatened us with civil war. If not the latter, gradually run along until finally the country fills up with a pauper element, almost as disgrace- ful to a nation as civil war itself All this can readily be obviated Unwilling to Give Up. ^^ ^^^-^^ statesmanship. We are unwilling to give up, and say that it cannot be done. Let us make this assertion, for the first time in these pages, that a correct civil government, based on the laws of nature, the unwritten law of humanity, and the proper and absolute en- forcement of the laws so framed, will pilot the ship of state clear of breakers, of riots, insurrections and pauperism. These are only symptoms of a coming calamity awaiting our beloved country, and wise heads, and heads with a hearty can 7tow so treat the difiiculty that in a few years we shall have passed the danger point altogether. In this laudable work labor and capital are equally interested and must co- operate in order to succeed. A man may have a good business, he may have Capital, j^^^^^i^ money invested in his business, and yet he is not a capitalist in the strict sense of the term. Any amount of money invested is capital — capital stock, goods, chattels of whatever denomination. Real estate is capital. A tradesuian represents capital, for his labor is his caf^ital^ which brings him a profit, and it should bring him a profit every day that his labor is invested, the same as when money is invested. Money represents labor. It takes labor to make money. The same may be said of money — that it THE WAGE-WORKERS OF AMERICA. II " takes money to make money." But there is money that does not represent labor. The person who has control of money The Capitalist. ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ represent labor is a capital- ist. A person who is the owner of a competency, that is^ one who is independent, whose income is assured, covering all possible exigencies of want, living at ease, and, if de- sired, can enjoy the luxuries of life without drawing on his reserved capital ; such may properly be denominated as wealthy or rich. But now if this same person has money besides and has it invested in a manner that it is constantly accumulating, at a greater or lesser per cent, beyond what may be necessary to maintain a reasonable expenditure of living, then such may be called a capitalist. This kind of capital does not represent labor, and it is on this point the Socialist af&rms The Socialist Affirms. ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^p-^^l^ ^^ ^^^ 1^,^ of right, belongs to the people, and should be divided among them. What is called a dividend in the language of a stock company, which makes an annual pro rata division of its profits among those who own the stock, so a dividend should be declared by the capitalists of the whole country for the benefit of the people. Of course, the radical Socialist goes further than this and foolishly thinks, and argues his claims with more energy than wisdom, that no one has a right to be rich, to say nothing of the capitalist — that all men should be equal in their possessions of the things of this world. What shall we then say regarding the capitalists ? The best that can be said, and which our philosophy logically leads us to determine, is that nothing can be taken from a person that by right and law belongs to him. But this much we say, that the What Can be Done ? pi^nosophy of good government regulates everything wisely, even the capitalist, so no one can be injured, for the capitalist has his place in society, and in the natural order of things the same as in everything else, and can be as easily reconciled as a part of the whole 12 THE WAGE-W0RK?:RS OF AMERICA. structure of the body politic as a laborer, and the one who has no more than his labor can readih^ find Jiis place and part of the whole. Who would build our railroads, our bridges, our great works of art if everybody simply made a living and did not in some way accumulate something more, with which they would be enabled to venture into an enterprise where money is needed as well as labor ? Some one from the excess of profits, accruing from speculation, builds a beautiful monu- ment, or mausoleum, which at once becomes a pleasing or- nament to a city or landscape view in a cemetery. Another has the money to build some grand castle on an elexation overlooking a city. He calls it his residence. . This gives work to the man who ° * wants it and needs it. If everybody built a ten-story house the sameness would destroy the pic- ture ; or, if ever3'one built a one-story cottage the undesira- ble effect would be the same. The pleasing effect is the product in the very fact that not all people can have things alike, for want of equal means, equal abilities and the law of variation is obeyed in this as in other matters. If all peoples could accumulate no more of this world's goods than sufficient simpl}' to keep the wolf from the door, who, then, would interest themselves in landscape gardening and build fine mansions, always enjoyable to the passer who has studied art, or whose soul admires the beautiful, in art or in nature ? Equality, therefore, is impossible, since differentiation is a law of nature. If possessions of property, or ownership of much or little, makes a social difference, creates caste, so to speak, then this is an evidence that the culture or educa- tion of such people has been wofully neglected, or at least has been misdirected. A monument is to be erected in mem- The Monument. r a- .• • i j mm • ory ot some distinguished person. 1 his is done, not alone in honor of the person who has- won great distinction in the service of humanity, but by this pulilic THE AV AGE-WORKERS OF AMERICA. 1 3 recognition tlie deed is remembered, and future generations are thereby stimulated to live for some purpose, to do some- thing by wliicli they will be remembered. The wage-worker alone, or the ordinary laborer, cannot accomplish (in these matters of public art and embellishing our environment) what may be done by the help of the capitalist. A monument costing fifty or a hundred thousand dollars can be built by fifty or a hundred thousand people, but if ten, a hundred, or a thousand capitalists contribute from the profits of money invested (money at work), they did not have to work for, will the man who iearns but a few dollars a day object to such an enterprise? We will only state one instance in point A Noble Gift. ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ readers to draw their own conclusions. A syndicate of Chicago some years ago in- vested its capital in street railways, which yielded great profit. The capital thus invested became immensely great, but, as we have elsewhere stated in this work, that capital in the hands of a philanthropist need not be feared, for it may be of great help to the progress of science and do many kind and noble deeds that go down into histor}^ as an honor to the race. Recently this same syndicate gave to the Chicago Uni- versity enough money, conditional, to build the finest, the best and largest telescope in the world. This will be among the wonders of the world. This telescope is to be con- structed irrespective of cost. It will cost at a low estimate a round half million dollars. Here we have an exemplifica- tion of one of nature's means or ways of making progress in the arts and sciences, which, if a hundred thousand people were called on to contribute each a pro rata share to make up the required sum, ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninet3^-nine would have objected to so foolish an under- taking. No, a man has a right to be frugal, An Honest Penny. ^,^^0^,^^^! ^^^ wise in the manage- ment of his vocation or business, turning an honest penny 14 THE WAGE-WORKERS OF AMERICA. as often as it is possible. There are philosophic and moral principles which form a natural basis for honest traffic and competition in trade, governing the efforts of mankind in acquiring property or wealth. In this all have equal rights. If it were not so law and order would take on the form of discord, and discord is not a law of nature ; strife for su- premacy would be lowered to brutal force, and civilization again take on the primeval state — the uncivilized. All combinations of power, or corporations, using capital unwarranted by the highest idea of right ; all labor unio7is, or orders of whatsoever name or nature, should carefully study the limits of the natural rights of man, that they may re- form^ form and co7iforni to the highest principle oi good gov- ernment^ or discord, revolts, trouble of almost every shade and degree will arise among the people, who otherwise might be happy as one family. It is given to man to do the best lie can within the boundaries ot right ; license which may carry him beyond this will be contracting a debt, and debt is a mortgage on a man's liberty. In the short run of three score years and ten, or however more it may be, life is too short to go into debt very much ; debt enslaves, and we cannot afford to live a life of slavery when freedom can so easily be won, for we are free when we are in harmony with our environment. DEFINITION AND CLASSIFICATION. In the ordinary and popular sense Working Classes. ^^^^ laboring classes are those who per- form manual labor. This, however, is not strictly a correct definition, for all people who are not able to live without work are laborers in the strict sense of the term. For con- venience we will classify or divide them into coinmon labor, expert labor, professional^ business and commercial labor. Then, again, labor may simply be performed from physio- logical necessity, which, properly expressed, comes under the head of exercise, or sport ; for labor, when it does not produce a profit, in the sense of earning something, comes irnder the head of sport, or simply exercise. Then, when THE WAGE-WORKERS OF A:\IERICA. 1 5 labor is productive, when it is performed to conduct and sustain the business of living, all such conies under the head of worfz. However often we may use the word labor when ^^ * we mean work, for either term is commonly under- stood to mean work ; still there is a proper difference and should be so understood generalh' — that work always pro- duces^ earns something, while so-called labor does not. When we say capital luorks we do not mean that it labors ; or, when a man works we understand that he is earning or producing something, but it is not alwaj'S so when he labors. , . ^^ , , All work is said to be honorable Work IS Honorable. .^^ ^^^^^.^^ ^.^ere the line of birth, or blood, or caste, or honor, is not distinguished by posses- sions or riches, but is almost entirel}^ obliterated. Yet we have those among us who are obliged to perform menial labor, servant work, and come under the head of common labor, or luiskillcd luork^ whether performed as attendants or helpers in our shops, fields or in our kitchens, and this class demands passing notice, for the}^ are here and must receive courteous attention in the study of the "labor question," as much so as those who occup}- a higher plane in society. If the reader belongs to the common working class, and if you do not like your station, our advice to you is to strike out. Stud}^, read books, learn a trade ; in some way fit yourself for some particular vocation, like Andrew Johnson, General Grant, Lincoln, Garfield and a thousand others, who rose from the plane you now occupy, and everybody can, Avho will, rise in grade or degree of work to a more ex- alted position in the world. But you must not wait until some one lifts you up ; you must go to work and lift your- self; you must try and control circumstances. True merit, udth " clear grit" to back it up, will soon be in demand for a higher position, and you will think better of yourself and you will have a more exalted opinion of your fellow-man. Those people, as a rule, who occupy a menial station in societ}', have a very poor opinion of mankind generally, l6 THE WAGE-WORKERS OF AMERICA. unless they are too obtuse to be conscious of the plane they occupy. As an artisan the only \v3.y you can rise to a higher position among the working classes is by skill, personal accomplishments, a cultured mind, in a word, be- come master of your business, and capital, as powerful and arrogant a thing as it is, will make its obeisance to you, and 3'ou are what nature intends you should be, a free man. . . The working classes include a very A Large Majority. ^^^^^ majority of the population of this countr3\ There are comparatively few people who do. not, in some way, have to work. The common workers, performing ma^iual labor [der Allgctnein Tagelcehne?')^ are small in number when compared with the masses of work- ers who conduct business, far^n work., and the expert or skilled workers, all of whom at once rise above servant work by reason of their vocation, which requires study, experi- ence and training. This elevates you above the common workman, not in a social sense, but as compared in skill, and this alwa5^s has and always will command better pay. The time it takes to prepare yourself for the position must be rewarded, and is by common consent. Of skilled labor we will have occasion to say more. Also the sociological influence of vocation on character and the growing depreciation, in more ways than one, of skilled labor. ^, ,-r» ,,T i Then all who work for daily The Wage-Workers. ^^.^^^^^ ^^ ^j, ^.^^ ^^^^ stipulated salaries, are properly called wage-workers^ or wage-earners. This class constitutes a large proportion of the population of America. It is a fact that there are over forty-one millions of wage- earners in this country at the present time, and hence it can readily be seen that, since there is so large a number of people in excess of those who do not work for wages, it will require able statesmanship to regulate by law and to correct the present status between capital and labor, so that all peo- ple are justly dealt with — that is, that all receive their just I. HOLDEN STEARNS, M. D. Plate I-For sketch see page 218. THE WAGE-WORKERS OF AMERICA. 1 7 dues and tluis avoid all possible grievances and fulfill the mission of the law. Then there are something over twelve millions of people in this countr}^ who belong to the zvorki7ig class who do not perform hired labor, but carry on business, or occupations for themselves, and hence are not, properly speaking, wage-earners. _, . ,„ Many of our most substantial business Business Men. ^, , i , .• x • men are those who vv-ork (occupation) m connection with their own capital. They invest what money they have and work as well as manage their own business. The}^ may hire what labor they may require, carry on busi- ness in a legitimate manner and may be classed with the working classes, but are not wage-earners. A 3'oung man learns a trade ; for a number of 3'ears he is a wage-worker. If he is what every young man should be he will save a little mone^^ In the course of time he con- templates matrimony. He marries, and with his wife they manage to lay aside some of the profits of his labor. May- hap in a few years a small legac}^ falls to them. Being a master of his business he starts on his own accord, and not ashamed to work, he manages his own business and labors with his own hands. The wife takes care of the household equally as well and in a few years the}^ possess a compe- tenc}'. These are our most substantial business men. Give them half a chance and they will make life a success.'-' In many instances they work harder than au}^ of those the}' hire. They have to plan and perform great mental work, as well as to work with their own hands. As a rule, when the day's work is done, ordinarily, the wage-earner has no further interest in the business of the man or com- pau}^ for whom he works, more than to put in the day, while those who pay him his hire carry all responsibility, meet all expenses, study the markets, solicit patronage, figure profits and adjust losses. These are the hardest-worked people we have, and the ordinary wage-earner has scarcely an idea, -'"This subject is more fully treated in another part of this book under the head of " Competition." l8 THE WAGE-WORKKRS OF AMERICA. and cares less, about these matters, and many times, accord- ing to our own observation, business has been greatly ham- pered by labor unions, who imagine they have been, or are, injured by a slight reduction in wages, when, in fact, the market, and perhaps competition, caused a reduction of profits, so that something had to be done to keep the con- cern from becoming insolvent. These are matters for the wage-earners to study well and confer with their employer, and the employer should be willing to meet his working people and use every rational means to come to a proper understanding before any rash course is taken by either the employer or the employed, for they are as one after all, and are equally interested in the success of the business of the establishment or factory. Then we have those among Adventure Speculators. ^^^ ^^^ .^^.^^^ ^^p-^^1 ^^^^^^l_^, ^s a speculation, and who come under the head of adventurers in business. This class of business men strain every nerve, stretch their conscience to any extent, to ''make their pile," as they say. They care very little for the v.elfare of their employees, either morally, legally or bodily. They work their people on the cart-horse principle, tlic cliie/ end of which is money. It is this class of capitalist's who seek for monopoly, to form trusts, pools, and never stop to inquire into the question of right. The people are at their mercy. These institutions make money in two wa^'s. One is by controlling prices — controlling the market. Another way they have is to reduce and keep down the wages of their employees at all hazards, right or wrong, and it is through the instigation of concerns of this order that trouble comes ; strikes, disagreements, just grievances, which at once be- come a matter for legal arbitration and legal regulation, in order that justice is done to the general public, as well as the wage-earners, who come under the lash of capital ope- rated by a spirit of imperialism — wliich has no respect for humanity other than to hll their own coffers at the expanse of all who have any df^a.lings with them. THE WAGE-WORKERS OF AMERICA. 19 This kind of corporations or business concerns are often short-lived, for there is but one other way by which they can make big vioncy^ and this is to go into a state of liquidation, at the first opportunity, when it will pay to wind up on a basis of low assets and large indebtedness. It is our intention, as far as practical, to make research into the cause of the so-called labor trouble^ to the end that the management of the same may be entirely under our control. We hope, also, to be fully able, as we progress in our investigations, to elucidate and give good reasons for a state of society as described, in one sentence, by a repre- sentative of New York. He says : ' ' Within the last decade we have seen tremendous strikes and lock- outs among the railroad men, the miners, the iron-workers, the tele- graph operators, the dock laborers, the building trades, etc., all indi- cating to the student of social relations the growing unrest of the working masses in this country, all emphasizing the fact that our free political institutions — if free they are — have not as 3^et secured to the toiling millions that happiness, the pursuit of which is guaranteed to them as a sacred and inalienable right." DISCOVERIES ; NECESSITIES ; DEMAND FOR CAPITAL ; FOR TRADESMEN ; FOR SKILLED LABOR ; RUSH OF BUSINESS ; AN AGE OF ELECTRIC COMMERCE, ETC., ETC. Progress is the spirit of the age. Improve- Discovery. ^^^^^^ -^ ^^ order of the day. No sooner is a new discovery made than straightway some one makes an improvement and leads off. Discovery, called inventions,"^ gave birth to a vast system of industrial art. Half a cen- tury ago it was barely possible for friends to visit each other at a distance. Now, by means of railroads, inter-communi- cating with every city, county and precinct, we have become a nation of travelers. Formerly moving of freight was ac- complished by the slow horse cart or ox team, and here we *We say so-called inventions, for though popularly accepted as being correctly spoken, we deny its correctness, for an invention would be a creation, when it is nothing more than a discovery, the principle of which existed, only man had not discovered it, and hence all so- called inventions are, properly speaking, discoveries. 20 THE WAGE-WORKERvS OF AMERICA. can readily see that there was no demand for capital in founding large manufacturing institutions for the purpose of building railroad machinery, for the very best reason that the idea of a railroad had not yet taken material form ; the genius of the inventor was yet asleep. The tallow dip has been grandly superseded by the dis- covery of principles and machinery in utilizing electricity, which almost has turned night into day. Millions of capi- tal came into demand to manufacture electric supplies. A new avenue for skilled artisans to exercise their construc- tive facult}^ and thus acquire a new source of subsistence. Discovery has lightened labor in a Labor Lightened. ^^^Q^g^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ,^^^ys_ Husbandry is no longer a S3monym for the drudgery and toilsome labor of the farm. The sickle is now preserved along with the Spinning wheel of our grandmothers as a relic of antiquit}^ when the world was yet in darkness. A man would reap from one-half to an acre of wheat in a day ; now a good reaper (machine) will accomplish the w^ork of twenty men. In those days it took all of a woman's time to run one spindle — that is, when she spun she could do no more than attend one spindle or spinning-wheel. Now, in our cotton factories, one woman can attend to several hundred, turning out more work than one hundred women could do before the "invention" of the spinning-jenny, and so it is in every branch of industry from one end of the land to the other. The expeditious manner in which everything is done at this age of activity and enterprise now enables nearly every- body to take a short vacation and visit some summer or winter resort by the sea, or other places of interest, in differ- ent climates, without interrupting their business very much, and at comparatively small expense, and thus widening local, financial and social interests, until the great Ameri- can institutions. States and communities have become as one neighborhood, and as one family — the people. Now a man or woman thinks it no very great undertaking to attend a convention or some conclave five hundred or five thousand THE WAGE-WORKERS OF AMERICA. 