The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1877-09-13
"a STRIKERS" ARGUMENT.

In the United States the amount o.
capital invested in railway property last
year was 81, ,470OOO,OOO, made up Of So
25000OO00 capital stock, and $2,220,0O0'
900 bonded debt. The gross earnings
were $780, 100000 or about eight and q
half per cent on the capital. The run
ming expenses (of which the bulk was
for labor were $Sl0,0OO,OOO, leaving SlS5'
100000 as interest TO the capitalist, or
barely four per cent on his investment,
Labor is admitted into this enterprise
as preferential creditor, to be paid out
Of gross earnings before the most prefer
red mortgage or bondholder receives 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 back seat
when it comes to the push, and acknowl-
edges that labor has not only the largest
interest in the concern, but takes the
first fruits.
take the railroad as a sample out Of
all enterprises, and if we could get at fig
utes, there is no doubt it is fair sample
of the crowd. Ifthen, labor is the most
important and essential factor in the re-
suit, when it comes to the question which
of the two shall suffer in moments of gen.
eral depression, the capitalist in his pock-
ct or the laborer in his belly, we think
the answer has been already settled by
the rights assumed by one and acknowl-
edged by the other.
1t is manilestly unjust that the work
ingman should be subject to under wa.
ges in bad times, if he has not the equiv
alent of over wages in good times. If
railroad companies in concert with the
laboring class, had established a tariff of
labor, and paid bonus on wages at ev
cry distribution of dividends, that bonus
being in proportion to the profits of the
road, so that each man becomes a share
holder in his very small way, then he
would have submitted to bear his share
of distress when all were called upon to
share trouble, but to share it equally and
alike.
When folks say that labor and capital
must find, by the laws of supply and de-
mand, 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. II
that were so we should not complain.
But it is not. The labor market has got
to be like the stock and share market;
few large capitalists control it and make
what prices they like. This sort of game
may ruin the gamblers in stock, and in
jure those who invest, but the trouble is
confined to those who deserve to lose or
those who can afford it.
But not so when the same practice op-
crates in the labor market. The capital
ist must not gamble with the bread Of
the workingman, or if he does, let him
regard where that speculation led France
one hundred years ago, when the fnan-
ciers made corner in flour, and the peo-
pie broke the ring with the axe of the
guillotine.
When the railroad companies obtained
privileges and rights over private prop
erty, and became by force of law the
grand land owners Of the State, holding
its movable property as well, and con.
trolling every avenue and department of
business, public and private, they be-
come powerful monopolies. The State
endowed them with powers to frame
laws Of their own, and deprived citizens
of their property, means, facilities of
transport, to vest it all in these corpora
tions. Thus endowed, they cannot pre-
tend they are no more than ordinary
commercial enterprises. They are re.
sponsible to the State for the result of
their operations, if they disturb fatally |
the order of our concerns. They are not
independent. The State has claims upon
them it has not on private concerns.
They may not accept liabilities and then
decline responsibility. 1t behooyes the
State to decide what the people are en-
titled to in return for all they have con.
ceded TO these companies, and to enforce
such Caims.-FrOm "Fdir Wages" By "a
Striker" in The North american Review.