Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1880-03-06
4 NEW DEPARTURE.

panies OF Lowell, nearly all Of which
are corporations, have taken step
almost without precedent in the his.
tory Of the relations between capital
and labor t3tt q 1!ipt
Finding their business improving
a. the prosperity throughout the At
lantic Coast advs need, they have of
their own volition, increased the
wages Of their Operatives. For once
the well.known saying, "Corpora-
tions have no souls" seems to have
met with fat denial. 1t is so unu-
sual for corporations to voluntarily
pay their employees more than actu-
ally compelled to, that the
course Of these Lowell Com
panies may we'll excite surprise.
We said they performed this act of
Justice voluntarily. At present it is
better to qualify, by saying that their
generous behavior is presumable, the
manifestation of their own sense of
right. 1t may be that, knowing q
demand for an advance in wages
would be made, and not being in
situation to resist, they have made
virtue Of necessity, and anticipated
the action of the unions. In either
case the conduct of the corporations
is commendable, and there is reas.
enable probability that they are ac-
tuated in this instance by. the motives
which good sense and past experience
indicates those which II permit
ted to govern the attitude of employ
srs to employed, would quickly re-
move the antagonism between capital
and labor. Heavy money interests,
represented either by joint stock
companies or individual associations,
which employ q great many labor
.ers, either skilled or unskilled, sell
dom doubt their ability to compel
compliance with their term, and they
are seldom mistaken. Their victory
frequently Is gained only after long
delay and great loss, but statistics
show that in much more than three
fourths of the struggles between the
opposing interests, the workman has
come out worsted., Capital is timid,
but determined when it becomes q
question of decreasing its earnings,
and capitalists are prone to think
that they can control the situation.
There is no reason tor believing that
the Lowell Companies are different
from other capitalists, and it is fair
to presume that they would believe
in their own power.
Ifthen these Massachusetts, men
have decided in good faith to adopt
a policy of fair dealing with those in
their service, they Will in the end
reap q golde harvest from the seeds
OF good viii thus sown. The inter-
.ssts Of the workman are closely al
lied to those of his employer. When
his sealous distrust of the wealthy
owner has been erased from his
heart, its place will be occupied by a
friendly interest In the prosperity OF
the industry, with which he is con-
nected. Once make the laboring man
know that he will share In the bene-
fits accruing to his masters, and his
work will become less of disagree
able task. Feeling his own prosper
ity to be dependent In q measure
upon that of the owners, he will
work with will to aid in the accom-
plishment Of success for the enter.
prise Of which he IL ono Of the fac.
tors.
Had capital. - represented by
such corporations as the Lowell
companies, alwas been willing to
make reasonable advance in the
compensation of its servitors proper
tionate to the increasing profits sris-
Ing from great demand or other
causes; had it been willing ia dull
times to pay for labor as nearly liv-
ing prlce to the workman as the de-
creased profits would permit, without
having bean forced to do so by the
strenuous argument OF strikes, lew OF
the stories now told OF mills burned
and workshops destroyed by dissat-
isaed meehspics would be included
as part Of tho history OF manufaotur-
ing.
The ,dissensions between capital
and labor had their origin In the OPP
pressions inflicted upon the poor by
their rich and powerful neighbors,
long before the influence of com.