21 miles away, while not many years ago an errand on busi- ness or a visit to friends thirty or fifty miles away caused the family much worriment until a safe return was made. This wonderfully uneasy and enter- Uneasy People, pj-jg^j^g disposition of our people, urged on by discovery, has given rise, and is still at work, to many manufactories of almost every description, for which there was no demand half a century ago. Extensive mining operations have been inaugurated in iron, lead, copper, coal, silver, gold, etc., giving employment to thousands of people, as well as to the employment of capital, for which there was no demand before necessity called it into use. All these various conditions of the rapidly-growing social and indus- trial systems was created as the legitimate outcome of con- stant improvements and openings made by discoveries ; new channels for the exercise of man's capabilities in widening industrial resources. The agricultural worker, whose place was taken by ma- chinery on the farm, has been called into work-shops and vocations of mechanical industry, by which transformation and radical change of the entire social system within the last half century, as a natural sequence has produced a world of wage-earners, and rationally viewing the subject a differ- ent system of government, to a great degree, to meet the exio-encies of the times, is called for, and must wisely follow, or rather should lead, the star of enterprise and progress. To exemplify let us think Like Thousands of Others. ^^ telegraphy. Before the discovery of utilizing electricity as a means of communicat- ing one part of the world with another, telegraph operators were not in demand. Now this has become a profession. The business of telegraphy is an art of a high order and should be classed with the learned professions. He is, how- ever, a wage-earner, and so are thousands of others who are Jiigli uf) in their special line of mechanical art and science. Each in his specialty, for which nature and training have been fitting him from the common workman, or helper, re- 22 THE WAGP>WORKERvS OF AMERICA. quiring no particular skill or training, up to tlie expert^ who requires years' of hard study to enable him to take a position as a metallurgist, as an electrician, or a thousand other places commanding now in the industrial art, so-called expert labor, and however high up in ability or accomplish- ment in the arts and science of the various occupations, if wages or salary is paid then they are wage-earners, and this applies to all conditions of life, men and women, who do not conduct business for themselves. This latter class may all be working people, but they are not to be classed with those who are employed and receive a stipulated salary or wages. Having now, though briefly, stated enough to interest our reader, we trust to begin to study, or think further, on the great factor which has filled our country with an ele- ment not existing at all fifty years, or even twenty-five, years ago. Comparatively considered a small amount of capital was then invested in manufactories. There was no demand for it. Nearly two-thirds of the population of the United States may be denominated wage-earners, and henc e we can readily see, when the subject is fully analyzed, how difficult it is to grapple with the great problem of the philo- sophic and sociological bearings of capital and labor and reach a correct solution. Besides the inducement of good Man's Social Nature, ^^^^^^^^g, i,, occupations there are two other factors that go far in bringing people to locate m cities and enter professions and vocations as artisans. The first we would mention is \\\^v^^ social nature, which is more easily satisfied in channels of industry that associates them with their fellow-man more closely in cities, and shops cr factories, than is possible in rural life. Then those people who are largely endowed with the social nature seek society, and hence are readily attracted by tlie glittering promises of a city life. This is especially true of the young and the rising gen- eration, whose nervous system easily partakes of the excite- ment and push of the present age, which may be properly TITK WAGE-WORKERS OE AMERICA. 23 looked upon as the age 0/ electricity. However, when they get through and reach the years of sober thought, and when they have made the experiment in their search for happi- ness in the ga3^er circles of society, they long for a home in the country, and regret that they ever left the business and art of " tilling'the ground," where nature is always kind to man, especially to those who make her close acquaintance. _ ,. - - ^, .. . It is easier to work for washes Relief of Obligations. ^i ^ i • *^ til an to carr}^ on business ; you do not have to think much, only perhaps to study your special work ; 3'ou do not have to look after the wherewith, and thus the obligations of life are much lightened, and that which will interest them most is to get big wages and put in the time. This is a growing evil among the people, namely, a disposition to shift obligations on to some one else, to shirk responsibilities ; this is an important consid- eration with the wage-workers, and is right within a proper limit. This is a study for the wage-earner in order that his hours of hard labor may not rob him of his health, for health is his wealth and comes within the perview of self-protection, for if he does not look after his own welfare who will ?* But as we have said that it is a growing evil to shift responsi- bility too much, for by assuming willingly the obligations of life the mind is strengthened and is one of nature's means of mental evolution. The object of short hours, no obligations and big pay alone is not the proper aim of life, for doubtless this spirit on the part of the wage-earners has brought about a condition that has widened the natural relation of capital to labor so that the result is already being felt. In the next place we would mention that the social nature being satisfied with city life, and hope of big earnings, it is further argued that there are greater advantages in getting an education and acquiring personal accomplishments, im- possible to be obtained in the country. Now this all may be *The subject of long hours is fully treated under the head of " Phys- iological Limitations." 24 THE WAGE-WORKERS OF AMERICA. true, especially since the farmer yields these points and un- derrates his social standing and place in societ}^ The time will, however, come in this countr}- when it will be just the reverse. One thing is certain : that nature has reserved the American continent as a field for development of the agricultural science, or the art of husbandry. We never can become a manufacturing nation more than what we need ourselves. To aspire to export manufactured goods and become a nation of factories is an ambition in the MTong direction. ^ « ., , -r^,. . Political campaio^ns are Q^reatly The Soil and Climate. ,, . .,, ,\^ "^ . .* . enthused with the idea of Ameri- can industr}^, looking towards going into the markets of the world and competing with other nations. Our agricultural product is that which will lead all other nations of the world. We have the soil, the climates and every natural resource to not only grow all kinds of fruit and cereals that we need, but can furnish more than half the M'orld with wheat and corn and other products that we can export, and hence we predict that, as by the many new discoveries and the openings made for the artisans to exercise their various inventive and constructive faculties, and for other reasons we have mentioned, a large army of wage-earners have been created and cities filled up with them — the time is not long in the future when there will be an exodus back to rural life again, and when the farm will furnish sufficient inter- est to exercise all the artistic faculties of man's nature. The social institution as well as the technics will all look to the agricultural art as the leading and highest branch of all the commercial and industrial traffic. Strikes and lockouts are evils re- Misunderstanding. ^^^^^.^^^ ^^^^^^ ^ misunderstanding, more than any other cause, of the true relation capital and labor sustain to each other. The idea of co-operative work is beautifully exemplified by the work done in the humau body, which we presented in what we called a " little story" in previous pages. Let us now draw another lesson from ED^WARD EVANS. Plate II— For sketch see page 2 18. THE WAGE-WORKERS OF AMERICA. 25 nature, and we know no better source for correct similitudes than the great book of nature, and the nearer we keep to her, not alone in our every-day life, but in framing our laws and organizing all social institutions, the better it will be for us and the more happy and successful will we be in our under- takings. This time we will draw our analogy from natural science, which will at least arouse a more careful study of the subject, if it is not entirely convincing. Capital and labor, as society is thereby Lever Power, ^izf^^^^^^ ^^ i^^ t^e social and commercial sense, may be likened to leverage in mechanics. Lever power is a compound of two inseparable principles. That is, the lever and fii/cnivi. But the moment you separate them you have neither. The lever is no more ; the fulcrum is also gone. The moment, however, the two are joined in proper relation you have power, or force, and this also at once becomes operative and can be made to do work. The longer the lever and the nearer the fulcrum to the point of leverage the greater will be the power. The farther they are separated, that is the fulcrum from the leverage, the less will be the force or power. It was Archimedes who said if he could find a proper fulcrum he could construct a leverage to raise the earth. One thing is certain, that these principles in physical science are the most powerful which enter into the mechanism of all machinery known to man. Now let us call capital the lever and labor the fulcrum, or vice versa, if you please ; and as in the leverage power they are inseparable principles if they are to be operated in doing work. Separate them and we have neither. Capital is only such when it is in active relation with labor, other- wise there is no capital. The same is true of labor, or work — it is only such when it does souiething, and when ■co-operating in conjunction with capital. This is the lever- age that moves the world and is the end and beginning of .commerce. Now, then, the further you remove these two factors in commercial science from each other the less opera- tive they are and the less force we have. 26 THE WAGE-WORKERS OF AMERICA. Unit}^ of principles, in their reciprocal relation, if properly understood become a great help in whatever is to be accom- plished. The greatest facilit}^ is afforded tis by a combined effort of the people in bringing about social reform, or enact- ing laws which are intended to protect the citizen in all that is essential to the perfect enjoyment of natural rights. As we look about us the idea of reciprocal activity and ex- istence meets us everywhere, and it may be profitable for us to extend our thoughts and notice another striking exem- plification of the fact that in unity there is strength. " _ ., ^- ^ , The general law of . , ^. , ^ ^ , All of the Trespassing on the Rights of Others. f 1. ties of the human mind may be the servants of the one faculty of acquisitiveness.^ and thus concentrate all of man's capabilities for the sole purpose of making money — accumu- late property — as in the case of the miser. Then, under such circumstances, those who are not on their guard are liable to overdo this work of money-getting, and, before they are aware, find themselves trespassing on the rights of others, and thereby become subjects of legal regulation. . T f T:7f We have now before us, though ' * briefly stated, datas which furnish a correct starting point for further inquiry into the evil effects oi pejiuriousness. The desire to possess or own prop- erty we have successfully traced to an inherent faculty with which all men are endowed, that is, the common nature of man to own., to be pozuer/nl, to rnle. We have shown the 40 CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. primarj^ function of this facult}^ and its sociological influ- ence upon societ}'. The millions are all bent in the same direction, and every- one exerts his best talent in the race for supremac}^ Un- der existing circumstances zs it not surprising that not more difficulties arise, where there are so many scrambling for gain, and comparatively so few opportunities ? Those performing ordinary bodily labor start out single-handed. Those who have learned a special occupation seek the best positions possible. In traffic ever}" device is resorted to to acquire a subsistence, and besides to gain a competency, and, if possible, riches. The procession, moving in solid phalanx, under the command of acquisitiveness, from the liusbandman to the capitalist, is simply great. Mau}^ with a few hundred dollars start in business for themselves, and, with good management, succeed fairly well, as far as their ^mall capital enables them to go. Certain commodity requires expensive machinery to manufacture it. A number of men have each a small capi- tal. Singl}^ neither has enough to start such an institu- tion, so the}^ join forces and unite what capital the}" have and form what is denominated a company. Any kind of business may be conducted on a more extensive plan by combining capital, and thus increase its power both in con- troling the market as well as wages.'*' We question, however, the moral right to do so, though the legal right is admitted. It can readily be seen that combinations possess advantages not possibly attained by men with small or limited means. Competition is con- trolled, more or less, by well-organized companies, and, while this is a fact, there must come to our minds another fact, that business men with moderate means, who are not so fortunate as to get into the ring with the combines, can, not compete with them in the markets, are crowded out, *This subject is treated of more extensivelj'' under the head of " Coni- binatioyii" to which the reader is respectfully referred for a full eluci- dation. CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. 4I and tliey must go to the wall. No one can fail to see in- justice here. Yet a fellow man is as much a member of the human family as those who form into great corporations. The weak, in this respect, fail only on account of unequal chance, not that they are not shrewd managers, but on ac- count of the unfair competition with which they have to •contend, which makes failure almost inevitable. Combination of capital cannot benefit the general public, for, unless a fair competition, governed by supply and de- mand, is allowed to regulate the markets, the benefit must be one sided; the corporations will make all the profit. Millions may be made by In the End Where is It ? ^ ^^ ^ ^^ combinations. T h e money is in the country. The nation has materially in- creased in wealth. But might it not be far better for a hun- dred or a thousand men, men with families, to make a mil- lion of dollars, than for a few^ to make it, and, by arbitrary means, shut out their fellow citizen from an unequal chance in the markets, and make mere wage-earners of many who with an innate pride and ambition might be their own mas- ters, break down altogether and become mendicants ? We do not hesitate, then, after a careful survey of the question we have raised regarding combinations, to take the ground that a legal charter should be granted only to create •combinations in the case, as stated before, w^here a very large capital is necessary to secure machinery and other "heavy investments before the business can be started at all — as in our rolling mills and other similar institutions which might be mentioned. But we have sufficient ex- ^emplification to enable all of us to think intelligently of the •difference we make between an ordinary company in a husiness (which anyone with even limited means can enter -upon) and a combine requiring a large capital, by reason of the vastness of the enterprise and the character of the com- modity manufactured; as in the case of a rolling mill or immense smelting works, glass works, cotton factories, etc. 42 CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. But we ask pardon for this digression, as this subject will be taken up again further on in tlie course of our de- liberation. We have now in our mind what A Stock Company, ^^j^gtitutes a business conducted by individuals taking their chances in the markets of the world unprotected by any organized power that may aid them. We have also an idea, from what has been stated, what con- stitutes a company ; so let us pass on and consider other forms of business firms with which we will have more to do in solving the question of labor and capital than any other. Where a company is organized by a division of shares, and these shares are held by anyone who maybe able to- invest to the extent of one or more shares, the capital of a concern thus raised is known as a stock company, either limited or unlimited, as the case may be ; and the holders of these shares are said to be stock-holders, for whose bene- fit a dividend is declared either semi-annually or annually. Now, in order What Constitutes a Trust Company. ^^ ^^^^^^ ^^.^^^ profits, a number of these companies (though they may be located in different towns or cities) combine for the purpose of controling the markets, to raise the price on whatever their commodity may be which they manufacture, and thus- keep prices up, as well as to regulate the price of labor. This is called a trust company. The wage-earners who are employed in these institutions are as much at their mercy in regard to the price of wages as on the other hand the public is at their mercy regarding the price of the commodity they manufacture. Then these companies, some of them, at times form what is known in business circles as pools. For example, two or more busi- ness concerns work to each other's interest in getting trade away from others wlio are in the same business, but are not in the ring, as it is termed. Where it is practical by thus creating an advantage over others, niucli uKniey is made,, and serious failures have resulted to those against whom CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. 43 pools have been organized. The profits are divided pro rata among those in the pools who are reaping a benefit from snch an arrangement. Where a person has the sole power of vend- Monopoly. -^^^^ ^^^ species of goods, or mannfactnres a commodity no one else can, or has the right to handle, such a one, it is said, has a monopoly. Competition destroys monopoly. The more competition is weakened the nearer will you be to a monopol\^ To accomplish this, companies, trusts, combines of every degree of power, are organized to monopolize the trade, and thus make a greater profit than where prices are regulated by competition. Thus we may have at once, in these various combinations, not alone a company^ but trusts^ monopolies^ pools, and when well or- ganized and in good working condition can almost entirely control the markets and the price of labor as well. After what has been said on this particular subject of combinations, it needs no further argument to show that the consumer pays the cost and labor loses a just profit. _, The only redress the people A Well-Concerted Plot. ^^^.^ j^ J^^^ ^^^.^^ l^ l^_ frage, electing men who will make laws to regulate or abolish these evils. The evil is somewhat modified when these institutions fail to agree on a well-concerted plot or plan. A so-called protection tariffs improperly levied, will foster and give aid to the very kind of institutions we have portrayed.* Moreover it will fill up the country with cor- porations, which may flourish for a while, only, however, to react ; and those who conducted them will gravitate to their proper places in the social system, leaving sad remem- brances behind them for a disappointed public to profit by in future. The ingeniously-wrought schemes on the part of the capitalists enable them to accomplish, first, to cripple *The reader is here referred to another part of this work for a philo- sophic view of the " tariff question." 4:j CORrORATlONS AND WAGP- ^'^'ORKRRS. and avoid competition ; and, second, to rednce waQ^cs ; for they well nnderstand that this is a sure wa}' to make money, and make it easy. Capital, naturally the compeer of labor, is still really the most powerful in commerce, but for that very reason it should be willino: to take its chances on equal footing with labor in all schemes of business. Capital, capable and strong in itself, as it is, should seek to organize and combine its forces for the purpose of bring- ing to its shn'iic, not a foe, but a quondam friend, without whom at last it will be compelled to surrender the battle for gain. Think of the effects it must have on the ultimate pros- perity of the country. When, in addition to being al- Ultimate Prosperity. ^.^^^^ ^^^^^^ organized, as we have previously shown, capital, aided by special legislation, either directly or indirectly, can it be 'otherwise than that by all these advantages it must make rapid and great gain? Thus capital, operated under advantages not given to the wage-earners, who, unavoidably must join to make either available in the industrial art, will far exceed labor in profits, and if permitted to go on and accumulate wealth, ■and, of course, pozver^ any country, under such circumstan- <:es, will fill up with two classes,'^' either of which is an in- justice to the people and a hindrance to the progress of the best and fittest element of civilization. These two classes we denominate paupers and million- aires. The former are mendicants on the charit}^ of the people, the majority of who are economical, subsisting on a, narrow margin, while they still have an open hand for a fellow being in need ; and the latter is a SJiylock^ draining the pockets of the honest, industrious classes, and thus both * On page 36 we treat of a driftiui^ clcwcnt, and here we speak of two classes, which are at either end of society, who must not be permitted to drift too far away from " first principles " or the government will go to pieces. CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. 45 mendicants and millionaires are a drain on society, because they never give back an equivalent for what they receive. * Neither of these two classes work, and Neither Work. ^^.^^^ ^^^^ subsist on the people, for one who does not produce an equivalent to the cost of living is consuming the same from a certain reserve fund, which must sooner or later be exhausted unless replenished by profits of some sort. If it takes a certain number of per- sons to perform a given amount of work, restricted to the proper capacit}^, making limitations from the standards of health, justice, profits, etc., these being considered, then suppose A or B fall out of line, the work must, however, go on with the task imposed on each individually, and if A and B fail to perform their allotted part of the work, that por- tion must be assumed by the remainder of the co-workmen, and thus the burden of labor and responsibility would be increased for the rest. This will be the natural result if A and B do not work, and work^ as we have elsewhere shown, means labor that produces something, not to draw upon a reser\^e, for this must eventually end in bankruptcy. Life itself to be nor- mal must maintain a reserve. As soon as by the active operation of living the reserve of the life forces are drawn upon, straightway longevity becomes shortened. So it is in regard to capital in carrying on business. So long as a profit is made the solvency is assured. This is the first point a good business man will look after. As a rule capi- talists are unwilling to invest their money unless there is a prospect of a profit. . Then why should not labor figure from the same premises ? The wage-worker has as good a '^- We would here refer our readers to pages lo, ii, 12, where we de- fine " Capital, its proper place and use ;" also the rich and the " Cap- italist," for we wish to be properly understood. The millionaires, made in the natural course of business conducted on equitable prin- ciples, differ widely from those who make their millions by the help of favoritism, organized corporations, pools, trusts, monopolies, etc. The former builds up wiih the people, the latter on the people. 