The Portland daily press., 1882-03-31
Working Together.
Maine Farmer


The recent labor disturbances in a neighboI-
ing State, which have resulted in throwing five
thousand laboring men and women out OF en-
ployment, and stopping the busy wheels Of ma
chinery, have renewedly called attention 70 the
disastrous and unnecessary autagonisms be-
tween capital and labor The interests Of these
are identical. They should never clash, but
work together in harmony like the machinery
of perfect watch. Capital remains inopera-
tive and unremuneratiye, like the talent buried
in the earth unless developed by the sturdy
blows of the artizan and mechanic. Labor
hslts languishes and dies unless capital Genes
forward and furnishes the "sinews OF war"
The man with skilled brain and fully develop
ed muscle, rolls up his shirt sleeves and comes
to the man who handles the keys to the money
vaults, and says: "You have the money and
have the muscle; let us put the two together
in business, and each be benefited by the 9TH
er." That is fair and reasonable proposition,
and if accepted. and entered into eabh party
has an interest in the success OF the undertak-
ing One partner in the transaction cannot
abuse and crowd the other without both being
injured. When the capitalist and laborer join
hands they do SO for mutual protection and in
terests. One cannot suffer without the other
suffers. The man or corporation that seeks to
antagonize or disturb these mutual relations IS
an enemy OF mankind and no friend OF busi-
ness progress and enterprise.
Insthis country class distinctions, founded
merely ON the possession of wealth, are destin
ed to crumble and decay. Our institutions
should know no aristocraey, no middle class
no plebeians. The man who to-day sits upon
the throne which money alone has reared, is Ii
able to be cast down tomorrow. Capital itself
is always the result of somebody's work, either
handiwork or brain-work, or both of them COM
bined. Worry often it happens in this country
of varying fortunes, that the laborer Of yester-
day is the capitalist of tomorrow. The change
comes with energy, pluck and fortuitous cir
cumstances, and there is not much luck about
it. 1t is no disgrace to man that he cannot
heap up riches; neither should man be stig-
matiZed and hated because he has the capacity
to do 80
While it is right and scriptural that the lamb
and the lion should lie down together, this
peaceful simile Of happy harmony is somwhat
marred when the lamb lies down inside the
lion. When capital rises IN great power and
clothes itself in iron mail, and with hard
hand crushes labor down to starvation wages,
il is "killing the goose that lays the golden
egg" The other day the managers OF the Pa
cifc Mills at Lawrence, attempted TO cut down
the wages,p its weavers from SO and IS
week to 50 and 81, while the spinners would
receive only sixty-eight cents for work which
has heretofore paid ninety. And this Is the
corporation that for years has paid its stock
holders ttoenty per cent annual diUidendS.
With such splendid profits there could be no
excuse for the cut-down. 1t is the disposition
of the highwayman who rushes out from q
dark place and demands ''your money or your
'life." The directors and agents OF the mill are
rolling in luxury, with not want unsatisitedi
and they know not how to enter into the feel
ings of man who is laboring ON So week 70
feed and cloth ehis wife and children,a and finds
even that cut-down. 1t is downright robbery,
for he is the worst kind of a thief who robs la
Dor of fair and Just compensation. The gaunt
form of starvation, sitting by the empty boards
and fireless hearthstones of the mill operatives,
should rise as ghosts to haunt those who would
thus grind down the face of the poor. III the
mills were losing money, and the alternative
were to run at starvation wages or shut down
entirely, the case would assume different
phase But there was no excuse OF the kind IN
this case. No concession was made to labor. 1t
was simply stand and deliver, ana take the
consequences.
: In keeping with this grasping policy has
been the recent course of the Western Union
Telegraph Company in cutting down the pay
of the receiving clerks and the little errsnd
boys who, with swift feet, carry messages to its
millions of patrons. They were receiving lit
tle,enough before, but in few days after the
cut-down was made the news flashed across the
wires that the earnings OF the company mad
been larger the last three months than for any
previous quarter for some time. On the heels
of that came the additional intelligence that
the company had given banquet to the dis
tinguished men of Western city Feasting
the distinguished men," but starving its en-
ployeesl Declaring good fat dividends to stock
holders, but cutting down the already small
pay of the men who turn night into day, whose
ear catches the pulsation of the telegrsphic
machine, and whose pen writes with almost
tightening rapidity, the messages which, trans
ferred to tyue greet us in the morning papers,
If the capitalist wishes the respect, confidence
and cooperation of the laboring man, he must
give the laboring man a chance for his life.