Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-05-02
LABOR MATTERS.


i BurrAIo. n. ", April PA letter
from ey-Goy. Butleruf Massachusetts,,
under date of the oIst instant, was read
at the labor mass meeting here last
night. He says:
/ wish to call to mind what very
likely Is as familiar to you as to myself,
but which in public discussions L have
not seen much alluded to, which ex-
plains the reasons why strikes-that
il, the refusal to work by laboring
men for wages offered - are
so rarely successful Let
me premise by saying that i do not
| thiuk strike should ever take place
| IL honest and fair.minded dealing was
always had between capitalists and
laboring men, because their interests
do not naturally clash; and IL is only
when some advantage is to he taken OF
the labor, by the capitalist, or some
unfair dealing takes place, that a call
for strike ever exists. / have been
an employer of labor to n considerable
extent for more than quarter
of a century, and can
say no strike has ever oc-
Cured of the slightest extent where j
have had considerable interest as
compared with the whole. A strike is
not contest between labor and capital,
but between two kinds of capitalize
property of two different sets of men.
What is usually called the capital is
the earnings of labor with its aggre-
gate profit when that capital is en-
ployed in productive industry. If the
production stops nothing is lost by
such stoppage except profit
which might be gained il pro-
duction went on. The capital Is I'M
touched, the profits only are lost. On
the other hand, the laboring mans
capital is the capacity to cam or pro-
duce, the capabilities he has of doing
days labor of y given value. The cap.
ital of the laborer perishes in the using
as well as in the non-use.
The only accumulation of the labor
ing mans capital, leaving out what he
may have saved of his former earn
ings, Is the worth of SO many days
work to be done by him. If he loses q
day the earnings Of that day are gone
forever. If he lies idle a month, the
losses to him for that month can never
be replaced. He may work and earn
not make good the lost month.
he loses all his capital and profits
against the profits alone on the part of
the capitalist. Hence, have always
said that strike, while comparatively
useless, and even If it were useful it Is
beneath the dignity of an American
workman, and should not be the re.
sort of the laboring man to settle his
differences with his employer. If he
is wronged in his relations with his
employer, ms he would in every o,her
relation of life, he ought to find an
adequate and prompt remedy by the
law of the land, and that
law made by representatives elected by
his-ballot. This is no new thought Of
mine. j gave voice to ii in public
some twelve or fifteen years ago, and
now recalling it to mind Ispeak to you
of 1t for the reason that l have seen
you going on a long and what will
turn OUT TO be useless strlke-tllsas.
trous, but not equally SO to both en-
ployer and employee. Contests between
employer and employe as TO their
rights are the only ones of any i'm.
portance in which efficient, if not too
prompt, tribunals are given by our
laws. But there is no court of arbi.
tration or other court that can decide
the most important of all controversies
TO those having them, as well as to the
country in general-diilerence arising
between what is usually termed labor
and capital. May we not hope that o
law will be passed at an early date
giving some tribunal IN which these
controversies can be justly and equita-
bly, settled.