46 CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. riglit to demand a profit as tlie capitalist. That is, we mean a profit over and above what it costs to live. However it may be, both the capitalist and the laborer are entitled to a profit if work is performed. JMoreover, they are interested in each other's prosperity, so that in neither case the reserve may be drawn on, or rather should be added to than weakened. The absolutely poor are not by anj^ means the most dan- gerous class. They have comparatively little power or in- fluence ; they simply consume. But the other class, the Shylock, by nefarious management, furnish recruits for the pauper ranks, and otherwise cause many unpleasant condi- tions and contentions among those who naturally understand and feel the injustice of their operations. MONEY-MAKING A MONO-MANIA WITH SOME PEOPLE; EDU- CATING THE FACULTIES ; DISSATISFIED CAPITALISTS ; WHERE LEGAL RULINGS SHOULD BEGIN ; LEGAL AND MORAL LIMITATIONS ; IRREFUTABLE POINTS ON THE LABOR PROBLEM, ETC. ^ , . , ^ , . . Education in the unquali- Educating the Faculties, r -, ^. u ,. ^ fied sense means to cultivate and strengthen human capabilities. Proper education means to cultivate the weak faculties and restrain those which are too active. To be well educated is a rare accom- plishment. Such an attainment is onl}- valuable when all the faculties are equally developed. It is far better for a person to possess only mediocrity and be evenly developed than to force a few of the faculties to the extreme limit while other faculties remain abnormally weak. This causes an unbal- anced condition of the mind, makes a person eccentric, often assuming the nature of a vwno-mania and in man}'- in- stances ends in crime. We have such a condition in the mendicant, who lacks in self-pride and who has but little desire for worldly possessions ; while, on the other hand, the disposition manifests itself in an uncontrolable desire to hoard money. In the former case this facultj^ is weak from CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. 47 neglect of use ; in the latter instance it is too active from the momentum it has received by nndue exercise or over- work in money-getting. The normal exercise of A Good Civil Government, ^jj ^j_^ f^^^,,^;^^ ^^.^ ^^,,j^. cive to happiness, and especiall}^ so long as they work in liarmony with each other the prodnct will be satisfying, but the moment the line oC limitation of moral action^ estab- lished b}' nature, is passed, the point in a man's life is reached where he is liable to become a subject of legislation, for at the very point or act where the unwritten law of right is violated the written law must assume the reign, or else "law and order" are not the dominant principles of good civil ^Wernment. So long as there is a cordial relation between capital and labor, or the employer and employed, it will matter but little how much profit capital makes or how much labor may obtain, if there is only an equal chance and an equitable dis- tribution of profits. No colossal or tinnatural fortunes can be made under such a regime ; no great or one-sided institu- tions will form and control the commerce of the land, whose uncurbed power may be exercised for evil. _ _ _ Cordial relations between And No Return of Profit, j,^^ employer and the em- ployed at once forms a solid basis on which to rear a success- ful business fabric. When capital employs labor, where there is a product of profit, the function of capital is widely different from that where it simply is spent and no return in profits is expected. In all departments of industry where capital unites with labor, intended to increase the wealth of the capitalist, the function of capital should be governed by the fact that it is under obligations to those that unite with it, in order to make it operative. When we say " obligation ■of capital" we apply its significance to individuals or cor- porations who own or control capital. The capitalist may argue that all obligations end with the payment of stipulated wages. We would remind them that 48 CORPORATIONS AND WAGE- WORKERS. there is a jealous principle back of this simple payment of enforced wages'. If capital becomes inoperative as soon as the wage-earner steps out then it seems to us there must be an obligation be3-ond the mere payment of wages. '"'' Capital It Cannot Spin, Neither Can It Weave, j^o^^ver powerful a factor of social distinction it may be, cannot spin, weave, design, manufacture shoes, cloth, machiner}', nor any other commodit}' belonging to the industrial arts with- out the assistance of labor, from the common helper to the skilled workman. . Profit-sharing then comes forward and Profit-Sharing, p^^ggj^^-g ^j^g ^laim of labor against capital for a pro rata share of its earnings — which is but fair — for the workman's time and labor must associate itself with capital before the wheels of a factory can be put into opera- tion. The argument applies to all concerned, where capital operates and labor ivorks. But if A employs B to repair his fences for a certain amount in daily wages, the work per- formed yielding no profit to A, money thus spent is at once entirely absorbed and no division of profit is expected. But if A hires B to sink a shaft to mine iron-ore, this ore is sold to C for the purpose of manufacturing it into plows and C sells these plows to D, and each time this ore has changed hands and form, a profit has accrued therefrom, then the capital so used performs an entirely different function and changes the relations between the capitalist and wage- earner. In this instance capital works and adds ; in the ^The obligation we here speak of is that which arises from the common brotherhood of man. It the employer manifests no further interest in his people than merely an apparent selfishness, stimulated simply by business relation, and ignores that social tie of common brotherhood that takes an interest in the welfare of our neighbors, which is allied to family ties, then the employed is made to feel that after all there is but a step between himselt and slavery ; that amica- ble relation between labor and capital is not of that strong friendly re- lation that might exist were the social ansterdsvi not so strictly ^\^ ' forced between employer and cini)l()yed. HON. JOHN WANAMAKER. Fig. 1. FRANCES E. WILLARD. rig. 2. HON. DANIEL HAND. Fig. 3. RICHARD M. HUNT. Fig. 4. Plate IV-For sketches see pages 219 and 220. CORPORATlONvS AND WAGE-WORKERS. 49 former case nione}^ was spent, but was not a money-making investment. In the first case the labor performed was simply an exchange of services for an equivalent in cash and did not come under that class of labor in which wages or labor are affected by market prices, while in the other, in case of the price of iron-ore changing, it may affect the wage price of the miner. ^, T- 1 TT- T^i Now in each and every The Farmer and His Plow. . . . . . case where capital is in- vested and labor employed, with a view to increase the wealth of him, or those, who own the capital, in all condi- tions where both labor and capital do work from which a profit is made — in these cases all competition on the side of labor should be abrogated. For it is now a well established fact that poverty is the bane of the poor. This is fully demonstrated by labor strikes and lock-outs. These, it is erroneously believed, are the means by which capital can be brought to terms. But there are always those ready to take the places of strikers, and as long as this is possible the poor are the ruination of their own class. AVe say most em- phatically that as long as competitive labor exists, by or through which the price of labor may be affected or dictated, _ ,.,. ^ , which in nine cases out of ten is Competitive Labor. -. i i ^ i. .1 ^ done by hungry stomachs, thus forcing the workmen between two grinding forces — com- petitive labor on one side and capital in all its arrogance and power on the other, reducing wages on the slightest provo- cation — ^just so long the wage-workers of this country must needs feel like giving up the struggle to obtain the rights that should be vouchsafed them under the Constitution of the United States. It is a wonder that not more violence has been committed by those who must keenly feel what ought to be their por- tion, see the right socially and nioralh', of which they are unjustly deprived, but see no civil remedy (alas ! who can ?) and do not oftener have recourse to their brawny arms and physical powers to be put down b}' military force ! 50 CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. Let US once more refer back to our miner digging iron- ore, wliicli we liave already watched from its crude state to the plow. All along the line the market men, in the differ- ent changes of the ore, have had the wage prices regulated by competitive labor. The manufacturer, the capitalist, The Manufacturer. ^^^ ^^ „^^^^ ^j^^ ,,^^,.^^,j^_ ^^.,,^^^ j,,^ price of his product is regulated b}^ competition, according to supply and demand. Now if this were all much of our investigation would end here. But the major part of the story still remains untold.'^' For the present we will onl^^ state certain effects of the rise and fall of the prices of wage-labor products and how this might be better regulated. If the price of iron is up and plows are in demand, and the price as a consequence also high, so that each time the iron changes form and hands, from the miner to the farmer who now converts this iron to the use of other productions, the price is increased — then, we ask, if the prices of this iron are high in all its mechanical changes — should not the wage-worker receive a compensation corresponding with such existing prices? And should the prices go higher will the wage-workers receive higher wages ? We know if the prices go dozvn his wages follow suit. ,-r,-, , . T^ - .. ^ Should now at this junction a What IS Protection? ^ ^. ^ -rr. ^ ■ a ^ protective taritt be levied on plows by the government and the price of plows, as a consequence, be raised in the same raiio^ say one dollar on each plow, then the farmer has to pay one dollar more for his plow. This would be denominated a "protective tariff" Now comes the question, how does this protect the wage-v.orker who has been employed at the different stations along the line from the time the ore left the ground and the wood the forest? Does he receive a corresponding increase of pay * We here refer the reader to the subject matter given iiiuler the caption of " Organized Labor " — market prices of the products of fac- tories and the hioor that piothiccs it. CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKKRS. 5 1 for his labor? Who is it that looks after the interests of the wage-workers? Surely not the capitalist. He is looking for some one to do his work still cheaper^ for it is certain the cheaper you can get work done the more money you will make, and it will also be admitted that employers are sel- dom known voluntarily to raise wages, hence proper legal regulation on this subject may be the right thing to do. Now, if the demand for raw material is good and prices high, then the man who mines the ore ought to receive higher wages in the same proportion as the capital invested makes a greater profit. The wage-worker, through whose labor the ore is made available, should receive increased pay, or 2. pro rata dividend, as a just portion for his labor, which is Jiis capital. In order that justice may be done both to capital and labor, we would suggest the organization of a Labor Bureau, whose function shall be to regulate the price of labor ac- cording to the profits made by capital. T-t.- TI7 u u 13 i. i.- This would be protection This Would be Protection. . ,, . ^ t r ., m the interest of the laborer. The capitalist owes proper respect to the work- man, whose bone and sinew as an investment is joined to his capital and through which profit is accrued. Of course the workingman must be prepared to meet the reverses caused by the decline of prices, the same as the capitalist, as both are under the control of the same market, governed by the laws of supply and demand. If, however, the price of the products advances, the laborer, who is in working re- lation with the concern thus favored, should have his wages advanced by the Bureau in an equal proportion. And, we ask, is there any just reason why capitalists should not yield this point and benefit the workingmen, through whose energy they are enabled to increase their wealth? In all law and equity this should be the solution of the labor problem — an equitable distribntiori of the profits arising from any work a^nong all wJio aid in producing them. Since the whole social S3'stcm is regulated by supply and 52 CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. demand, then let this rule govern both capitalist and wage- earner ; rednction of wages then being a natnral seqnence to the fall of prices of the prodncts of labor, and being so Not Likely that They Will Rush f "°""^<=d by the Headlong Into a Strike. ^"^.°/, ^:"7": '^ not likely that they will rush headlong into a strike, nor will the concerns tbey work for be obliged to shnt down, or lock out its workmen, knowing, however, that there are others ready to fill their places at reduced prices. Neither can capital reduce wages at its own pleasure, for no other reason than because there are other persons ready to fill the gap. Thus, if there should be even an over demand for work, the price is fixed by the bureau and the wages will be the same whoever does the work, regulated by the profits made by the concern. The general public is interested in the successful opera- tion of every manufacturing enterprise, M'hen capital and labor are in harmonious co-operation with the wage-earner, when both are making a profit, great or small, the com- munity where they operate will be in sympath}' with them, for every one will benefit b}^ it. In a Community Where Capital is Invested. '' ^ a c o m - munity where capital is largely invested in manufacturing concerns and capital rules with an iron hand, hoarding money, amassing wealth, while labor, notwithstanding its indispensable fulcrum for leverage to capital, is ground down, wages continually reduced, there offended nature will manifest itself in discontent, and smarting under repeated wrongs and injustice, painful to them as the touch of the scalpel when applied to the naked nerve, thc}^ will rise up in riot ! This is the course many capitalists and managers of con- cerns have taken with their emplo3'ees, and often, too, under the false pretense that there was no market for their pro- ducts, and wages for this reason must go down. This sub- terfuge may operate successfully as long as workingmen CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. 53 liave luingry stomachs and sore hearts — for they must eat! But this will not accord with justice and equity, for the working-man has rights the employer is bound to respect, say nothing of the treatment that is due him from a humane standpoint. Now, in order to es- How to Escape Moral Censure. ^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^ any course pursued by it, not strictly equitable, capital combines its forces in the form of a "Company" and appoints a 7nanager^ who is governed, and governs others, by a code of rules and regulations formulated by capital itself and thus tries to shift all moral responsibility from their own shoul- ders on to his; then where is your redress ? They operate within the perview of the law, keep on heaping indignities upon their workmen, until forgetting all else excepting that they are men, and freemen, too, these workmen, perhaps im- prudently, rise up to assert their rights, when the local police or the government troops are called in to protect the capi- talist, but no protection for the workmen from either. Now if all these grievances can be By a Wise Counsel. ^^^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^.^^ avoided, by a wise council or bureau, whose functions shall be to regulate wage prices, then why not hail the advent of the time and means when by law, equity and justice in all business transactions between capital and labor peace can be safely guaranteed? Equity ^ridi justice \\& repeat. If you go forth with an olive branch to meet your fellow- man on vantage ground you will meet with a peaceful re- ception, but if you sally out with helmet and sword you in- vite a fray. The first course we intimated pays well, the latter results in loss. Hence under all circumstances it is always more humane to take the peaceful course in set- tling difficulties than to resort to harsh or destructive meas- ures. Under such a bureau those who have capital to invest can know in advance just how to calculate the expense of 54 CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. running their concern. The price of labor in each special department is fixed. The bureau having regulated the prices Jurisdiction. ^^^^ capitalist will have no opportunity to re. duce Avages at any time he may chose to do so, neither will there exist any labor competitive element to work for lower wages. It may be asserted that such a measure would be unjust. How? "Well," says one, "the capitalist should have the right to hire men at wages as low as possible." So he has a right and as long as he has a reasonable profit he should not complain. The laborer must have a profit as well as the capitalist, and should supply and demand so regulate prices that na profits will accrue to him for a time, the price of labor also being reduced, there is no reason for a shut down by the capitalist on the plea that it donU pay. The workingman cannot reason from that standpoint Subsistence is an arbitrary power and the laborer cannot say that because it dorC t pay he will shut dozuti on eating and drinking and lodging. He must work or starve ! * The judicious business man makes a careful inventory of his resources, expenses, profits, assets and liabilities. The wise general when advancing on the enemy provides for proper means of retreat With a scale of prices before you you cannot err. If one thing is more appar- Dissatisfied Capitalists. ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^ ^^ ^3 ^^^^ ^^^ wage-workers are, as a rule, employed or controlled by em- ployers, in many of our shops, on very much the same prin- ciple as is used in hiring a horse. The first consideration is the amount of vionry that can be made out of his services. We admit that the hope of gain is the actuating princi- ple of commerce, the natural function of the faculty of * Workinj^nien should learn to save all it is possible so that they be prepared for any emergency. See article under the head of " Cost of Living " for further hints on this subject. CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. 55 acquisitiveness, and both the capitalist and the workman are different in their relations to their environment The former is simph' actuated b}' the motive of ^y?///, the latter by the force of circumstances is compelled to invest his labor, which is his capital, that he may in some way also acquire the means of subsistence. The exercise of the faculty of acquisitiveness is the same in both cases, but sustain a differe^it attitude to each other, . ^.„ , ,. , the capitalist and the laborer. The A Different Attitude. . r i v • n common law 01 humanity, socially and morall}^, enters into the component parts of either in the exercise of this faculty of acquisitiveness. But by los- ing sight of the limitations prescribed by the Golden Rule men drift blindly into forbidden channels where, as in the barbarous state of man, "might makes right," and when the capitalist says, ''I zvill do this," and "I can do that," therefore it is right. Thus capitalists, little by little, are transformed into a simple money-making machine and from the standpoint of the common law of right, which by nature is intended to apply to one as well as the other, assume a condition which may safely be termed a mania. In plainer _ .,. - ^ ., , terms it mis^ht be said that this Fugitive from Capital, r ^^ r ■ -.• -u ° ^ faculty 01 acquisitiveness has been stricken with insanity. Therefore, we sa}', that where the true relations between capital and labor exist and are duly appreciated, no discord can result from their application in conducting any busi- ness for profit. But since the fact warrants the statement that Jiiimanity is a fugitive from capital and the wage-worker reduced to the level of the mule, humanity and justice de- mand the enactment of laws to regulate conditions intoler- able to men who innatel}' possess the spirit of freedom. . ^ ^ . ., -_ , The tendencv of this unequal Innate Spirit of Freedom. , , c '\^ ^ i • w struggle tor the almiglity dollar," rightfully belonging to him who honestly acquires it, is plain to every honest thinking mind, and to 'avert a catastrophe labor organizations have been created all over 56 CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. tlie land, originally for protection, but latterly assuming a spirit of aggression. But not, as we are sometimes told, for the purpose of antagonizing capital, but more with a view to cultivate amicable relations, while affirming, by U7iited voice, and to enforce by moral suasion^ if possible, the rights to which they believe the wage-earners are already entitled- Strikes were inaugurated we know, and that this means of settling existing grievances injured their cause we hon- estly believe. Strikes are not the proper thing for two spe- cial reasons. In the 'first place, there are always those who are ready and eager to take the place of the strikers. The capitalist, against whom the strike is inaugurated, knows this, and in many instances the workmen are so illy treated that, in consequence of the rules governing the order to which they belong, a strike becomes inevitable, and by pre- cipitating a strike they give the capitalist a ready excuse to fill their places at reduced wages. Here the hungry men outside cause the destruction of their own interests and their fellow workmen if they are _ , _, ^ poor. Then in the second place, the Lawless Element. ^ ^ .. . ^^ ., . ^ „ '. moment a strike is called on,' a law- less element, in many instances not members of any labor order, find a ready opportunity to revenge themselves for some real or fancied injury, and in a cowardl}^ manner de- stroy property and sometimes stain their souls with mur- der. Public sentiment, of course, will at once condemn the labor organization and acquit the capitalist. Only the most ignorant and vicious would perpetrate such lawless acts. But here we present two factors, against which our labor organizations must contend^ and there are yet other reasons why they have not been more successful. , _ _ ^ ^ . We stated that, to a larsfe extent, To a Large Extent, ^1 r r •. 1 ° the avarice or many of our cajDital- ists is the cause of these troubles. We wish, however, to be understood that we do not by any means class all our busi- ness men and capitalists under one caption. Hence we say the avarice oi 7)iany of them carries them to a point in tlieir C. G. CONN. Plate V For sketch see page 220. CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. 57 Operations wlien they are never satisfied, never get enongli, draw the line of social distinction too close, reach out be- yond their proper limits, organize "trusts,'' pools, monopo- lies, controlling the markets, &c., and these, we sa}', are simply their own eggs which hatch out all the sad conse- quences they so bitterl}^ condemn, the natural fruition of their insane desire for wealth and power. ^ ,„ , For this class of people we For Whom Law is Made, ^^^^,^^ j^^^^.^ ,^^^., ^^ ^^^^,1^^^ and protect capital as well as labor in their natural rights. This element if permitted to exist and dominate is as much an injustice to the capital, which is willing to make a legiti- mate profit, in an honorable wa}', as to labor. It prevents the taking of equal chances in the market, which is, or should be, regulated by the natural laws of supply and de- mand. Under such restrictions or rules the general public, as well as the individual wage-earner and capitalist, will ob- tain justice. Before proceeding to the discussion of legal boards of ar- bitration, as the regulating media of matters arising out of business misunderstandings or injustice, we will briefly re- view past strikes and lockouts, their cost and other results. ■ STRIKES ; LOCKOUTS ; RESULTS j LOSSES ; NUMBER OF STRIKES ; IMMEDIATE CAUSES ; HOW TO AVOID TROUBLE OF THIS KIND, ETC. —.^.^ There is a vast and imjDortant differ- The Difference, ence between a "strike "and a "lockout." -A stoppage by the emploj^ees, caused by a demand not al- lowed or acceeded to b}' the employer, constitutes what is designated a "strike." On the other hand, a discontinu- ance of operations b}' the employers, caused by a demand or action opposed by the emplo3'ees, would be termed a "lock- out." There are, however, some instances in which the real cause, whether owing to the fault of the emploj-er or the -employed, is not clearh^ defined. This matters but little .so long as the fact remains uncontradicted : that whether it 58 CORPOR.\TIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. be a strike or a lockout, if inaugurated for the purpose of forcing a settlement of labor differences, tbe result, almost invariably, will be idleness. Strikes and lockouts are almost unknown in agricultural sections, while they, only too frequently, occur in manufac- turing and mining districts. In 1880 three hundred and four out of seven hundred and sixty-two strikes in this country occurred in Pennsylvania, a manufacturing and mining State. As a rule but few of these strikes have been successful, some were partially so, some compromised, but most of them ended in failure. We speak now from the labor point of view, in which, as a rule, they were a non- success. The census report of 1880 gives for the decade then ended an average per cent, of the successful strikes in New England at 12 per cent. In 1880, as stated already, 762 strikes and lockouts took place in this country, and the number of persons engaged in the different industries af- fected thereby was 128,676. Of this number 414 returned to their old positions, while 128,262 were left idle for the time being, and unprovided for while in search of other em- ployment. The total loss resulting from these strikes, in wages, if the time were centered on one man, would be 1,989,872 days. The average wages then paid before the different strikes and in the various industries affected, $1.86 per diem, the actual loss, fully calculated on all sides, was $3,711,097. A much greater loss than this was, no doubt, sustained by all concerned and parties involved. In these strikes eight millions have been calculated to be the loss re- sulting in various ways, directly and indirectly, or through the stolid obstinacy and selfishness of those interested, who might have found a remedy, as we shall show, by which this great loss might have been avoided. This, we con- tend, might have been done by a legal board of arbitration or a properly constituted labor bureau, whose powers and legal function would l)e to make and regulate a scale of prices and adjusl and settle aiiiical)ly all differences between CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKRRS. 59 employer and emplo3'ee. Besides the direct losses eninn- erated, sustained by both employee and employer, there are thousands of other persons, not directly involved in these troubles, who are nevertheless seriously affected thereby in many different ways. By lessening trade thousands are in- jured. Those striking or locked-out workmen are in debt and cannot pay. Homes partially paid are sacrificed. Mer- chants fail to collect outstanding accounts and cannot meet their liabilities. Others holding positions in tributary channels lost their employment, even banks lost in falling off depositors, and if all the various losses resulting from these troubles were carefully computed they would amount, for 1880 alone, to over one and a half bi/ lion dollars. In 1886 499,489 men were involved in strikes — three times as many as in 1880. The loss was, of course, pro- portionally great. During the five years, ending in 1890, the number of men directly engaged in strikes and lockouts amounted to the almost startling number of 1,677,162. Counting their families and others affected in various ways, they would number almost as many as the standing armies of the world. If a tax of five cents was levied on each wage- worker, as reported in these strikes, or involved therein, it would aggregate over $5,000 annually — almost enough to defray the expenses of a board of arbitration^ through whose instrumentality not only money might have been saved, but many aggravating disputes might have been amicably ad- justed which terminated not only in loss of money, position, revolts destruction of property, but ended in many instances in bloodshed. What the people mostly desire to attain ur . ^ggaj.(jijig tjje labor problem, pre-eminent of all points looking toward a successful solution, is to centre on some method or way by which, in a conciliatory manner, we can adjust disputes or difficulties arising between em- ployer and employed, so that in no case it may be necessary 6o CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. to resort to lockouts, strikes or violent means in any form. Conciliation, it must be admitted, is by far the best policy. Private bureaus have succeeded, in a degree, in France, England and in this country. However, if voluntary arbi- tration could be made to meet all the exigencies of trouble that cannot be settled amicably by those immediatelv inter- ested, then nothing safer or better could be desired. Better still would it be for the American people, if a course or sys- tem of conducting business could be devised in a legal man- ner, the effect of which would act as a preventive, that even boards of arbitration, as well as strikes, may become obsolete altogether, a condition of the social S3'stem not impossible, for what is attainable by an individual ma\' also be accom- plished by the masses. Since, however, moral suasion and voluntary arbitration have been successful only to a ver}- limited degree, it seems nothing is left, as a final means of settling these troubles, than compulsory arbilratioii^ which may, nevertheless, be conciliatory. We would suggest, to create for this purpose, a legal board or bureau, whose functions shall be to regulate and settle all labor trouble in an equitable way, so that jus- tice may be meted out to all parties concerned. It seems to be the only way open to tis out of a grievous difficulty, which must be brought under control in some \\?iy that the peace of the nation may be assured in the future. Laws are en- acted for the purpose of regulating human actions, when it becomes a necessit}^, and, unless there is really a need for new enactments, it is evident that the fewer laws we have the better it is for the people. What the natiou needs is laws that will meet the wants of all people under all circum- stances and conditions. P . Profiting by experience and the lessons ^ ■ thereby inculcated, we are led to the indis- putable fact that the time has come when a broader view of the situation is demanded, and prompt action will be re- warded by a surer way and a "shorter cut" out of the di- CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. 6l lemma. As before stated, since there are capitalists wlio are never satisfied with even enough of this world's possessions and a good profit constantly accruing to them, and who are not willing to abide by the limitation of the laws of right, or even willing to submit to impartial and voluntary arbi- tration to engender a spirit of conciliation, should it not then, under circumstances like these, become plain that the only and best remedy remains to us is in a proper and judi- cious system of compulsory arbitration f For another and a good reason this will be the only and best course and the proper thing to do — namely, it is a fact that, as a rule, capi- talists object to arbitration, which fact may be used as evi- dence that they do not want to do the/(3;zr thing. Or, per- haps, the main reason may be that it seems to them too humiliating to recognize a mere wage-earner (though a fellow-being) by arbitration, which would make them social equals, for too many arrogate to themselves the idea that possession gives to them a rightful social distinction. We would then propose, as Compulsory Arbitration. ^ ^^^^^ ^^ self-preservation and settling of grievous disagreements, legal arbitration^ which should, however, be governed by the same rules of equity as in voluntary arbitration, the only difference being that it shall be compulsory and final. A State board of arbi- tration, or, as we propose, a board which shall be known in law as a ''Labor Bureau,'^ composed of six persons,* strictly non-partisan, to be appointed by every State, and shall be authorized to make laws and decide questions at issue. The members of this bureau, we would suggest, should be elected by the people at regular State elections. (A friend at our elbow suggests that the members of this bureau be appointed by the State Legislature when in regular session, se- lections to be made from the difterent national political parties). * We use here the term " persons " for obvious reason. Sex is not expressed, for there is no good reason why ivomayi shall not be eligible to a seat in this bureau, providing she possesses the qualifications re- quired, as we suggest, for its members. 62 CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. Whatever the best course in this regard may be thought by the powers that be, we are quite willing to allow our statesmen to determine, still we are inclined to the electing of the members of the bureau by the people, the nomination to be made at the regular State conventions of the different political parties ; the nomination to be non-partisan, that is, no matter what a manls political proclivities may be, if he is otherwise qualified and worthy, as we shall outline, he shall have his say; the term of ofiice to be for hvo years; three members to be elected each year, and while three or more may be nominated, the three candidates receiving a majority of votes over all the rest shall be considered elected. ^^ . ^, -- ' ,. Theof&cersof this bureau may Strictly Non-partisan. , , , , . . ■^ ^ be known as laboy commissioners^ whose salary shall be sufficient to enable them to give all their time to this work, allowing three months' vacation. This bureau is to be strictly non-partisan, if such a thing is possible. The members of the Labor Bureau must not have either direct or indirect personal money-interest in any business coming within their jurisdiction in any of the indus- trial arts of the character we have defined, viz. : where labor joins capital for the purpose of gain^ and those institutions over which the Labor Bureau shall have legislation. More- over, these officers, as they may be denominated, shall not be under forty or over sixty years of age, and shall have a reputation for honor and knowledge of statesmanship, over which a majority of the voters shall count the same in elegi- bility as in the election of other State officers. ^t, T-» T 1. J ^^^ function of this bureau The Power Invested. . n i ^ i , , .1,-, snail be to regulate and establish a scale of wages for every degree of skill and condition of wage-earnings, in all business where capital competes with labor for the purpose of making a profit. In deciding on a correct and just scale of prices, both business men and the wage-earners can be of great help to the labor commissioners by giving them proper datas of the markets and wages extant, from time to time, by which the commissioners will CORrORATlONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. 63 •soon be enabled to justly regulate the wages by the changes brought about by the markets. All business, such as we have designated, however lim- ited or unlimited in the amount invested, must register with the labor bureau and receive a permit to carry on busi- ness, and accept a scale of wage-prices which must be paid to employees. This scale will be subject to changes accord- ing as the markets may go up or down, giving to the manu- facturer always Jiis legitimate profits and to the wage- earner what is justly his due. The price of wages, as well as the price of commodities, will be regulated by loca- tion and conditions, much the same as that which is in vogue at the present time, only the great desideratum to be attained will be to steer clear of unpleasant disputes and unjust deal- ings one with another. This will prohibit the employer from discharging his people and replacing them with cheaper labor. It will also do away with competitive labor. That is, no one can un- derbid wage-prices, for the employer is not permitted to pay less than the established or current wages. This is the only way the wage-earners of this country can be protected from cheaper labor ; since there are always persons who for various reasons would do the work for less than by right should be paid. * This, of course, will, in a certain sense, make the wage-earner a partner in the business where he is employed, as in reality he is, since the fact remains undis- puted that without labor capital is inoperative. The employer will still retain all the rights he now has to employ whomsoever he may, or discharge his people, in- crease or curtail the number of employees, or lessen hours, run full or half time, or discharge anyone for incompetency, neglect of duty, or any other offense that may in his j udg- ment wan-ant such a course ; but for simply being a mem- ber of a labor union the employer can have no say, and con- *This subject is more fully discussed under the head of "Foreign Competition," to which the reader is referred. 64 CORPORATIONS AND WAGK-WORKERS. cerniiig any chauges of wage-prices he will be wliolly con- trolled by the labor burean. Tins zvill put a stop to all strikes or lockouts. We wish in this to do as we would be done by, and go to the extreme limit of what is right. The capitalist sa--s it is "?;/;/ money that is invested and I want to feel that I have full control." And so 3'ou shall have, and hence we will go even so far as to suggest to this board that any private personal contract 3^011 can make with any of your people shall not come under the supervision of the labor bureau, so long as your actions or contracts do not come under the head of competitive labor, as we have drawn the line, and this must be recog- nized b}' the people of this country or there will be no rem- edy for our troubles. The Main Power of the Labor Bureau. ,-, . power this labor bureau shall be endowed with is to act as a legal board to arbitrate, in a conciliatory manner, and impartially judge and decide disputes, misunderstandings, grievances of what- ever nature or character arising between the employer or employed. The acts of this board shall be final, for if six just men cannot render a just verdict when all the evidence, pro and con., is properly presented by plaintiff and defend- ant, then no higher tribunal among men can be had, unless it may be possibly found in the voice of a majority of the people. All labor performed outside of institutions, where money is spent in making improvements, of whatever nature, where there is no capital invested for the purpose oi gaiji^ will not come under the jurisdiction of the labor bureau and will be left wholly to competitive labor for the regulation of wages. For example : A has a job for someone to do and B is willing to perform the work for $2.00, and it is really worth $2.00, but C steps forward and underbids B and pro- poses to A to do the work for $1.50. C will get the job, un- less out of purely philanthropic motive A would pay B BEN TILLETT. Fig. 1. ISAIAH V. M^ILLIAMSON. Fig. 2. J. H. STEAD. Fig. 3. FLORENCE NIGHTINO-ALE. Fig. 4. Plate VI-For sketches see page 220. CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. 65 really what iu honor the work is worth. This we denomi- nate competitive labor. But this does not affect the indus- trial arts in general, nor not at all as to institutions, which, are, or come, under the supervision of the labor bureau. By this time our reader will understand the line we draw between the labor that comes legitimately under the regu- lating function of the labor bureau and that which is left to itself The institutions registered in the labor bureau^ and all labor therein performed, is no longer co7npetitive labor. The ovXy competition that can effect it is that which regulates the commodit}^ ; the product of its own labor, where it has to compete with the governing or regulating principles of supply and demand in the markets of the world, the same competition which regulates the profits of the cap- ital invested. But, as it is now, all such labor, as in the former instances, incurs regulation of wage-prices from two sources, competition met with in the markets and competitive labor coming from its ozun ranks. Here is an injustice.^ as all can see at once. Unfair proposition ! Double odds,, which the laboring classes at the present time are bound to face, while capital has really to meet but one source of com- petition, and this is largely modified by uniting its strength in forming trusts, pools and corporations, the-' power of which is beyond the control of our wage-earners, however well they may be organized. Even the general public comes under the ban of the present regime., and the only recourse lies in the enactment of laws tliat will correct the pending difficulties. Certainly no one will think us hypo- critical when we contend for measures by daw to- remove just one obstacle in the way of our wage-earners to an equal chance with capital to acquire that dollar due to the one who. justly wins it. So long as the wage-earner is unprotected against the competition coming from his own ranks, the capitalist can discharge his people and replace them M-ith cheaper labor. This is the primary cause of strikes and lockouts, and so 66 CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. long as tliis field is opeu tlie present trouble between capital and labor will exist and grow worse instead of better. Labor unions have been organized for the purpose of meeting the trouble face to face, and aim at precisely what we claim ; and, although these labor unions have been failures in extant, still it must be admitted, from the facts existing, that these unions have created a public sentiment which, prospectively, it may be said, have been to a certain degree successful. ^ « . The salary of this board should be enough to ^' make it desirable or allowable for a good business man to serve. We would suggest $1,500 or $1,800 a year, making monthly pajmients, giving them a vacation of three months — the time to be agreed to among themselves. All rulings must be determined when all the members are present, or a quorum^ which shall consist of all the members, and all actions or decisions must be unanimous, as in the case of a jury. Then there should be a clerk, and a stenographic type- writer at a reasonable salarj^ The salary we mention merely so as to proximate the cost of this labor bureau, which should not be much over $11,000 or $12,000 annually. This can readily be made up to the State by a small regis- tration fee of the business concerns coming within the ju- risdiction of the labor bureau. We would suggest an an- nual fee of $2.00 for every thousand dollars invested by the concern so registering. The cost of this bureau is very small as compared with the cost of a single strike, besides it will keep the people together more, socially, and create a kinder relation between capital and labor, at the same time materially assisting in furthering the work in hand, for where emplo}- er and em- ployed are mutually interested a more cordial and enduring * We would here suggest that our reader turn to pages 58 and 59 where we give the number of strikes, and the number engaged in them, and the cost in money and time, both to the employer and employed, and then think how much better a system of ciunpolsory arbitrati07i luill be when all this trouble can be obviated. CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. 6/ feeling is engendered, and work as a consequence is prose- cated witli greater rapidity, the results therefrom being larger profits and the retention of a reputation for prompt and eflScient execution of orders, which in many instances will bring increased business to the employer and frequently be a great and highly-appreciated accommodation to the party for whom the work is done. By Way of Desultory Recapiiulation we Close This Section With a Few Notes on Comptdsory Arbitratio7i . 1. — The law of universal fraternity demands that the people, through their representatives, in a legally constituted state labor bureau, shall furce settlement by arbitration of all disputes arising between <^a/>^■/a/«?^^ labor. We admit this to be the alternative, but at the present time and for many years to come it is the best thing to do. If this bureau was a court this could not be legally done, but since it is conciliatory and peaceful there is no obstacle in the way that the mind can conceive of for the state to enforce conipidsory arbitration — humanity demands it. It is hoped that wise and honorable men forming an impartial tri- bunal will render a just and true verdict by which both disputants will be benefited and thus maintain a friendly relation. Then he who asks more than justice, or is not satisfied with an equitable and honorable decision, is not a good citizen. It would be far better for society if such a man were forced to take a position in the front rank in battle where he will be the first to fall. 2. — Man exists under physical laws which are well defined by phj-si- ology. In every sense man is so organized that his environments are not only adapted to his needs, but furnish means of existence, all that is required is to exercise his capabilities to acquire what is by nature his due. By tilling the ground, in return for his labor, the earth brings forth food for his body. Without labor, either mental or man- ual, he would not long survive. Everyone has a right to use means to serve the end of existence. In mankind there is planted a conscious- ness of the faculty of consistencj^ and hence the rational comes upper- most in the mind, so that what are one man's needs, rights and pre- rogatives are also the ethical and physical attributes of his brother-man. Primarily, humanity begins here, and he who wants more steps over the \2in^w\2Lx\i oi consistaicy . There are those who are never satisfied though they may possess the earth and are not willing to concede to others what they are ever ready to arrogate to themselves. These are 6S CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. the fractions members of society, and the public sense of what is right may of necessity be compelled to call a meeting of friends to advise, conciliate and thus in the most humane and friendly manner try to ad- just and settle difficulties. But shotild this course prove a failure, to harmonize incongruous elements, then comes the crisis, when the sociological laws of equity may have to be enforced, and we claim that at this point, after all ethical means have failed should be in the form of compulsory arbiiratioii in order to put an end to strife and contention. 3. — Arrogance and oppression arouse in those who come under their lash the same feeling that is produced in man by a painful application of the whip to the body. The first impression is a feeling of resis- tance. In the physical sense nature has endowed man with pain which is a v.'arning to him that an attack is made perhaps to destroy exis- tence, against which he immediately musters his forces, debates, ex- amines all points by which he may make a successful defense and thus save himself. Man's ethical nature, if insulted, recoils and does the same thing as in the instance of physical invasion of his rights. The .true man never gives offense to his fellow-brother. Those who are so ,far lost to humanity as to trespass on the rights of others are liable to a trial by a tribunal, established by the people for the specific purpose of maintaining^ law and order. To harmonize incongruous elements in society, who are a source of social disturbance, no one will question the right to legislate enactments by which to preserve social integrity and thus also perpetuate the sovereignty of the state. . 