The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1875-11-13
The Labor Question.


inent, and is now seen to involve interests
SO vital, that it is no longer to be treated
with abuse or ridicule. The frequent dis
agreements between employers and work
men in large manufacturing establish
ments attended with ''strikes" and ''va-
cations" make it imperative that this sub
ject should receive intelligent considera-
ton. 1t is a sad and sober truth that on
the part Of those whose position and at
tainments are supposed to entitle them to
be the leaders or the opponents Of public
sentiment, or the depositanes Of the best |
practical wisdom, no attention or examina-
ton BETTING subject Of this magnitude
has yet been given. The papers have al
ready treated it as though it we're a matter
too contemplate for serious discussion
and the claims of workingmeD, and the al
legged grievances of labor, have not only
been denied all sympathy, but meet with
abuse and disdain. A thousand workpeo-
pie do not resort to the expedient of
''strike" simply as a pastime, or merely to
crafty their leaders. They may be mis-
led but when they make protest, III a
form which brings immediate distress,
against what they claim to be great wrongs,
tkere can be no doubt that some actual suf-
fering compels the step. Respectable
jour ais may attempt to represent them
as foolish or worthless wretches, who dis
| tnr without tbaxy
denounce the so-called leaders as dema-
gogues and "blatherskites," deserving in
fanny or the Jail ; but no disguise can con-
ceal the fact that desperate measures are
only impelled by genuine distress.
The schemes which workingmen have
proposed for their relief, are generally dis
missed without discussion as being crude
absurd, or mischievous But is it to be
expected that those whose days have been
passed in poorly paid labor, and who have
never had the higher advantages Of the
schools, should embody perfect wisdom on
these questions The right to vilify and
scorn them does not certainly belong to
those who have rever tried their own phi
: losophy and insight at the task of devising
a remedy for these constantly recurring
labor troubles. The fact is, the best Wis
dom Of this age is wofully at fault in pro-
viding or even proposing any measure,
or cOntrlvance which might establish har
, mOnIOus relations between the holders of
capital and the owners of labor.
We know, Of course, that it is usual to
appeal to political economy as having def
{ nitely settled ali these questions, But in
/ the case Of strike, such as those that
have made Fall River famous, you 90 to
this fountain of wisdom in vain Ask the
political economist on what principle, r
e by what conditions, the belhgerent mill
& owners and operatives may be brought into
mutual harmony, and he is dHmb-he has
nothing to propose. The papers, it is true,
j at every strike, trot out the old and worn
y catchwords Of supply and demand but
t there is no charm In the sound. We have
] seen that overworked phrase doing service
i'll this way, off aud on. for thirty years
but it was never worth, for this purpose,
+ the types that spelled it,
l Men never cheated themselves, or tried
!, to cheat others, with fallacy more de-
Flusive, than that which assumes 20 define
1 a principle of social economy by the terms
e supply and demand" The terms ex-
d press nothing that is either decisive or
o helpful in Nature or life. If it is said that
demand and supply always regulate prices,
the proposition is not true. If it is said
y land this is about all it amounts TOY that
e there Is sometimes more of one than the
4 other, what is such nonsense worth In
the time Of cOpious spring freShets, there
is more land covered with water than
:, there is at the end of long summers
s drought, when brooks and ponds are low
/, and If some wlse-acre should take these
7. simple facts, and call them the " law OF
= land and water, he would be as wise az
r the political economists are when they take
z the simple facts Of supply and demand
= facts which are changing continually with
out changing vslues-and dub them law.
And if he should go to the mill owner
Z when he fears his dam will be carried
away, or to the farmer when his crops are
suffering for want Of rain, and say to
either or both, Do not be disturbed
this is all right-this is all settled by the
great law of land and water" he would do
n just as sensible thing IS the papers do
when in times of labor troubles they say,
g 1t is very absurd to make any disturb
ance about these matters they are all
settled by the law Of supply and demand. =
No, whatever the facts may be, we must
60 farther no solution will come until
the causes behind the facts, and from
i which the facts spring, are investigated
and understood. And the causes Of labor
disturbances will be found to be less Of a
purely business than Of moral character
= and into that realm political economy does
3 not profess to enter 50 it has no word
a of counsel for suffering workpeople-ex-
cept this " Your only relief will be
found In either murder or suicide" As
yet no holy hand of horror has been lifted
! up at this, by those who are ready to seize
! upon some hot word from laborer's lips
as latent threat that the agrarian' sword,
or the communists torch, is tbout to make
wild havoc in our midst
: That it is entirely possible to unite CAPT
tai and labor IN peaceful relations, we are
firmly convinced. Their interests, when
rightly understood, are really harmonious
and identical. But the light will not come
through coarse and scurrlous denunciation
Of either. The whole subject must engage
the profoundest thought, be investigated
and considered in philosophic spirit, and
awaken the wisest and most thorough dis
cussion, before the problem will be solved.
And we believe that the most violent
strike was never so wicked a thing as it
will be for the educated and intelligent
classes longer to Withhold the recources of
their wisdom and culture from the attempt
to discover the principal on which all diff
erences may be adjusted. For Labor's
wall Of suffering is one that can be COM
pared with no other. Ia those experiences
Of emotional or mental anguish which we
think the most intense because they some
times break the heart or craze the brain,
there Is the relief afforded by the soothing
hand Of time, and the comforts Of religious