UCSB LIBRARY 
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM 
 
 AN INDEPENDENT CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS ITS SOLUTION. 
 
 By an ANGLO-AMERICAN. 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTORY LETTER BY THE 
 
 HONORABLE THURLOW WEED. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 THE ATHENEUM PUBLISHING HOUSE, 
 
 100 Nassau Street. 
 
 BRENTANO'S, 39 Union Square. CHICAGO : S. C. GRIGGS & Co. 
 LONDON : HODDER, STOUGHTON & Co. 
 1878.
 
 INTRODUCTORY LETTER 
 
 From the Honorable THURLOW WEED. 
 
 "The question which occupies your time and thoughts, and which you 
 have treated so ably and fully is one of vital importance one which has 
 caused, and is causing me anxiety and apprehension. Unhappily, its im- 
 portance seems not to have attracted, after the immediate danger was over, 
 the attention of the governing classes, too many of whom, I fear, fail to 
 discover that there are two sides to the question. You have, I am happy 
 to see, discerned and discussed it from both points of view. In the 
 views expressed in the Appeal, I heartily concur. Both sides of the issue 
 are fairly, forcibly, and fearlessly considered. 
 
 The working classes, or rather the unemployed, have been very 
 patient and forbearing ; but they cannot forbear or endure much longer. 
 Nothing but returning prosperity can avert evils. 
 
 My sympathies are thoroughly with the toiling millions. Govern- 
 ments, State and National, can do much to relieve the industries of the 
 country, if they possess the wisdom and honesty to legislate paternally. 
 Your Appeal cannot fail to exert a salutary influence ; for it is equally 
 just to Capital and Labor ; and as such it should be well circulated and 
 read among all classes of the community." 
 
 THURLOW WEED.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The following treatise was written immediately after the terrible 
 crisis in July, and assumed the form of a letter to a most eminent public 
 man. It has been thrown into its present shape as the one best suited 
 for general circulation ; and as now issued it is intended to provoke 
 inquiry, and to stimulate effort. 
 
 Every day the evidence accumulates that the Labor Question is be- 
 coming the grand problem of the country and of the age. Whether or not 
 we will admit the fact, we are standing face to face with a giant evil, with 
 a prodigious difficulty. It must be met boldly yet prudently. The author 
 has received numerous testimonials to the necessity of this appeal. Among 
 others the following opinion from the late lamented Senator Morton is 
 entitled to respect. In a letter to the author this able and patriotic man 
 thus expressed himself: "The labor question is silenced, but not settled. 
 We shall have trouble upon it yet. The day is not distant .when we shall 
 be compelled to grapple with the real principles and claims which under- 
 lie this agitation. The future of our country is largely involved in the 
 solution of this matter. For that reason it should be kept before the pub- 
 lic mind; and I cannot but regard your letter as most timely and useful." 
 The introductory letter of the Honorable Thurlow Weed, is written 
 in the same tone and spirit. Other similar opinions may be added ; and 
 apart from all question of literary merit in the present treatise the author 
 entreats a discussion of the subject, on the ground of its public importance 
 and of the living issues involved. For h'mself he has no wish to appear 
 otherwise than as an anonymous contributor. His appeal, therefore, must 
 be examined independently of personal considerations. He has not 
 written without ample opportunity of testing the opinions of public men, 
 and of workingmen, too ; and he has reason to know that thousands are 
 anxious for the solution of this difficulty, and thatthousands are willing to 
 co-operate in the adoption of any suitable plans to that end. The author 
 proposes to examine other phases of this great social problem ; and for 
 any information which may facilitate the'exposition'of the questions raised, 
 or for any opinions, honestly expressed, which may guide him in his in- 
 quiries, he will tender hearty thanks. All such communications, whether 
 written or printed, will promptly reach the author, if addressed to him 
 through the publishers. And now, whatever may be the merits or demerits 
 of this production, it is sent forth on its mission with an earnest hope 
 and prayer that it may, at least, arouse in others some anxious inquiry, 
 or some generous impulse. 
 
 THE AUTHOR.
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 It is the object of the present paper to consider 
 calmly some of the great questions which arise out of 
 the labor difficulties in the United States. The relative 
 positions of employers and employed, and, still more, the 
 prerogative and duty of the Governmen in reference to 
 each, may yet be more clearly defined. 
 
 THE RECENT CRISIS. 
 
 Without doubt the country is passing ^>ugh a 
 singularly grave crisis. Not even the Great Rebellion 
 threatened more disastrous results to the social fabric. 
 Within a very short period scenes have been enacted at 
 which humanity shudders. It is seldom that, in any 
 civilized community, much less und<>- the jurisdiction of 
 the United States, such utter lawlessness prevails. The 
 story forms a sad sequel to our Centennial .jubilation ; 
 yet, like the beacon's flickering glare, it warns of danger 
 in the distance. A blush may tinge the cheeks of future 
 historians as they describe how civil and military author- 
 ity was resisted,, how life and property were sacrificed, 
 and how a " reign of terror " was virtually established, 
 by misguided, unthinking, infuriated men and all for 
 what? yet from the smouldering ashes of the strife may 
 be deduced the lessons which will ensure our future 
 peace.
 
 4 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 IS THE CRISIS ENDED? 
 
 Is it impertinent to enquire whether the difficulty is 
 settled ? whether the misunderstandings between em- 
 ployers and employed are adjusted ? whether labor will 
 hereafter receive its due reward, and capital be apprecia- 
 ted at its proper worth ? and whether the country will 
 enjoy, without the danger of such volcanic eruptions, 
 the benefits of generous enterprise, and well directed 
 toil? 
 
 The common assumption is .that the " strike " has 
 ended. In bold and flaming type the newspapers have 
 announced the " collapse " of the insurrection the 
 " restoration " of order the " resumption " of trade ; 
 and following close upon such announcements have been 
 appeals for vengeance, and promises of reform. Bi^does 
 not the language used betray a secret uneasiness ? Is 
 there not a suppressed fear that a worm is gawing at 
 the root of our social system ? that a canker is poison- 
 ing the streams of our national life ? There is a lull in 
 the storm a suspension of hostilities a subsidence of 
 the primal causes of the recent violent, foolish, wicked 
 outbreak. But is it not palpable that neither party has 
 frankly and unequivocally given way? that the opera- 
 tive classes "have not renounced their demands ? that the 
 railway companies have not yielded to dictation? that 
 thovisands of the unemployed are still clamoring for 
 bread ? At best there is a hollow truce. 
 
 ELEMENTS OF DANGER. 
 
 The complicated questions which underlie the whole 
 remain untouched. All the brutal passions which have 
 lately broken loose are only placed in temporary check.
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 5 
 
 In millions of hearts and homes new thoughts are spring- 
 ing up, new claims are ready to be enforced. As well 
 attempt, in Canute fashion, to bid the rolling tide be 
 still, as try to stop the onward flow of human life, or set 
 at naught the rights which are supposed to be insepar- 
 able from a oneness of origin, or a unity of relation. 
 There are in our very midst elements of future strife. 
 The embers of a blind, insensate passion are smoulder- 
 ing on every side. A policy of repression, whether by 
 authority or by bribe, cannot permanently avail to allay 
 the evil spirit. There is ample evidence to show that in 
 their restless struggles for independence and power the 
 working classes are assuming giant proportions, and ac- 
 quiring a Samson-like strength. As with that redoubt- 
 able hero of Scripture history, an effort may be made 
 to bind down the rising giant with fetters of brass or 
 gold. The danger is lest these chains should suddenly 
 give way, and lest in the terrible rebound the popular 
 fury, like an uncaged monster, should shake the pillars 
 of State, and overwhelm the nation in calamity and woe. 
 It is against this danger that we have to guard. The 
 danger is not imaginary. Whether or not we open our 
 eyes to the fact, we are walking upon a very combust- 
 ible mine, standing at the brink of an overcharged 
 furnace. 
 
 The evil is at present within our grasp; the danger is 
 subject to our control. Will it not be wise to arrest its 
 progress in due time? It is possible to do this ; but it 
 must be done by other methods than those hitherto ap- 
 plied. The process of indiscriminate slaughter, as rec- 
 ommended by some writers, will wholly fail. Equally so 
 the common expedient of flattery and bribery can result 
 in no permanent good. By such means the fundamen-
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 tal question is ignored. It seems hardly to be conceded 
 that working men have rights ; it is openly denied that 
 they have any ground of complaint. Here the issue is 
 joined ; and here is seen one of the lamentable conse- 
 quences of the recent trouble. In the disorder which 
 ensued the " strike " degenerated into riot. The former 
 was legitimate, however foolish ; and so long as the 
 strikers confined themselves within the bounds of law, 
 they had a right to claim the protection of law. But 
 when orderly resistance changed into open rebellion, 
 and when a peaceful protest was followed by a violent 
 crusade against property and life, then the safety of so- 
 ciety was endangered, and it was necessary for the civil 
 ruler and the military power to interfere. 
 
 This distinction must be kept in view, especially 
 since one of the railway companies seriously implicated 
 has officially declared that not more than ten per cent, 
 of their men took part in the strike, and that even those 
 were intimidated to do so by men who had no con- 
 nection with the railway service.. Whether or not it is 
 wise on abstract principles to strike at any time is a 
 question which does not yet turn up for discussion. The 
 fact with which we are confronted is that a "strike" on 
 a gigantic scale has taken place. That strike was 
 obviously the result of a preconcerted plan, as it proved 
 to be the precursor of a series of outrages which have tar- 
 nished our reputation, and cast a stigma upon civiliza- 
 tion itself. The question of primary moment, therefore, 
 is whether any justification can be found for the late 
 disturbance? That question must be viewed in two 
 aspects, as it relates both to employers and em- 
 ployed.
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 7 
 
 ALLEGED CAUSES OF THE STRIKE. 
 
 By the former it is urged that a reduction of wages 
 was necessary. A general shrinkage had taken place in 
 the value of public property. In that depreciation rail- 
 way property suffered a corresponding decline. The 
 amount of traffic was reduced ; the charge for freightage 
 was lessened ; the working and incidental expenses 
 were increased; the payment of interest on bonds 
 had to be met ; and, altogether, that undesirable 
 state of financial embarrassment was reached when the 
 ordinary income did not meet the inevitable expenditure. 
 The result was that no dividend, or but a very small and 
 uncertain dividend, could be paid to stockholders, and 
 that, in reality, many of the railway companies were 
 bordering upon insolvency. It is generally admitted 
 that the latter statements are true. Thousands of per- 
 sons have had proof of this in the loss of their property, 
 and in consequent privation and hardship ; whilst the 
 very low figures at which railway stocks are still quoted, 
 in both the American and British markets, afford evi- 
 dence of public distrust. 
 
 But admitting the necessity of a reduction of ex- 
 penses, the question is next raised whether that reduc- 
 tion should be made solely, or principally, through the 
 wages of the workmen ? The rate of wages, it is pleaded, 
 had already been brought down to a very low point. 
 At the prevailing price of provisions, of wearing ap- 
 parel, of house rent, and of the general necessaries of 
 life, it is difficult for the most frugal to secure ordinary 
 comforts for themselves and their families, and yet pre- 
 serve harmony between their income and expenditure. 
 In some cases, too, even this small remuneration had
 
 8 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 been paid with great irregularity; so that from one to 
 two, and even three months, have passed without a 
 " settling." A reduction in these wages, therefore, 
 of from ten to twenty per cent., without a correspond- 
 ing reduction in the time and amount of labor required 
 yea, in some cases, with a positive increase of these 
 involved a further curtailment of the power to live 
 honestly and comfortably, and had very much the 
 appearance of injustice and oppression. 
 
 In view of these facts it is not surprising that the 
 question should have been raised by the railway em- 
 ployees and their friends whether the whole difficulty 
 could not be met by a general reduction of expenses ? 
 by the abolition of needless and useless offices ? by 
 lessening the superfluous salaries which are paid to 
 directors, superintendents, chairmen, and other officials, 
 who contribute nothing to the practical working of 
 the companies, and some of whom are not even orna- 
 mental figure-heads ? and, in short, by a reorganization 
 of the whole system, through which economy and effi- 
 ciency could be secured ? And should these things fail, 
 then would it not be well to ask the public, for whose 
 convenience the railway system is established, to con- 
 tribute a fair share of the increased income required by 
 acquiescing in a small almost imperceptible addition 
 to passengers' fares, and to the rates of freightage ? 
 The loss, if any, it is said, would thus be equally divided; 
 and by distributing the burden to be carried over so 
 wide a surface no particular back would be broken, and 
 no individual interest would suffer.
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 9 
 
 EMBARRASSMENTS OF RAILWAY COM- 
 PANIES. 
 
 In this view of the matter there is, at least, an air of 
 plausibility. It may, indeed, be difficult to say why this 
 proposition should not be accepted as reasonable and 
 just. On both sides it is admitted that the value of rail- 
 way property has declined, that receipts have been less, 
 and expenses greater than for some years previously. 
 In this admission so much is gained; it is really the 
 first step towards an amicable adjustment of the diffi- 
 culty. But following upon this, is it not necessary to 
 make a full, impartial inquiry into the causes which 
 have led to this depreciation of stock, and this loss of 
 income ? 
 
 The phenomenon is not satisfactorily explained by the 
 sole consideration of bad trade. Has there not been, in 
 too many instances a system of unprincipled and 
 suicidal competition, through which legitimate charges 
 have been reduced, and extravagant expenses incurred, 
 and by the operation of which both income and effici- 
 ency have" been impaired ? As in part the result of this 
 insane policy, have not many of the lines been allowed 
 to fall into bad repair? Has not much of the rolling 
 stock been so neglected and injured that it is now 
 practically unfit for use ? Have not extravagant sums 
 been lavished on the construction and embellishment of 
 buildings, offices, carriages, and other things, which 
 neither the business of the companies, nor the conveni- 
 ence of the public, has required, and which whilst add- 
 ing to luxury have diminished comfort ? And, finally, 
 is it not true that in the development of this policy, in 
 the application of these tactics, new offices have been 
 created, new agents employed, new regulations en-
 
 10 THE LABOR PROBLEM 
 
 forced, and new dangers incurred, which have added 
 nothing to order and regularity in the working of the 
 lines, which have engendered public distrust and im- 
 poverishing rivalry, and all of which might have been 
 dispensed with without loss of prestige and power. 
 
