Daily Republican., 1883-08-23
The Labor Problem.

| y
George was the first witness examined
to-day by the Senate Subcommittee on
Labor and Education. In answer to
the question whether he coMd present
any facts to the Committee on the sub.
.ject of labor, Mr.. George replied that
facts could be better obtained from the
workingmen themselves. There was
one general fact, however, that feel
ing of extreme dissatisfaction existed
among the laboring classes Their con-
dition is not improving with the in
creased prosperity of the country.
There is, in his opinion, no direct
conflict between labor and capital, but
between labor and monopoly. The
wages in each employment are governed
by certain circumstances, but they
must all depend on the wages obtained
in the most productive industry in the
country, and here this industry is agri-
culture Wages are higher in new
countries because the soil has not passed
so largely into private hands, and wages
will not sink, on an average, below
what a man can get by applying his
labor to the soil.
There is no such thing, he said, as
general overproduction, though there
may be specie Overproduction. The So
cret is that there is an underproductiOn
in something else, and that the laborer
cannot obtain the work, and thus get
the means of paying for articles he
needs. This state of things arises from
the difficulty in obtaining access to the
natural resources Of the land, which, as
countries become more thickly settled,
becomes the subject of a land monopoly.
Vast tracts of land in the West are com
ing to be owned by few private indi-
yiduals who obtain it at small cost
and hold j..
The homestead laws, which aim at
giving every man Il home, have in
many instances had just the opposite
effect. The telegraph business should
be under the control of the Government.
1t could he managed much more cheap
! y. and it would, to a great extent, su-
percede the postal service. All i'm.
prOvements made in telegraphy would
then benefit the public. The Associa-
ted Press, in connection with the West
ern Union Company, had been the
means of defeating the recent strike by
influencing the public press to take
stand adverse to the telegraphers.
Neither capital nor labor now get their
fair share of their joint product,
the great portion going to the land
owners.
Continuing his testimony, Mr.. George
stated that the system of taxation on
land values would act most harshly
upon those who had their capital in
vested in unimproved land, but that
was no more than Just. If every
but that in land WAS
abolished the condition of the poor
would not be benefited as the adj
would all be reapel by the
land owner in the shape of increased
rents. Every child had as much a
right in the land itself as the wealthiest
land owner There was no objection to
I mans becoming wealthy If, in the
acquisition of his wealth, he did not
Interfere with any of the rights of
others.
This the land speculation does. Mr.
George said that if he had absolute
power he would abolish the protective
tariff and all taxes except those on land
values, the army and navy together
with West Point and Annapolis place
systems and railroads un-
Ter Government control abolish the
collections of debts by legal proceed.
ugs, and reform and simplify the
whole legal system. England has
greatly advanced in prosperity by the
of her partal-trade system,
md the condition of the laboring class.
~ was better there than in this country |
The power to remedy the evil he had |
by the means which he ad-
he thought lay in the Govern
nent as at present constituted, and
'ould be put into effect without much
The examination closed with dis
ussion of the advantages Of the protec-
i've tariff by Senator Blair. The hear
ng will be continued tomorrow