4. — In the natural order of things, in the evolution of civilization, human history dates back to a time when the strongest and the most skilled in the struggle for existence survived the longest. Quarrels were then settled by herculean " peace-makers . ' ' All the world from time im- memorial honored the peace-maker and there never was a time when arbitration was not in demand. Prior to the time when gunpowder made its advent as a peace-maker, "might made right. ' ' This discovery brought men on a common level in a physical sense. The era of firearms transferred the power that tribes or nations possessed in primeval times from muscle-rule to the plane of strategem and the use of explosives as a means of warfare. By the continued improvement in implements of war, such an expedi- tious and easy way of taking life has been brought about in modern war- fares that we are rapidly approaching a n-.o e desirable epoch of miyid- rule. All former means of settling disputes among men, which we denomi- nate the era of brnte-rule, will, in the new era, be taken from the domain of shot and shell to the realm of the intellect wh^xc social difficulties may CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. 69 be adjusted b}' conciliatory means, and if nothing better can accomplish the desired end, which is peace, then covipulsory arbitration, we say, must be enforced. It is better this than civil war. Hence at this junc- ture of human progress there can be nothing more laudable than for the state to enact needed laws to assist its citizens to arbitrate and settle disputes in the most 7nanly manner and thus entirely obviate the use of the soldiery. State troops in the new era will be only an ornament. The exercise in the maiinal of arms is healthful and is a wonderful school for developing the body — cesthetic culture. Thus mil- itary organizations will be retained in sociology as an art of physical training of the body and not for the purpose of warfare, as hitherto in vogue. * 5. — For anyone or any number of persons to step forward and pre- vent a serious personal quarrel, or to separate men engaged in mortal combat, or to stand between persons so enraged that they may do no serious bodily injury, has always been held to be ahumane thing to do. The laws of every land give license for a peace-loving citizen to as- sume the role oi "peace-maker" when occasion demands it. Then how can the public consistently stand by quietly and see lock-outs and strikes running on for months, a quarrel which brings sorrow^ not only to those directly engaged, but to the general public, family and innocent children ? Why not in this enforce settlement ? Is there any reason why the state should not become ' ' peace-maker ' ' ? For what use is the commonwealth ? Let the state put an immediate quietus on such pig-headed and unwise actions of these infractions elements in our social system. What shall we do ? Call out the state troops ? Shoot down one or the other ? Settle by violence, or do nothing ? Stand by and let the quarrel go on until one or the other is frozen out or voluntarily comes to some kind of settlement ? Certainly all w^ho are of good mind will join us in a more humane method. Why have we a government, state or municipal, or why have laws of any kind if we are not to make them available in time of need ? We say the very * We would have our reader think of the wonderful discoveries and improvements which have been made in the last few years in heavy artillery. The segmental zvire gun (J. Hamilton Brown, inventor) is capable of sending a missile six miles and sink an armor-plated ship. Then think of the Krupp gun, the Winchester and Spring- field rifles, smokeless powder, etc., and we are again brought face to face with a nezv era as we before remarked ; humanity demands (since the easy death-dealing means of warfare now at our command) that all these wonderful impiements of war arc rcndend useless by tak- ing the wars of nations out of the corporeal battlefields and transfer them into the bloodless realm of the intellectual. 70 CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. best thing to do is to have a law enforcing arbitration before an impar- tial labor bureau, legally constituted, and thus prove to the world that savagerj' has been grandly superseded by our civil institutions. 6. — A lawful settlement of labor differences by arbitration is a peaceful measure. There will be no need for state troops, or a state police, or sheriff's posse to prevent riots or to quiet outbreaks. What matters it by what means the public peace is sustained if at the same time all peoples receive their just dues ? Law is the product of neces- sity. Law is also arbitrary in a sense, but if law is based on first prin- ciples it is alwaj's just and right. If all peoples lived up to the princi- ples of the ''golden rule''' there would be no need of law. Law is forced conciliation. A man of our acquaintance, not a habitual drunk- ard, but at an ungarded social good time, with friends, on a new year's day, became inebriated, and though a very fine gentleman by birth and education, became very abusive and combative under the influence of liquor, so that nothing short of handcuffs and a prison cell could be done to control him, where he was allowed to " sober up." When he came to himself and learned what had taken place he said "that he was glad that he was imprisoned for he might, in his inebriated condi- tion, have done some one serious harm." Compulsory conciliatory measures may seem contradictory, but at least all right thinking people will be thankful, for this will save to them a court case or the loss of much money, valuable time and bitter feelings. The state of Pennsylvania had to foot a bill ot over $225,000 to keep the peace at Homestead. The entire Homestead affair was most disgraceful to an intelligent people. If compulsory arbitration had been in vogue millions of money and many lives might have been saved. 7, — Covipulsory arbitration has been tried in north of England and other places and always works well. It is rational, it is right; the aim is equity ; it will prevent arbitrary rule on the one hand and vio- lence on the other ; it is manly and humane ; it does not engender re- venge ; it is not a court where a judge of law presides ; its only law is written in every man — equity, justice. For many other reasons it is right. It is the best for the rich and the poor, Christian or pagan, and should be established in every state in the Union and people educated up to it and put a stop to this ever- lasting quarrel between capital and labor. 8. — Considering the vast number of wage-earners now in the United States and cheap lal)or imported daily, the frequent lock-outs and strikes with their terrible consequences, it behooves the people at once to get CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. 7 1 to work and fall into line that will bring about a more amicable rela- tion between labor and capital. Let no man harbor revenge, though he may have been greatly in- jured. Lord Bacon says : "Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy, but in passing it over he is his superior, for it is a prince's part to pardon." The same author says further: "That which is past is gone and cannot be recalled, and wise men have enough to do with things present and to come ; therefore they but trifle with themselves that labor in past matters." Solomon says : "It is the glory of a man to pass by an offense." That the business of this country requires for its safe management the highest statesmanship cannot be too deeply impressed on our read- ers. Everyone for himself should study the subject unbiased by any preconceived notions and take up the subject as it presents itself and be sure you are right before you come to a final conclusion. Also re- member that what may seem to you to be the right course to pursue may not seem so clear to another ; therefore the cultivation of the greatest virtue in the fullest sense is charity. Once this faculty gain- ing control of the hearts of men the fruit it will yield will be reassur- ing in the hope of a glorious ending in peace and happiness awaiting the American people, but vigilance must be the watchword and now is the time to act before it is too late ; therefore do not let the oppor- tunity pass by unimproved and think that you individually can do nothing. We need the help of every man and woman. We believe that compulsory arbitratio)i will be the stepping-stone to a condition of our social system when this method will be displaced by purely volun- tary conciliatory measures, which will be the order of settling dis- putes. The greed of man will then be materially modified and by practical lessons we will learn that it is far better to agree on a system of government of political economy that will make none very rich and none very poor. 9. — There are those who say that the state cannot force people to arbitrate. We say the state has a right to make any needed law that will secure peace and happiness to its citizens. Every decade brings with it circumstances and conditions which call for special legislation and it is the dicty of the legislature to fill the indication. At the pres- ent time there is great demand for legal regulation of the labor trouble to prevent men, who have not humanity as a ruling principle in their hearts, from grinding each other to the quick. The state has always a right to legislate and pass needed laws to assure ' ' the greatest good to the greatest number." 72 CORPORATIONS AND WAGE-WORKERS. 10. — It is unfortunate for the laboring classes that they are not bet- ter informed regarding personal economy. As a rule few provide for the winter. During the summer when there is demand for labor and plenty of money, is always a golden opportunity to provide for the winter, but too often neglected. Then it is still more unfortunate, not alone as far as the workmen are concerned, but the general public, that operators engaged in mining and other industrial institutions to shut down in the fall or in the win- ter and thus throw out of work thousands of people at a time when they are in greatest need and should have employment. 11, — Rev. Lyman Abbott, D. D., writes in the " Arena " on this sub- ject, and we take great pleasure to quote from this great thinker a few paragraphs in support of our position. He says : "Compulsory arbi- tration is simply the application to settlement of industrial controversies of the same essential principle which is, throughout the civilized world, employed for the settlement of other controversies. It devolves upon those who do not believe that this principle can be applied to show why it is inapplicable." Of course there are serious objections, and this, he says, " is generally the case to any plan proposed for securing peace in a community, the individual members of which are covetous, selfish, passionate, ambitious." The same writer says that "Compulsory arbitration is a specific for labor troubles. The question is not : Are there difficulties involved in compulsory arbitration ? but. Would those difficulties be greater than those involved in a system which keep labor and capital always alternating between open battle and an armed truce, and which, in one-half year, has inflicted on the two great States of Pennsylvania and New York the great labor wars of Homestead and Buffalo ? There is no radical cure for labor trouble but character transformed and conduct controlled by Christian principles. Mean- while compulsory arbitration is a device to protect the innocent from the injuries inflicted upon them by those whose character and conduct are not controlled by Christian principles, nor even by those of Moses or Confucius, but by the devil's maxim — ' Every man for himself.' " 12. — We wish our reader to remember that our suggestion on this grievous question, looking toward a final and peaceful ending, is voicing the sentiment of a very large majority of our best thinkers in the United States, and all that is required is a little more agitation and a personal eflfort of every good citizen, and it will not be a difficult task to ulti- mately win on the side of right. The profession of the demagogue will, in that da3^ be no moie, for it will be unlawful to "lobby" through our Legislatures or Congress laws in the interest of capital or in the interest of any particular class. TflRlFf, PEOPLES AND WflGE= WORKERS. Wrong- Government ; A Good Government ; The Best Pol- icy ; Tax or License ; Protective Tariff ; Free Trade ; Revenue ; Constitutionality ; Effect on Trade and Wages; National Tariff Bureau ; Purifying Politics ; Etc. " Divide et Inipera.'' In English this means " Divide and Govern." " This is the policy of almost all governments. By dividing a nation into parties, poisoning them against each other, the people are deprived ■of their intrinsic weight, and their rulers incline the scale as suits their caprice or discretion." iVll liumau institutions to stand P ' must be founded on our intuitive sense of right The virtue of our nature at once gives sup- port to a law agreeing with some one of our feelings that harmonize with it, and when these primary tests of right are ignored in framing our laws, such laws will not stand, for the reason that the foundation is not good. An}' S3'stem of government is wrong under the regime of which a single individual can accumulate, by whatsoever business may be pursued, thirty or fort}- million dollars. Even the possibilitj^ of centralizing such great wealth in the hands of a few is dangerous to the liberty' and welfare of the people. It is not a good government, Ave say, where such things are possible. Great wealth is Imperial, ]Monarchial, and begets Anarchial sentiment among the people. ,,, ^ It is a factor, recognized by the Wrong Government, j^^^;,,^ ^^^.^^^^^ ^^^^ ..^^^^^^^ j^ power." If it is in the hands of a philanthropist no wrong need be feared, but in the hands of a Shylock there is no divining the possible evil that may result, not only to local •communities, where such wealth is activel}^ operated, but to the general government. The base use of money can so 74 TARIFF, PEOPLES AND WAGE-WORKERS. corrupt politics that all tlie grand principles for wliicli our fathers so manfully fought may be swept away like a Johns- town flood. The bulwarks of a great dam gradually giving way, continually menacing the safety of the people, and when, at last, the crash comes like athunderbolt, it carries de- struction in its way. Then a people who are wide awake to their best iuterests, and who desire to perpetuate those laws and institutions,based on the natural rights of man, attained by the blood of the founders of our government, must restrain the menacing powers which threaten the life of the nation, and avert the danger in a practical manner by repealing all laws which aid, and possibly foster, destruction, and enact laws that will bring liberty and happiness to the greatest number. . In a sermon a celebrated A Clergyman of Chicago.^j^^gy^^^^^ ^j. Chicago said that "no man can make a million dollars during the natural life allotted to him, and make it honestly, not even, strictly speaking, can it be made legitimately, and surely not mor- ally." This we believe to be the truth ; no man can acquire such great wealth, however extensive his business may be,, if he follow^s the " golden rule." There are those who amass great fortunes, who, neverthe- less, keep within the purview of the law in all their busi- ness transactions, and yet are all the while robbing their fellow-men of what is honestly their due. This is easil}^ done. The Homestead Steelworks. Homestead Steelworks are eon- verted, or re-organized, under a legal charter, it is true, into- a couipany (or organized corporation) on a large scale, (com- bining capital), and, as we have elsewhere state 1, works of this sort require an immense capital, even to purchase the machinery indispensable to start the works at all, but this is no reason why moral and individual obligaticnis should not be in full force, as with tlic rest of huuianity who man- age a very much smaller portion of the affairs of this woi"ld. As a rule these gigantic coiuhiuc; are placed under the con- TARIFF, PEOPLES AND WAGE-WORKERS. 75 trol of a so-called management, or agent, whose moral obli- gations are regnlated, or rather relieved, by the combine or company, which in many instances is so in name only, for the pnrpose of making- moral responsibility anonymous, while the head, or those who furnish the capital, may be taking their ease in luxury in foreign lands or at the sea- side, or travel for pleasure. Apparently a very conscientious man, one who gives much to the poor, often receives encomiums of the press for his philanthrophy and public spirit, but how does he obtain his wealth ? He has some capital. This is invested in a vari- ety store or some trust company. The undercurrent of these combines is not apparent, at least not to the super- ficial observer, until by the unnatural accumulation of great wealth their power is beginning to be felt by the money gradually leaving the pockets of the people and pouring into the coffers of these institutions. These corporations have no soul. There is no compunction of conscience, for this faculty has been ruled out by the scheme on which the organization was formed. Legally no member of such or- ganization can be indicted even for the most apparent infrac- tion of the law. »T i r^ o • ^ 1 TT i Then we would say here that Not Safe in Such Hands. , . ■" • . no one who has any interest, either directly or indirectly, in a trust company or a great corporation or combine of anj^ kind, should be considered eligible for membership to State Legislature or Congress. The interests of the people are not safe in such hands. When we come to look the ground over and view the sub- ject from an equitable standpoint, you will soon learn the moral impossibility for a man to make a million of dollars in the short space of a lifetime, to say nothing of making thirt}^, fifty or a hundred millions. Then we say again, that there is something not altogether right in a govern- ment where men can do this. Of course a man may "strike oil, " as the saying goes ; or by accident open a rich mine ; 76 TARIFF, PEOPLES AND WAGE-WORKERS. or make a great discovery as Edison did ; or make an invest- ment in a few acres of land and a cit\' is bnilt about him, whereby he may become a millionaire, but the point in hand is, can a man honestly make millions in carr3'ing on busi- ness in a judicious and equitable manner? Good business principles make money, but it also makes it honorably. The moment you leave these boundaries you pass into tlie realm of the gambler, the Sh^'lock, and }•( n depart from good, honorable and equitable business principles. In a true government, then, law must support only those efforts of its citizens which come within the purview of the elements or attributes of the capitalist who is willing to take the pro- fits of a business conducted on equal chances with his fel- low-beings who are also in business. All other institutions, such as we have .outlined, which secretly and ultimately drain the pockets of the people of their equivalent in trade, and where it is evident that there exists a focal-point of at- traction for the dollars to accumulate in undue proportion, should be carefully demarcated in all legal bearings, and if they cannot be regulated so as to keep within the limita- tion boundary line of equal rights, equal chance, all things being equal, then such institutions had better be entirel}^ prohibited by law. -T- cc r^ r ^ t-1 One of the most prominent Tarm, Cause of Trouble r ^^ ^ ■ causes ot the stagnation of business in this country is the almost ceaseless agitation of the tariff question. Our endeavor to solve the Labor Prob- lem would be almost futile should we not dwell upon this subject in its different phases, and demonstrate the truth in its political bearings on the question at issue. We acknowledge that we enter upon the discussion of this subject with some hesitation and with a full sense of responsibility, feeling the burden heavil}- as we approach a task freighted with the mental ballast of statesmen and philosopher. But m'c cannot for one moment entertain the idea of passing this milestone on our way, which is one of TARIFF, PEOPLES AND WAGE-WORKERS. 77 the most prominent, pointing the way to the path of safety in the labyrinthian road to national prosperity, and is one of the great breakers over which the "ship of state" finds so much trouble to pass safely, bounded as it is with its la- bor troubles. This subject must in some legal way be brought under healthy management in order to meet the demands of a free and prosperous government, such as the constitution of our country offers to all its citizens. _ _ __ In the course of every four years Every Four Years. ^ . ^ x.i j •., .^ \ -' our country is troubled with the pros and cons of a hitherto imapproached or unsettled financial question bearing on the tariff, creating a disturbance and commotion in our financial affairs, which after each present- ment leaves the situation of our commercial and industrial interests in a more threatening and hopeless condition than before. If it were not for the many personal or private in- terests involved in levying a tariff on so many different com- modities, it would not be so difl&cult to determine a correct basis by which other internal legislation might be governed, in order to do justice to all peoples concerned, for it is plain that each presidential campaign seems only to embar- rass the business community. The various political par- ties seem to use the different issues as a simple play of political cricket. Platforms are erected and plastered over with flaming posters full of "Tariff Reform, " for or against its characters or " principles, " so systematically arranged as political puppets that voters cannot distinguish Jack from Jill, and thus parties gain or lose control in the governmental departments, not by honest means, but by such subterfuge as demagogues resort to for their own per- sonal aggrandizement instead of national or universal bene- fit. The people may by chance be present and hear these bombastic speeches in favor of a protective tm^iff^ a tanjj for reverme only^ or out and out free trade. Vast sums of money are periodically spent to defray the 78 TARIFF, PEOPLEvS AND WAGE-WORKERS. expenses of the piratical leaders and for their gladiatorial rehearsals in the political arena to amuse the public. Noth- ing more modest can be truthfull}^ said of these campaign figure hcads^ as far as real education of the Figure Heads. ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ subject of tariff is con- cerned. From them thus far no intelligent understanding of the subject has been reached. Surely if the government can once decide on a reliable course to settle the question of an import tax that will be permanent, so that it cannot be assailed and altered ever and anon for partisan gain or advantage, thereby checking the onward course of commerce and blasting the confidence of business men, then we may expect better times, a more harmonious feeling and a greater activity among the people all over the country. The tariff question is so A Presidential Campaign, p.^^.^^^ ^ ^.^bject that the short space of a presidential campaign does not give time enough even to teach the people the A B C of a subject in which the general public should be properly informed and thoroughly educated. On the "stump" it is treated at best only in a superficial manner and never free from party pre- j udices. The proper management of the financial department of a government is one of almost Herculean labor. The most famous statesmen have been found wanting in this under- taking. The idea of d. protective tariff involves so many in- tricate points, so many financial problems, that even good statesmanship finds entanglements in the network of var- ious business departments, irreconcilable in theory and practice, to puzzle it. Therefore, taking a philosophical view of the subject, it at once becomes apparent to the think- ing mind that a subject so intricate and difficult to handle, involving so much of vital importance to all classes, should not be entrusted to the shallow brains and personal manipula- tion of office hunters, but should be placed in the hands of TARIFF, PEOPLES AND WAGE-WORKERS. 