The Labor enquirer., 1884-12-13


i fact when great body of laborers throv
down the tools of their business, evel
though it be done under an entirel.
mistaken view of their rights or wrong
i or interests and, willingly or unwil
i lingly, we must share the consequence
/ of their mistake or their folly. Tha
/ they are foolish. instead of being an ex
euse for turning away from them, ough
rather to remind US of duty to ait
Them. A foolish man must be expected
to do foolish things nothing but curing
the folly will prevent it. But the folly
itself is likely to be a consequence of un
avoidable conditions
Labor, the world over, has always in
different degrees been the servant Of
capital and generally, when not en-
slayed by law, the remuneration has
been SO slight that accumulations were
nearly impossible. Any untoward cir
cumstance might then reduce the laborer
to destitution and If destitute he might
better be slave than free, for the slave
must be 81, pported by the master, when
the free laborer might be left to starve
Circumstances have made America the
paradise of the laborer; but at present
there is plenty of real destitution, and
probably still more that is simulated for
purposes of beggary or crime. But when
appeal is made to our charity on behalf
of classes apparently destitute, whether
we respond or refuse, we may wisely re-
feet that the appeal is for those who,
whether deserving or not, are joint
rulers with US of this magnificent and
| wealthy country. Hitherto the joint
rule has been beneficent; but to insure
its continuing SO, it is needeul to take all
possible precautions against foolish and
disquieting actions. + Persons who are
both idle and needy may be thinking
dangerous thoughts as we'll as foolish
thoughts but their folly is of itself a
danger. A body of strikers may be
taught by destitution the folly of their
course, but destitution is not likely to
impress their minds with the conviction
that the business is exclusively that of
their employers. On the contrary, pow
erty and want, coming upon them from
the stoppage of wages, are severe and
and constant reminders oftheir personal
interest; and it is inevitable that they
should suffer under sense of wrong if
they and their families cease to receive
the means of subsistence from the bust
ness, for reasons the justice of which is
not apparent to them. Aud what they
may be thinking under sense of wrong
concerns us all for the evolution of law
is from below, and the rule that finally
prevails is worked out by the gradual
operation of mind upon mind. And
when the rignt-thinkers and the wrong
thinkers are all busy propagating their
ideas and their theories, their influence
respectively will depend largely upon the
state of mind of those they address.
With discontented people, the wrong
thinkers are certain to be most infuen-
tial, and they may therefore come to
have the making of our laws. The i'm
portance of preventing anv considerable
discomfort is obvious and it ought to be
equally obvious that the best security
for capital is in cordial relations between
those who possess it and those whose
labor gives it satisfactory employment,
and that the best protection for state is
in steadfast and remunerative industry.
A condition of organized antagonism in
any particular business is prima facie
one of mutual folly much as would be
the antagonism of men to women as
classes, of parents to children, of street
to street in city. Its existence is EVIL
dence that wrong exists for which
some one should find remedy; and if
one party is superior to the other in in
telligence, it is upon that party that the
duty to search for a remedy is especially
incumbent.
It is sometimes our boast that in this
country we have given to our possessions
protection that Is found nowhere else !;
for the government itself, even in the
greatest emergencies, cannot impair the
obligation of contracts, or take from the
most humble citizen his property. But
as the benefit OF this protection is reaped
by those who have possessions, the con-
stitutioD itself may come to be regarded
by considerable classes as an instrument
whose Office is to protect the rich in the
advantages they have secured over the
Door, and one that should be hated for
that reason. Mr.. Gladstone, with the
mower of parliament behind him, when
landholdings are oppressive, forces better
terms from the landlords and it is not
difficult to make classes that conceive
themselves oppressed believe that a gov
ernment that is powerles to give such re-
lief is unworthy their support. Then, all
| of us have been more or less indignant
| at the plunder of the national treasury
in the inteeests of certain railroads, anc
at the watering of stocks upon which
the public pay the dividends. But the
unrefecting mind is liable to identify al
corporations with those that are justly
subject to complaint, or even to g
further and condemn all that have capl
tal as robbers and pIunderers, because