The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1878-08-07
THE OLD HEN IN POLITICS.

eS d MorklDRDnau bEDtcS piSseg
much as q bobtailed chicken lost in
the tall grass, while speeeh-makeTs
figure in the capacity Of the old hen
that clucks. RULES her feathers,
spreads her wings, and offers the lost
chick an asylum under the same. To
the man who has not only worked all
his life so far, and expects TO work 50
long as life and health lasts, but re-
CARDS work as the highest human
privilege, all this championing of the
men who labor, by men who never
did a good days work in all their
days, Is unutterably disgusting.
When such men as Hendricks u.
Wright go prancing about screaming
for fayors to the laboring class, they
resemble nothing go much as an old
dunghill fowl exercised by the ehirp
of q lost chick. 1t is fuss and featb-
ers in both cases; bat we grant that
the old hen is In earnest. The politi-
cal old hen is never in earnest apart
from ~selfseeking.
Mrs. Swisshelm sends O bolt right
into the camp of these clucking poll
~ticiaus. She is of the opinion that
the men who work can take care of
themselves. She might have said
that the workingmen of this country
have always taken care OF tbemselves
so far, and that no political party, as
a party, ever did or ever will take
care of the men who work. This 10.
DIV, who has always worked, and
worked hard, too, further writes that
were she a man, in view Of all the
waste land and empty cabins so much
dwelt upon, if she could not raise her
own pork aud beans it would be Gu
rious. The mistake she makes is the
men who are willing to raise their
pork and beans are taking no stock
in demagogues, and contributing
nothing to the fund out Of which
these slippery managers OF so-cailed
Labor Reform Associations are paid.
Ii is the other fellows who follow the
demagogues, and applaud when they
speak with so much humid effusion Of
the poor, wronged, "sons OF toll
There is too much loose statement in
dulged By these orators. 1t is so
loose that it barely escapes deliberate
falsehood. 1t is not true ia any eX-
TENDED sense, that labor has been
cheated Systematically of its just re-
ward in this country. 1t is not true
that there ever has been a time when
any considerable body Of men have
conspired together to reduce wages
to a starvation point. 1t is not true
that at present fixed capital-which
makes the field OF labor-is reaping
q greater share of the profits OF pro-
duetion, than labor. Wages are, as a
rule, in this country fixed by the
market price Of things produced.
And it must always be so when cap.
ital runs alone, as it generally does
in the United States.
Take agriculture as an Illustration
When the average OF the product Of
the soil ranges high as to market
prices, wages rise also. They move
!, slowly. both in rise and fall-are in
fact the last to appreciate and the
last to decline; and it sometime:
happens that a local excess in The
!. supply of labor depresses wages il
spite Of the high market price o
products. So, q lack ia the supply
NAV keep wages up for a short tins
after the market price of products
declines. In spite Of these excep
tional cases, there is no d~isputing The
!. fact that the wages of labor bear {
! very close relation to the profits o
production. We saw that during
the war, when the demand for farm
produce was brisk and the price re-
, m~unerative. Wages OF farm hand.
: advanced TO the highest point they
have ever attained here. The 10
creased profits were shared eqaitablJ
between the proprietor and the mas
: who had labor to sell. This was tbs
, case in nearly every other depart
!. ment of production. Mechanics ana
: artisans shared in the increased re
. Enumeration that accrued TO al
, production. Had there been any
: conspiracy to defraud labor, this
could moi have happened. Men,
necessities were as great aud a
pressing then as they are now, or a.
they eve were. fit be objected tina
proprietors make human necessities
, their opportunity, the reply is tina
every mans necessity is the oppor
tunity of some other man What is
, it that stimulates production but The
, real or fancied necessities OF man
. kind. 1t is the necessities OF some
that enable men with capital to built
factories, open mines, and prosecute
|, enterprises which widen the field o
, labor. But unless mans necessity i
:. made an instrument to Cypress him
!, there is no cause of complaint.
The truth is that producers VIII
were able TO market their products a
/. a dollar per fixed quantity a few
wears ago, have q great trouble t
market the same things AZ City o
!. sixty cents now. No reasonable per
: son will claim it. Unless it 4 b
, shown that the decline in wages j
disproportioned to the decline i
}, prices of products, n class has n
j., more cause OF complaint than anoth
: err. That has not been shown. An
: THAT the complaints we bear are sell
: ish and mainly unreasonable Is QUIT
plain, since there is al universal or.
raised against the price of coal. Bu
Il is to be doubted whether the me
who depend upon mining for a Twin
can be kept at work with a low ma
ket price. The truth is. we must a
, consent to be taxed for the eBplo,
ment of the population in the mimi
regions. The w~orkiDgman who col
= sumes coal does not sympathize wit
: the worker who produces ii to The e
n tent of paying Giteen ortwenty cen
n per ton extra in order that the VOL
- NAV go on.-Norih mericon.
n George wasbisgter Revised,
y George. did you chop down In
Vi