Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-08-08
THE LABOR INQUIRY.

The last House of Representatives under
took commendable inquiry in the interests
of workingmen by the appointment of
committee to inquire into the labor question,
and to devise ways and means for improving
the condition of the workingmen of the
country. The first session of this committee
was held at New York on Thursday of last
week. If the so-called s'evidence'' thus far
submitted is sample of what is to come,
we very much fear that the purpose of the
committee will be defeated. Nearly all
of the men who have submitted their
grievances were uncompromisingl opposed
to the employment of labor-saving machin-
cry, and to it they attributed the scarcity of
work and the inadequacy of wages. They
fail to appreciate the fact that machinery in
creases the demand for the product of labor
and cheapens the necessaries of life, and
consequently increases the occupations in
which labor can be employed One blatant
communist named McGregor went so far as
to say that the use of machinery had thrown
men out of employment to such an extent as
families upon the women and children. With
men of McGregor's stamp this is undoubt-
eddy the case, as they prefer to depend upon
the labor of their wives and children rather
than put forth any exertions for their own
support.
This fellow McGregor, who it is safe to
say is not workingman, and would not do a
days work as long as he could steal enough
to eat and to drink from his wife's scanty
earnings, has a somewhat enlarged idea
of the duties of the government. He
| holds that it is the duty of the government
to appoint commissions to examine into
every mandatory, take testimony under
oath as to the labor question, inquire into
their sanitary condition, and do everything
necessary for the welfare of the laboring
classes. 1t is wonder McGregor stopped
at this. He ought to have demanded that
the government guarantee to every citizen a
lucrative situation at pleasant and not over
arduous employment, and establish soup
houses in every county for those who did not
consider it their duty to labor.
Few valuable suggestions have been of
fered tending toward the amelioration of the
working classes, and the theories advanced
to account for the present depression in the
labor market are as various as the hues in the
rainbow. One thinks that machinery is re-
sponsible; another that the churches are tt
blame; another that we have too little cur.
rency; another that the rum traffic will &C
count for it; still another thinks that the re
fusal to give wome the ballot will accoun
for it all; while various schemes, all of then
more or less tainted with communism O.
wholly impracticable, are suggested as RENE
dies. Sensible suggestions have been the
exception, not the rule. It is noticeable tina
among the theorists who have submitted
their views, the men who work have beer
very few; the professional agitators almos
numberless. ~ "
Such lunatic disturbers work an incalcu
liable injury to the true laboring men of tn
country. Pretending to be workingme1
they never perform a days labor; assuming
W w 'no Oooo iAA0AAosS VI Iue ldOOillS GRASSES
they are their worst enemies. The tendenc
OF their ideas is to strip the workingman of al
manhood-to make of him a creature de
pendent for what he eats and drinks upo
the bounty of the government instead Of hi
own exertions. And it is to be feared tina
such blatherskites will work a serious iniur
to the cause of the genuine workmen of tn
country who do not partake of such extrem
views, and that the purpose of the pendin
inquiry will be defeated. A thorough in
yestlgation into the condition of the workin
class, will be productive of good by suggest
ing means for the alienation of their wrongs
but the investigation should be confined t
those who work, not those who prey upo
the workingmen under the guise of re
formers, who are nothing but rank commu
nists and disorganizers, totally ignorant Q
the true needs of labor, and as ignorant Q
what labor means. Let the inquiry b
pursued among the laboring classes wit
the sole view to improving their condition
let the communistic disorganizers be give
to understand that their advice can be dis
pensed with; and let the views of men q
experience among workingmen and th
workingmen themselves be heard and cor
sldered, and we may expect that the com
mlttee Will attain desirable results; but