Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-09-25

lnOny WIN 1nQlVlUuaI liberty, ana Z
promoting the best interest of al
classes Of people, tho fact remains tho
that it is the parent and supporte
of the tyranical combinations of mel
who are attempting to increase thei
own wages at the expense Of thei
fellow-workmen.
| There can be no conceivable rea
son in justice why one man should re
ceive any more for . days work thar
another, or do any work rather tina,
another, excepting that the perso,
wishing the work done freely pay
more for the services of the first thai
the second could be had for,
There isn0 reason why days worl
upon the land should not command
rs much pay as days work in th'
shop, except the proved capacity o
the worker in the shop to produce il
the day that which his fellows decid,
is worth the larger compensation
And the worker in any shop, who
by combining with his fellow work
men, or by any means whatever, hin
ders the workmen upon the LAND
from producing anything in the shoT
or elsewhere, In competition will
his work, is just to that extent an op
pressor of his fellow.men.
All combinations of men to preven
any other men from doing anything
in competition with themselves, is 9
clear violation of the Fundamentals
law Of liberty and right.
Such action endangers the life
abridges the liberty, and destroys the
happiness Of the men combined
against, and should meet condign
punishment, sure and without mercy
Q.-Complaint is made Of the exis-
tence OF merchants, brokers. commits
sion men, lawyers, etc, etc.,-sO-call-
ed non-prOducers. Can they be dis
pensed with! We ask you as prac-
iical man and an acknowledged
producer, having no personal inter-
est in the class known as middlemen.
A.-Wo know from our experien-
ccs that these persons handling the
products of labor between the facto-
ries, the shops, the mines, and the
farms, and its owners while in their
custody, are as necessary and inevi-
table in the process OF exchanging
and distributing to the consumer the
results of labor as are the men who
carry the simplest products Of the
rlldcst industry TO the village store,
or the wagons on which they are
drawn, or the railroad over which
they are transported.
Every one of the persons who are
engaged in the business of collecting
and distributing the products OF in
dustry, whether called merchant,
trader. clerk, bookkeeper, or by any
other name, is as necessary to the
wage class as the pick, the shovel, the
plow, the engine lathe, the loom, the
steam engine, or any coutrivance to
make labor more effective.
The broker who assists in the hold
ing of the products Of industry from
the day they are ready for use until
they are needed for consumption
the lawyer who adj justs honest or dis.
honest disputes between individuals
or corporations; the physicians to
cure our diseases; and 40 on, are as
necessary as are the men who hold
the plow, or SOW the seed, aud every
man doing work Of value Is as much
a producer.
Any lnan in the above mentioned
classes may abuse their power and
become robbers and swindlers by
making what are called corners" or
in other ways, as may any man, or
combination of men, In the wage
class by depriviDg their fellow
men of the the chance to do honest
work, or by stealing their wages.
As human nature now is, the nec-
cssity for the man who offers himself
to the public as the distributor of
any article, having large pecuniary
interest in his success in placing it in
the hands Of the consumer, is as ab.
solute as any law Of nature.
Again, the Office of the '.middle-
men, cannot be performed by sala-
ried agents, beginning at the point
when things are ready for the consul
mer, and until they reach him, for
there is no such a thing as fixed
price for anything. All values are
relative, and the actual or normal
price of everything but gold, by
which all values are measured, is as
variable as the weather. Again, when
there lis no disturbance Of relative
values, were that conceivable, the
thing itself increasing or decreasing
in value by age, and a thousand other
agencies, personal accountability to a
principle is impossible, and the per.
sonsl gain or loss of the seller is the
only possible safeguard to the public.