Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-06-26
Rad MOVES,

III LOlluOH luIeW USuS VI UuOuSduuS VI lrlSl
out of employment and livelihood. Torches
in this country applied to factories which
cut down wages: shot-guns aimed at
workmen who take the place of hands re-
signed or hands discharged, for good or
bad reasons; Instructions put on railroad
tracks before midnight express trains, be-
cause the offenders do not like the Presi-
dent of the company: strikes which leave
the ship the hour it was going to sail, or
the printing -office the hour the paper was
to go to press, or the coal-mines the day
the coal was to be delivered, or the house,
scaffolding the day when their absence
would make the builder fail in his contract
all these things have given American
labor a heavy blow on the head, and Grip
pied its arms and lained it's feet, and pierced
it through the heart. Take the last great
strike in America-the telegraph opera
tors strickland the loss to The operators
was $4,000 and poorer wages ever since.
Neither sudden trap sprung by employers
nor violence ever united the knots from the
knuckles of toll or put more money into
the callous palm. Barbarism will never
cure the wrongs of civilization. Frederick
the Great wanted the property of q miller
adjoining the grounds near Potsdam. The
King offered the miller three times the
value of the property. The miller would
not sell, because it was the old homestead,
and he felt about it as Naboth did about
his vineyard when Ahab wanted it. Fred
erick the Great was a rough and terrible
man, and he ordered the miller into his
presence. The King, flourishing q stick
with which he was sometimes accustomed
to strike the officers of State, said to the
miller: 81 have offered you three times
the value of your property, and if you will
not sell it l will take it anyhow" The
miller replied, calmly: "Your Majesty
will not take it." eyes, 1 WILL" yelled
the King. "Then," replied the miller, 81
will sue;you before the Chancery Court"
Then the King relinquished his demand.
So the most imperiousIof outrages against
the poor and theh hard working shall cover
before the law. Wrongs will be righted,
not by violence and against the law, but
according to law.
WHERE TO LOOK FOR
Yet all attempts at reconciliation be-
tween labor and capital so far having
failed, and the two standing with their
thumbs on each others throat ready for
strangulation, it behooves us to look else
where for relief. And FROM my text it
bounds out, roseate and jubilant, and put
ting one hand on the %broadcloth shoulder
OF Capital, puts the other hand on the
homespun-covered shoulder of Toll, and
says with a voice that will finally and
gloriously settle every thing: "Whatso-
ever ye would that men should do to you,
do We auon on To thew - TIL q &c Tho 1,lr
of tho household will say: 81 must treat
the maid,in the kitchen as I would like to
be treated if I cooked and washed and
swept dow stairs and she entertained in
the parlor." And the maid in the kitchen
must say: I" If that lady upstairs seems
more fortunate than I, her prosperity is
not to be set down as a fault, and I will
manage her affairs with an industry and
fidelity such as 1 would expect from q SUBJ
ordinate if l happened to be the wife of a
silk importer" The manufacturer will
look over his resources and say: II mean
to do the best for my employees
that 1 can, and I will treat them
in the matter of wages as l would like
to be treated if 1 turned the iron bar
in the furnace or stood at the factory
wheel or had my foot on the treadle." And
the toiler will say: ''Though my face be
| smirched with the furnaces and my hand
hardened by the wheel, I must be a GENTLE
man, and l will not act as though my en-
ployer were an enemy, and I will do my
duty among these wheels as well as though
l We're up in the counting-room among the
ledgers." The iron manufacturer having
taken a dose of my text before he left
home in the morning is walking through
the foundry and passing through the
"puddling-room," where are men be-
sweated and stripped to the waist. The
employer says: "Good morning, Donald;
you look uncomfortable in this heat. 1
hear your child is sick with the scarlet
fever. If you want to draw your wages a
little early this week to buy medicines and
pay the nurse just come into my office"
Passing along into the Finishing room,"
he sees a young man very white and pallid
and hardly able to stand w to his work,
and the employer says: 81 guess you
don't feel very we'll to-day; better rest a
little once in u while. What are you TAX
ing for this illness? Call at my house to-
night and l will give you a vial of medi-
cine that will set you up" "Thank you,"
say u WI hAlAus IL lie SWCcpS Ills arm
across his forehead, taking off the beads of
sweat, for Goo knows he is more fit to be
in bed than there.
HOW TO COMPROMISE.
After a while crash goes the money mar
ket, and the emand for manufactured
goods ceases, and the question is whether
to shut up the mill or run on half time or
lower the wages. The boss calls all his
hands together. They stand around him
wondering what he is going to do. He
says: "Men, the times are hard, the de-
mand for our work is very small. Where
l used to make one hundred dollars l don't
make twenty dollars. You see I am under
great expense here. Now, what shall 1
do? 1 hate to close up and throw you out
of employment, for you have been very
faithful, and I like you, and you seem to
like me, and you have families to support,
and the BARNS must be taken care off, and
the wife must have a new dress before
long. What shall I do:" Silence for q
minute or tw0s and then one Of the work.
men steps a little forward from the others
and says: "Boss, you have been good to US.
Wheny you prospered, we prospered. Now,