The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1867-05-09
Review of the Labor Question,

There has been so much said of late that
the ground appears to have been all gone
over, and there is little new to be said on
the subject. The following article from the
Milwaukee Sentinel so fully expresses our
views that we copy it and endorse its spir-
it and sentiment, instead of writing the
ideas ont in our own words 1t is calm,
reasonable and fair statement of the whole
case, to which it seems TO US every candid
man will subscribe:
''In former article we said that ''strikes
originated in the opinion that the capitalist
SEXES and appropriates more than his share
of products, to the injury of the laborer I;
the opinion, in short, that capital robs la
Dor. In considering the subject of strikes, !"
therefore, three questions are presented l..
Is this opinion founded on fact? 2. Have
men the right to associate for the purpose
| of correcting an assumed evil Do as
sociations framed for this purpose result on
the whole in good d? We have already an
swered the first of these questions negative
Iiy. We insist that men have right TO
combine to defend their rights or to resist
wrong, if they honestly believe that their
rights are invaded or endangered, or that
they are suffering wrong. We insist no
less strenuously that men have no right to
combine for the purpose of invading the
rights of,others. Capitalists have no NOR
al right to combine for the purpose Of plum
dering laborers neither have workingmen
right to combine for the purpose of plum
dering capitalists. Associations for such
purposes are radically wrong, aud all asso-
Citations become so when they abandon their
original purposes and begin to assault pri-
vate rights Every man has right to get
as much for his own services and give as
little for the services of others as he can !;
he has an equal right to work for as little
and to give as much for the work of others
as he pleases, provided he uses neither fraud
nor violence. Any association that seeks
Ito hinder the exercise Of these rights seeks
to commit wrong, and becomes positive
evil in proportion to its success. On the
other hand, any association that seeks by
Ipeaceabie means to make these or any 9TH
er rights understood and respected is only
praiseworthy, and accomplishes a positive
good in proportion to its success.
While defending the right of working
men, in common with all men, to organize
for the promotion Of their common good,
we are, compelled both by fact and argu-
ment to believe that mechanics at least, who
are the principal movers in the strikes now
occurring, are paid all they earn. Accord
ling to the best information we can obtain,
mechanics wages in Milwaukee have ad-
Vanced equally with prices and it is fair
to conclude that the same is true elsewhere,
because otherwise the influx of mechanics
from abroad would speedily reduce wages
here Aud as regards workingInen gener-
ally we can hardly be persuaded that labor
is underpaid in country so extensive as
tours where there is so much land to be had
for the asking, and where so many roads
are open by which the industrious and fru
: gal may travel to competency if not tc
wealth. ln such country, at all events,
it is practically impossible for employers tc
make their own terms
Where every man may by reasonable,
industry aud economy very soon become
his Own employer, the competition among
employers must remain active, and SO long
as it does the nottingham may rest assured
he will be able to get all he can earn.
If this opinion that the workingman re-
ceives all he earus and that the capitalist is
tpowerless to Cypress him is correct, it il
: useless to consider the third question raised
above, viz whether associations for the
purpose of securing wages commensurate
) with the WORK done, will result on the whole
: in good They can, of course, at most re
i salt only in conservative good-the peIpet
n uation of the existing state of things. The,
c cannot even exert conservative influenc
d if it is true that competition does all tina
without aid better than with aid,
But although we believe that this opin
L ion rests upon a basis of fact and logic tina
= 1cannot be shaken, we do not forget tina
q there are those who entertain differen
/ views With such we wish TO deal charita
i. bly,. They assume that capital can and i
e fact does Cypress labor. Grant that tn
f evil exists. what is the proper remedy Sha
! we look to trades unions Yes, in part,
they confne themselves to wise and lawfr
d measures, but not otherwise. If they vic
/ lentIy assail the rights Of both workingme
q and capitalists, destroying the property {
the latter or preventing its free and lawfl
use, and compelling the former to do the
j bidding by threats or open violence, the
can result in no good, but only in great an
. irreparabe wrong. Again, if they simpl
/ resort to strikes or the mere cessation {
S labor, do they accomplish any good? Me
$ have legal right, we admit, to stop wor
= when they please and as long as they please
q lprovided they subsist in the meantime upo
a what is their own; but do they gain any
thing by the means ? For themselves poss
bly,, because they may secure an advance il
wages sufficient to compensate for the tim
# lost, but they gain nothing for the worlC
e The temporary cessation of industry is
|, dead loss to the general wealth that nothin
e but greater industry afterwards can replace
d The common good, therefore, requires tina
8 this should be among the last remedies
r remedy not to be applied until all other
: free from the same or equivalent objection
are exhausted
: But what other remedy is there Their
is one that goes by the name of "C0-0perd
. ti0e lcb0r" The fund that is raised b
trades unions, for the support Of their men
:, bers during strikes, is at such times eithe
e partially or wholly exhausted. 1t is S
L lmnch absolutely destroyed, and that foolish
S ly. How much better to use these fund
k for the erection of cooperative establish
n tments, in which case they Wonld be l1Ue!
n ted and not destroyed. If working me
) think, they are not paid for what they dc
= let them. economize rigidly, save all the
can, create funds ten times as great as thos
: they now waste in strikes and start es
" Establishments of their own. They can i
, that way find out better than in any othe
= whether their employers plunderini
: them, and besides and better still, the
e will acquire habit of saving what the
= are apt to spend in part for things that d
- no one any good, and IN part for thing
e that positively injure every one that buy
l. them. No one can deny that it is bette
to go on working and saving than TO sto
working and go to eating up what has a
ready been saved. Here is something ia
better than Strikes, because it involves II
cessation of industry or consumption {
7, past earnings, because it would serve BET
f ter than any number of strikes to answe
} decisively the question whether capita
: does or can Cypress labor.
y We do not predict that experiments c
l. ,,.,bI Iaod no hov