St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-08-23

ing removed Dy the Tree or involuntary
action of men.
In letter written by the secretary of the
Fall River Spinners' union the writer says:
Let those gigantic intellects, who con-
denim strikes, tell us what else there is Tor us
to do. We have been repeatedly cut, dur
ing the past year, until our wages are down
to the starvation point. 1t is strike or
starve.'
Now, the above conclusion may be called
unphilosophical, for it will be argued: IF
he is so sure of starving while earning
something he will be more sure of it while
earning nothing. He had better keep at
work" Just so; but it is, perhaps, 10 the
credit of human nature that men sometimes
prefer to take the chances of dying rather
than submit to conditions of life too har-
rowing for endurance. 1t cannot be
doubted that,
THROUGH ENFORCED POVERTY.
thousands every year sink to such depths
of misery that death itself is preferable TO a
continuance OF life. The editorial i'm cues
ton says: 1T is fair to assume that in good
and prosperous times manufacturers and
other employers of labor promptly share
with their worilingmen the profits of such
buoyancy in trade and financial matters. be-
cause the strike in good times is an almost
unheard OF thing. And if this is true as
the labor statistics compiled by government
and other high authorities show, is il not
quite time that the senseless gable of dem
agogues about the 'irrepreSsible conflict
between labor aud capital should stop"
Let us examine this statement and see
how far it will bear the test of analysis.
The statistical part of it is mquestioned.
Wages are better in good times and strikes
are less frequent, but L submit 20 the judg-
ment of reasonable men whether the con-
cluSion drawn from these facts by the Jour
nal are correct or superficial. 1t is true
that in good times employers give their
workmen better wages, but this increased
pay is due, not TO the msgnanimity of the
employer, but to the absence of competition
among lab0rers. A few employers may be
generous, but their number is so small that
they exercise no appreciate influence upon
the general scale of wages, and their best
instincts must yield to the bitter competition
that surrounds them. They are not free
agents. There is not a political economist
OF any note now living who does not know
and admit that the necessary
EFFECT OF COMPETITION
is to force labor to the lowest point of sub
siStence compatible with the ability to
work. That we are rapidly approaching
this point facts abundantly testify, and al
though wages may rise in good times and
fall in bad times, the ultimate tendency
under the competitive system will he OF
necessity downward.
To illustrate this, let us suppose that an
employer who is disposed to be generous
requires the services of a few men. Call
the employer Smith. The men apply and
the conversation runs thus:
!.
YES" answers Smith, Il want few
laborers.''
what are you paying?"
''Nmety cents day."
Laborer hesitates. Thinks of his family,
his scanty stock of provisions, and says:
That's pretty small wages; hardly
enough to live on; can't you make it a dol
lar?" Experience has taught him to be
modest in his requests.
Employer answers: MY friend, / can
not. Jones, across the way there, is hiring
his men for seventy-1ive and eighty. The
fellow has neither heart or soul, but I am
placed i'll competition with him, and no one
will buy my goods at a greater price than
his, merely because l pay better
wages. l have little or nothing to
do with fixing the rate OF wages;
they are established by men Ike
Jones who force them to the lowest point
by taking advantage of your necessities"
There is not man in this city who works
for living, from the shoyeler to the pro-
feSSional, who has not felt the force of this
cut-throat competition more or less all
through his life, and in every case Jones
takes the benefit and Smith and the laborer
the penalty. The best elements of society,
if not utterly crushed out, are forced to pay
tribute to the worst. This is the develop
ment of the competitive system which may
with justice be called the root hog or die
system" 1t does not secure the survival of
the fittest, but the survival and rule of the
meanest and most tyranical.
JOHN LAMB.