 IMPOLICY OF RAILWAY ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 These, if true, are grave and startling charges; and 
 can they be denied ? In face of the overwhelming 
 evidence to the contrary, no reponsible railway authori- 
 ties in the land will dare to call them in question. They 
 suggest a false and corrupt system, the full development 
 of which can only lead to mischief, if not to ruin. At 
 the basis of such system there is a gross disregard of 
 the first principles of commercial integrity and honor." 
 An expense is needlessly created, which from natural 
 resources there is not ability to pay. With reckless 
 criminality the lives of the public are endangered to 
 gratify the passions of scheming and antagonistic 
 boards; and to compensate in part for the losses occa- 
 sioned by mismanagement, by extravagance, by acci- 
 dent, by fraud, the efficiency of the lines must be im- 
 paired, and honest and industrious employees must be 
 reduced in their wages ground down to penury and 
 starvation. 
 
 It is in the latter consideration that the iniquity of the 
 proceeding is mostly manifest. Is it fair that the inno- 
 cent should thus suffer for the guilty? In the reduced 
 remuneration it has been proposed to offer, is there an 
 honest compensation for the work exacted from them, 
 whether considered in the time consumed, or in the 
 ability exerted ? and is it really an adequate provision 
 for the common expenses and necessaries of life for
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. II 
 
 food and clothing, for rent and recreation ? The labor- 
 ing classes must have these things. It is not luxury 
 that is thought of. They have been born inured to toil; 
 and by the sweat of their brow, and the straining of 
 their nerves, they are willing anxious to earn their 
 bread. But they want bread enough to satisfy their 
 hunger ; they want homes in which they can have 
 privacy, and comfort, and health; and they want, some- 
 times, to be enabled to breathe the exhilarating air of 
 heaven, to drink in the beauties of nature, and to feast 
 their minds upon the wonders of literature and art. 
 
 With the wages proposed for them this is next to im- 
 possible. The prices charged for ordinary things neces- 
 sarily restrict their purchases within a narrow circle. 
 Many of the comforts they may desire are wholly be- 
 yond their means. It is doubtful whether they can al- 
 ways obtain enough of what is absolutely necessary, 
 when there is a large family to support, and when sick- 
 ness invades the dwelling. If the wages are paid regu- 
 larly as they fall due, there can be little to spare for 
 superfluities, or to put by against "a rainy day," when 
 the landlord has been paid his rent, and when other ne- 
 cessary expenses are met. In a more marked degree 
 therefore, there must be restriction and privation when 
 their honest earnings are withheld for two or three 
 months, and when, in consequence of this, they have to 
 contract debts at the stores, upon which they virtually 
 pay an exorbitant interest, besides being compelled to 
 take an inferior quality of goods. Such an infamous 
 practice may not be common with every railway com- 
 pany, but it does apply to some; and if it is not known it 
 should be, that during the recent trouble some railway 
 operatives received notice of a reduction of their wages,
 
 12 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 whilst at that very time their employers were consider- 
 ably in arrears in the payment of wages, and hundreds 
 of men were bearing the inconvenience and hardship 
 with heroic courage in uncomplaining silence with a 
 praiseworthy resignation. 
 
 Is such treatment honorable and just ? Does it re- 
 cognize the first element of our social brotherhood ? 
 Is it based upon the golden rule, which reason suggests, 
 and Christianity confirms, that we should do unto 
 others as we would they should do unto us ? Where is 
 the railway director who does not insist upon full and 
 prompt payment for his services ? Who among all the 
 officials would be content with a bare subsistence as a 
 reward for his toil ? and who, still more, is willing to 
 forego any portion of his emolument, or any mea- 
 sure of his luxury, for the better regulation of the 
 company, and the more certain payment of an equitable 
 dividend to hapless shareholders ? What, in this re- 
 spect, is the difference between directors and me- 
 chanics? Are the latter supposed be to more willing 
 than the former to make a sacrifice for the pub- 
 lic good, or for the benefit of their employers ? Does 
 it enter into the nature of their engagement to do this ? 
 Can they really afford to relinquish a ten or twenty per 
 cent, of their income without personal injury, or family 
 discomfort ? If not, is it equitable yea, is it humane, 
 to ask them to do it upon pain of instant dismissal ? 
 Shall they have no voice in the disposal of their services, 
 or no concurrent action in regulating the terms on 
 which those services are to be render and received ? 
 This surely is not the acme of our nineteenth century, 
 civilization ; this is not the practical developmenot of 
 our lauded doctrine of liberty and equality; this is not
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 13 
 
 the genuine spirit of that religion which claims Jesus for 
 its author, and which breathes universal amity and love. 
 
 DISTINCTIONS AND RELATIONS OF CLASSES. 
 
 There is undoubtedly an important distinction be- 
 tween the positions of employer and employed. It 
 will be an egregious blunder a fatal mistake, to con- 
 found them. But that distinction neither partakes of 
 the feudal relation and service of the middle ages, nor 
 implies the utter abrogation of individual freedom and 
 independence so characteristic of slavery in its worst 
 forms in the Southern States prior to the act of rebel- 
 lion. There is rather implied or suggested a state of 
 mutual relationship and dependence, based primarily, it 
 may be, upon considerations of self-interest, but entail- 
 ing on each a sacred obligation, and resulting from the 
 exercise of personal volition. In trade operations neither 
 class can proclaim itself independent of the other. As 
 with the members of the human body, each is essential 
 to the completeness of the whole. Whilst performing 
 different functions they are each promoting a general 
 result, and so inseparable, indeed, is the union which 
 may and does exist between them that whatever inci- 
 dents affect the one, whether prosperously or adversely, 
 will indirectly, at least, leave their impress upon the 
 other. In the employment of labor the capitalist invests 
 money, and for that he has a right to expect a remune- 
 rative return. The laborer, on the other hand, whether 
 mechanic or artisan, supplies the strength of his arms, 
 the skill of his hands, the ingenuity of his brain ; and 
 for that he is to be rewarded according the the time ex- 
 pended, or the work performed, or any other clearly de- 
 fined, and mutually accepted terms.
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 Between capital and labor, as thus understood, there 
 
 is no antagonism. The one balances the other. Each has 
 
 essential rights ; and upon each there are imperative 
 
 duties. Neither can be neglected without contravening 
 
 the laws of God, and inflicting a wrong upon society. 
 
 It is necessary that both should be employed. There is 
 
 no gratuitous favor on either side. Personal interests 
 
 are first promoted by the arrangement, and through 
 
 these the general good of the community is subserved. 
 
 Is the employer, therefore, to become haughty and ex- 
 
 acting? or the employed to grow churlish and suspici- 
 
 ous ? Shall the one demand the maximum of labor for 
 
 a minimum of remuneration ? and, Pharaoh like, virtu- 
 
 ally require bricks without furnishing the materials 
 
 wherewith to make them, or without returning a just 
 
 compensation for them ? Or shall the other clamor im- 
 
 petuously for less work and more pay; and mindful 
 
 only of self-indulgence, disregard the authority and 
 
 claims of their employers, and engage in their respec- 
 
 tive vocations with listlessness and grumbling? No; 
 
 for in either case there would be a violation of the first 
 
 elements of harmony and success. Authority is the 
 
 prerogative of one ; obedience the duty of the other. 
 
 Yet the two are so related that neither is absolutely in- 
 
 dependent of the other; nor can either capital or labor, 
 
 which forms the basis on which each rests, claim any 
 
 unwonted degree of credit for the service it renders, as 
 
 though its action in the premises were supererogatory 
 
 Where there is money there is also a corresponding 
 
 obligation to employ that money in productive industry, 
 
 or for some useful end. It is the " talent" bestowed by 
 
 the Universal Proprietor, not for selfish gratification 
 
 solely, but for social advantage generally. In like man-
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 15 
 
 ner physical strength and mental skill, unaccompanied 
 by pecuniary resources form virtually so much personal 
 property which their possessor is bound to employ for 
 his own and for others' good, and by which the wealth of 
 the capitalist may be rendered remunerative and useful. 
 The one is the counterpoise of the other; the two com- 
 bined keep the wheels of business in motion, and fur- 
 nish with regularity the means whereby the wants of 
 society may be supplied. 
 
 On this principle the employer has no more right to 
 oppress his men than the employed have to plot against 
 their masters. It is not, or should not be, a question as 
 to how much work can be extracted from the men, and 
 how little money be paid for it, on the one hand; or 
 how small an amount of service can be performed for 
 the highest amount of wages, on the other. The em- 
 ployer is guilty of injustice and fraud who under pre- 
 tence of " hard times" and depreciated capital, attempts 
 to grind down his men to the dust, and out of their 
 blood, and bones, and brains, squeezes as by some hy- 
 draulic pressure the means of personal luxury and in- 
 dulgence, without providing them sufficiently with the 
 " one thing needful " for their own wants. Equally so 
 it is unreasonable and dishonest for workmen in any 
 position to use the time of their employers for any 
 other than their legitimate work, or to perform that 
 work in a slovenly and inefficient manner, or to require 
 more for it in the shape of compensation than its real 
 merits demand, or than the recognized laws of trade, or 
 the uniform usages of society warrant. When this is 
 done on either side it disturbs the equilibrium of power, 
 and puts the whole machinery out of joint ; and not
 
 l6 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 simply the parties primarily concerned, but the whole 
 community is injuriously affected by the result. 
 
 INEQUALITY AND INJUSTICE. 
 
 This, it is alleged by the railway employees, is what 
 the companies have attempted to do. So far from deny- 
 ing, the authorities have rather admitted the " soft im- 
 peachment," and have pleaded extenuation from the ne- 
 cessity of the times., None of them have had the temer- 
 ity to assert that the reduced wages would be sufficient, 
 considered as a compensation for the work required, or 
 as furnishing adequate means for the supply of person- 
 al and domestic wants. This unenviable task has been 
 left to a few writers in the press who have taken a 
 strongly party view of the question, and many of whose 
 articles have evinced a lamentable confusion of idea, if 
 not a deliberate purpose to ignore the rights and claims 
 of the working men. No fair comparison can be 
 made between the actual value of wages paid now and 
 the wages paid twenty years ago, for the very simple 
 reason that the conditions of living have so materially 
 altered. Before the war house-rent was lower, and 
 both food and clothing were cheaper than they are to- 
 day. A salary of two dollars per day then would prac- 
 tically go farther than three dollars per day now. 
 
 It is doubtless true, according to the very hackneyed 
 metaphor which has lately been so much quoted, that 
 " half a loaf is better than no loaf " at all. Only 
 an idiot would call in question that very self-evident 
 truth. But in this case the application of the meta- 
 phor fails. The question is, why there should not be 
 a whole, instead of half a loaf ? With good, economi- 
 cal management would the need exist for this paring
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 17 
 
 down process ? Or, if unhappily, it become necessary 
 to go upon " short commons," why should not the rule 
 apply to managers as well as to men? It seems hardly 
 fair that they should share in all the profit, yet suffer 
 none of the loss. Equality is desired, not, indeed, of 
 position for that can never be; but rather in principle 
 and spirit, through which there may be a graduated 
 scale of profit and loss, according to the capital invest- 
 ed, and the service supplied. 
 
 AN IMPROVED RAILWAY POLICY. 
 Acting on these principles, it is possible for railway 
 companies to inaugurate a new era in the management 
 of their business, in which economy and justice may be 
 the prevailing elements, and through which the public 
 interests will be better served, and the condition of their 
 employees elevated and improved. It will be ruinous 
 to persist in the old lines of policy. That policy is 
 simply suicidal. The wants of the community require 
 the voice of the community demands a reorganization 
 of the whole system. Not the enrichment of the few at 
 the expense of the many, must be the object sought, 
 but rather the abandonment of selfish intrigues and 
 fraudulent designs, in promotion of the common good. 
 Such a change may more readily be brought about by a 
 full recognition of the fact that mechanics, engineers, 
 conductors, pointsmen, and every other class of railway 
 operatives, form integral parts of the system. They 
 cannot be dispensed with. The whole organization will 
 come to a standstill, or gradually fall to pieces, without 
 their services. It is right, therefore, that those services 
 should be estimated at their full value. They are not 
 to be demanded without an equitable compensation.
 
 l8 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 Our railway operatives are not to quote Longfellow's 
 phraseology, " like dumb driven cattle." It is their 
 habit to reason as well as to work. The service they 
 render is all the more trustworthy and useful in that it 
 is intelligent and voluntary ; and perhaps one of the 
 surest signs of the "good time coming," and one of the 
 most effectual steps towards the abrogation of mis- 
 understanding, and the perpetuation of order, will be 
 for railway and other public companies, to act prompt- 
 ly, generously, sincerely, and justly in recognizing the 
 claims of their men, and in fulfilling the duties of their 
 own relations towards them. 
 
 POSITION AND OBLIGATION OF WORKING- 
 MEN. 
 
 This, however, is only one side of the question. There 
 is a yet graver light in which to view it. It would be a 
 disastrous .thing to engender the idea, or to fencourage 
 the delusion, that workingmen are faultless. In too 
 many instances there is a virtual assumption of infalli- 
 bility on their behalf. So much has been said and writ- 
 ten on the vox populi vox Dei theory, that many of the 
 working classes seem foolishly to imagine. that there is 
 invested in them something analogous to the " divine 
 right" of kings, and that in virtue thereof they have an 
 absolute prerogative to control at once the course of 
 politics and the state of trade. 
 
 This is a mistake. There is nothing in nature or so- 
 ciety to warrant the assumption. With all the respect 
 due to them, submission to law and order is required 
 from them. Yea, more than this ; however potent may 
 be their influence because of their predominating 
 numbers, they are bound to subordinate that influence
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 19 
 
 to the general harmony of society rather than to the 
 gratification of the selfish schemes and passions of a 
 particular class. Hence resistance to the properly con- 
 stituated authority of the nation is at once criminal and 
 foolish; and hence, too, the enforcement of demands in 
 trade relations, whether pertaining to work or wages, 
 incompatible with a ratified agreement, or with a recog- 
 nized usage, or with a due regard to the responsibilities 
 and claims of the employers, necessarily disturbs the 
 proper course of business, and leads eventually to so- 
 cial disorganization and distress. 
 
