National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1874-01-03
CAPITAL VERSUS LABOR.

u
nifty of the campaign. To this fearful
array Of facts there can be no answer.
| CAPITAL VERSUS LABOR.
The capitalists of Great Britain are form
ing combination in opposition to the
trade union associations of their en-
ployees The arrangement Is already said
to comprise the employers of over two mil
lion operatives. The professed object Of
this combination Is to encoura sc non union
lists, give a preference to intelligent and
skilled labor, and thus defeat the projects
of Joseph Arch and his adherents, who are
striving to dictate hours of labor and the
price of wages. r.-
Such wars between capital and labor as
this state of affairs portends are always to
be deprecated, because their influence is
only evil, except in so far as they serve to
educate both parties to their real and neces-
sary dependence upon each other. Capital
cannot be probably employed except
through the agency of labor. and labor
cannot be successfully utilized without the
use of an aggregated capital Nlanifestly,
then, their interests are identical
The differences between capital and labor
arise from the lack of q well-defined meas
ure of remuneration to which labor shall
be entitled In Great Britain there is an
aggrarian spirit pervading the toiling classes
which demands more equal division
of the profits arising from their efforts be-
tween the employers and employed. They
usually range themselves under the leader
ship of some popular speaker Of their own
class, who'has obtained sufficient education
to enable him to indulge in the perusal of
the romances of the Reynolds school. This
plausible stuff he rehashes to his ignorant
listeners in the shape of excited harangues,
until they think themselves really entitled
to an equal division of the great wealth Of
their employers. Of course, the result is
dissatisfaction with their labor, which soon
develops into turbulent gatherings. In
these the fires are famed into flame by the
incendiary speeches of the leaders. and
strikes are the result. "Idleness is the
parent of vice" A few days of it brings
starvation to the howell door, which
the leaders who have instigated the
strike arc unable to drive back. Then the
choice must be made between the return to
their work at the dictation of the capitalists
and resort to violence for the means of
subsistence. The latter course involves
war with the governmental and police
authorities, which are always too formida-
BILE, and the usual results follow. The
former implies a still more servile sub
lection to the hated tyranny Of their en-
ployers.
In this country these conflicts fortunately
are very rare. When they do occur they
are in nearly every instance instigated by
foreign emissarics among laborers Of for
eign birth, who have brought with them
the germs of the old discomfort which was
from the land of their nativity.
The American laborers dctest mobs and
mob-laws. Indulgence in them dctracts
from their selfrespcct. They know and
feel that they are integral portions Of this
great and bcnefcent Government. And
they also know that they hold in their
grasp. with vice-like tenacity, sovereign
remedy for every i'll. All that is necessary
is to patiently abide their opportunity and
apply the silent ballot in the proper direc-
ton, and capital, however large, and en-
ployers, however strongly combined, will
alike succumb to its authoritative COM
mand. In defying law they only rebel
against themselves. They cannot afford to
destroy their own sovereignty.
1t appears clear, therefore, that little i'm
mediate good can be expected to come of
he proposed combination of employers in
Britain. The only remedy for the evils
of is in providing, first, for the
of the laborer, and secondly, for
his elevation in his own estimation by in
resting him with the ballot. This course
would induce and generate feeling of in
dependence, pride of self government, a
patriotic devotion to the country of their
birth, and consequently a degree of con-
eminent that would prove to be safe !
guaranty against disturbances of the peace
md wanton destruction of property. The
opposite policy will continue to have the |
endency TO drive much of her skilled and |
intelligent labor to emigration to this or
,ther countries, where labor commands a
more liberal proportion of the combined
esults of its co-opention with capital.
When it is considered that the true cri-
orion of the value of days labor is
he quantity of the means of subsist-
nee that it will procure. ard that the
rice of wages is paid at the last by the
consumer of products of labor ari Hot
" the manufacturer or other employer
t would seem to be of comparatively little
to the latter whether wages
re few cents higher or lower per diem
is the skilled labor applied to the raw
Material which enhances the value of the
litter as a manufactured article. The great
anger to be apprchendcd from combina-
ion of employers lies in the possibility of
IS extending to the control of the prices of
he manufactured products of labor. This
1ould be serious interference with the
upply and demand laws of trade which
'ould tell with greater effect upon the con-
inner than upon the artisan.
The natural laws of labor and of trade
re identical, and should be left as free as
ossiblc FROM unnatural restrictions if we
you'd secure healthy and vigorous indus
rics.
HoS. THOMAS j. BIGuAM, Commissioner of
of the State of Pennsylvania, has
ust prepared his first annual report to the
eoislature Although his burpau Is not vet