Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-01-26
LABOR BUREAU AND BUREAU OF LABOR
AND CAPITAL STATS TICS.

EDS. RECORD UNION: In your issue
of the 23d instant you speak Of the proposed
Bureau Of Labor and Labor Statistics, and
ask that the public be further informed III
relation thereto, and in accordance with that
expression I respectfully submit the follow
ing: In his address to Speaker John d.
Long of the Massachusetts House of Repre-
s9ntatives, the chief of the Massachusetts,
Bureau of Labor and Statistics, uses the
following language: The relations Of labor
and capital aye more equitably adjusted.
These desirable results are attained not by
unhappy and unfortunate agitations, not by
strikes and their consequent demoralizing in
fluences, but by all the contributions to the
sum of intelligence of the laborer and capi-
talist, and by means which the Legislature
can adopt which will add to the information
of the people on subjects which concern
their daily lives, and which are of untold
Udlue, and surely return to the government
hundred-fold. ."-(Sse Mass. Bureau Report
for 1877, page Z, Public Document No. 81. }
Early in the present century certain legal
tribunals were established in France, an out.
growth Of the great Revolution, and known
dS Tie SOISSlIS ticE ! L utSS
Courts were composed equally of employers
and employed, and were authorized to deter
mine disputes that might arise between capi-
tai and labor. In Belgium similar tribunals
were established. The terrible experience Of
the Reign of Terror wruug from the ruling
classes this concession, and the moving mo-
tive was the same as that which causes city
to perfect fire department after it had
been swept by conhagration. The "Conseils
des Prudhommes" was the germ from whence
sprung the labor and statistical bureaus
which now exist in nearly all the countries
of Europe and in eleven of the most important
States of this Union; and it was also the
author of the principle and practice of arbi-
tration as now practiced between workers
and employers in England.
That the Commissioners Of Labor Bureau
ought to be men from the ranks OF produc-
tive and distributive industry is sufficiently
attested by the experience of Boards of Ar
bitration in England, where an equal repre-
sentation of labor and capital has been rigidly
observed Upon this particular point Mr..
Alsegar Hill, London, Eng, says: 1.-The
representative character of the Board ap-
pears to have two results-one OF satisfying
the men that their case has been decided by
men who really understand the facts the
other, that the work of Cancellation is done
ny JHe pdElleS ACTUALLY COuCOfHCi anu ioI ny
strangers. The plan reduces the interference
of strangers to minimum" The "Conseils
des Prudbommes were steps in the nature of
co o.operation-co operation of capital and la
bor-for the purpose of bringing about
first, harmony of understanding; second,
harmony of action; which once perfected,
destroys all incentive to strife and crowns the
apex of our civilization.
Therold Rogers, Professor of Political
Economy, Oxford, Eng, writes. "Co-opera-
tion, rightly understood, is the harmony of
those divergent interests which are repre-
sented under the terms, capital and labor
To reach this harmony is and ought to be the
aim and object of our civilization"
In the foregoing interest the Bureau system
is the. perfection of the g ''Conseils de Prud-
hommes = and in some form prevails in every
country of Europe, and must eventually be-
come an adjunct of every Government on
earth. Why this should be is tersely set
forth in the following sentence clipped from
the report of the Massachusetts Labor Com
mission for 1876, p. 81, Public Document,
No. 81: Socially, class distinctions have
increased wealth is aggregated and protected
Poverty is concentrated and demands pro-
lection. Two classes, permanent and antag
onistic; the laborer, poor and ignorant; the
capitalist, rich and cultured. On the side of
the first are numbers and brute force; ON the
side of the second, cunning and power.
Singly, each class is self-destrucuve unitedly,
they are constructive"
1t is above forty years since that great and
profound thinker, Rev. EIlery Charming,
said: 1--WE do not find that civilization has
Gghtened mems tolls as yet it has increased
them in this | see the sign of deep defect
in what we call the progress Of society"
Governor Bulloek's address to the Massa-
,.ht1caftc | Slafu nf 1874 ba fol
lowing illusions to the labor problem "The
question is not one of merely sanitary connec-
tons, but it relates to the social condition of
State. Having myself no hesitation
as to the rightful authority of the Legislature
over the subject, and believing that a conces-
sion to the wishes of those who seek for a
thorough inquiry will be productive of a bet
ter understanding, not only of the specific
question itself, but of the intimate and mutu
ally beneficial relations which all classes sus-
tain to each other, | commend the subject to
your thoughtful consideration"
In 1866 the Massachusetts Legislature
passed "a resolve" creating Labor Com
mission, with power to send for persons and
papers, to investigate the subject of the hours
of labor, especially in its relation to the So
cial, educational and sanitary condition of
the industrial classes" Governor Andrew
appointed similar commission. One was
composed of Amasa Walker, William Hyde
and Edward H. Rogers, and the other of
William P. Tilden, H. 1. Bowditch, F. B.
Sanborn, Elizur Wright and Geo. III. Smelling.
(See Resolves of 1861
Those Commissions, acting separately and
independent of each other, after carefully
weighing the testimony adduced, presented,
among others, the following recommends
tions "That provision be made for the an
nual collection of reliable statistics, in regard
to the condition, prospects and wants OF the
industrial classes. That Bureau of Stats
tics be established for. the purpose of collect
ing and making available all facts relating to
the industrial and social interests of the COM
monwealth." Commissioner Rogers made a
minority report upon local issue, in which
he took occasion to state his belief in what
he termed "three truths" First-Manual
labor is the divine training to energize the
character. Seeond-Ihe more hours men
work in any staple branch of manufactures
the less they receive in the form of wages
Third-Labor is capital. Mr. Rogers sums
up with the following conclusion Human
labor is so connected with exalted mental and
moral capacities, that it of right ought to
have higher consideration than merchandise"
In his legislative address for 1872 Governor
Washburn, of Massachusetts,, dwelt largely
upon the labor question, and the operations
and beneficial results OF Labor Bureau. He
said: Il commend to your earnest atten-
ton the results that may be wrought out by
the Bureau of Statistics of Labor | doubt
not you will welcome any and every fact
tending to throw light upon the solution of
this great labor problem. A subject so vital
to the commonwealth as the question whether
the daily life of majority OF its citizens can
be enlarged and improved must not be
ignored, and should receive no secondary
consideration at your hands"
So much for the necessity of labor bu-
reau or commission. Governments do not
hesitate to create commissions upon the cult
ure of fish, upon railroads and tariffs, silk
worms and Indians, and all things pertaining
to capitalistic enterprise. In this direction
direction purely of luxury and commodity
countless millions have been, and will be,
appropriated. Then why should any man,
or class of men, object to an appropriation
purely in the interest of labor, an interest
upon which all others rest? The agitation Of
the past three years, commenced in Caucas
ianism and lodged on the sand lot, has cost
the State of California millions of gold dol
lars. With proper representation in the
government of the State, with general un-