 IMPOLICY OF THE LATE STRIKE. 
 
 The recent strikes have developed both these evils in 
 a remarkable degree. It may, indeed, be allowed that 
 many of the disturbances which are deplored were caused 
 principally by persons who are unconnected with the 
 railway service that the "roughs" and baser elements of 
 society took advantage of what was, in its first stages, a 
 legitimate and ordely movement, to gratify their 
 ferocious passions, and to wreak vengeance upon so- 
 ciety for plunder and crime. Still, the question may 
 be asked whether it was perfectly justifiable, and if 
 justifiable on abstract grounds, whether it was wise in 
 its practical issues to force the collision which ensued 
 between employers and employed ? Was there a 
 fair consideration of the condition of trade in the coun- 
 try, of the enormous shrinkage which had taken place 
 in the value of railway property, in common with other 
 real estate, and of the difficulties with which railway 
 companies had to contend in consequence of these 
 things, and of their own injudicious arrangements in 
 the past ? Was there any thought of the possibility of
 
 2O THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 the companies refusing the demands of their men? of 
 the right, or of the best course to pursue should such 
 a contingency occur? or of what might be the conse- 
 quences to themselves and to the country, if a general 
 strike should ensue, and if through that there should 
 be a suspension of labor, and an interruption of rail- 
 way traffic ? And estimating these things at their ap- 
 parent value, was there as the result of them the expres- 
 sion of a desire to hold, or the adoption of any open, 
 honest, organized plans for a friendly conference with 
 the authorities, that mutual differences and claims might 
 be frankly stated and fairly discussed, and that the actual 
 or supposed difficulty might be adjusted upon honorable 
 and satisfactory terms ? 
 
 Had such a method been adopted, is it probable that 
 anything like the dreadful scenes which disturbed the 
 country would have taken place? that anything ap- 
 proaching to a general stoppage of business would have 
 occurred ? Would not reason have asserted its supremacy 
 over passion ? Would not prejudice have been dis- 
 armed, and confidence restored, by friendly explanations 
 and kindly appeals? and satisfied that the interests 
 of employers and employed were substantially one, and 
 that by their harmonious or antagonistic action the pros- 
 perity of the whole country would be advanced or re- 
 tarded, would not the men have continued steady at 
 their work, resolving to make the best of the emergency ? 
 and would they not thereby have prevented the sacrifice 
 of both property and life, and the unspeakable anguish 
 which has since rent thousands of human hearts ? 
 
 The whole proceeding was apparently too impulsive 
 and selfish. No other interests were considered than 
 those which affected the classes immediately concerned.
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 21 
 
 Even those, indeed, were not duly appreciated, or greater 
 deliberation and caution would have been practised. And 
 with any just sense of the right of citizenship, or the 
 obligations of brotherhood, with any deference to the 
 claims of society, or any attempt to exemplify the golden 
 rule of doing unto others as we would others should 
 do unto us, the very thought would have been repelled 
 as mean and dishonorable, of causing employers to break 
 their engagements with the public, and of interrupting 
 the whole business relations of the community. When 
 thus fairly viewed the mind shrinks from the recent rail- 
 way strike, and from that on the Grand Trunk Railway 
 in Canada by which it had been preceded, as involving 
 a breach of faith, and as leading to the gravest public 
 inconvenience. In this respect it can be regarded only 
 as an unmitigated evil. 
 
 EVIL OF STRIKES IN GENERAL. 
 Nor can a more modified view be taken of the 
 practical character and effect of any other great strike 
 in the staple industries of the country. The same re- 
 lations subsist, and the same principles substantially 
 apply in mining and manufacturing interests. In a 
 proper view of the matter, those who are engaged in 
 those various callings are only agents of the public. 
 They engage to supply a certain article in demand upon 
 stipulated terms ; and any violation of the contract 
 through which the required article fails in its production 
 is a public disappointment and loss. To stop the rail- 
 way traffic is in effect to cut off the principal means of 
 communication and transport by which manufactured 
 goods may be distributed through the country ; whilst 
 to close the factories or mines is to cut off the supply at
 
 22 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 its very source, and thys to precipitate a state of general 
 stagnation and distrust. In either case the motive is 
 more selfish than patriotic. It is an appeal to brute 
 passion rather than to enlightened reason. By injuring 
 the whole it aims to benefit the few ; and in seeking to 
 resist a may-be too partial, and, perhaps, not always well 
 regulated system, it would establish in its place a blind 
 and irresponsible despotism, which would in another 
 form perpetuate and intensify the very evils of which its 
 promoters complain. This is unjust to society, since, 
 allowing there to be a wrong somewhere, the innocent 
 is made to suffer for the guilty, without any power of 
 voluntary action in the matter ; and since it is a direct 
 contravention of one of the fundamental laws of moral- 
 ity laid down by the Great Teacher " Thou shalt, love 
 thy neighbour as thyself." Nor is it less detrimental to 
 the parties primarily concerned ; since the worst passions 
 of their nature are aroused, and since they must of 
 necessity be partakers in the privations and sorrows 
 which inevitably follow. 
 
 Under any circumstances a strike is not the legiti- 
 mate method of settling a dispute. It is as unjustifiable 
 in trade as war is between nations. There is, and there 
 can be, no law absolutely to prevent a strike, inasmuch 
 as it simply resolves itself into resistance by one party to 
 a contract to certain terms proposed by the other. The 
 liberty to make such resistance is inseparable from 
 human nature and from our 'political constitution ; and 
 so long as any body of strikers keep themselves within 
 the bounds of the law they have a right to the protection 
 of that law. But those who choose to strike, for any 
 reason whatever, have no right to interfere with those 
 who do not ; and for any strikers to attempt to prevent
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 23 
 
 others working because they are* willing to work upon 
 the required terms, is an infringement of individual 
 liberty, and a virtual conspiracy against the order and 
 well-being of society. The threat of such interference 
 is, to begin with, unmanly and cowardly ; when that 
 threat results in intimidation and violence, then a public 
 outrage is committed, and the perpetrators of that out- 
 rage are amendable to law, and should be punished as 
 disturbers of the public peace. 
 
 OPPRESSION AND EVIL OF TRADES' UNIONS. 
 In like manner all combinations of men which par- 
 take of the nature of trades' unions are injurious in 
 practice, if not false in principle. They may begin with 
 a good motive; but they end in bad results. As volun- 
 tary organizations, formed for educational or protective 
 purposes, there is no law by which they can be repressed; 
 and, in so far as they promote union and afford protec- 
 tion, they prove of service to the laboring classes. When, 
 however, those combinations assume a power of dicta- 
 tion and control, both over their own members, and over 
 the industrial classes generally ; and when they enact 
 laws, and insist upon terms, which destroy freedom of 
 intercourse between employers and employed, and by 
 virtual terrorism and bondage place a restriction upon 
 all the trade operations of the community, except as 
 they may be fashioned upon their rule, and performed 
 in obedience to their mandate, then they obviously usurp 
 a function which is inimical to the spirit of the Consti- 
 tution, and to the orderly regulation of society ; and as- 
 suming, as they do very rapidly, the proportions of a 
 colossal despotism, they become, like Virgil's monster 
 " horrid, hideous, huge, and blind," a curse rather than
 
 24 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 a blessing, from which* humanity revolts, and which the 
 law should hold in check. 
 
 In the majority of instances trades' unions are under 
 the control of cunning and designing men, who impose 
 upon the credulity of the laboring classes, and through 
 their unsuspecting agency seek the gratification of their 
 own passions, and the enrichment of their own purses. 
 On such a subject experience should prove a trusty 
 guide. What has been in the past furnishes a fair 
 index of what may be expected in the future. In the 
 history of unions and strikes there is scarcely a re- 
 deeming feature. The good they have sought to ac- 
 complish has been vastly counterbalanced by the evil 
 they have produced. Had the primary object in every 
 instance been attained it would utterly fail to compen- 
 sate for the sacrifices entailed, and for the miseries en- 
 dured. It is rarely, however, that a strike is successful. 
 The employers can generally hold out longer than the 
 men. It is impossible that unions can supply funds for 
 the support of their members beyond a given point ; 
 and hence after the loss of millions of dollars in wages, 
 and the experience of sorrows which have proved worse 
 than the " bitterness of death," there have been added 
 shame and humiliation, and defeat. Such experience as 
 has been gained, and such facts and figures as might be 
 presented concerning unions and strikes, in both Great 
 Britain and the United States, ought to open the eyes of 
 the working classes to the futility of strikes in general, 
 and to the sinister motives of the union" leaders in par- 
 ticular. No good ever has, and no good ever will spring 
 from. them. .It is contrary to the law of nature. As 
 soon expect grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles, as 
 order and prosperity from the unconstitutional interfer-
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 25 
 
 ence of trades' unions, and the frenzied but powerless 
 resistance of strikers. 
 
 On this ground alone, apart from the deplorable ex- 
 cesses into which it degenerated, the late railway strike 
 may be regretted and condemned ; and chief among the 
 lessons which the laboring classes should learn from the 
 bitter ordeal through which they have passed is that 
 which teaches the advisability of their withdrawing 
 resolutely from such combinations and such movements. 
 It is derogatory to their character to be identified with 
 them ; it is endangering the public peace to aid in any 
 form in carrying into effect the selfish schemes of in- 
 triguing men who denounce authority in others that 
 they may become tyrants themselves, and whose ambition 
 it is to make the working classes their tools and slaves 
 in the unequal contest they wage ; and alike for their 
 personal independence and honor, for their domestic 
 comfort and social order, and for the commercial stabil- 
 ity and political reputation of their land, working men 
 of every grade should eschew connection with the 
 unions, and with the strikes they originate. With the 
 collapse of the former, the danger of the latter will 
 cease ; and with these hydra-headed monsters crushed, 
 a firm foundation could be laid for industrial co-opera- 
 tion in its truest sense, when upon the laboring popula- 
 tion of the country an era of prosperity and content- 
 ment would dawn. 
 
 COMMUNISM IMPRACTICABLE AND DE- 
 STRUCTIVE. 
 
 Even this, however, would not warrant the assumption 
 that an equal division of property should be made, and 
 that henceforth all distinctions in society should be
 
 26 THE LABOR PROBLEM 
 
 abolished. It is one of the wildest of chimeras to 
 imagine that there can be a perfect equality of posses- 
 sion and position. The analogies of nature, and the 
 history of the world, uniformly discountenance the idea. 
 In the primitive church even, when they that believed 
 sold their possessions, and had all things common, there 
 is no evidence that it was done in obedience to a divine 
 law, or that it was intended to initiate a permanent and 
 universal custom as characteristic of Christian fellow- 
 ship. All the evidence, indeed, shows that the circum- 
 stances were exceptional, and that the act itself was 
 voluntary. Nor did the practice long continue; for in 
 the development of the Christian idea in the planting 
 of the Christian Church there was manifested not only 
 a variety of intellectual gifts, and a diversity of spiritual 
 offices, but also a wide dissimilarity in the character and 
 extent of worldly possessions. 
 
 This in every age and place is a necessary result of 
 the order established in the universe. The constitution 
 of society requires that there be masters and servants. 
 As an eminent writer has observed, were all to start 
 upon a level to-day in point of worldly goods, the dis- 
 tinction between rich and poor would spring up to- 
 morrow. What is popularly denominated the Com- 
 munistic theory is both illogical and impracticable. It 
 could not succeed, simply because it is unnatural ; and 
 the only instance in modern times in which the experi- 
 ment has been forced upon the world was remarkable as 
 much for glaring injustice and heartless cruelty, as for 
 ignorant folly and selfish ambition. Those, therefore, 
 who would persuade the laboring classes that labor is a 
 badge of servitude, and as such incompatible with the 
 spirit of freedom, that redemption from the universal
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 2f 
 
 thraldom is now dawning, and that in the good time 
 coming there will be between all classes a common re- 
 lation and a common fund, and who in anticipation of 
 this "promised rest" of this " golden age" of this 
 " elysium of the gods " advise resistance to authority, 
 and a crusade against the rights of property, are simply 
 false prophets, blind leaders of the blind ; or, what is 
 worse, they are wolves in sheep's clothing, waiting only 
 their opportunity to plunder and devour. 
 
 A GLARING DELUSION. 
 
 It is creditable to the people that so few compara- 
 tively have been led astray by this delusion. A mo- 
 ment's reflection must convince them of the utter in- 
 sincerity of those who would thus ensnare them. Has 
 there been a single instance in which these Communist 
 leaders have evinced a disposition to make common 
 cause with their poorer brethren by an equal distribu- 
 tion of their goods ? If they possess real estate, or can 
 boast of a good bank account, have they shown any wil- 
 lingness to renounce their proprietorship, and to throw 
 all into a common fund, that distribution might be made 
 to every man according as he has need ? That is an 
 argument of another kind. Consistency requires its 
 application ; and the reluctance of those who would be 
 the founders of a new social era to ratify their repre- 
 sentations by their example, is suggestive of a conscious- 
 ness that their theory is unsound, and that their promi- 
 ses are delusive.
 
 28 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 THE WAY TO WEALTH AND INDEPENDENCE. 
 
 That the laboring classes may acquire not only a 
 competent income, but an independent fortune, their 
 best friends heartily desire. Nothing would be more 
 gratifying than to see them and their families well 
 dressed, to know that their tables are well supplied, 
 and to find evidence in their possession of good depos- 
 its in the banks, and of safe investments in real estate. 
 These things would add immeasurably to their self- 
 respect, to their social independence, to their po- 
 litical power ; and they would contribute proportion- 
 ately to the wealth and independence of the State. Nor 
 are these possessions really unattainable by the ma- 
 jority of working men ; but they must be acquired by 
 industry and frugality rather than by fraud and force. 
 How can men honestly claim that for which they have 
 not toiled, or which has never enriched their families ? 
 Even to " covet " that which another has earned by hard 
 work, or successful speculation, or inherited, maybe, 
 from fortunate ancestors, is prohibited by the moral law. 
 Much more dishonorable and iniquitous would it be 
 to enter into any conspiracy against the rights of prop- 
 erty, or to resort to any trickery and violence by which 
 the heritors of private property might be dispossessed, 
 or the treasures of public funds become subject to mob 
 control. 
 
