Daily State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis, Ind.) 1861-1865, 1865-05-18
DAILY SENTINEL
THURSDAY MORNING. MAY Is
Labor and CSpitai.

A convention Of working men was held last
week IN Brooklyn. at which n number Of speeches
we're made which we're Of very radical character.
The speakers not only insisted on the old dogma
that labor Il sntseonistic TO capital. but they
veot the whole length Of asserting that lsbor
must conquer and subject capital before il would
have its proper position, They demanded that
lsborers should control the employer They
insisted THAI lsborefs on q strike had e. much
right TO prevent other lsborers from working a.
men have 20 prevent an individual from burning
down his Own house. The tone sumed by the
speakers and BY many members Of the coDven-
ton .ss 10 effect that OF radical emnity TO en-
ployers in general
Its curious that these men seem to ignore en-
tirely the possibility that they may themselves
become employers. The men Who deal IN this
class of argument must be hopeless OF any
cnange ia their own position. Bot ~heth
or they are or not, they are only lay
ing M a store of pain and trouble for themsel-
YES, and We most sincerely regret to see working
men misIed by the folly Of such speakers at their
public meetings. IL Is noteworthy fact. how
ever, that these conventions never represent one.
fifth. probably not one tenth Of the workingmen
Of the country.
The labOring classes of this country are in
general too sensible to be msled by the dems-
gogism Of the orators Who repeat old and hack
neyed phrases at such public meetings. without
even understanding them The fact ~. that he
honest, faithful lAborer 10 America always lelrup
that his interests are Identical with those Of biz
employer. and the result Is relation OF content
ment between the tvO with mutUal prosperity.
When the laborer Is mised BY foolish advisers TO
Join in a strike he is sure To regret il afterward.
The result of strikes is invariably hostile to the
strikers This has beeD>proyed hundred times.
But, after all, the secret Of the mistake which
some laboring men make may be in their failure
To define labor, or to distinguish between the
workingman and the capitalist. The simple
truth Is. that the employer il very often by far
the hardest laborer Few men work so many
hours per day, or so hard during those hours, as
the men who have the largest number Of other
men employed for them. The value Of that
work is almost never fully paid. There is only
man in ten twenty who realizes at the end
OF years Of such work the actual cost OF clothes
and living Let wotkingmen ponder on this
truth There il a lesson in il for them They
vastly err when they imagine that capital works
for itself and the owner rests idle. They vastly
err when they think that the men who manage
capital are always rich, comfortable. and at ease
in their possessions. The histories Of capitalists
would sstound the workingmen If they would
but read and think of them.
Aud let the question be plainly set before the
workingmen who met at the Brooklyn conven-
ton. whether it is not as right for those who la
Dor with capital and their heads TO combine for
wages il IL for those " no work with their hands
and heavy tools. What is their answer OF
course their right is the same But shall the
managers of capital combine and say - We will
not pay more than certain rate t0sBy man We
employR" What becomes Of the day laborer
then? And yet if the day laborers combine to
compel wages out OF employers. on what plea
can they resist the right of employers to combin e
for the purpose of increasing their own earning -
By compelling laborers TO work for lees wages
We cordially and strenuously oppose all com
biuatons of employers or laboreTs to regulate
the price Of labor. We can see plainly enough
the danger of all such combin atoms. and orr eI-
perience has convinced US that no good results to
either party in either case.
The present rate of wages in all depart ments
is high. The price OF living IL high The prices
which employers receive for their work manship
and the products of labor are high Thus all
things work In circle But when prices for the
products of labor break down then perforce the
prices Of labor will break down, and all the
strikes trades unions, ventons OF working
men and committees of lsborers that can be in
vented wall tail to keep those prices up. 1t i.
just as possible TOR the laborers to keep up the
prices of labor il is for the dealers in the re
suIting products of labor to keep up the prices oil
those products.
When the manufacturers OF cotton goods C
prevent the price from falling twenty, forty and
fifty per cent in a month. then the factory ouer.
atives may learn how to prevent the rate OF
wages from falling When the laborer learns
how to keep butter, and flour, and beet from
rising in price ten. twenty hundred PEI
cent. then the employer may possibly invent
way of keeping wages from rising. But ubti
these discoveries made combinations of en-
ployers or OF operatives will only result in
trouble. occasional riots aud broken heads. with
great deal OF gre: and no good TO any one
n Y Journal Of Commerce.