79 a board of censors^ whose business it sliall Office Hunters. ^^ ^^ manage tlie "import duty" busi- ness of tlie nation, and tlius take this question out of pop- ular politics altogether. The sole and exchisivc business of this biereajt should be to study the vital points of an all-beneficial tarijf. Is it not reasonable to come to this conclusion when we know that the general public is too much pre-occupied with its mani- fold affairs to give ample time to acquire proper knowledge of the subject, in order to cast an intelligent vote for or against in whatever form it may be presented — though the question seemingly may be stated plainly in the different political party platforms? ___. Those who go forth to pre- Wants His Side to Win. ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^j^ ^^^. ject as a campaign issue are, in many instances, governed by personal interests, or the simple desire to have their party win, much the same as a man owning a fine horse desires to see his steed win the race, because of the monej^ he will make and the sport and gratification it will give him. Persons wishing a point of law decided would not be will- ing to submit it to the issue of a political campaign. They would at once submit the matter to a proper j udiciary tri- bunal, whose legal function and onl}^ business is to decide questions of law. , _. . There is both extortion and Extortion and Distortion." ^^^^^^^^^ -^ pontics; extor- tion in funds, in and out, assessing for the purpose of cam- paign funds, and distortion of truth, outside especially. Politicians * so cut up, mangle and distort the truth, as a rule, that the general public, whose special business, study or reading does not include political econom}^, is scarcely * The proper definition of the term ' ' poUtician ' ' is one who is versed in statesmanship, and the term " politics " means the " doctrine " or science of government. A perverter of ' ' pohtics " is a " demagogue, " and hence we often speak of politicians in the popular acceptation of the term when we should use the term " demogogue." 8o TARIFF, PEOPLES AND WAGE-WORKERS. sufficiently informed on the subject to detect even the most apparent discrepancies or falsehoods advanced. And even should they be bereft of this campaign weapon of falsifica- tion, party politics would still stand in the way of an honest, unprejudiced decision on the vital question at issue. Comparatively speaking but very few of the people of the United States know much about the tariff question and its vital importance, especially regarding a protective tarijff^ and, moreover, will learn but little about it until the effect becomes apparent ofttimes when it is too late to correct the mistake made by wrong legislation if such there be. Hence it would be far better for the people to leave this question entirely out of campaign politics as an issue to be decided by voters who know but little about the subject of taj'iff^ and especially is this true of newly-made citizens whose ed- ucation on political economy in some foreign land has been diameterically opposite to our own. . . -D i-i.- This will also make our elections Purifying Politics. ^^^^^ Republican, favoring candidates simply for their intrinsic merits, for president or any other prominent position, and framing distinctive part}^ plat- forms on current national matters, making them as simple and comprehensive as possible. As it now is parties enter the contest with nothing in \dew but a place in the White House, regardless of the difference in tariff, high or low, protective or for "revenue only," or free trade altogether, and how all may effect the country so the point is gained. Whichever party can hoodwink the people most will "carry the day," while in either case busi- ness centers will be so greatly disturbed that it will take a year or two to restore its equilibrium, and then before the country fully recovers from the jar another campaign opens and the sad story is repeated. The proper way out of this national morass is, we firmly believe, to vest our financial tariff destiny in a NATIONAI, TARIFF BUREAU. FRANK P. SARGENT. Plate Vll-Por sketch see page 220. TARIFF, PEOPLES AND WAGE-WORKERS. 8l For tlie purpose of regulating all 2m- Customs Bureau. ^^^.^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^-^^ ^^^.^^-^ ^^^ ^^^^^i^^ of a protective tariff, so as to take it entirely out oftlie poli- tics of tlie country, let there be established, as before sug- gested, a national bureau, Avhose duty it shall be to adjust and regulate all matters pertaining to the levying or impos- ing of a so-called "tariff" or "duty" on commodities im- ported from foreign countries and intended to enter our markets. This board, we would further suggest, should be com- posed of twelve fully qualified members, to be elected by Con- gress and approved by the president. Or the members of this board may be appointed by the president — as it may seem best in the good judgment of the framers of this bureau; at all events the chairman should be appointed by the president and become a member of the Cabinet as secretary of ciLstoins. In our own opinion A New Cabinet Officer. ^^.^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ appointment of the members of this " tariff bureau " by Congress, save the chairman, who should be appointed by the president and who shall be known as the '^secretary of customs^^ and by this act becomes an additional member of the Cabinet. The members of this bureau, we would further suggest, slrould be selected from the four grand divisions of the Union, namely, from the East, West, North and South, and thus bring together socialogical needs and views of the most ma- tured thoughts developed by environment and conditions of a people who are bound together by a common interest ap- pertaining to keeping together the nation as one family, yet in detail there are many local conditions demanding repre- sentation in the bureau of social and commercial regulations of the greatest returns possible to the local, as well as the the general public. The term of office to be four years, the sessions of this board to be held Secretary of Customs. ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ viembers of the House of Representatives. All its rulings shall be unanimous and signed by the president. 82 TARIFF, PEOrLES AND WAGE-WORKERS. The duties of the secretary of customs or " tariff bureau " shall be defined by the ordinary parliamentary rules as those of the chairman, and he shall make true and faithful re- ports of the doings of this board to the judiciary and exec- utive departments. Or the proper legal transaction of this board should be submitted to Congress, and we think it would not be unwise for the acts passed by the r?/j/(9?;2 bureau^ to pass Congress in the regular order, the same as other acts, which by such passage and the final signature of the president shall become law. One desidcratutn above all others in connection with the furtherance of our object in securing honest and just legislation for and in behalf of a protective /^rz^is that this customs bureau in all its functions and rulings shall h^ purely and eittirely non-par tisaji. We regard this as the most vital and essential principle of a good and successful government — cool deliberation and free- dom from all party prejudices. The ruling thought in the adoption of means and ways will then not be what "my party desires in the matter," but what is good, right and for the benefit of all parties. Experience shows that there is an everpresiding tendency of parties and majorities to exert their power and thence arises the necessity of an ever vigi- lant watchfulness to restrain those in power or to select only true and good men to make or amend our laws. , . ,. . The duty of the customs bureau should be to investigate, regulate, amend, relieve or im- pose such duty or tariff on all commodities coming under the head of importation, and as it may seem proper in the best judgment of the unanimous opinion of the members consti- tuting said bureau and always in the best interests of the whole people of the United States and in accordance with the spirit of the constitution and never favoring a class or a political part}'. * We very much favor the name we here use as being most proper and best understood for it at once expresses its function. Then let it be " customs burcaii,'" and its chairman legally is secretary of customs and a Cabinet officer. TARIFF, PFOPLES AND WAGE-WORKERS. 83 It should be remembered always that this bureau sball liave no paramount authority or jurisdiction over internal revenue in any sense. All tariff for revenue only and all internal revenue shall remain under the management about as it is now in vogvie. We simply desire the tariff question, or all legislation on the subject, to be taken out of the hands of politicians — using the word in the popular sense — and placed in the keeping of non-partisan and honest statesmen. No import duty should ever be imposed Import Duty. -^ times of peace for the purpose of "rev- enue only." This levying taxes simply to fill the treasury, then employing it that it may be filled again, breeds extrav- agance and dishonesty. But whatever legislation may be called for in this department must pass through this cus- toms bureau, or, in simpler parlance, all legislation of a purely revenue character does not come under the supervi- sion of this bureau. But all matters relating to tariff im- posed with the specific purpose of protecting our people against the world in all branches of industry not yet fully de- veloped^ and not yet a necessity of the people shall be under their exclusive jurisdiction. Revenue tax, it should be remem- bered, is not on that account a protective tariff The members of this bureau strictly Non-Partisan. ^,^^jj ^^^,^ ,^^ ;»rr.<,««/ interest in any manufacture of commodities coming under their su- pervision of whatever kind or character, either directly or indirectly. The entire business of this customs bureau must be conducted as far as possible on absolutely non-par- tisan principles. This bureau shall set apart a time at stated intervals dur- ing its regular sessions for the purpose of giving audience to any respectable person recommended by their own repre- sentative in Congress for the presentation of memorials, es- says, lectures or addresses on any subject matter bearing directly upon any issue before them or any proposition for special legislation on questions pending with reference to protective tariff 84 TARIFF, PEOPLES AND WAGE-WORKER?. This method of discussion and inter-change of ideas upon the subject bearing directly on this question will do mucli towards removing the tariff question from popular politics and enable honest statesmen more fully to familiarize them- selves with the actual wants or needs and ideas of the people, and enable them to give decisions and enact laws, influenced entirely by sound judgment, based on scientific knowledge of the best interests of all unbiased by personal interests or campaign harangues to distract their senses b}- garbled pre- sentments of political requirements. A i-i-i_ T- We take this position on the ground A Glib Tongue. .. , .1 , •«• ^- • ^ ° that the tariti question is one too pro- found and important for the ordinary mind to fully compre- hend ; especially when subjected to party Don Quixotes glib tongue to discuss it to the disparagement of the truth. There is no other subject in the whole province of polit- ical economy which, by misrepresenting of facts, tends to cripple business as much as the unscientific discussion of the tariff by these office-Jntniivg political satraps ; bringing it hydra-headed to the front every four 3^ears ! A protective tariff would be a beneficent thing, provided it protects labor as well as capital. To be J7ist the enact- ment and administration of law must affect all alike, the poor and the rich, the weak and the strong. If a given law will make half the individual members of the country five times richer than they are, and the other half poorer by o7ie- fifths the whole would be six fold richer, but it would be rob- bing the 07ie-halfX.o enrich the other one-half. That is pro- tective tariff that does not fully protect. To Unbar Our Water Gates. , ^° '°"S ^s legislation lavors one class only by which they amass a fortune, and no protection is given to the other, whose labor is indespensable to capital, it were better for our government to unbar its zvater gates and let the tide of foreign competition roll in ; let the supply and demand of the entire world regulate our markets, yield our sovereignty and collect a tax for revenue only. TARIFF, PEOrLES AND WAGE-WORKERS. 85 This, however, is not our ultimatiiin. We believe in America ruling America. Let this idea be universally pro- claimed and endorsed, that the greatest attainment an American citizen aspires to, is to be, in the full sense of the term, a man. True to himself, generous to his neighbor, but at all times /;r^ to tJiink^ free to vote^ and, at all times, ready to do battle for humanity Mhen in the right. Those who wish to come to us from foreign shores are welcome here, as long as they are willing to come under restricted regulations by law, and are willing to join the "rank and file" under the banner that represents true American principles. * . It might be rz^/z/ to adopt /rr L c c-^ ji to higher education in the branches Branches of Study. . ,\ , • ■ , ,. .. , •' Q>i study pertaining to his particular vocation. It requires additional nourishment when both the physical and mental powers are placed in requisition. Then to work faithfully and study the laws of nature gov- erning his physical being and the science connected with his own business or vocation demands more than the means re- quired for the bare necessaries of life. CORPORATIONS AND UNIONS. Ill Tlie wages of a laboring man then should never be less than is required to maintain his family comfortably and leave linn a profit. After acquiring this point a man's earnings may be gov- erned by competition. Skilled labor may exact a premium where it is specially required, always regulated by the de- mand and based upon the prevailing scale of prices legally adopted. But while this may operate to increase the profits of more skillful men, it would in no wise deprive any wage- worker of an honest share of profits. This provision would stay the production of paupers and strikes and contract foreign labor. The wage-earner will then feel secure, assured that his daily wages are sufficient to keep himself and his family respectably and procure some such small luxuries as books and magazines for the improvement of the mental faculties, while he would still have a little money to put on deposit at the end of each year for any future emergency that may possibly arise. ,„ , ^^ , , Let us make a legal common stand- Make a Standard. . r i, i i • i ard 01 wages, below which wages can- not go. Make that sufficient to support an ordinary family comfortably and still leave a profit. Calculate it so that a man still has a profit, no matter how small it may be. Then let honest competition come in. If we then have a job which any common laborer can do, requiring no partic- ular skill, and the work is worth $1.50, and it will require eight hours' diligent labor to do it, we should be required to pay that man the amount named though a dozen men stand ready to do it for less. We contend for a minimum price for common labor ; in fact, a standard price in every branch of industry, below which no capital or competition can bring it — where capital and labor are united to make money. This will take the laboring man at this point out of the hands of oppressing capitalists as well as the greedy range of unjust competition, by law. 112 CORPORATIONS AND UNIONS. This would be absolute protection to labor and is in simple justice due to the laborer, his family and the nation. This would remove the struggle for mere existence to a more noble ambition for honest possessions. Spencer and other scientists claim the struggle for exist- ence to be one of the primary causes of evolution. It arouses the energy necessary to urge mankind to action, in order to outdo one another; gives strong impulse to work, an incentive to outrun each the other in the race of life. If this is true in the mere struggle for a meagre existence, how would a hopeful struggle for the higher attainment of personal possessions arouse the dormant energies of the wage-workers of America ! _ , , . r T-rr ^ good busiucss man will not Reduction of vvages. i ? i r^ i • ° only look alter his own interests, but he will also consider the welfare of his workmen. Philanthrop}^ enters into almost every business transaction made between men, more especially in determining the proper remuneration of the wage-earner. Whatever ad- versity employed capital may have to meet in the market, labor cannot justly be reduced below a certain limit. Cap- ital does not suffer privations of the necessary comforts of life if it does not make a large profit or if it cannot be oper- ated for more than cost, so long as its owner makes a living. This, however, will not occur under good management on the part of the capitalist and the right kind of tariff and labor legislation on the part of the government. Regarding labor, wages cannot be reduced below a certain minimum, which the business man must take into consid- eration, for the wages must alwa3's be considered first in managing capital, for the wage-earners must live ; and there should be a law prescribing a standard limit, or at least a precedent established by the labor bureau that the price of labor cannot be reduced below a certain point in all con- cerns wL^re labor joins capital and where capital is worked with a view of making money. GEN. RUSSELL N. ALGER. Plate X— For sketch see page 2 21. CORPORATIONS AND UNIONS. II3 T . ., -. ,,, T-. 1 i . A man who learns a Limit of Wage Reduction. ^ , , . i ^ trade so he can take a position as a learned mechanic cannot jnstly be classed among the common laborers and should be able to get something for skill. It is not just for this man to have to contend against too much competition with cheap labor. Then there is a difference in how people live, as to whether they can bear much reduction or compete with labor less accomplished. A man learned, ambitious, who values per- sonal accomplishments, studies the arts and sciences, wants his family properly educated and cared for, as well as those who are rich. THE WORK AND COST OF LIVING. " ' Money is a good servant, but a bad master.' It is useful when well employed, but mischievous when men devote themselves wholly to its acqviisition." ■ It is not a difficult task to ascer- To Satisfy Hunger. ^^.^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^-^.^^ ^.^^ ^^^ knowledge we have at the present time of the mysteries of the human system. Physiology, chemistry and the science of force — power — give us all the da^a we need in determin- ing the quantity of food necessary to sustain that activity of our body called h'/e. The cost of clothing and habitation can also readily be figured out, and hence we can at least approximate, at a minimum limit, the wages a workingman must receive to live half-way comfortably, and below which a reduction of wages is inhuman and cannot be tolerated even though capital should not make a profit. Then, as we have already exemplified the subject under the head of "profit sharing" of the wage-earners, the workingman should and must make more than the bare cost of living, for there may be a time when he can t work ; besides every head of a family should have a home. For a man to do a good day's work he must be well fed on good, nourishing food so the S3'Stcm need not draw on the reserved forces of life and thus shorten life. An underfed 114 CORPORATIONS AND UNIONS. man is sliortlived ; moreover, he is predisposed to disease. Then it will be the dut}- of our labor bureau to carefully study this subject that no injustice is done. In all institu- tions where capital unites with labor for the purpose of gain, this matter can readily be regulated so that labor will re- ceive its just share in the profits. Yet, whatever may happen to capital, there must be a limit established below which wages cannot be reduced. _,. „ . - _ . . Life is an activity dependent The Science of Living. i • i j ..