 In such a contingency the weak and virtuous would 
 suffer ; the strong and brutal would triumph. Where 
 order is now supreme, anarchy would run riot ; and for 
 well-regulated, albeit but poorly compensated labor, 
 there would gradually spring up a condition of univer- 
 sal indolence, with all its concomitant woes. The work-
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 29 
 
 ing classes, of all others, have most reason to dread the 
 inauguration of such a revolting injustice. They would 
 prove eventually the most pitiable victims. Their best 
 interests would be sacrificed ; their most sacred and 
 cherished rights would be trampled in the dust. Those, 
 therefore, who would persuade them to lend their influ- 
 ence in furtherance of any crusade against capital, or in 
 promoting the adoption of any Communistic platform, 
 are their veriest enemies traitors alike to the working- 
 men and to the State. The laboring classes should re- 
 nounce intercourse with them, should reprobate their 
 insidious designs, should boldly denounce their revolu- 
 tionary ideas ; and whether or not they are satisfied 
 with present industrial arrangements, or with the rate 
 of compensation they now receive for the work they per- 
 form, they should proclaim with no uncertain voice, in 
 no equivocal terms, but in language which every class 
 may understand, and in terms which shall vibrate 
 through the universal heart, that they wish to acquire 
 independence and wealth only by manly, virtuous toil ; 
 and that whatever struggles may betide them it shall be 
 their ambition to reverence authority and to obey law. 
 
 WORKINGMEN IN POLITICS. 
 
 In this connection it is not impertinent to express a 
 doubt as to whether the movement recently started for 
 the formation of a Political Labor Party will be attend- 
 ed with any satisfactory results. The place of the work- 
 ing man in politics, as the phrase goes, it is neither 
 difficult to determine, nor just to deny. He is without 
 doubt a power in politics, especially during election 
 times. The astutest politician knows full well the value
 
 30 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 of his vote and influence. It is a pity that so much 
 disreputable trickery is adopted to secure them. The 
 tendency is to debase the public mind, and to 
 prevent the legitimate exercise of the political fran- 
 chise. It proves conclusively, however, that the work- 
 ing classes can influence in a very appreciable degree 
 the issues of a contest; and it suggests that to the wants 
 and wishes of such important factors in the State, re- 
 spectful consideration, at least, is due. 
 
 There cannot be a doubt that workingmen are 
 often deluded by promises which were never meant to 
 be fulfilled. Candidates for municipal honors, for State 
 Legislatures, and even for Congress itself, readily com- 
 mit themselves to assurances of reform for the benefit 
 of the country in general, and of the workingmen in 
 particular, in order thereby to ensure their suffrages on 
 election day. When the election is over the promises 
 are forgotten. The object henceforth to be aimed at 
 by the successful candidates is personal emolument 
 rather than the public good. Hence corrupt bargains 
 are formed ; hence fraudulent issues are^raised ; hence 
 jobbery and robbery reign supreme; and hence in the 
 struggle which ensues for office and gain the working 
 classes are more neglected, more impoverished, and more 
 abused. They have, therefore, just reason for complaint ; 
 and any arrangement by which a loftier standard can be 
 raised, and a healthier tone can be given to our system, 
 and through which the domestic and social interests of 
 the great masses of the people can be more effectually 
 advanced, will prove of lasting advantage to the nation. 
 But it is more than doubtful whether this can be done 
 by the formation of a distinct labor party. The need is
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 3! 
 
 not sufficient, the basis is not wide enough to warrant 
 the hope of success. There is hardly a district through- 
 out the whole Union in which a labor candidate, con- 
 sidered simply as such, would have a fair prospect of 
 being returned to Congress in face of the opposing in- 
 fluences against which he would have to struggle. 
 
 EFFICIENT LEGISLATION NEEDED. 
 
 Nor is it indeed an exclusive system of class legisla- 
 tion that is now specially desired. Such legislation is 
 of necessity partial ; and while, perchance, it may bene- 
 fit some particular interest or trade, in doing that it may 
 undesignedly inflict injury upon others. In a well- 
 regulated community all the various interests quietly 
 harmonize; and the aim of the Government should be 
 to conserve and benefit the whole, rather than to be- 
 friend one at the expense of the rest. In choosing repre- 
 sentatives for the people those should be preferred who 
 are characterized for their intelligence and independence, 
 for their integrity and humanity ; who will take a just 
 and comprehensive view of all the relations and circum- 
 stances of the country, and who will strictly and consci- 
 entiously aim to preserve peace and promote prosperity. 
 With such men the interests of the working classes will 
 be safer, and the general legislation of the country will 
 be better attended to than if inexperienced and incom- 
 petent men be elected solely because they are identified 
 with, or represent some particular trade or institution. 
 The country needs patriots, not mercenaries ; and the 
 laboring classes will render essential service by throw- 
 ing their influence into a movement for the election of 
 such men, This may require organization ; and organ-
 
 32 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 ization there should be. That, however, does not in- 
 volve the formation of a new party, distinct from and 
 antagonistic to the existing parties, and committed to 
 the nomination and support of certain candidates. 
 
 ABROGATION OF OLD POLITICAL PARTIES. 
 
 It is perhaps time that old party lines were to a 
 great extent broken down. The party shibboleth has 
 become a curse to the nation. Both Republicans and 
 Democrats have been exacting and corrupt ; and in the 
 bitter, relentless war they are waging with each other 
 they are blasting the reputation, and annulling the in- 
 fluence of their land. One is not one whit Better than 
 the other. Neither has been true to its professions ; and 
 neither has any special, exclusive claim to be considered 
 the workingman's party. The history of each is 
 stamped with extravagance and fraud ; and few tears 
 need be shed as their knell is sounded, and their re- 
 quiem pronounced. It will be wise for workingmen to 
 stand aloof from party organizations, and to remain un- 
 pledged for future votes. Their vantage ground is 
 high. One false step may rob them of their prize. 
 They should resist blandishment and bribe; they 
 should scorn corruption and crime. What they want is 
 good government, good legislation, good trade, good 
 food, good homes ; and, indeed, a general improve- 
 ment in the condition and affairs of the nation. 
 
 And these things are within their reach yea, easy 
 to attain, if the right men be elected to office. The 
 working classes themselves should judge of the fitness 
 of a candidate by the record of his life. Some men 
 now in office should never receive another vote. They
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 33 
 
 are covered with infamy. With the best opportunities 
 for doing good, they have schemed and plundered only 
 to enrich themselves at the expense of the people. Let 
 them be forever tabooed ; and whether the nominees of 
 Tammany Hall, or of Republican, or Democratic Con- 
 ventions, no candidates should receive the suffrages of 
 the workingmen who have been identified with 
 " Rings," who have been convicted of bribery and cor- 
 ruption, who have shown an incompetency for office, 
 who have been recklessly extravagant of the public 
 money, and who cannot prove themselves to be both able 
 and patriotic. The result would be a very speedy 
 change in both the enaction and administration of law, 
 in the trade of the country, and in the condition and 
 prospects of the people ; and without even the forma- 
 tion of a distinct labor party, the working classes would 
 be better attended to than at any former time. 
 
 THE POSSIBILITY OF MISUNDERSTANDINGS. 
 
 When the best has been done to pr-event them diffi- 
 culties will somes arise between employers and employed. 
 In the complications of trade it may be necessary to re- 
 adjust prices, or to impose fresh regulations for the 
 hours of work, etc. These may appear to the men, at 
 first sight, as oppressive, and may tend to excite a spirit 
 of resistance. That is the time for mutual deliberation, 
 for friendly conference. A difference of opinion need 
 not engender antagonism of feeling. As we have seen, 
 the interests are one; and often a proper explanation 
 at the start would suffice to prevent future trouble. 
 
 It is not reasonable that employers should assume to 
 make any alterations which in their judgment circum-
 
 34 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 stances may warrant, relying upon the acquiescence of 
 their men, without vouchsafing any explanatory re- 
 mark, or any conciliatory promise. There is too much 
 of the arrogant and despotic in such a course. It is 
 based essentially on the old, abrogated law of slavery, 
 which says to a man " go, and he goeth ; and to another, 
 come, and he cometh ; and to my servant do this, and he 
 doeth it." 
 
 Neither is it any more reasonable for workingmen to 
 refuse under any circumstances to entertain a proposal 
 for reduced wages; or for increased work ; and denounc- 
 ing the selfishness and perfidy of their employers, with- 
 out understanding the reason of their action, resolve to 
 effect a stoppage of work, neither doing themselves, nor 
 allowing others to do in their places. In such a course 
 there would be more of despotism and injustice than in 
 the former. The men would virtually proclaim them- 
 selves dictators, and for the gratification of their pas- 
 sions both law and reason must be trampled under foot. 
 It is inevitable that disastrous results follow upon 
 such a course. An open warfare is proclaimed between 
 forces which are mutually dependent, and between 
 which unbroken harmony should prevail ; and when 
 passion is aroused, and resistance has begun, who can 
 arrest the overflowing tide? As the wise man said, 
 " The beginning of strife is like the letting out of water." 
 
 VALUE OF ARBITRATION. 
 
 Can no remedy be applied for the evils which already 
 exist ? Can no preventive be suggested against their 
 recurrence in the future ? This is undoubtedly possible. 
 It may be found without difficulty in a wise system of
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 35 
 
 ARBITRATION. The parties immediately involved in a 
 dispute are not, upon prima facie grounds, the most suit- 
 able to propose terms for the settlement of that dispute. 
 By referring it to a third party, uninfluenced by preju- 
 dice, able to dissect it in all its hidden fibres and out- 
 ward facts, and resolved, as enthroned upon the seat of 
 justice, to hold the balance with an even hand, as 
 Shakespeare has it, " nothing to extenuate, or set aught 
 down in malice," the difficulty is removed at once from 
 the control of passion, and the atmosphere of prejudice, 
 and must receive such an adjudication as the principles 
 involved may warrant, and as the public interests de- 
 mand. 
 
 What practical obstacle can be started ? is it not 
 feasible ? What is required for its success ? does it need 
 anything more than a recognition of mutual privileges 
 and rights ? than the manifestation of a spirit of 
 forbearance and toleration ? than an earnest desire to 
 render and receive privately and publicly what is honor- 
 able and fair ? And are there any among either em- 
 ployers or employed who are not willing to admit the 
 validity of these terms, or to bind themselves by them ? 
 Will either party so far arrogate the possession of wis- 
 dom and justice as to refuse concession to the other ? Is 
 the genius of patriotism so far dethroned, and does 
 the fiend of selfishness so literally reign supreme, that 
 not even for the conservation of the commonwealth, and 
 the protection of life and home, are men willing to sac. 
 rifice their pride and prejudice, and, untrammelled by the 
 prestige of their order, or the laws of their union, meet 
 their fellow-men on a broad and open ground ? And are 
 we to be told that in this day of advanced civilization, 
 and " popular Christianity," when so many millions of
 
 dollars are expended in support of our schools and 
 churches, and in the inculcation of virtue and truth, it 
 is not possible to find a number of men who will dis- 
 passionately and impartially arbitrate between any 
 public company and their employers ? The very sugges- 
 tion of any such difficulty implies a reflection upon the 
 honor of the nation. It is not true that there is an un- 
 willingness to adopt the principle of arbitration ; or that 
 it is impossible to lay down a satisfactory basis on which 
 arbitration may be exercised. 
 
 In Great Britain the feasibility of the plan has been 
 signally demonstrated. The disputes in the mining 
 districts of the North of England have been settled upon 
 this principle. Even the shipbuilding strike on the 
 Clyde of Scotland, after a duration of sixteen weeks, 
 and the endurance of untold privations, has terminated 
 by the application of this law. How much better in 
 each case had arbitration been resorted to as a pre- 
 ventive rather than as a cure ! At the latest moment, 
 however, a recognition of the principle is a concession 
 to the claims of reason and justice, through which brute 
 force will be subordinated to intellectual and moral 
 power. 
 
 Shall not the example so wisely set in Britain be 
 followed in America ? Are not all classes among us as 
 willing to conciliate and equalize ? as the old Hebrew' 
 prophet said, "to do justly, and to love mercy?" It 
 requires but a beginning ; and why should not the 
 operative classes take the lead ? Why, in the matters 
 which are still in dispute, whether on the railways or in 
 the coal regions, should not the employees approach 
 their masters with terms of conciliation ? And why, to 
 prevent a recurrence of these deplorable misunderstand-
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 37 
 
 ings, should not each meet the other half way with an 
 expressed willingness to wipe out the record of the 
 past, and to lay down for themselves a method of amic- 
 able adjustment for the future ? A generous advance 
 on either side would meet with a cordial response on 
 the other. Both masters and men are, it is well known, 
 tired of the dispute. They want to see an end of the 
 difficulty. There is a deep, irrepressible yearning for 
 peace. The method of its attainment is easy. By 
 adopting the principle now urged a blissful calm may be 
 ensured. It may require a mutual giving-way, not of 
 principle, but of feeling, not of honor, but of pride. Do 
 not the exigencies of the country demand the concession? 
 and in view of the momentous interests involved, will 
 not you, employers, will not you, workingmen, crush 
 within you the lingering elements of a selfish and cruel 
 antagonism, and from the wreck of the late disastrous 
 struggle evoke a fresh the spirit of amity and love ? 
 
 EVIL HABITS OF WORKINGMEN. 
 
 There is yet another theme which this labor crisis 
 forces into view. The laboring classes must be just to 
 themselves, and to their families, if they would elicit 
 general sympathy, and if they would fortify themselves 
 against a day of trial. A reformation is needed in many 
 of their social habits. It will not be pretended by those 
 who know them best that they are always and scrupu- 
 lously provident in their ways. Many brilliant excep- 
 tions may undoubtedly be found. There are men who 
 work steadily, who live frugally, who save carefully, 
 and who strive earnestly to elevate their order, and to 
 enrich their land with the blessings of virtue no less
 
 38 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 than with the fruits of toil. These are the men who 
 discard credit at the stores, who eschew intercourse in 
 the saloons, who make deposits in the banks, who buy 
 land and build houses, who go to church and visit 
 libraries, whose homes are the abodes of comfort, and 
 whose families are patterns of respectability. 
 
