The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-09-19
Labor and Capital-Chipman's Chinese
system.

To the Editor of the Indianapolis Journal
Readers of your valuable paper observe that
you are not uumndful of some of the dangers
confronting society. few years ago fifty to
sixty and one hundred thousand dollars made a
man very rich. In the last fifteen years rail-
roads, mines, stocks and speculations have en-
abled many men to amass large fortunes of one,
three, ten, fifteen, twenty, and so up to fifty
and one hundred millions of dollars. A new
and potential power comes to the front. Four
and five men uniting together could destroy a
city, destroy banks, break down any bushes or
corner produce. II used improperly, their money
would be a real and rot imaginary danger.
Concentrating in a single or few hands their
power is almost unlimited. Such fortunes could
not all be spent in luxury, travel and building
without leaving a large surplus for other pur-
poses and there are constant provocatIons for
other uses. One human weakness is q love OF
power. Love of money also has so far de-
bauched the ballot box, the convention, the vo-
ter and the legislator, that rich men can pur-
chase any desired office. The highest legislative
bodies in the land have several mllliOnaires in
them. IL is claimed that money, not talent or
merit in many instances placed them there.
There is no legal way to hedge in these men and
prevent them from accommodating more money
Yet the danger of such colossal fortunes cannot
be overstated The ease with which
some rich men accumulate stimulates
other men to questionable methods to become
rich. The main tendency of money is toward
monOpolies, and consequent oppression of
labor. What has been said is not to condemn
riches rich men, but the danger or arrogance
of riches, its tendency to monopoly, corruption
in politics and oppression of labor. Society
should be regulated, and the balances so
evenly adjusted, that the rich and the poor
should be uni ed together in an indissOluble
bond of interest. Such a state is considered
Utopian. Now, by your permission | desire,
through the Journal, to name something which
would make the balances nearer in equlpoise
than they are at present, and call it. "The
Chinese SYSTEM" China has existed thousands
of years They have no lramps there. they
have no exceedingly poor people there. Wealth
is nearer equally distributed than elsewhere.
The people so love China that they are unwilling
to be buried in a foreign land. They are the
most la6orious, industrious, and least criminal
and least neCeSSltOus OF any nation in history.
| What makes them sO} Is 1t moi the fair divide
between capital and LAHORE In China, at the
end of each year, tho man who employs labor
ers in any enterprise is compelled TO keep his
| books that, at the end OF the year, the net
profit can be determined, and the employer
| is compelled to divide one-tenth of the
| net profit among HIS woPkmen. In addition
| to his regular wages the workingman receives
| 10 per cent. of the net profit. Without eahOra-
ting the idea any further, we will illustrate 1t by
| the Western Union Telegraph strike If, in adj
| ditiOn to the wages paid, the Western Union
| was compelled, rs in China, TO divide one-tenth
of the net income at the end of the year with it's
| employees, would there have been strike2 MOL
| the interest Of the laborer and the telegraph
! company would have been the same. No one
could have induced the men to strike. To strike
| would have destroyed the chance for a divide.
The prospect of a divide would all the year have
| stimulated the men to make as much possible
! for the employer to increase the dividend.
So in railroads, in mining, in manufactures,
| and in all kinds OF labor. The payment of one
! tenth would close the breach between capital
and labor Labor is the bottom fact OF all things.
Labor produces all things Labor is the meri-
| torious cause of all wealth. And labor should
| stand higher than all other things As
! it produces all things. IL has a
| right to a proper share in all wealth.
| In Anderson our richest man Is building M sud
improving the CITY. In that respect are
| highly favored. But in the East and oAtIeme
West, where the colossal and dangerous fortunes
| are found, the tendency is bad and III the wrong
| direction. 1t is new danger; one of which the
fathers had no knowledge, and one OF the most
difficult problems for us TO solve. Unless some
thing is done to avert the calamity, conflict is
! inevitable between capital and labor. Would
not the Chinese system aid in solving the prob
| lenl
You have my idea, and leave all the rest of
| the argument aud Illustrations to the Journal,
which is everywhere regarded ms being honest
! to labor and just to capital ID. g. CHAPMAN.
ANDERSON, Sept. II.