New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-06-13
from the Golden Age.I
The LabOrer's Hope.

1
ried their point without blow or bravado
with the loss of a single day, and without get
ting any considerable number of bricks IL
their hats. True they took advantage o
their employers necessities in striking at Tho
busiest of seasons, when plans were made
and buildings were under way which coulC
not be stopped on any account. But the
employers showed magnanimOus DISPOSE
| ton in complying with a demand which is
extreme, and will tell heavily on their re-
ceipts in the contracts already made and en-
tered upon. Yet doubtless they acted wise.
ly; and in most instances of the sort the en-
by gracefully yielding to the demand of the
| labOrers, or fairly compromising with them,
than by resisting their claims. Good sense
and good temper, and spirit of mutual con-
| cessiOn and fOrbearance, are even more i'm
| pOrtant in the relation of employer and emf
| ployG than in almost any other.
Their success has led the workmen of other
trades to unite in a similar demand, and as
we go to press the strike is general. So far
it has been characterized by good temper,
and an entire absence of the violence and
even the threats which usually attend such
demonstrations. And it is more than proba-
bic that the laborers will win their cause.
Indeed their victory is already assured.
All our sympathies are with the labOrer.
His tolls, cares, trials, wants, hopes, and
hardships, we thoroughly understand. Any
thing and everything that can be done to
tighten his burden and improve his lot should
receive instant attention and advocacy. We
have not particle Of patience with the rich
and comfortable classes who look down with
Indifference upon the great mass of workers,
and when asked to Tighten their burdens or
increase their pay or improve their conditions,
repeat worn out platitudes about self-help
and cOnquering a success. Such temper is
tyrannical, and such talk is impertinence.
What the laborer needs is simply Justice
All that he can reasonably ask is a fair field
and pay for the work he does. All that he
insists upon is the common right to his man.
hood, and the respect and privilege due him
as an American citizen. To withhold these
is not only to increase his difficulties and in-
bitter his spirit, but to put the sevcrest pos
sible check upon material progress and social
welfare, and dry up the springs of enterprise
out OF which great prosperity is to come.
The more capital Identifies itself with labor,
the better for both. The more employers
blend their interests with those of their EN-
ployes, the more harmonious and profitable
their relations will be.
Indeed, the popular distinction between
labor and capital is generally arbitrary and
America to-day are capitalists, and mer-
chants, and manufacturers. Every man who
drives a plane, or swings an axe, or uses a
trOwel, is a capitalist to the extent of his in
dustrial ability and skill. To all practical
purposes in this country the two classes are
one. There is no more perniciOus nonsense
uttered than the cheap, imported platitudes
about the antagOnism of classes which among
us are practically identical, with one interest
and one common hope and the men who are
making a breach between employers and en-
ploy6s are digging the grave of the laborer's
hope. Let no working man imagine for one
moment that the capitalists of the country
are banded against him, and that his EN-
plOyer is his enemy, for such thing is false
and prepOsterOus.
We all stand together on common ground.
And the interest and hope of the laborer con-
sist very LARGELY in his recognition of the fact
that work is not war but concord. All the
great avenues of life are open to him. All
the common privileges of society are his
rights. The schools are for his children.
The newspaper is his library. The debating
club is his college. The polls are his Con-
gress. And 1t only needs for him to see that
by the largest and wiscst possible use of his
opportunities he will rise in dignity, and win
respect, and become a more important factor
in the sphere to which he belongs His hope
consists in the increase of his usefulness.
Multiply his productive ability or improve the
quality of his work, and he enriches and
grows rich. The more he identifies his in
terest with that of his employer, and the
more brain and heart he puts into what he
does, the handsOmer will be his returns and
the happier his lot. The tyranny of labor is
just as fatal to the laborer in the long run as
to the capitalist, and the demagogism which
seeks to consolidate the laborers of the coun-
try into a despotism for the oppression of
capitalists is Of the devil. Only as the two
| work tremendously together in ainicabe rela-
| tons, each studiOuS of the others welfare
| and each sacrificing somewhat for the others
| comfort and advantage, can either perma-
nently prosper and the welfare of the nation
| be continually enhanced.
The majority of the strikers demanded
fewers hours of work, but some of them de-
mand increased pay. But it is absurd to
contend that man can do as much work in
eight hours as in ten; and it is equally pre-
posterOus to claim that laborers generally
want to clip two hours from their working
day for intellectual Improvement. Doubtless
some of them will use the time snatched from
the grip of toll for culture others will take
it for social enjoyment and needed physica
relaxation. But we fear that too many will
throw it utterly away in loafing, if they dc
not allow it to tempt them into bad associa
tons and evil ways. The hope of the labore
consists in his making the best possible us,
of the time he gains. If he invests it wisel,
for his own improvement and the benefit O
his family, it will be blessing to him ant
them if he squanders it in idleness and dis
sipation it will be curse. The laborer shout,
have all that he earns but the one thing tn
labOring men of this country need more thai
anything else to learn is how to use wha
they get, and how to save something out @
their hard earnings. They initiate too Otter
and too easily the extravagant ways of PEG
? pie with incomes five times greater than thei
own. This is why the German grows ricl
where the American laborer merely cOntrive
to keep soul and body together. To spen
well is rs important as to earn much. An
the hope of our laborers in the future will
consist more in the saving than in the getting
The standing complaint of American work
manship is its inferior quality. 1t want
. more skill and patience, and finer and NOR
careful habit, to bring it up to the highes
standard. 1t takes something more thai
fingers to do anything well. The hope c
. the laborer is in putting more thought all
more love into his doing. His work wear
because it wants the lubricating oil of noble
mood to prevent the friction of his faculties
! 1t is the fact that he is not machine but
| soul that yindicates itself continualIv whom