 This cannot, unhappily, be said of all the working 
 classes. The conduct of by far the greater proportion 
 of them presents a darker picture. With all their anx- 
 iety to get money they are recklessly improvident in 
 its expenditure. They do not know, or do not try how 
 to make the most of small wages, or the best of adverse 
 circumstances. Their idea of life hardly travels beyond 
 the limit of the passing moment ; or their conception 
 of pleasure is debased to the lowest level of sensual in- 
 dulgence. Hence their associations are vulgar, and 
 their pursuits are grovelling ; and hence, too, the money 
 they often earn by such an expenditure of strength, and 
 by such an endurance of fatigue, and which wisely ex- 
 pended would secure for themselves and their families 
 at least a plain, substantial fare, is squandered in 
 drink, in tobacco, and in other questionable gratifica- 
 tions. 
 
 One of the first results of such an insane course is 
 to run into debt ; and following in the steps of this, 
 there come poverty and discomfort. Such a representa- 
 tion is not a libel upon the working classes. There are 
 a thousand hideous and revolting facts to demonstrate 
 its truth. If evidence were wanted of the need of a 
 social reformation, it may be found in the ragged gar- 
 ments, in the wretched homes, in the wasted strength, in 
 the premature graves, of the sons of toil, and of their 
 wives and children. These things have come directly
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 39 
 
 within the observation of the writer. He has had to do 
 with the broken health, with the broken hearts, and 
 with the broken homes, of thousands of the operative 
 classes ; and he can testify to the social vices, and to the 
 domestic miseries, and to the personal recriminations, 
 which are poisoning the life-blood of the nation, which 
 are sapping the very foundations of society, and which 
 threaten to transform the land into a pandemonium 
 of lust and woe, over whose portals may be inscribed 
 the awful words of Dante " They who enter here, must 
 leave all hope behind ! " 
 
 And why has there been, or why should there be, 
 this utter abandonment of hope and virtue ? It is not 
 because there has been a lack of work, or a lack of 
 money, or a lack of strong incentive to do better ; it is 
 rather because the masses of the people have been 
 swayed by corrupt impulse, and lead astray by evil ex- 
 ample, and under the conjoint influence of these have 
 been drawn insidiously and unconsciously into a mode 
 of life which implies a perversion of the noblest facul- 
 ties, and which must inevitably end in ruin and dis- 
 grace. 
 
 THE REFORMATION NEEDED. 
 
 Now any change in the condition of the working 
 classes must have a primary relation to these facts. 
 There will be little practical advantage, either to work- 
 ingmen themselves, or to their families, or to society, 
 from an increase of wages, unless there be engendered 
 the disposition and the power to make a better use of 
 the augmented income. The workingmen must reform 
 themselves. It should be their aim to prove themselves
 
 40 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 worthy of, no less than entitled to, a larger remunera- 
 tion for the services they render. They can do this by 
 , living with more economy and sobriety. There is no 
 need of, there is no excuse for, so much drinking, and 
 smoking, and chewing, and sundry other evils which are 
 inseparably associated with these. They are at best 
 wasteful, if not disgusting. It is quite time the work- 
 ingman learnt that the publican is not his truest friend, 
 and that the indulgence of his sensual passions neither 
 adds to his political power, nor ensures him domestic 
 comfort. As a great statesman has recently put it, the 
 home is the "unit of civilization;" and whilst for the 
 completeness of that unit wise sanitary regulations are 
 needed to begin with, as he urged, it is no less impera- 
 tive upon the occupants of that home to infuse into it a 
 spirit of confidence and love, and to diffuse around it an 
 air of calm and joy. 
 
 It is the province of the workingmen of the hus- 
 bands, of the fathers, of the sons, of the brothers of 
 our land to take the first steps in the fulfilment of this 
 pure and elevated mission, by the manifestation of 
 tempers, and the formation of habits, and the pursuit 
 of pleasures which shall be at once virtuous and en- 
 nobling. Their wives, and mothers, and daughters, and 
 sisters, will soon catch the holy influence, and join in the 
 humane work. The change will be as beautiful and 
 sweet as spring-tide flowers after the winter storm ; and 
 in the homes based upon such principles, and regulated 
 by such a spirit, there will be found the surest guaran- 
 tee for the preservation of order and peace against any 
 of the demoralizing scenes implied in a riot, or strife. 
 
 What say you, workingmen ? Will you not cultivate 
 self-respect ? Will you not aspire to independent lives ?
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 4! 
 
 Will you not struggle to make your families respected, 
 and your homes happy ? and by industry and intelli- 
 gence, and virtue, will you not leave an impress upon 
 your age more durable than tablets of brass or monu- 
 ments of stone ? 
 
 PROVINCE OF THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 It is impossible to close this paper without a reference 
 to the position and duty of the Government in this 
 crisis. The policy of the Government, indeed, may in 
 no small measure determine the issue of the crisis. Is 
 it fair to charge upon the Government any responsi- 
 bility, direct or indirect, for the scenes which have al- 
 ready been enacted ? May these scenes be traced 
 through any remote cause, or by any occult influence, 
 to an improper legislation, or to a feeble executive ? 
 Or, are they, through the imperceptible but certain 
 operation of natural laws, the necessary consequence, 
 the inevitable product of the principles enunciated, and 
 of the tactics employed, during the late Presidential 
 contest ? In view of many of the deplorable facts 
 which have been brought to light within the last two or 
 three years, implicating the integrity of some of the 
 most prominent men in the nation ; and in view of the 
 outrageous assaults upon personal honor, and the wan- 
 ton sacrifice of national prestige, for the gratification of 
 party malice and revenge, and for the attainment of 
 only political ends, is it much to be wondered at that in 
 the rebound of these things the reins of authority have 
 been relaxed, and the passions of the mob stirred up 
 beyond license and control ?
 
 42 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 There may be no practical utility at present in the 
 discussion of such a question, notwithstanding it touches 
 the secret spring, the hidden motives, of much of the 
 phenomena with which we are now confronted. The 
 more immediately important question is whether the 
 Government in the exercise of its legitimate functions 
 can allay the prevailing agitation, and prevent a re- 
 currence of the evil ? in other words, whether it can 
 devise any method by which without the contravention 
 of individual liberty, or public safety, all unseemly con- 
 flict between capital and labor can be avoided, and the 
 claims and rights of employers and employed be har- 
 monized ? This is doubtless one of the highest ends of 
 Government, since in this are involved the contentment 
 and prosperity of all classes of the community. 
 
 IMPARTIALITY OF THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 It is the special characteristic of our Government 
 that it not only exists for the people, but that it derives 
 its existence from the people. The purest models of 
 antiquity have suggested its character and form. Its 
 theory is perfect. In beautiful harmony it blends the 
 magisterial and the paternal ; and whilst springing from 
 the people, and therefore amenable to the people, it is as 
 much its prerogative to provide for their wants, as to 
 punish for their crimes. That Government will realize 
 in the fullest sense the prime idea of its being which 
 promotes by wise legislation the order and comfort of 
 the people, and which secures by a proper exercise of 
 authority protection to both property and life. 
 
 In this respect there is, and can be no distinction of 
 classes and persons. The poor equally with the rich
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 43 
 
 are the objects of good government ; the private in- 
 dividual no less than the public company is entitled to 
 its supervision , and as the history of the world amply 
 demonstrates, those periods have been most signalized 
 by industry and progress, and those nations have been 
 most fruitful in the blessings of civilization and peace, 
 in which the administration has been based upon prin- 
 ciples of liberty and justice, and in which the social 
 necessities of the people have been provided for as well 
 as their strictly political interests considered. Between 
 the two, indeed, it is difficult to draw any broad line of 
 distinction, since the purely social becomes the basis of 
 what is technically called political ; whereas in popular 
 usage political claims are nothing more or less than the 
 promotion of selfish party ends at the expense of the 
 public good. 
 
 INFLUENCE OF THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 It might be more than history would justify for even 
 flattery to affirm that the Government of the United 
 States has always realized its own ideal, or successfully 
 accomplished all the purposes of its founders. That it 
 has exerted a potent influence upon the human race, 
 and that it has achieved a wondrous success in the de- 
 velopment of sound principles, and in the establishment 
 of useful institutions, the merest reference to the history 
 of the last hundred years would sufficiently show. It is 
 not an empty boast that within that period its history is 
 unsurpassed in the record of nations. From an area of 
 about 800,000 square miles the country has grown into 
 the possession of territory measuring at least 3,603,800 
 square miles. From a population of only 2,756,044
 
 44 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 there has been an enormous growth to 44,675,000. At 
 the commencement of the century mining operations 
 were nil, and canals, railways, and telegraphs were 
 unknown ; whereas now our mines yield at least 
 $1,000,000,090, our canals extend to more than 10,000 
 miles, our railways thread the country to the extent of 
 74,658 miles, whilst our telegraph wires stretch over 
 80,000 miles and annually wing through the country 14, 
 ooo-,ooo messages. From about $20,000,000 our manufac- 
 tures have reached an annual value of $4,200,000,000, 
 whilst the foreign commerce of the country has ex- 
 panded to an average of $700,000,000. Where there were 
 no banks there are now about 6,000, with an aggregate 
 capital of $500,000,000. In place of 9 there are 500 
 colleges, with a public school organization which is 
 worked at an annual cost of $75,000,000. There are 65, 
 ooo churches with sitting accommodations for 25,000,000 
 persons, and with property to the value of $400,000,000. 
 There were 46 printing presses at the commencement of 
 the century ; their number is now legion ; whilst by their 
 prodigious power at least 1,600,000,000 newspapers and 
 periodicals are annually issued for circulation. The 
 public libraries of the country reach the astonishing 
 number of 165,000, whilst in these there are not less 
 than 50,000,000 volumes. 
 
 Are not such figures almost fabulous ? do they not 
 illustrate equally the resources of the country, and the 
 energy of the people ? Is it possible that such extra- 
 ordinary progress could have been made without the 
 action of a wise and beneficent Government ? and with 
 such changes in its favor what nation is more entitled to 
 admiration ? or what people are more fitted to exercise
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 45 
 
 a commanding influence in the advancing civilization 
 of the world ? 
 
 CONDITIONS OF NATIONAL SUCCESS. 
 
 But with nations as with individuals there is re- 
 quired the observance of certain laws. The attainment 
 or the continuance of success, even in a material sense, 
 is dependent in a large degree on political and moral 
 rectitude. It is righteousness that establishes a nation ; 
 or as another inspired authority has it, wisdom and 
 knowledge must be the stability of the times. A cor- 
 rupt government in its very nature will engender public 
 demoralization ; and as the inevitable result of licentious- 
 ness and fraud, whether among governors or governed, 
 there will be disintegration and decay. All the an- 
 alogies of nature suggest this ; all the examples of 
 history confirm it. In the decline and fall of the Ro- 
 man Empire there was first the insidious operation of 
 avarice and lust, of ambition and revenge. Equally so 
 the degradation of Spain in the nineteenth, as contrasted 
 with its glory in the sixteenth century, illustrates the 
 effects of bad government and defective morality. 
 
 CAUSES FOR APPREHENSION. 
 
 It would be hazardous to affirm that in the United 
 States a period of retrogression and decay has set in. 
 The future may be more brilliant than the past in all the 
 essential elements of prosperity. But notwithstanding 
 this there are very grave causes of apprehension. The 
 present social condition of the country is not indicative 
 of repose or progress. In the very agitation which has 
 distracted the public mind there are symptoms of a dis-
 
 46 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 order which may yet break upon us in overwhelming fury. 
 It is not, however, as some foreign critics are pleased to 
 say, the natural effect of the system we have adopted, by 
 which a proper equilibrium of power is destroyed, and 
 through which popular passion is allowed to usurp the 
 functions of legislative government. The system is 
 essentially sound. Any defect chargeable upon it is in 
 practical development rather than in abstract principles 
 and laws. As exemplified by the founders of the Con- 
 stitution, in the hands of such men as Washington, 
 Jefferson, Adams, Lincoln, and their illustrious col- 
 leagues, the Government adapted itself to every emer- 
 gency, and proved sufficient for every crisis ; and whilst 
 conserving liberty and order it promoted industry and 
 wealth. 
 
 There has been unquestionably a falling off in the 
 character of our public men during the last twenty 
 years. The occupants of some of the highest offices in 
 the nation have been men of incompetency and corrup- 
 tion. As one inevitable result utter feebleness has 
 characterized the administration of the law, whilst in the 
 method of transacting public business there has been 
 a melancholy departure from the principles and ex- 
 amples of our forefathers. Personal emolument has 
 taken the place of patriotic zeal ; intrigues for private 
 gain have led to a sacrifice of public virtue ; and painful 
 as the fact is, it is nevertheless true, that during the 
 centennial period of our history, there were exhibited 
 scenes of treachery and fraud which scarcely find their 
 parallel in the blackest forms of Roman corruption, 
 or in the boldest bribery which stained the fair fame of 
 Britain a century ago.
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 47 
 
 It is hardly to be doubted that these things have had 
 a demoralizing influence upon the public mind. They 
 have relaxed the reins of power ; they have weakened 
 the restraints of law ; they have ignored the claims of 
 virtue ; they have frustrated the very ends of justice ; 
 and by their spirit, and tendency, and influence, they 
 have prepared the way for the crisis through which we 
 are passing, and have rendered imminent the very con- 
 vulsion which our critics predicate will yet rend the 
 Republic in sunder. 
 
 DIRECT CAUSES OF THE NATIONAL DISQUIET. 
 
