Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-01-26
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In the February issue Of the "Nsrth
American Review Carl Schurz has a
paper on the employees Of corporations, and
their duty to the public, The burden Of
the Introduction is 10 point out that tie
employees OF corporations, such as railroads
and tolegraphs, bear a relation to the pub
lie which hNes upon them a responsibility
that they must discharge. as well as the
duty they owe to their employers. This
obligation is not to incommode the public
IN the struggle to secure fair rate of
wages from the corporations. But Mr..
Scturz sees the difficulty involved in the
effort Of the employee to better his own con-
dition by coercing the employer without in
convenencing the public the employer is
bound 70 serve. The soldier is disciplined
and compelled TO DO duty assigned him by
the State but at the same time sit sees
to his pay, aud furnishes him sub
sistence. Bat in the case Of corporation
carriers, while the duty to the public is
not to interrupt its business, the pay Of
the worker comes from the corporation,
which may thus in reducing the wages Of
its employees, shield itself behind the duty
the latter owe to the public, The logic Of
this duty debars ne employee FROM avAiling
Of the only means he sees at hand to right
his wrongs that is, to strike But
strikes rarely accomplish their ends, at
best are Improbable, and therefore this
remedy should be avoided, and if for no
other reason than that the public suffers
when il has not sinned and cannot right the
wrong # there is any philauthropio ele-
meug In the matter, Mr.. Schurz thinks it
shcn.a D.. manifest by the corporation en-
ployer, since the employees are generally
poor and cannot in reason be called upon
to give their labor to the public without
reward, while the corporations have fran
ohjses Of value, and capital invested, and
at the worst their members cannot suffer
personal want How then can an adjust
meat be msde between corporation employ
ers and corporation employees, so that their
differences may be settled without the pub
lie being punished. This is the real cen
trail question aud core of the rather lengthy
essay, many Of the considerations OF which
we are compelled to pass, while arriving st
the conclusion reached by Mr.. Schurz, that
the interests Of employer, employed and
the general public viii be conserved by
the substitution for strikes Of boards Of ar
b,tration. These, he holds, should be in
instituted by law, and while he is not in
sensible to the objections to them, he be-
lieyes that they are the best remedy Of
which society now has knowledge.
He holds that these boards could
no: operate so disastrouSly as strikes
invariably do. Employers would he
thinks, favor them 20 save themselves
the trouble and annoyance incident
to strike or lockout. II these boards
inspired confidence by their composition
and the law fortifying them, the
working people would appeal to them
instead of employing ceercive meas
ures. These mutual appeals, he holds,
would have a wholesome effect.
make both employers and employed
more conservative, and would largely
eliminate the inconvenience the public ex-
periences in all cases of strikes by carrier
employees.
The idea is not new one it looks well