• ^x, ° on physical conditions. i hese conditions must be in harmonious operation in order for life to proceed in regular order. Living beings are not unlike machines. It takes force to run them ; it takes fuel to pro- duce force, and this must be constantly and regularl}^ sup- plied or the machine will not run evenly or it ma}^ stop altogether. To produce force something must be consumed. For example, steam is the product of burning fuel, which, when mechanically applied, becomes force. Motion is the begin- ning of force. Motion develops heat and this is convertible into force. Heat itself is a mode of motion and, therefore, it is proper to say that heat is an exponent of force. When force is mechanically employed, the amount used will equal the consumption of fuel in its production. Life is depend- ent on the same source for the supply of force necessarily expended by the process of living. Without air, wood and water we cannot have steam-power. Unless air, food and water combine in the living bod}^ to support combustion, the human machine, like the former, the engine, would soon come to a dead halt. ^ .. r-, Txr 1 To perform a given amount Capacity, Power, Work, r i ^ v i • . * ^ ■" ' oi work to be done m ten hours b}' an engine of one-horse-power capacity, the com- bustion of fuel must be sufficient to equal the amount of force expended. Hence, if we emplo}'' a horse to do the same work, it will take corn and oats to feed the horse, from whicli, b}' the process of digestion, this food, with water and CORPORATIONS AND UNIONS. II5 the union of oxygen given to it in the lungs, is converted into force. The ultimate of the combination of food-fuel is the same as in the former instance ; the only difference may be in quality and cost of the fuel. Perfect combustion is a saving of fuel or food in producing force. Less heat is given off from your stove or fire-place if the wood or coal is not thoroughly burned. The same is true of digestion and assimilation ; if this is imperfect, not as much life force is produced as when in a normal condi- tion. Force, when applied mechanically, will do work equal to the supply and no more. The faster a machine runs and the more work it does the more it wears and the greater amount of force it takes to run it ; the greater the amount of work there is to do the greater amount of force Avill be required to do it. Force is the same, whether Average Amount of Food, it is produced by vital or an- imated or inanimate machinery. The primary source is also the same. Some change of substance in the form of combustion must take place to produce force or power. Vital force in living bodies is evolved from food, air and water. This runs the body. The average amount that will keep an ordinary working- man for one day is about three pounds of solid food and two pints of water. If heavy manual labor is performed he will require something more. If he works at a furnace he will require more food and water than if he works in an even temperature of seventy degrees. If he works in a much lower temperature he will require more. If he gets eight hours' sleep and eight hours' rest and works eight hours, all things being equal, the former estimate will be sufficient to keep a man in good condition, providing his digestion is good and the food of good, nutritious quality. Where men work hard and perspire . freely much more water is demanded by the system than under ordinary circumstances ; and when the food consists largely of fruits and garden vegetables, about four pounds of food and a Il6 CORPORATIONS AND UNIONS. little less than two pints of water will keep a man suffi- ciently well fed. The kind of business or work men engage in, their habits and quality of food will largely modify the quantity of food necessary to produce vital force enough to sustain life and the amount of force to do the work required of them beside the simple process of living. It should be remembered that those who live a life of leisure do not require as much food as when actively employed. In mental activity, as in case of the mind workers, more food is required than in a life of leisure, but not quite as much as wdien manual labor is performed. This is a study, if people desire to live in accordance with nature^ s laws. __ . ^ . A larefe maiority of the people eat Too Much Food. , f if f .i .1, too much, it one eats more than the S3^steni demands to keep the vital machinery in good work- ing order, more than is required to perform the work that is to be done, then the stomach will have to work too hard to get rid of it. As we have said, food produces vital force. If we eat more than is required the body will either grow obesic (if digestion is good) or the system will have to throw off the superabundance of material which has been unwisely supplied. Besides, this is a source of disease. It is unfor- tunate for a man if he has to work so hard that three pounds of good, solid food in t\vent3'-four hours will not keep him. For the work of the S3'stem to convert so much food into force weakens the nervous svstem as well as the stomach, and it is for these reasons liable to shorten his life. If the surrounding atmosphere is warm and dr\' the evaporation from the body is then greater, and from two to four pints of water is necessary to be healthy and strong. As a rule people are more apt to eat too much than to drink too much. For good health and strength food and water must be sufficiently^ and regularly supplied. /-I -u J T^ J Children require more food com- Children and Food. ^- 1 ^1 j 1. r .1 paratively than adults for the reason that they have to furnish the s^^stem with material for grow- ing the body in addition to running the little vital machine. CORPORATIONS AND UNIONS. II7 During youth the bod}' is more rapidly metamorphosed, and good, substantial food is necessary to grow the body, to reproduce tissue, supply the vital force and keep up repairs. Old people need less food for the reason that the body changes or wastes ver}^ slowly. If the body is not supplied with food, or in cases where food is not properly digested so that the supply equals the expenditure of force, the reserved material of the body will be drawn upon to support coiiibustion^ the tissues will be consumed, thus to generate force enough to accomplish the work to be done. Over-work, under-feeding, over-feeding and under-work are conditions that violate the laws of health. Three pounds of good, solid food, with two to three pints of pure water, properly digested and assimilated, will keep a man in good condition, performing a reasonable amount of manual labor eight hours each day, and with eight hours' rest and eight hours' sweet sleep. This will not shorten his natural longevity, providing his habits otherwise are within physiological limits. He will have at least six hours each day for recreation, outing and social enjo3'ment, two hours of which, each day, should be devoted to mental improvement — some educational study, some branch of science — socio- logical science. jMental labor is then to the workingman a source of rest, and in fact is as necessary to good health to the wage-earner as to other people ; and one can always find some time for mental improvement each day, if people will only learn to divide up the time at their disposal and live methodically and systematically. r T • • '^^^ average cost of living, as we esti- Cost of Living. ^^^^^^ .^ ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^.^ ^f ^ f^j^-^y ^f £^^ keeping house — the actual cost of food and the cost of cooking it, where the wife does the cooking, or, in another way of writing it, where the housekeeper is one of the family and does not have to be hired, is about $18.00 per month. Where the family has a kitchen garden — and every well regulated family should have one — this sum can be Il8 CORPORATIONS AND UNIONS. reduced several dollars during tlie summer montlis. But the extra cost of fuel during tlie winter will make the average^ as we have stated, at about $18.00 per month. This, of course, will not give the family many costly luxuries, but it will furnish good, wholesome food. Still hundreds of families are obliged to subsist somehow on much less. The next item we will mention is rent. This we place at $8.00 a month. Of course those who own their homes will save the larger part of this item. The item of clothing we will place at an average of about $65.00 a year for the family of five. This will aggregate $377.00. The wages paid by our railroad corporations to their employees, whom we will take as a criterion to give us a starting data of what is considered generally by the wage-earners as reasonably good wages for unskilled labor, is $40.00 per month. Here we have now the head of this family receiving $40.00 per month, and if nothing happens, no time lost, no sickness, there will be a saving, or profit, if we may call it such, of $103.00 a year. _ . , , , Now, shall we include incidentals in the Incidentals. -, ^ ^ , ^, ^ r v • sums we have stated as the cost of living, or is our figure already large enough to cover little wants that come up every day which we never know of beforehand? Little presents for the children, a brief outing in the summer, or a short vacation, which is only to break the tiresome monotony of life. Then every family should buy a book or two each year, keep one newspaper, a good family paper and one good monthly magazine. For these latter items, and some unavoidable loss in time and possibl}' unforseen mishaps, we will deduct $47.00, and we have now in the savings-bank $56.00, which, if carefully invested each 3'ear, will in ten years make quite a sum toward paying for a vine- clad little home, where the days of ripened years may be spent in comparative ease, enjoyment and independence. Many peoples get more wages than we have calculated and many get much less. Under all circuinslances and condi- CORPORATIONS AND UNIONS. 1 19 tions peoples should not neglect a careful study of house- hold economy tliat tliey may shape their mode of living to suit their income.* "Agur's prayer," says Colton, " Will ever be the prayer of the wise. Our incomes should be like our shoes ; if too small, they will gall and pinch us, but if too large, they will cause us to stumble and to trip. But wealth, after all, is a relative thing; since he that has little, and wants less, is richer than he that has much, but wants more. True contentment depends not upon what we have, but upon what we would have ; a tub was large enough for Diogenes, but a world was too little for Alexander.'' Horace. — We cannot refrain from quoting the words of one of the wisest authors and thinkers the world ever kneiv — tlie great Horace. He says : " Whoever makes choice of the golden mean, safe from all the ills of poverty, is not compelled to dwell amid the wretchedness of some mis- erable abode; while, on the other hand, moderate in his desires, he needs not the splendid palace, the object of envy." "The man, within the golden mean Who can his boldest wish restrain, Securely views the ruined cell Where sordid want and sorrow dwell, And, in himself serenely great, Declines an envied room of state." HOW "TRAMPS" ARE MADE. A person who journeys on foot is What is a Tramp? ^^Hed a pedestrian. Those who go from place to place, having no particular destination, are wanderers. If obliged to travel on foot for want of funds and no specific object in view, peregrinating from place to place, such are vagrants, popularly called "tramps." This country has altogether too many so-called "tramps." Many start out in search of employment with a view of bettering ^i'We take up this subject again in the department of ''Random Tlicnights,'' in this volume, under the head of "The Chemistry of the Kitchen" and " How to Make Little go Far," to which we refer our readers. I20 CORPORATIONS AND UNIONS. their condition. Others are forced to go forth to find work, and soon their funds give out and they become " tramps," _,, ,^ , _ We have the voluntary tramp, The Voluntary Tramp. , . ^ ^ j i •' ^ wlio prefers to tramp and beg rather than to work. The primary cause of such a condi- tion is perhaps outside of any philosophy by which to solve the mystery other than that there is a constitutional indif- ference to self-respect and an innate laziness, for which there seems to be no remedy other than perhaps a strict legal prohibition of vagrancy. If every city, town or precinct enacted a law, and enforced it, that all strangers having no visible means of subsistence are apprehended and required to comply with the law, soon this evil might be materially modified, if not entirely driven from the land. _,, T , ^ _, Then we have the involun- The Involuntary Tramp. ^ ^ , ,. , "^ ^ tary tramp, who enlists our sympathy. Thousands of this class are distributed through- out the country and are made^ in many instances, by circum- stances over which they have no control — bad luck, as goes the word. An extensive manufacturing establishment burns down, throwing a hundred, perhaps a thousand or more, people out of employment. The works nia}^ be rebuilt, but the chances are they are not ; at all events these people who have no capital to fall back on must work to live, and it is more than probable that not all can get a job in the town in which they live, and so they start out in search of work. This is not so discouraging as long as their money holds out, as when, by and by, they are broken in spirit and in purse, absolutely become disheartened. No hope, no pros- pect, no one to speak kind words — all is given up for lost. He enters the ranks of a tramp. Once in this line, or lane, it is a long run before a turn is likely met with. . ,, ,,y Another way involuntary tramps are Another Way. , a i^ • i ^' ^ made : A town is boomed b}- some en, terprising speculator, hundreds flock in with a hope of bet- tering their condition, often leaving a good situation, only CORPORATIONS AND UNIONS. 121 to find they liave been misled and may, before an oasis is reached, become tramps. Anotber factor to the entrance-way of the bonrn of the tramp, from which few ever return, is : We are acquainted with a rich farmer and real estate speculator, near the city of Dayton, Ohio, who had a very faithful farm-hand, whom he hired in the month of March at $20 a month by the year. The work-hand did all in his power to please his employer and even when, during the harvest time, he might have earned big wages, went right on, however, with his work, hoping and feeling assured that he had steady employment. But to his surprise, about the first of November, when the farm work was pretty well out of the way and when he might have had an easier time during the winter, his em- ployer thought now that there was not much else to do than to feed the stock and care for the horses — and he himself could do that — discharged him, with the remark that if he was out of work in the spring he could get back to his old place. Now what was this man to In Search of a Job. ^^ ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ -^ ^^^^^^ ^f ^ job? At this season of the year it was almost impossible to get work, unless some one else would step out of a place and let him step in. He had saved his money, but sickness overtook him, and before spring we met this same man in Terrehaut, Indiana, broken-hearted, in search of work. He had then tramped it for over a week, and totally out of money. We paid his board for two weeks, when he was fortunate in getting employment. A man w^ith a large family is employed in a Wisconsin lumbering factory. He gets good wages, but he is on for twelve hours per day's work, and thus he alternates with another. He is induced to buy one of the company's tene- ment houses on the installment plan. Now it is well known that this kind of work is not very conducive to health. Some last longer than others, but the average is about four years, when he begins to break down ; now and then fails to 122 CORrORATlONS AND UNIONS. take his place for a day or two. By and by lie ^ ^* is obliged to "knock off" for a week and longer. He loses his place. He is discharged. His little home is not yet all paid. He starts out in search of lighter work, but after awhile any kind of work, if he could only get it. He thinks he might be able to stand an3^tliing to save his home. His wife takes in washing, or sewing — several of the children are beginning to earn a few pen- nies. A mere living is made, but the payments on the home can no longer be met; interest, insurance and taxes are beginning to be compounded in such a manner that under the circumstances it is impossible to ever liquidate the indebtedness. For a while this family is tolerated as trespassers, just long enough to keep down moral censure, but at last the mortgage is foreclosed, the family is evicted, and the property is again sold to another who is willing to take his chances to cope with the situation. c^A. TTTt TT A A orood rule is to stay where Stay Where You Are. ^ rr i ■ . you are. it a change is contem- plated, every side and point should be well considered, from before and after thought of view, and then act. A judicious- business man never rushes headlong into new adventures, and a common laboring man should be equally careful, for his labor and his health are his capital, and, b}' injudi- cious management he may be just as unfortunate as the man who has more money than forethought. A celebrated writer on "how to get on in the world," says that there are two ways to get on in the world. One way is to sta}^ where you are and the world will come to you. Another is to go^ out into the world, to go forth, to move, to venture. The busy hands that restle-;sly nnfokl To hibor — thouj^fh they gather little goll — Work for the world a henelit untold ; Cheerfully aid the weak, u])hold the strong, And, by their work, help induh.try along. Are worthy of the poet's sweetest song. When nun and master— if a master be To claim a peerage in huiuanily — CORPORATIONS AND UNIONS. 123 With one accord, in peaceful harmony, Work each to the same end — each one to gain, Unchecked by classes, or distinctions vain — That which was meant each factor to sustain, That freedom, with its all-pervading grace. Assigning each its undisputed place, Will " Work and Capital'' at once efface. When each in his own sphere is satisfied. Their work and means to the same end applied, There is no line their honors to divide ; Then labor, to the humblest of the free, A crown of glory, just as bright will be As that surmounts the head of royalty ; Its blessings bring the toiler recompense More noble than man's worshipped pounds and pence. . . There are monstrosities in every depart- Monstrosities. ^^^^^^ ^^ nature. A monstrosity is a thing out of the common order of nature. The word is applicable not only to beings but moral conduct — inonstrous brutality and monstrous education. South says : " We often read of monstrous birds, but we see a greater monstrosity in educa- tion, when a father begets a son and trains him up like a beast." We erroneously limit the meaning of the word to things hideous in nature: deformities of body, cruelty of character, ferocity of animals, &c., or to high stature, or enormity of size ; but it is equally applicable to things of a less repulsive nature. Dryden says : "Who with his wife is monstrously in love," using the word in the sense of extravagance, excess. Thus a mountain or a man may be of monstrous size, while a person or a dog may be mon- strously cruel. The general idea of monster, however, is a great, hideous, overgrown being, animal or thing. Giants of old were called monsters. The leviathan and the behemoth were monsters in the animal kingdom. But there are moral monsters — persons with monstrous principles. There are monstrous creeds, doctrines, theories and laws, as hideous and cruel in their influence as the monsters in the forest and the great deep. 124 CORPORATIONS AND UNIONS. . The monsters of ancient times, described in ^° * mythology, or the pseudo historic works of some of the ancient writers, are now extinct, if they ever existed. That giants existed is proven be^'ond successful contra- diction. That the leviathan of Egypt or the behemoth (the Arabian ox, or elephant) was not altogether a myth, scientists will admit. But they have passed awa\' with other creatures of the antediluvian age. Goliath — the children of Anak, as big as trees, — ]\Iilton's "Giants of mighty bone and great emprise," and the giants who built the great basaltic pillars in Ire- land's famous "Causeway," are known no more, save in history. Their day of usefulness is passed ; the world needs them no more. ^TT »T t -T-1 1.T niT By a general law of nature We Need Them No More. ,, -^, ^. , , . all physical and mental ex- istence not needed gradually becomes extinct. Monster animals, huge lizards and birds were mere scavengers of the soil builders — races of men living ages ago, having passed away, as the Indians of our countr}^ will soon do. And in the track of the red man follows the solitary relic of the vast herds of buffalo once crowding our prairies. We need them no longer. Extermination, propagation, wise gen- eration, civilization and domestication of man and beast have all a tendency toward the useful and the good. Republics rise upon the ruins of fallen monarchies. Persia, Babylon, Greece, Rome served their day, then departed, while new republics are born almost every year ; and we may safel}' predict that before America celebrates the second anniver- sary of the declaration of independence nearh^ all the strong monarchial governments of Europe will be metamor- phosed by the principles underlying the civil government of our country. Evolution pursues its course of chau'i:- ing and improving the world silently but sureh'. Behold its work of a century only! A monarch, in either church or state, dare not place his foot on Auierican soil and exer- CORPORATIONS AND UNIONS. 1 25 cise the imperial functions of his office. Princes are aliens in this country, and lords, aside from their good qualities of manhood, are only birds of plumage. Ostentation is toler- , , . , ^ , , , v-r , ated and nobility admired Admired Only by the Vulgar. ^^,y ^^ ^^^ ^^j^^^ ^^^ the vain ; the nobility only affiliate with the rich to secure their shekels. The march of progress displaces or eradi- cates all these civil and social monstrosities as well as those existing in physical nature. Why not accompany evolution in its course, allow ourselves to drift along in the safe cur- rent it pursues, instead of clinging to monstrosities, moral, social and political, which, while they must eventually die, may still for the present do us great injury ? In some countries where these titled men and women display their pomp and royalty, exists another lawful mon- strosity of these titled "lords of creation," which we sincerely trust evolution may soon pass out of existence. This monstrosity is known by the name of " pauper." During the last decade these lords and potentates have been painfully impressed with the idea that these paupers are a great nuisance to them, and instead of waiting for the reg- ular course of evolution to extinguish them, they most earnestly recommend emigration, particularly to America. How successful thej^ were in this movement the influx of tens of thousands The Influx of Tens of Thousands, aemonstrates. Counter force should be brought to bear by our government in this case. At least we think the time has come when emigration should be regulated, if not prohibited, and none be allowed to land here unless possessed of certain qualifi- cations. This is one of our social and political inonstrosities. It is a gross injustice to the wage-workers of America — especially if they are American.? — to allow the cheap labor of Europe, or any foreign country, to come here and enter into unequal competition with the skill and industry be- gotten with time and patience on our own soil. With entirely different tastes and education, with different habits, 126 CORPORATIONS AND UNIONS. formed thrQUgli life, it is impossible for our laboring men *to meet them on equal ground. An American workman is accustomed to a good, substantial meal, and a comfortable home, a clean bed, and, if a typical son or daughter of America, the enjo3'ment of an annual vacation, and the reading of a book, or regular perusal of a good magazine — while these foreign competitors are content with a bed of straw, make their meal from a battered pail between their knees, huddle together and live in squalor — thus being enabled to live on half the wages human cleanliness and social decency require. "But," asks one of my opponents, " if their mode of living is good enough for them, why not for our workmen?" Let me answer that question by asking another: "If some men make a living by stealing, why should not all men be thieves?" That idea is one of the grim "monstrosities" of the age, which must and Mall be evolutionized. The spirit of the age calls for elevation^ not degradation. For the avoidance of this pauper-emigration "mon- strosity," evolution in the shape of protective tariff is a farce. You must put up barriers and close the gates. But this monstrosity must become extinct, for The evil, be it of what sort it will — Social or civil — known as evil still Must die. E'er since creation's birth The evil that has cursed our mother earth Has been short-lived — while true and good Has lived to bless our human brotherhood. COMPETITION; EIGHT HOORS. The Ufe of Trade; Men Will Do Their Best; Ainbihon; Eight-Hoiir System; Fiindcnnental Reasons; Hours for Trajfic; Intellectnal Trusts; Mental Profit; The Law Must Favor It; Immigration; How It Should Be Regulated by Laiv; The Most Liberal Viezu, Etc.^ Etc. "Easy is the descent from Avernus to the lower world; but, to retrace one's steps and escape to the upper regions, this is, indeed, a work of difficulty ; this is, indeed, a task." ^, , .^ ^ ^ , ]\Ian by nature, iu his most ad- The Life of Trade. ,/.,'.. . , ^ vanced physical condition, is but an imperfect creature, untamed, unlearned and inexperienced. In all liis various exigencies lie is still in want of something and knows not how to find it. Had he come into existence perfected he would have remained without wants and, per- haps, without ambition. But the necessities arising daily in his material life, and the desire to supply those necessities, makes him alert and watchful to discover the means to that end. By this his utility is developed. And while each of his neighbors and acquaintances are equally bent on the same achievement, it behooves him to do his utmost to keep pace with or, if he can, outdo all of them. This, of course, awakens activity, causes "hustling," and, as in primeval times, the fittest gets the most. Competition creates activity and activity creates business and trade. Then don't be afraid of competition, though this may cause friction, for, from the very fact that such is the case, it will stimulate improvement imu a es. ^^^ make industry and trade more active in almost all departments. In fact competition enters into and is largely the actuating principle of almost all com- mercial enterprise. As soon as the rudimental principles 1 28 compktition; kight hours. imdeilying the possible construction of a sewing-macliine were discovered, competition was aroused and scores of dor- mant minds were awakened and engaged in the further development of this desirable industry. Before long various and still much-needed improvements were made, the demand was increased, manufactories sprang up all over the country to supply the demand and business was stimulated in var- ious departments of iron and wood products. The intro- duction of sheet steel, sheet copper, galvanized iron, by late discoveries in metal urgy, the further practical developments of the usefulness of electricity, has stimulated business by calling into action additional capital and capitalists, requir- ing men and skill in the production of articles long in competition in the markets of other lands. As long as man has needs Men Will Do Their Best. ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ supplied, self- preservation will impel him to find means to supply them if possible. A man will under all circumstances give all in defense of his life, and as long as there are means available to preserve it he will make use of them. While in all ulte- rior matters he ma^^ be indifferent or careless, when ambi- tion, with clipped wings, hides itself after failing to attain to fame or power, the absolute necessaries of life still goad him on to renewed efforts to help himself and those depend- ing on his endeavors. He may exhaust all his resources and yet be unsuccessful against all adverse circumstances or overwhelming opposition, still battling manfully and honestly with the available forces at his command, he has done his best and must be exonerated from blame if he fails in the attempt. ^ ^_ ,_ Men often blame The Government Can Do No More. ^ , the government for not doing more than it does to stimulate trade, and, while it must be admitted that it might do more than it does, with all its machinery employed in the interest of political advancement for its favorite party and political /'r^/'r^^^, still, if the government could for a little while forget its political r^fcif? ^^% ^m-M Qc. M. PULLMAN. Pig. 1. P. M. ARTHUR. Fig. 2. MRS. MARGARET GIBSON. FiK. 3. JOHN P. HAINES. Fig. 4. Plate XI— For sketches see pages 22 1 and 222. competition; eight hours. 129 foundlings and magnanimously look to the interests of its laboring classes, they could do no more than to encourage honest competition. This is all the people can expect the government to do, unless it is to give them an open field. The government should, and 7nus(y An Open Field, g^^^^^ntee to its people a fair and open field for the exercise of their political and business functions. As soon as it creates barriers or obstructions, so soon it commits commercial suicide. When it opens its gates to unlicensed and indiscriminate traffic, it kills honest compe- tition. When it favors the wealthy fczv and ignores the industrious many, it abuses its power. When it protects all alike in honest competition, its prerogative is honestly exer- cised. Destroy competition and anarchy stands ready to speed the arrow of destruction. No matter how high or how low It is an Educator. ^^^ standard of a man or a nation may be, practically there is always room for improvement and advancement. Education, in commerce, mechanism and science of living, is just as essential as in the most abstruse problems of astronomy or physiology. "'7>> education forms the common mind'^ from the mas- tering of the Alpha to the Omega in the lessons of human life. It is unsafe for the solon or the booby to jump at conclusions. The greatest achievements of this, or any age, were accom- plished by study. And in all the various epochs of history competition accomplished the greatest results. Demos- thenes, while declaiming to the sea, climbing mountains with pebbles under his tongue to improve his speech, pur- suing his studies in a hermit's cave, was actuated by a spirit of competition. His country boasted of its orators ; he competed with them in greatness. Education and train- ing made him the ruling power of a mighty empire and competition spurred him on. Then let the workingmen of America educate themselves for the work before them.- Utilize their time, their opportunities to understand the advantages competition offers them and let its various oper- 130 competition; eight hours. ations — as it certainly will do if properly studied and under- stood — educate them in tlie science of econom}^ ; and the lessons they will learn from this spirit of competition will make them stronger and nobler in the battle for their ''inalienable rights." •^ . . .r,.,.,, ^ . ^ . .1 T-. . You may place Fnction Will Bring Out the Best. t,,„ 3,iid sticks of sound wood side by side and they will lie in close proximity until they decay without showing any activity. But should you take those two lifeless sticks and rub them vigorously against each other for a time j^ou would then see the life in them. First they create warmth, then the sparks begin to fly, and ere long they will kindle a fire larger than that which burned down a great city. That is friction, which serves the universe in so many ways through its myste- rious mechanism. And that is what competition arouses. If all the means and advantages in the business or commer- cial world were left in the hands of a few passive or inactive men, our industry would lose its name in idleness — but once let the vigorous hands of competition begin to pumice them, then life will permeate the dead bones, open the closed arteries and start new life in business avenues. By all means give us more friction by giving us more honest competition. Competition is not only a lever to a man's activity, but it is the ambition of a boy. _,, . , ., . ^ ,-» From the earliest childhood The Ambition of a Boy. ^ ^ r ^1 1 ^ • -^ contests lor the largest piece of tart or the largest share of jam down to the battle with the last champion of life, man has been in competition with man. The boy in his school days is ambitious either to be at the head of his class, or to beat his comrade in marbles, or to "lick any boy of his size in school." If of a studious nature, his ambition is to outdo his classmates in all their studies ; and, if it is only for the love of study, the good it will do himself and — by proper application — to others, his ambition is laudable. If, on the contrar}-, his object is competition; eight hours. 131 selfish, onl}^ to gratify his own vanity, the spirit of compe- tition he manifests awakens a corresponding degree of activity on the part of his classmates and nrges them on to greater efforts, thns doing good to both parties. So even in boyish ambition competition has its salutary effects. The dreams of boyhood ambition have often been realized in manhood days. But it was done by the hard rubbing against opposing obstacles, the polish of friction and the firm but honest competition with which he urged his way onward and upward. No great man ever attempted or gained his greatness without being influenced by a spirit •of competition. THE EIGHT-HOUR SYSTEM. " Wise work is useful. No man minds, or ought to mind, its being liard, if only it comes to something. Of all wastes, the greatest waste you can commit is the waste of labor." — John Ruskin. There has been much said and written on the eight-hour system, pro and con^ and while both sides advance argu- ments worthy of more than a passing consideration, we think the system is one that, if adopted and properly man- aged would result in great good. , _ The many discoveries, both Fundamental Reasons. j_^ ^^;^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^1 ^^^^^^_ ism, were, as we believe, intended to lighten the burden of manual labor. Every thing exists for a specific purpose and is intended for the good of mankind. "So far shalt thou go and no further" applies not only to the dashing billows of ocean, but to every object or purpose in which mankind has an interest. The tide may harmlessly rush over its usual boundaries for a time, but in the end it may do lauch mischief b}^ robbing us of much otherwise avail- able territory. Ten hours' work may not perceptibly imme- diately manifest its debilitating influence upon the hardy sons of toil, but, like the slow washing of the sea, it will make its mark upon the generations to come. 132 competition; kight hours. The discoveries of late years were intended to lighten labor. For what other purpose could they be intended? By them more work can be accomplished in eight hours than could be performed without them in ten. And as these labor-saving machines are intended to lighten labor the time should be shortened. The primary object of labor is to make a livelihood and the exercise it gives is intended to promote health, not to injure it by undue exercise of physical power. Labor has a right to benefit by these discoveries. Capital should not absorb all of it, for the purpose of amassing wealth more easily and rapidly. Its advantage lies in the saving of expense, life and energy; and the laborer as well as the capitalist has a right to share in these advantages. _,.-.,_ In the prime of life and the Physiological Reason. r 1, j 1 i. • •' ° vigor 01 manhood a laboring- man can do more, accomplish and endure more, than when years have told on him. The power of endurance be- comes exhausted, if overtaxed, much sooner than if his physical powers are carefull}- husbanded. Life carefully preserved in youth will give vigor and strength to old age. Extravagance in anything depletes. Anything overdone can never be renewed. As the water which has once passed the mill can no more be used to run its wheel, so ph3'sical energy once spent can never be recalled. A worn-out, tired man cannot study, his mind cannot retain a lesson. He may attend a lecture replete with well chosen and eloquently expressed thoughts and ideas, embodying exactly what con- cerns his individual welfare, but in his tired condition it falls upon listless ears and unimpressive mind. TV-. , n Knowledge is free to all men. We go Moral Reason. . ^, • ti • . . . 1 1 furtlier m this statement ; since knowl- edge is free to all, and so easy of access, and comparatively inexpensive, we deem it almost criminal for any one in the nineteenth century to be entirely ignorant. Not all labor- ing-men can attain to great heights of education for want of proper time or means. Even here monopoly comes in competition; eight hours. 133 and education is monopolized by the wealthy. The poor man, it is true, has his free schools. But the wealthy are not satisfied with these. The fact is in these schools the young children are simply prepared for learning. The real fields of learning, the colleges and universities, are fenced in for the wealthy. Still, much can be learned by the laboring classes if you give them two hours per day more time to do it in. These men should study natural philosophy, a broad and fruitful field, from which they may cull many a flower and pluck much fruit to make life more pleasant and themselves more useful. There is much they could learn if their task- masters gave them two hours less in the labor tramway. There is no nearer kin to a man A Personal Reason. ^^^^ /^^,^^^^/^ ^ ^^^ ^^^ ^.^1^,^. tarily injure himself for the sake of gain. A man has no right to turn himself into a cart horse, whether he be a capitalist or a laborer. If it is possible for a man to make a living in eight hours, why should he work ten ? He simply attempts to move ponderous bodies at the expense of his intellect. It is the duty of man to work, not only to supply himself with the necessaries of life, but to develop his physical powers and retain his health. But when he does this to the neglect of his intellectual life, that higher and nobler part of man, he does it to the detriment of his highest welfare. Man has no right to work until his physi- cal or mental machinery breaks down. It is just as sacred a moral obligation on man to rest in season as to work. The merchant sees this, for The merchant of the present day Stores Close Early. ^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^ .^ -^ ^^^ ^^^^ ^^^_ sible, but really desirable, to close his store at 5 or 6 o'clock instead of keeping it open until 9 or 10 at night, thus giv- ing his employees from three to four hours more time for study or recreation. At first this movement was met with the bitterest opposi- tion ; some met it with ridicule, as a great absurdity ; some 134 competition; eight hours. with uplifted hands, as a dire calamity. The merchant prophesied great reduction of sales and inevitable loss in business. The buyers said it would be impossible to make their purchases during the day — "they had no time ;" " it was too hot," and a dozen equally ridiculous objections were made against this early closing movement. With a painfully cau- The Public will Soon Learn. ^.^^^ movement, the more progressive and intelligent business men went into the experiment with a feeling something like a person experi- ences when he first dips his feet in a cold stream preparatory to taking a bath, but they soon grew bolder and more confi- dent ; they saw their clerks more pleasant and cheerfully active in waiting on customers and ready to do more work in view of the shorter hours ; their gas and coal bills were much lower ; they relished the additional hours of rest them- selves, and their sales were just as large. The public found they could make better selections by daylight ; they could find plenty of time to make all needful purchases during the hours the stores were open, and instead of spending their evenings shopping, the mechanic The Wage-worker will Have a Chance ; ^^^^^ laboring man will be able to spend his evenings at home with his wife and children, or take them to hear a good lecture, or accompany them to some place of innocent amusement, or, if he cannot or does not care to indulge in these things, he can devote his leisure hours to something better still : He can spend these leisure To Acquire Knowledge. ^^^^^^ .^^ ^^^f„, ^^^,^y j^„ matter how intelligent he may be, he can always learn more about his own work or profession ; about the history and laws of his own and other countries ; about his own body and its needs, its wonderful mechanism, and how to keep it in order. The wage-worker has a perfect right to tlie inexhaustible resources of literature. competition; eight hours. 135 _, ___ , __ ^ The laborer is not only en- The Wage-worker Must ^.^1 . ^ £4. -.-u 1 i, *=L, , x-» ^ titled to a profit m the labor Have a Mental Profit. 1 ^ r t,- 1 j products 01 his work and skill, but he may also justly claim a share in the mental profits of the day. By right of the laws of nature every man has a claim to a share of the knowledge so lavishly scattered all around us. The wealthy can get the lion's share of it in the form of costly libraries and leisure time to read the volumes therein ; but how shall the laboring man get his share if he has no books to read or no time to study ? ,,^, ^^. ^ ,, . , ^ ,. "Rome was not It Takes Time for Mental Culture. ^^.^^ ;^ ^ j^^,, j^ a somewhat hackneyed quotation, but it is convenient for application to almost any subject involving the crowding of much into little time. A man cannot store his mind with much useful knowledge in a few hours. One little stream does not make a river, but our great rivers are made of many little streams. If one hour cannot give you much mental culture many hours can, if you use them properly. Give us the eight-hour system and you give the wage-worker (deducting Sundays and holidays) six hundred hours a year for study, of which the ten-hour system deprives him now. If he uses that time now he robs his employer or his family of just that much. We mean eight hours for a day's work. ^, ^ ,, -r- X. It is a problem. This The Law Must Favor It. ^^^^^^j x^^^ i^^^ law! It stares us in the face no matter where we turn. Right or wrong (and how often it is wrong !) it must be obeyed. The law certainly should favor the eight-hour system, and we think if the wage-workers learn right, vote right and act right, it soon will. EDUCATION, INTELLECTUAL MONOPOLY, TRUSTS, MENTAL PAUPERISM, Etc. ^, »,•--. , ^ i T^ -v " Man, amidst the Why Should a Man be Cast Down ? fl,,etuations of his own feelings and of passing events, ought to resemble the ship, which 136 competition; eight hours. currents may carry and winds may impel from her course, but which, amidst every deviation, still i)resses onward to her port with unremitted perseverance. In the coolness of reflection he ought to survey his affairs with a dispassionate and comprehensive eye, and, having fixed on a plan, take the necessary steps to accomplish it, regardless of the temporary mutations of his mind, the monotony of the same track, the apathy of exhausted attention, or the blandishments of new projects." T-t- /- i. i. T-. 'I'his blessed land of ours is The Greatest Danger. , , , ° menaced by many dangers, inter- nal if not external. Sqme think emigration is dangerous; others are afraid such or such a tariff law or theory is threat- ening disaster ; while the more bigoted, or superstitious, prophesy our downfall because of the fearful immorality of our people. The danger we refer to as the greatest is the cause of all these other evils named. We mean igjiorancc. It is this evil which makes so many blunders in the formu- lation and passage of our laws ; it is this that makes emigration dangerous, and it is this that breeds and sustains immorality. More Than One Kind of Ignorance. , \ . , ° not that which makes men cruel and uncivil as often found among the reeking haunts of vice, the social lepers, banished from all intelligent society. Nor does it apply only to the innocent ones, reared in the wild woods, deprived of all the benefits of more advanced civilization. But there is an ignorance more dangerous than that im- plied by want of education. A man nia\^ be educated in certain branches and yet be ignorant of those things of the most vital importance to himself and his countr}-. The common interpretation of learning or education is a some- thing intended for the ignorant only. This is a mistake. There is such a thing as educating the educated. The men Harmful Education. "'"' ~'] "''° ^'' truly positively Ignorant, being even unable to read and write, are not the most dangerous element of society. There are those in society who have learned just enough to become expert pick-pockets, swindlers and tricksters. It is GEN. JAMES B. WEAVER. Plate XII-For sketch see page 222. competition; eight hours. 137 among those who are in some sense bright and intelligent that yon find the most dangerons and snccessful criminals. It takes an intelligent burglar to pick a complicated safe lock. "A little learning is a dangerous thing," our juvenile school book taught us, and these smart scamps have only learned those things pertaining to their vicious calling. Not only is this simply learning the things especially suited to an unlawful calling, but it is dangerous. Men may be learned Learned Men Make Mistakes, i^ some branches quite well and yet in other departments closely allied to those branches in their application be very deficient For ex- ample : Our best educated men, in drafting or framing our constitution, made a mistake by the simple scratch of the pen which caused a bloody war. They may have lacked a statesman's foresight, or they may have been ignorant of that particular branch of education only, but it illustrates the great importance of being well versed in those matters especially in which a whole nation is concerned. The deplorable results of a "lit- Political Campaigns, ^le learning" is too often seen in political campaigns, especially among political leaders and .speakers. The effect of their teachings upon the ignorant portion of their hearers and followers is often disastrous. Men who are perhaps learned in various branches of science ■or literature, but woefully ignorant of the true principles of political economy, or the issues before the people ; or know- ing better, but presuming on the ignorance of the people, willfully misrepresent the true features in the case, and thereby mislead them, simply to enable their own party to come into power. There are deuiagogues in every political Demagogism. ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^-^ ^^.^^^ ^in, is to rule ; by fair means if they can, but win they must. Of course, they have their followers and adherents. Some follow them and obey their behests for the loaves and fishes. The 138 competition; eight hours. more ignorant are driven to the polls by more arbitrary measures — threats of political excommunication, loss of work, &c. — while a large number of the illiterate, and some with a fair learning, deposit their votes in good faith, against their own personal interest, because they believe their leaders, lacking intelligence sufficient to decide clearly for themselves. These men should be met by the wage-workers with at least equal, if not superior, intelligence or education. Whose Fault is it if you are Deceived ? , ^^'^ ^ ,[^' honest on the part of these demagogues to thus mislead the masses ; but that will not exonerate the duped themselves from blame. When a man is brought before a court of justice, charged with the violation of a law, his plea that he did not know of the existence of such a law, or did not understand its purport, will give him no release. The court will tell him that every citizen is expected and supposed to know the law. Hence ignorance of the law is almost, if not quite, as culpable as the violation of the law. The same thing niaA^ be said concerning the violation of the natural, physical and social laws. You are expected to know them. When you bear in mind that the men who frame our laws and con- trol our finances are not ignorant men, 3^ou should at once realize the absurdity of ignorant men questioning their methods and actions. You must meet the enemy on van- tage-ground and with his own weapons. In other words^ you must be intelligent j^ourself T- ■! . ^T ir As soon as the laboriuLT man learns Educate Yourself. , , ,. , • 1 . 1 . • what constitutes right, what is good for himself and his class ; in short, as soon as he knows as much about Iabo}\ ianj]\ fuiancc and other vital questions of the day as the would be political demagogues, then there will be some chance of him getting his rights. "When Greek meets Greek, then comes the tug of war !" There has thus far been really no war between the two factions. It was simply a charge on the part of intelligent leaders competition; eight hours. 139 and an ignominious retreat on the part of the ignorant. Again, let us say to the wage-workers of America : educate yourselves ! The masses of the working classes Public Sentiment. ^^^ governed by public sentiment. This is not always safe, for public sentiment is often di- vided equally and yet diametrically opposed. There were two public sentiments at the outbreak of our Rebellion, yet only one proved to be the right. Careful study of the mooted question, intelligent statesmanship and stern hon- esty of principle, in defiance of all public sentiment, made the war a blessing, instead of a curse, to our country. Public sentiment is often created by public desire, political charla- tanism, or "mushroom growth ;" the result of special ex- citement, the impulsive throbbings of an unhealthy heart. Public sentiment made the ancient philosopher recant his doctrine of the earth moving on its axes. But it moved in spite of public sentiment. Intelligence was in the right. Of course public sentiment condemns or approves. But its judgments and decrees are not always right. There is an instinctive sense in every human being which seeks to discern the right or the wrong in all things, but only when properly educated and directed will it be a safe guide to the truth. Most of our American working- College Education. ^^^ ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^ common school edu- cation ; thanks to that grand provision of free schools in our country. Few of them, however, have had the advantages of a college education. A college course is very desirable, but it is not really essential to good citizenship, office qual- ification or business success. Don't misunderstand us. We by no means contend that the different branches of learning taught in a college course are not essential to qualify a man for the higher duties of life, but we do say it is not absolutely necessary to go through college to acquire such learning, since you can obtain it outside of colle