 It must, however, be allowed that a series of sub- 
 sidiary causes have been in constant operation. The 
 war of the rebellion destroyed the amity and impover- 
 ished the resources of many of the States. An enormous 
 debt was hung like a millstone round the neck of the 
 Union. Without prudently looking into the future, or 
 calmly calculating the cost, capitalists and merchants 
 recklessly rushed into speculation, in the purchase of 
 land, in the building of houses, in the manufacture of 
 goods, in the extension of railways, &c. By immigration 
 from foreign countries an unproductive population was 
 rapidly augmented. The market became stocked with 
 unsaleable goods. In the frenzy of the hour large ad- 
 ditions were made to Federal, State, and municipal debts. 
 By restrictive regulations the arms of business became 
 paralysed ; by excessive taxation the income of the 
 people was crippled ; and gradually, like a gaunt de- 
 vouring, unappeasable giant, stagnation appeared 
 amongst us ; and our manufactures were reduced, and 
 our foreign trade was checked, and many of our bonds
 
 48 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 were depreciated in the market, and much of our money 
 became locked up in the banks, and some of our oldest 
 houses began to totter, and thousands of our operatives 
 sat down in gloomy despondency, and from the heart of 
 the nation there went up to heaven an agonizing cry 
 for labor and bread. 
 
 PREROGATIVE OF GOVERNMENT. 
 
 It is the prerogative of the Government to meet the 
 evil boldly ; and whatever defect may be inherent in the 
 Government, or may attach to its practical administra- 
 tion, it has without doubt the power to mitigate, if not 
 remove entirely, the evils complained of, or, at least, to 
 lay the foundation by prudent legislation for returning 
 prosperity to the country. To say that this is impractic- 
 able, or that any such effort does not legitimately fall 
 within the province of the Government, is virtually to 
 plead that the Government has abdicated its functions, 
 and that with all the expenses incident to its existence, 
 it is for practical purposes a nullity and a bugbear. 
 The most complicated cases of private wrong, or of 
 public disorder, fall under its jurisdiction, since every 
 citizen is amenable to it, and asks protection from it ; 
 and in the exercise of its functions it may and should 
 harmonize the highest claims of individual liberty with 
 the sternest demands of national justice. 
 
 This by no means implies a power of needless inter- 
 ference in the personal or family relations, or in the 
 business enterprises, or in the capital and property 
 possessions of the community. It is competent for the 
 Government to enact certain laws by which residence 
 within its bounds shall be regulated, or in conformity
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 49 
 
 with which business relations may be carried on. But 
 none of these can infringe the inherent rights of hu- 
 manity, as established and revealed by the Creator, and 
 as recognized among all civilized nations. It is rather 
 to ensure the proper exercise and development of these 
 that Government is organized, in obedience to and as 
 representative of the will of the Universal Lawgiver ; 
 and when in any instance the assertion of legislative 
 authority, or executive power, clashes with the funda- 
 mental principles on which society is constituted, a 
 wrong is enacted, and mischief will follow. 
 
 LIBERTY AND PROPERTY MUST BE 
 PROTECTED. 
 
 On this principle the Government has no power to 
 interfere with the possession of private property, except 
 for the satisfaction of the law, and the protection of the 
 public interests, when a fraud has been perpetrated, or 
 a high crime committed. It cannot require a laborer to 
 surrender his household effects, or any one single 
 article from among them, to form part of a national 
 stock, any more than it can demand of the banker that he 
 throw open the vaults where his specie is secured, or the 
 capitalist that he resign unconditionally the title-deeds of 
 his real estate, whether in land or buildings. In each case 
 there is the inalienable right of possession. A chair, or 
 a dollar, or a house, honestly acquired, is as much the 
 personal property of the individual who owns it as 
 either his hands' or his feet ; and so long as he acts in 
 conformity with the law of the country in which he was 
 born, or in which he has become naturalized, no power 
 in that country can justly deprive him of the one, any
 
 5 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 more than of the other. If a citizen of his own accord 
 chooses to surrender the whole or a part of his personal 
 property for the public good, the Government is author- 
 ized to accept the gift, and to apply it in accordance 
 with the wishes of the donor. Or, if any number of 
 individuals, for the gratification of any peculiar whim, 
 or for the experimental developement of any particular 
 principle in social economy, unitedly and voluntarily 
 agree to throw all their possessions into a common fund, 
 and abolishing all distinctions of rich and poor, each 
 work on the same footing, and all be rewarded with the 
 same terms, the Government has no right of intervention, 
 so long as its taxes are paid, and both the civil and 
 moral laws are observed. 
 
 In such cases, however, there is nothing analogous 
 to the Communistic theory, which requires a general 
 levelling, and regardless of all other considerations, as 
 well physical as moral, a uniformity of income. There 
 is, indeed, between them the widest possible difference, 
 since the one act would be voluntary, whilst the other 
 would imply violence. Without perfect unanimity of sen- 
 timent, and, resulting from that, a general concert of 
 action, no attempt even could be made to practise a 
 Communistic system. In the nature of things, and ac- 
 cording to the very laws which govern the universe, such 
 oneness of mind and habit is impossible. It must spring 
 up spontaneonsly not be produced by coercive measures ; 
 and were the Government to interfere to compel any in- 
 dividual against his will to surrender his property, and to 
 conform to a dull, unbroken uniformity of work and 
 wages, it would simply exceed its own functions, and 
 would strike a fatal blow at its own existence, and at the 
 order of society, it is created to conserve.
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 51 
 
 There is no more possibility of success now than 
 there was in the days of Wat Tyler and Jack Cade in 
 England in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, or 
 than during the French Revolution of 1789, which 
 literally paved the way for a military despotism. Yea, 
 more than this, there is less reason now, and especially 
 in America, for any Communistic organization than in 
 the periods thus mentioned. More social equality pre- 
 vails ; more political power is enjoyed ; and should the 
 Government entertain in the slightest degree the wild, 
 illogical, and irrational propositions of a few crazy 
 theorising demagogues, or of any body of selfish, sen- 
 sual, indolent, merciless " roughs," who might demand, 
 by the aid of fire and plunder, equality of station, and 
 equality of goods, it would prove itself unworthy of 
 confidence and respect, and should give place to 
 " honester men " as old Cromwell put it. There is no 
 danger that such a catastrophe will befall the nation. 
 The very mention of Communism is sufficient to excite 
 terror, and to ensure its condemnation. 
 
 THE GOVERNMENT CANNOT BECOME A 
 TRADE CORPORATION. 
 
 Nor is it any more clear that the Government can 
 interpose by any direct influence to regulate the ques- 
 tion of labor and wages between employers and em- 
 ployed. It is utterly inadmissible that the Government 
 can become a labor corporation, undertaking to run 
 the railways, or to work the mines, or to manufacture 
 any of the various kinds of goods which may be in de- 
 mand in the market, or which may find employment for 
 the people. f!\ny such proposition is based upon a pure
 
 52 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 misapprehension of the primary functions of the Gov- 
 ernment. The very first attempt to give it practical 
 effect would bring the Government into collision with 
 corporate bodies and private tradesmen. Their rights 
 would be infringed. If the Government should start as 
 a trader in one department, it must begin business in all ; 
 or, somewhere an inequality would exist, or an unfair 
 advantage would be taken ; and should the Government 
 succeed in establishing a great commercial monopoly, 
 from whose prices no deviation could be made, and by 
 whose laws all industrial interests must be governed, 
 where would be the liberty of individual action? and 
 where the stimulus to public enterprise ? 
 
 As a matter of economy it is doubtful whether the 
 Government could work to the same advantage as a 
 properly organized company, or a single energetic trades- 
 man ; and, therefore, independently of the enormous 
 appropriations which would be required to buy up all the 
 railways, and other business of the country, it is morally 
 certain that the revenue would be disproportionate to 
 the expenditure, and that national bankruptcy would 
 ensue. But apart altogether from that, which is men- 
 tioned only as a side issue, the essential point of the 
 argument is, that the Government cannot undertake any 
 trade relation without sacrificing its proper character; 
 and infringing the liberty of some portion of its subjects. 
 
 CONDITIONS ON WHICH PUBLIC CHARTERS 
 MAY BE GRANTED. 
 
 It is 'doubtless a fair question to raise whether in 
 granting a charter to any business corporation the Gov- 
 ernment is not authorised to make such stipulations as
 
 ,THE LABOR PROBLEM. 53 
 
 it may deem necessary for the due transaction of the 
 business concerned, and for the safety health, and com- 
 fort of those who may be employed. This does come 
 naturally and properly within its sphere, since the 
 very existence of the business is primarily dependent 
 upon its permission and sanction ; and since it has no 
 right to sanction an undertaking upon conditions which 
 may prove inimical to the public good. 
 
 Thus, if a railway company apply for the charter of 
 a new line, and if with that there be sought the additional 
 privilege of a land or money grant to aid in the con- 
 struction of the line, the Government would not only be 
 empowered, but perfectly justified, in demanding, not 
 only that the line should be of a certain gauge, or that 
 the carriages should be built upon an approved model, 
 but also that the employees should not be required to 
 work more than a stipulated number of hours, and only 
 upon clearly defined terms. This might be necessary to 
 balance the trade forces which are to be brought into 
 operation, and to render the whole subservient to the 
 public good, since without such stipulations the strong 
 might take advantage of the weak, or the rich impose 
 upon the poor. But when the Government has thus 
 laid down the law it can hardly interfere further, except 
 in cases where the charter is violated, or wherein 
 some other portion of the civil code is contravened. 
 Within the limits of that charter the company and their 
 employees have the undoubted right to make any sub- 
 sidiary arrangements which they may think advisable 
 for the success of the enterprise, and which are .mutu- 
 ally satisfactory.
 
 54 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 VALIDITY AND OBLIGATION OF TRADE 
 CONTRACTS. 
 
 The same is true of any other public company or 
 mercantile firm. In every business organization a cer- 
 tain amount of liberty is necessary, and that in the 
 nature of things implies power. Each party to the en- 
 gagement supplies a distinct kind of capital, valued in 
 the market, not by an arbitary law of proportion, or a 
 uniform standard of weight and measure, but by the 
 varying usages of society which regulate the supply and 
 the demand, and through which money capital is some- 
 times rendered unproductive, and labor capital is only 
 partially required. It is, therefore, competent to each to 
 make the best bargain he can, so long as a due regard is 
 had to the other primary and fundamental conditions 
 which are assumed. The Government cannot step in 
 and say that employers shall not pay more than a 
 certain ratio of wages, or that employees shall not re- 
 ceive less than a certain sum. Nor is there, indeed, any 
 power to compel the masters to make an equal division 
 of their profits among the men, any more than the law 
 can require the employees to work for nothing, because 
 under some circumstances the business may be carried 
 on at a loss. 
 
 The whole thing resolves itself into a mutual agree- 
 ment. It is of the essence of such an agreement that; 
 each party should be willing to give and take. On one 
 side, at least, an immense risk is incurred ; but that, 
 again, is counterbalanced by the prospect of great gain. 
 On the other a positive and regular income is insured, 
 on condition that a prescribed course of duty be per- 
 formed. When rightly balanced the two forces thus
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 55 
 
 employed, so far from proving antagonistic to each 
 other, are mutually serviceable and dependent. Each 
 advances the interests of the other, and through the two 
 combined the convenience of society, and the growth of 
 the nation are secured. Neither has power over the 
 other, except for the service he has stipulated to render. 
 To that extent each is responsible to the other ; and 
 here the natural prerogative of the Government comes 
 into play, in requiring from each a fulfilment of the con- 
 tract, and in enforcing justice between man and man. 
 
 Beyond a certain limit the Government cannot in- 
 terfere with the formation of the contract. That must 
 be left to the option of the parties primarily concerned, 
 and must depend upon the nature of the circumstances 
 in which they are respectively placed. But when the 
 contract has been made, and when upon the strength of 
 that work has been begun, each party has the right of 
 protection in his person, his property, his work, and his 
 reward ; and it is in affording such protection, with all 
 the security and stimulus it necessarily involves, that 
 one of the highest functions of the Government is per- 
 formed. Should the contract be broken, no matter by 
 which party, the other has redress through a judicial 
 process ; and if whilst at work, or as the result of work, 
 there be danger of assault, then even the military arm is, 
 or may be stretched out in defence. 
 
 Is more needed ? Can the Government consistently 
 attempt more ? There is liberty of action, yet security 
 of possession ; the power of individual choice, yet 
 amenability to a general law ; and in such a state is 
 there not, at least, an approximation to the bright ideal of 
 which Plato dreamed, and Cicero declaimed ? If dis- 
 putes should afterwards arise in the practical arrange-
 
 56 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 ment of business matters if, on the one hand, employ- 
 ers should wish to reduce the wages of their men, be- 
 cause of a slackness of trade ; or, if on the other, 
 employees should desire an advance of wages, through 
 the briskness of trade, and on either ground there be a 
 danger of collision, then in that as a mere difference of 
 opinion, or conflict of rival claims, the Government has 
 no legal right to interfere. 
 
 ARBITRATION PROPOSED BY GOVERNMENT. 
 
 But here the question again arises whether such 
 differences may not be amicably settled by mutual ex- 
 planation through the intervention of a third party ; or 
 whether each party could not be induced to refer the 
 whole question in dispute to the judgment of a disin- 
 terested and impartial board of arbitrators, whose de- 
 cision should be accepted as final ? If the possibility of 
 such a method be admitted, could not the Government 
 talce the initiatory step in proposing a national board of 
 arbitrators, or in suggesting the general principles on 
 which such a board may be established ? What higher 
 function can the Government perform than to mediate 
 between contending parties, and by securing satisfaction 
 for each prevent the possibility of the disturbance of the 
 public peace, or an interruption of the course of trade ? 
 
 It is reasonable to assume that both employers and 
 employed are accessible to reason open to conviction- 
 anxious to obtain only what is right. In numerous in- 
 stances the benefits of arbitration have been realized; 
 and so simple and honorable has the method proved that 
 the parties engaged in the dispute have afterwards been 
 amazed at their own stupidity in not resorting to the
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 57 
 
 plan sooner. The adoption of this expedient might have 
 prevented altogether, or very materially have modified 
 the recent troubles. What is neededjs a rule, mutually 
 acceptable, and applicable to all cases, by which any 
 trade dispute shall be referred on certain clearly de- 
 fined principles to arbitration. The Government can- 
 not require this by proclamation; Congress cannot en- 
 force this by the enaction of a new law. In either case 
 there would be an infringement of liberty, and an un- 
 warrantable interference with the mutual relations of 
 masters and men. But both Government and Congress 
 can recommend an arrangement ; both Government and 
 Congress can develope a plan by which it may be car- 
 ried out ; and both Government and Congress can take 
 the initiatory steps for securing a general acquiescence. 
 In doing this the Government will conserve its dignity 
 and power, and will render a service to the nation and 
 the age far more useful than the most brilliant victory 
 upon the field of battle, and by which its name and in- 
 fluence will be indelibly impressed upon the hearts of 
 the people. 
 
