Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-09-12
"a Strikers I" { rgHment.,

! In the United States the amount of
capital invested In railway property last
/ year was 4,47O 100000, made up Of 81
250, 100000 capital stock and 1920, 000-
600 bonded debt The gross earnings
were $500, 000, 900, or about eight and a
half per cent. on the capital. The rum
for labor were 1910 100000, leaving
$1S5, 900 as interest to the capitalist,
or barely four per cent. on his invest
ment
Labor is admitted into this enterprise
as q preferential creditor, to be paid out
of gross earnings before the most pre-
ferred mortgage or bond holder re-
| celves a dollar. For as capital could
not build the roads nor equip them
without labor, SO the enterprise, when
complete, cannot be run without labor.
/ Capital, therefore, takes a back seat
when it comes to the push, and acl1nowl-
edges not only that labor has the largest
interest IN the concern. bat takes the
first fruits
take the railroad as a sample out of
all enterprises, and if we could get at
figures, there is no doubt it is a fair sam
pie Of the crowd. If then, labor is the
more important and essential factor in
the result, when it comes to the ques-.
ton which of the two shall suffer in
moments of general distress, the CAPT
taist in his pocketor the laborer in his
belly: we think the answer has been al
ready settled by the rights assumed by
one and acknowledged by the other.
1t is manfestly unjust that the work
ingman should be subject to under
wages in bad times, if he has not the
equivalent of over wages in good times.
Ii railroad companies In concert with
the labOrlng class had established
tariff of labor, and paid a bonus on
wages at every distribution of dividends,
that bonus being in proportion to. the
profits OF the road, SO that each man
becomes shareholder in his very
small way, then he would have submit
ted to bear his share of distress when
all were called on to share trouble, but
to share it equally and alike.
When folks say that labor and capital
must find, by the laws of demand and
supply, their natural relations to each
other in all commercial enterprises, and
neither one has any rights it can enforce
on the other, they take for granted that
the labor market is like the produce
market, liable to natural fluctuations.
If that were SO, we should not complain.
But it is not. The labor market has
got to be like the stock and share mar
ket; few large capitalists control it and
make what prices they please This
sort of game may ruin the gamblers in
stocks, and injure those who invest, but
the trouble is confined mostly to those
who deserve to lose or those who can
afford it. qes l.-
But not SO when the same practice
operates in the labor market. The cap
italist mustnot gamble with the bread
Of the worl1ingman, or if he does, let
him regard where that speculation led
France one hundred years ago, when
the financiers made. a. corner in flour,
and the people broke the ring. with the
axe Of the guillotine.
When the railway companies obtained
privileges and rights over private prop
erty, and became by force of law the
great landowners of the state, holding
It's movable property us well, and con-
trolling every avenue and department
I,of business, public and private, they
became, powerful monopolies. The
state endowed them with powers to
frame laws of their own and deprived
citizens of their property, means, facili-
ties Of transport, to vest it all in these
corporations. Thus endowed, they can
not pretend they are more than or
binary commercial enterprises They
are responsible to the state for the result
of their operations, if they disturb fatal
ly the order of our concerns. They are
not independent. The state has claims
upon them it has not. on private con-
Germs. They may not accept liabilities
and then decline responsibility. It be-
hooves the state to decide what the peo-
pie are entitled to in return for all they
have conceded to these companies, and
to enforce such claims-Frona !" Far.
| Wages" BY =" A Striker an the North
american Repieln. esau3s AE3-