The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1877-09-13

WE take the ground that it is for the
oenent OF both employers and employed
to 90 the very best thing they can for
eacn other IN the way of wages and Of
service: This is as really true of the run
ning OF cotton mill or railroad AZ it is
Of . business of few thousands of dol
lafs' capital. What is wanting il q se.ti-
meDt OF personal proprietorship in the
0usiness-that every one connected with
It, - owner or lab0rer, shall take pride
In Its success, give It their good will. and
lay out all their skill and fidelity to insure
its success. This is the strong argument
for cooperative labor--that men will put
their best ticks into what is partly their
own property.
But actual joint ownership is not c.
sential to this feeling OF common interest
in business adventure. 1t can be pro-
duced very strongly by liberal policy of
wage remuneration Actually, it is not
difficult for employers to get up and foster
substantial esprit du corps among their
intention to treat them we'll, to look out
for their welfare. An antagonism be-
tween workmen and capitalists, in one
view, IL natural enough; but fundamental
~ it Is most unnatural AZ it is mutually
ruinous. Self-interest, on both sides,
condemns it totally. But when q fight
begins these men will fight it out, no mat.
ter what it costs. This is the miserable
history Of strikes, invariably impoverish-
ing the weaker party ana materially in
juring the stronger.
Our rich men need to learn "by heart"
what their judgment well enough knows,
that there Is q radical difference between,
for instance, steam engine or . water
wheel, and . man. They need 10 under
stand, with larger touch of kindly re-
gard, that human labor in the market is
not to be put on the same level
as the piece Of coal or pig. iron. This idea
is responsible for much of our labor
troubles-that employers have the same
right to buy human service at the lowest
figure the market permits, a. they have
thus to buy barrel of -four or bushel of
potatoes. If they can claim legal right
to do this, they cannot make good moral
right to do it, because man is man and
not thing, and that's the end of it.
Society puts in its demurrer, and fOrhids
such principle Of conduct between man
and man.
Do you say, II have q right to make
my money 60 as far as it can in the mat
ter of wages, as much a. in the matter Of
hOrse-fe or cOrd-woOdw We answer,
that involves an element of social demon
alization and disorganization, inevitable
and destructive, under the actual c0ndi-
lions of human nature, a. we are now see.
ing ON large scale, and the preservation
Of well. ordered society takes precedence
of any mans or any corporations gains.
The whole is worth more than any part of
it. If thine eye be evil, pluck It out and
cast itfrom thee, rather than that the whole
body perish. Therefore, you have no
right, as . member of the community.
recognizing the claims of good citlzcny
ship, to carry out your selfshness thus,
whatever legal right you might maintain.
Stopping here, then, we again affirm that
selfshness, if nothing better or noblcr,
does prescribe aliberal treatment of opera
tives by their employers, and manly,
thorough, pains taking fidelity to their en-
ployers by workmen.-SpringSeld (Aass }
Hansnn