 FISCAL REGULATIONS: SPECIE PAYMENT: 
 TARIFF REVISION, &c. 
 
 There are other matters, however, upon which the 
 Government can take immediate and direct action ; and 
 some of which bear upon the laws which afifect the gen- 
 eral relations of trade and finance in the country. In 
 this connection are to be noticed, first, the resumption of 
 specie payment, according to the Act of Congress; second, 
 the adoption of a single monetary standard, the formation
 
 58 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 of that upon a gold basis, and the consequent rejection 
 of any and every plan for the remonetization of silver ; 
 and third, a careful* and liberal revision of the tariff, so that 
 the oppressive duties now imposed upon foreign com- 
 merce might be reduced, and the way gradually prepared 
 for the opening up of reciprocal trade relations with 
 Canada, and with foreign countries generally. 
 
 These are questions which involve the speedy and 
 safe return of commercial prosperity. The Govern- 
 ment cannot afford to trifle with them. Its consistency 
 and honor, if not its very existence and power, are in- 
 volved in them. In a subsequent treatise, or in a series of 
 papers, it is proposed to discuss these questions in full, 
 showing the basis on which they rest, the principles they 
 involve, the effects which may be anticipated from their 
 early settlement, and the means by which such settle- 
 ment- may be brought about. Among the working 
 classes, and among politicians too, there is too much 
 mystification on these matters ; and it does seem desir- 
 able to sweep away the cobwebs in which some very 
 simple facts have become entangled, and to break down 
 the fallacies by which certain writers and speakers are 
 attempting to bolster up or revive an unsound, and, 
 therefore, a dangerous financial policy. The writer pro- 
 poses to attempt this, and thus to supplement the present 
 appeal by a few other arguments and facts which the 
 people need, and which may contribute something to- 
 wards the settlement of these questions. 
 
 In the meantime the Government is under a weighty 
 responsibility for the enforcement of the Resumption 
 Act at the time specified, and for the preliminary steps 
 towards a revision of the tariff. Both are needed ; for 
 both the people look to the Government ; and from
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 59 
 
 both the happiest effects may be expected to spring. A 
 degree of public confidence would be restored which 
 has long been wanting in the business of the nation ; 
 an incubus would be removed which has clogged the 
 wheels and blocked up the highway of trade ; and an 
 elasticity and vigor would be infused into all depart- 
 ments of commerce which would quicken the national 
 pulse, which would put into circulation millions of 
 dollars of idle capital, and which would find employ- 
 ment for thousands of our now half-famished laborers 
 and mechanics. With the adoption of such a policy 
 bright and halcyon days would return ; and following 
 in their train would be contentment, order, and joy, a 
 peaceful nation and happy homes. At the present mo- 
 ment almost every circumstance is favorable for the 
 action of the Government in this direction. A super- 
 abundant harvest is changing the whole commercial 
 aspect of the nation, and is preparing the way for the 
 long-desired and expected revival of trade. The heavens 
 are bright with promise, the fields have been rich with 
 fruit ; and the Government has only to read wisely the 
 "signs of the times," and to act boldly in co-operation 
 with Providenc itself, to remove every ground of dis- 
 quietude and complaint, and to secure for the country 
 a measure of prosperity unequalled in its own history, 
 and unsurpassed by that of any other nation. 
 
 NECESSITIES OF THE UNEMPLOYED. 
 
 In anticipation of this consummation, however, the 
 Government has yet to consider whether it can adopt 
 any effectual measures for the relief of the thousands 
 throughout the country who are now destitute of em-
 
 60 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 ployment, and in want of the ordinary provisions of 
 life. The fact is indisputable that there are multitudes 
 of such amongst us. It may be that the number is some- 
 times exaggerated. In the common estimate of 3,000,000 
 of unemployed persons their are probably included 
 several thousands who do not fairly fall under that 
 classification. Still, the fact is there that at any rate an 
 immense mass of people have nothing to do ; and taken 
 in the aggregate they form a prodigious power for evil. 
 With their passions inflamed ; with the pangs of hunger 
 driving them to madness ; and with a black, enthralling 
 despair, like a fiend, clasping them in its arms, they are 
 becoming very threatening elements of society. Many 
 of them have been industrious, respectable, virtuous, 
 and they once little thought of ever being reduced to 
 public charity. 
 
 But circumstances have a wonderful influence in 
 vitiating principle, and in deteriorating character ; and 
 let moralists and theologians theorize and dogmatise as 
 much as they please about the obligation of virtue, and 
 the duty of snbmission, and the reward of piety and 
 Heaven knows we have quite enough of sentimental 
 nonsense and repulsive dogmatism in our pulpits and 
 periodicals, whilst the real, hard, heart-rending facts of 
 life are unnoticed or ignored. there is, after all, a 
 sting in poverty which will pierce the bravest soul, and 
 there is a point of dependence and humiliation which 
 will break down the severest restraints of law and rea- 
 son. It is cruel mockery to preach contentment to a 
 man when his family is starving, and when, though 
 willing to perform any labor by which he can honestly 
 earn a dollar, he is repulsed at every door. When will 
 our preachers learn that the gospel of Christ is a gospel
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 6l 
 
 of humanity, of food and clothes, more than of hard 
 inexorable conditions, whether of predestination or of 
 repentance and faith ? There is a present necessity 
 which must be grappled with ; future contingencies are 
 uncertain. Whether right or wrong, people will allow 
 the wants of the body to predominate over the claims of 
 the soul ; and such is the constitution of nature, and 
 such are the habits of life, that by ministering to physi- 
 cal comfort the surest door is open for effecting spiritual 
 good. .A^avage is not insensible to a deed of kindness ; 
 the rockiest nature will melt beneath the plastic touch of 
 sympathy ; and to-day, unpromising as things some- 
 times look, let our politicians cease their intrigues, and 
 our preachers their abstractions, and let them go as Jesus- 
 that perfect model of humanity did, into the homes and 
 hearts of these thousands of unemployed, half-starved, 
 half-ferocious men and women, and find them labor for 
 their hands, and food for their bellies, and clothes for 
 their backs, and make them feel that they are not de- 
 serted, though destitute, that there are human hearts 
 which still beat responsively to theirs in all their inner 
 woes ; and the strong hand of prejudice, and resentment, 
 and hostility will relax it grip, and floods of grateful 
 tears will prove that deep down within the soul, over- 
 grown it may be by weeds and briers through long years 
 of neglect, there is a spring of the tenderest sensibility ; 
 and touching that as only a kindly word, or a gentle 
 feeling, or a generous deed can do effectually, the 
 foundation will be laid for a state of public order and 
 peace which a million bristling bayonets will never 
 bring about.
 
 62 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 CAN THE GOVERNMENT FIND EMPLOY- 
 MENT. 
 
 Can the Government devise any expedient for the 
 employment of these people ? It will not do to plead 
 the want of power. The power exists ; and the re- 
 sponsibility, too- No amount of sophistry and evasion 
 will suffice to relieve the Government of its obligation 
 to preserve the public peace, and, as necess^y to that, 
 to provide for the health and comfort of the people. It 
 may prove a complicated question ; but it is not incap- 
 able of solution. The danger has to be avoided, on the 
 one hand, of encouraging pauperism and crime ; on the 
 other, of increasing public taxation and debt. And by 
 the complex nature of our Government the question 
 is reduced really into very simple proportions. It is 
 whether by the Federal, State, and Municipal authori- 
 ties combined, a system of public works may not be 
 designed by which starvation may be kept away from 
 thousands, and public tranquility be ensured ? In its 
 own province each authority is supreme ; yet all may 
 act in concert for a special end. And is their a nobler 
 object in which they can thus unite than in that which 
 requires the highest legislative wisdom, and the most 
 generous impulses of the human heart? 
 
 In every State, if not in every city and town, im- 
 provements may be made, or works may be begun, which 
 will contribute to its material adornment, or to its sani- 
 tary order, or to its social progress, and upon which, in 
 so far as these objects are concerned, public money will 
 be wisely expended. Could there be a more opportune 
 period than the present for the performance of such
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 63 
 
 works ? The reduced price at which building materials 
 generally are sold, and the all but unlimited supply of 
 labor-power, render possible the completion of such un- 
 dertakings upon more reasonable terms than at any 
 former period. In due time they will more than repay 
 the money expended upon them, in the advancement of 
 the public good, whilst in the immediate present they 
 will help to avert a public danger, and to supply an 
 urgent want. Could not the expenses thus incurred be 
 provided for between the Federal, State, and Municipal 
 Governments, upon a fairly graduated scale, or by an 
 equitable principle of proportion? and is it not possible, 
 even in these days of jobbery and fraud, so to arrange 
 that the work shall be efficiently done, and the money 
 honestly expended, according to the rules laid down, 
 without reference to political proclivities, and without 
 the enrichment of dishonest speculators? 
 
 NEW FIELDS OF LABOR OPENING UP. 
 
 But this at best could be only a temporary and limit- 
 ed expedient. It would not be wise to conceive of 
 such a plan as a permanent and effectual remedy for all 
 the misfortunes which prevail. Some other arrange- 
 ment is obviously required Avhich shall have the double 
 advantage af dispersing the unemployed population, 
 and of developing the resources of the country. 
 
 There is too great a tendency to crowd together in 
 certain centres, and from that part of the present mis- 
 chief springs. It is at best an unwise practice ; and 
 probably the most effectual counter-action that could be 
 furnished to the practice is for the Government to pro- 
 vide facilities, and to present inducements for the peo-
 
 64 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 pie to migrate to the West and the South, where the 
 population is limited, where the climate is salubrious 
 and healthy, and where the land will yield untold 
 treasures as the reward of patient and persevering toil. 
 What has been realized within the last few years in 
 certain districts of the country both in agricultural pro- 
 duce and in mineral wealth is a fair index of the stores 
 of unfathomed riches which are waiting to be explored, 
 and of the brilliant fortunes which may yet be made. 
 
 It is possible that the extent of unoccupied prairie 
 land in the West yet available or suitable for cultivation 
 is not so great as we have generally supposed. In a 
 recent article Mr. David Wells, an eminent authority on 
 economic subjects, has boldly affirmed that the quantity 
 of fertile public land suitable for farming purposes 
 which can now be obtained by preemption, or at nomi- 
 nal prices, is comparatively limited, if not nearly ex- 
 hausted. This opinion is apparently confirmed by the 
 researches of Major Powell, who has charge of the 
 Geological Survey of the Territories, and who, when 
 reporting on the subject, says that there is not left un- 
 sold within the whole of the United States, except it be 
 in Texas or the Indian Territory, land which a poor man 
 could turn into a productive farm, of sufficient extent to 
 make one average county in Wisconsin. There is some- 
 thing, at first sight, startling in these statements ; and 
 possibly the evidence which Major Powell is about to 
 furnish in the Report he is preparing for Congress may 
 open up an entirely new phase of thought, and lead to 
 a new line of action. Under any circumstances it is 
 better that the actual facts should be known. We can 
 legislate wisely if we know the ground on which we 
 stand, and the direction in which our plans must turn.
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 65 
 
 But when all has been conceded that Mr. Wells and 
 Major Powell require, it is still unquestionably true 
 that there is a large portion of land unoccupied in . the 
 West, upon which fertile farms may be formed with 
 comparatively small expense and labor. There are offi- 
 cial reports to prove this ; and suplemental to these are 
 numerous communications which hold out an encouraging 
 prospect to those who with willirfg hands and earnest 
 hearts may -turn their faces west-ward. But leaving the 
 Western territory out of consideration, are there not 
 numerous places in the South, both east-ward and west- 
 ward which are at this moment awaiting cultivation 
 and which present almost unexampled facilities for both 
 manufacturing and agricultural operations ? In Texas 
 alone, not to mention any other State, since a reference 
 as made to that by Major Powell, the climate and soil 
 are simply superb, whilst the territory, as a recent writ- 
 er has said, is greater in area than Kentucky, Virginia, 
 Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and 
 all New England united. There are other places, too, 
 rich beyond expression in the primary elements of 
 wealth and power. Yet the immense advantages provi- 
 ded by nature in these Southern States are practically 
 unenjoyed, simply because there are wanted the popu- 
 lation, the enterprise, the skill, which are necessary to 
 their full development. Were a few thousand dollars 
 judiciously expended in some of these places, with 
 steady, well directed labor, a wondrous, transformation 
 would quickly follow. Many who are now in penury 
 would luxuriate in comfort ; and the glowing picture of 
 the old Hebrew prophet might be realized, when the 
 wilderness shall become a fruitful field, and the desert 
 shall blossom as the rose : when instead of the thorn
 
 66 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 shall spring up the myrtle tree, and instead of the brier 
 the fir tree ; and when from the very rocks shall flow 
 springs of living water. 
 
 CAN THE GOVERNMENT PROVIDE 
 FACILITIES ? 
 
 Now is it not the province of the Government to fa- 
 cilitate the occupancy and cultivation of these lands ? 
 Has it not power to render them acceptable to the public 
 upon feasible terms, and to furnish in part the means 
 which are necessary for removal thither, and for pros- 
 perous labor ? In doing this would it not contribute a 
 powerful influence towards the equalization of our pop- 
 ulation, and towards the development of our natural 
 resources, besides relieving our present apparently 
 growing destitution? And is not this an object vast 
 enough, philanthropic enough, renumerative enough, to 
 fill a patriot's soul, to nerve a statesman's courage ? 
 
 PUBLIC CO-OPERATION ASSURED. 
 
 Such a proposition assumes, as a matter of course, the 
 co-operation of the laboring classes themselves. With- 
 out that the best efforts of the Government must prove 
 inoperative. No class of the community can be com- 
 pelled to migrate to any particular spot. All idea of 
 expatriation is groundless. There is no thought of a 
 Siberian settlement. Those who go should go of their 
 own volition, in unrestricted liberty, and with a resolute 
 arm and will.
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 67 
 
 It is likely that tramps and vagrants will object. 
 They are really not the persons for whom we write. 
 The law must deal with them in another form And 
 possibly, too, some, even of the industriously inclined, 
 with large families and no means, will hesitate to accept 
 the proposal. The writer has- met with such. Their 
 difficulty, however, has mostly originated in a want of 
 funds, and these supplied, a cheerful acquiescence has 
 followed. And at this moment the writer knows of 
 both individuals and families who are willing to avail 
 themselves of such openings, and such help, and whose 
 future will richly repay the efforts made on their behalf. 
 There are strong reasons which bind many of them to 
 their present habitation ; and genuine sentiment even 
 in the poorest man must be respected as an instinct 
 which bespeaks a spiritual relationship, and which shows 
 that even poverty may be ennobled and enriched. But 
 in such a crisis as this men cannot afford to indulge too 
 strongly in sentimental feeling. They are confronted 
 with a stern necessity ; they have to deal with a terrible 
 want. Nothing short of starvation stares them in the 
 face. If they remain in their present position it is with- 
 out any visible prospect of improvement ; and life will 
 become to them a miserable drag, and the world itself 
 will prove little better than "a gulf of dark despair.'* 
 If they remove to new fields, and enter upon a new life, 
 they will, at least, have the promise of better times. 
 Hope, like a star, will shoot its radiance across their 
 path ; and after the privations of the desert, they may, 
 like the Israelites of old, enter into the possession of a 
 goodly land, which flows with milk and honey.
 
 68 THE LRBOR PROBLEM. 
 
 In general the laboring classes are signalized by 
 common sense. Here there is need for its highest ex- 
 ercise. The subject appeals to their tenderest sensibili- 
 ties, touches their deepest wants; and if in the consider- 
 ation of it reason be allowed its proper place, if it be 
 viewed calmly, in the light of self-interest only, can 
 there remain a doubt on which sile the scale will turn, 
 and what course will ultimately be adjudged the best? 
 By general, if not unanimous consent, the unemployed 
 portions of the community will determine that an exodus 
 shall take place at once from these crowded centres to 
 the attractive fields which are opening their arms to re- 
 ceive, and unfolding their beauties to allure them. 
 
 GOVERNMENT AND PRIVATE HELP. 
 
 In the inauguration, or in the support of such a 
 movement, the Government may cover itself with glory, 
 and confer unspeakable advantage upon the country. 
 But how can the Government help ? is the question 
 asked. With the most perfect consistency and ease, in 
 rendering unoccupied lands more accessible and secure 
 upon the simplest terms, in providing facilities for the 
 transmigration of families, in furnishing funds upon 
 advantageous terms to meet necessary expenses, in sup- 
 plying implements and tools to perform the required 
 labor, and in guaranteeing to the settlers all needful 
 protection and help against harpers and swindlers, 
 and under difficulty and danger. Is not the plan feas- 
 ible? In the gravity of the crisis is it not worthy of 
 dispassionate thought from the President and his Cabi- 
 net, from Senators and Representatives, from employers 
 and employed ?
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 69 
 
 Another element, however, is needed. It is not a 
 movement that concerns the Government alone. In 
 this there is ample room, in this there is urgent need, for 
 the exercise of private benevolence. Next to the 
 possession of the land, money will be required to set 
 the thing in motion. It would be preposterous to pro- 
 pose to the unemployed the advisability of emigrating 
 to these new fields, unless they are furnished with 
 means and tools, and suitably directed when they 
 reach their destination. They have not a cent in 
 their pockets ; they have no articles which may be con- 
 verted into money; they would find it difficult to obtain 
 the loan of a dollar, or credit for a plough ; and they 
 want implements as well as funds. Without a supply of 
 these things the hope of emigration is visionary ; with 
 these it might soon become a practical reality. 
 
 This assertion is made upon the best authority. The 
 writer has tested the sentiments and feelings of hun- 
 dreds of workingmen ; and from intercourse with them 
 he is warranted to affirm that multitudes would gladly 
 avail themselves of the opportunity of entering upon 
 this new life, if furnished with the means to do so. At 
 this moment he has a list of persons who have expressed 
 their willingness to go West or South, and to aid whom 
 he is privately obtaining funds. 
 
 In providing such funds the people may gladly come 
 to the aid of the Government. It is impracticable that 
 the Government can do all. By Government interposi- 
 tion the work may be begun ; by private generosity the 
 work must be carried on. There are thousands of indi- 
 viduals and families who even in these " hard times" 
 have supurfluous means, or who could without incon- 
 venience lend a helping hand in promoting this emigra-
 
 JO THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 tion. They could give a contribution of money or fur- 
 nish some needful tools ; and they could make some 
 more direct effort to further practical arrangements. 
 And why if a sacrifice of luxury or comfort be needed, 
 should it not be made ? Why not do with less dress ; or 
 with less amusement ; or with less gluttony, that the 
 outcast and perishing may be sheltered, and clothed, and 
 fed, and that the general order of society may be pre- 
 served ? 
 
 In this there is a direct appeal, not simply to the Gov- 
 ernment, not simply to the representatives of our pub- 
 lic institutions, but also to employers of labor, and to 
 private individuals and families of wealth and position 
 There never was a period when their influence could be 
 so beneficially exerted for their country. It is a day of 
 peril ; it is an hour of need ; and wise counsels, accom- 
 panied by generous help would tell immensely upon 
 the present character and future destiny of our peo- 
 ple. 
 
 Would it not be well for a few earnest, generous- 
 hearted men and women to take the matter in hand, 
 form themselves into a committee, collect information, 
 propose plans, obtain funds, and commence work ? This 
 would prove of infinitely more value than any amount of 
 empty theorising or sentimental sorrow ; and in thus 
 acting a crowd of fashionable people may encircle their 
 own paths with glory, while they open up springs of joy 
 in the hearts of thousands of their helpless fellows. 
 Who will lead the van, or strike the first blow ? The 
 answer must be prompt, bold, decisive; and, alike be- 
 cause of their opportunities and their influence, the 
 Mothers and Daughters of America are urged to come 
 forward and aid in the inauguration of this much need- 
 ed and useful work.
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 71 
 
 INFORMATION NEEDED. 
 
 But whether this, or any other plan so far suggested, 
 be deemed advisable, one other course is open to the 
 Government and Congress; and that should be adopted 
 with perfect unanimity, and without delay. Is it not 
 felt and admitted that on many phases of this great 
 question minute and accurate information is needed? 
 Were it deemed expedient to attempt any legislation for 
 the removal of our labor difficulties, are the real facts 
 involved sufficiently patent to the public or sufficiently 
 understood by the members of both Houses of Congress 
 to enable them to form an impartial judgment, and to 
 enact suitable and useful laws ? From statistics which 
 have been carefully collected, and from reports which 
 have been incidentally furnished, a certain amount of 
 knowledge is undoubtedly in the possession of the Gov- 
 ernment, and accessible to the public. But who will pre- 
 tend that the actual condition of the various industries 
 of the land, that the real relations 'of employers and 
 employed, that the inner workings of our railway sys- 
 tem, of our mines and of our public manufacturing bod- 
 ies, and that, in one word, the public wants, on the one 
 hand, and the public provision, on the other, are close- 
 ly, comprehensively, accurately understood? And is 
 not correct information the first requisite? Is it not 
 possible to obtain the information thus desired ? and is 
 it not imperative upon the Government to adopt means 
 for meeting the necessity ? 
 
 A COMMISSION PROPOSED. 
 
 As it appears to the writer this is not a formidable 
 task. It requires no ponderous machinery, or elaborate
 
 72 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 organization. . In the hands of one intelligent, active, 
 energetic, patriotic soul, the whole work could be ac- 
 complished at small expense, and in a short time. The 
 Government or Congress may have need to enact a law, 
 or to express a wish that the information desired should 
 be given ; and there is not a corporation or trade in the 
 country that would withhold it, if asked for it in the 
 right way. It would then be for the agent of the Gov- 
 ernment to place himself in communication with the au- 
 thorities and persons interested, to propose questions, 
 to obtain returns, to receive suggestions ; and having 
 succeeded in this to collate the documents possessed, to 
 classify the facts elicited, to arrange the suggestions offer- 
 ed, and to prepare a well digested report based npon 
 the whole, with a statement of such conditions as the 
 premises would warrant. 
 
 In an incredibly short space of time the Government 
 and Congress might be placed in possesion of the latest, 
 fullest, and most accurate information yet presented of 
 the extent of our industrial population, of the relative 
 number of employed and unemployed persons through- 
 out the Union, of the capabilities and resources of our 
 different trades, of the actual production which takes 
 place in different manufacturing branches, of the amount 
 of wages regularly paid to employees, of the losses and 
 risks incurred by railway and other companies, of the 
 organization and action of trade unions, of the savings, 
 or sufferings of the working classes, and of a hundred 
 other subjects which are essentially included, or which 
 might incidentally arise. 
 
 In such a report the facility for opening up new land 
 for cultivation would be considered ; and in the light of 
 ascertained facts, under the power of tangible evi-
 
 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 73 
 
 dence, new views might be formed, and new methods be 
 adopted, in reference to pauperism, vagrancy, and crime, 
 which might both contribute to the reduction of public 
 expense, and to the improvement of public morals. In 
 a hundred ways, indeed, such a report might be made 
 useful to the Government, to Congress, and to the whole 
 country ; and for the labor it might involve, and the 
 few hundred dollars it might cost, there should not 
 be a moment's hesitancy in arranging for the perfor- 
 mance of the work. 
 
 But should Government shrink from assuring this 
 responsibility, why may it not be undertaken at the ex- 
 pense, and under the direction of some responsible body 
 of private citizens, or representatives of charitable in- 
 stitutions ? In the splended achievements which have 
 been made in geographical science by Mr. H. M. Stanley 
 in Central Africa an illustration is furnished of what 
 transcondent results may be attained through private 
 enterprise, in a distant land, and amidst almost unpar- 
 alleled difficulty and danger. Here is a subject which 
 presents fewer difficulties, but which has more impor- 
 tant bearings, the practical solution of which is of vastly 
 more consequence to the health, and virtue, and prosper- 
 ity, and happiness of the whole of this great country than 
 the discovery of the source or the Congo, or the course 
 of the Lualaba, and which yet might be brought to a 
 practical and satisfactory issue by an expenditure of 
 much less time, and labor, and money. If the Govern- 
 ment fail, is there no one amongst iis sufficiently inter- 
 ested to take it up, and by securing a report which shall 
 remove ignorance, and lay a sound basis for operations, 
 thus contribute towards the solution of this, the greatest 
 problem of the age ?
 
 74 THE LABOR PROBLEM. 
 
 CLOSING WORDS. 
 
 With profound deference and respect these views 
 are submitted to all classes of the community. In 
 thus introducing the subject the writer is influenced 
 by an earnest desire for the preservation of public 
 peace, and the promotion of the nation's good, upon 
 a sound basis, and by the application of just laws. He 
 is not vain enough to imagine that all the sentiments 
 he has enunciated, or that all the arguments he has used, 
 will pass unchallenged, or meet with unqualified appro- 
 val. But of this he is conscious, that whatever excep- 
 tion might be taken to his views, or to his manner of 
 stating them, he has approached the consideration of the 
 subject with a mind free from party bias ; and has en- 
 deavoured to express the conclusions arrived at with a 
 mingled feelingof courtesy and candor. There is no de- 
 sire to dogmatize ; the writer will regret to be misunder- 
 stood ; and, still more, to excite an angry or party strife. 
 
 It is, however, impossible that the subject in any of 
 its multifarious forms can be ignored. Both statesmen 
 and philosophers must bend their minds to its discussion. 
 In the pulpit and the pew ; in social intercourse and at 
 public meetings, its principles must be analysed, and its 
 lessons enforced. And if in the investigations which 
 may ensue, there be a clashing of minds, or an abrasion 
 of ideas, it is far more likely that truth will be elimina- 
 ted in crystal forms, whilst nothing need be said to ruf- 
 fle any temper, or to wound the weakest soul. As 
 Plato said, long, long ago, *' The evils of the world 
 will continue until kings become philosophers, or 
 philosophers king. In the higher forms of prac- 
 tical wisdom required by the great philosopher for 
 administering the affairs of the Commonwealth, we
 
 TttE LABOR PROBLEM. 75 
 
 have all something to learn and unlearn ; and, perhaps, 
 in nothing is this more manifest than in relation to the 
 Labor Problem which is now forced upon the public 
 mind. The right solution of that problem will influ- 
 ence in an incalculable degree the history of America, 
 and the destiny of our race. 
 
 It may be given to this country, by an inscrutably 
 wise Providence, to solve the social, as it has already 
 worked out the political problem which had perplexed 
 the ages of the past. In the fulfilment of that exalted 
 mission the present Government and Congress are call- 
 ed upon to take a leading part ; and relying upon the 
 hearty sympathy and zealous co-operation of the people, 
 both should now fully apply themselves to the appoint- 
 ed task, resolved that in their hands the prestige of the 
 country shall be preserved, whilst its comfort is enhanc- 
 ed. Whether rightly or wrongly, the writer is convinced 
 that a solution of this grand problem is practicable ; and 
 whether in any form he has contributed to that result 
 the issue of this appeal can alone determine. The ne- 
 cessity for practical wisdom and disinterested sympathy 
 was never stronger nor could philosophers, philan- 
 thropists, and statesmen have a better opportunity for 
 acquiring renown and doing good.
 
 PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION. 
 
 SHOWERS OF BLESSINGS 
 
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 GREAT REVIVALS IN THE CHURCH 
 ANALYZED AND REVIEWED. 
 
 A WORK IN FOUR PARTS. 
 
 PART I. PENTECOST ; or, the Baptism of 
 
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 PART II. THE REFORMATION ; or, Life 
 
 from the Dead. 
 PART III. THE AWAKENING ; or, Gospel 
 
 Triumphs in the labor of Wesley and 
 
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 PART IV. TIMES OF REFRESHING; or, 
 
 Pentecostal Baptisms in recent Revivals, 
 
 with special reference to the services of 
 
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 This Book will be Spiritual, Catholic, Evangelical, and intensely 
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