The Labor enquirer., 1885-01-31
>fHJAEBUG REMEDNS.
Those Proposed for the Ills of the
Competitive System Of
Wages.
Lizzie Swank thinks Mrs. Vanderbilt
Would Cook Little Rather
than StarVe.
For The Enquire

be told that there is something wrong
in the present construction of society
it Is not so easy to see what is wrong, or
what should be the remedy. Many
think that wealth and poverty, labor
and capital ara great mysteries about
which large volumes must be written,
and many profound words used This
is because the truth is 80 simple, but
happens to be just the truth a great
many people don't want to. accept.
Words serve to- conceal truth some
times as easily as they can be made to
convey one. The political economist
can write large volume in so profound
a style that the average workingman IS
frightened and, believing the whole
subject too deep for his understanding.
submits in sullen despair to his life of
-drudgery and privati0n, as to the newt
able. Every man who tries to make the
labor question deep and incompre-
nensible question, or who dIscourses on
it in way only metaphysicians are fa-
miliar with, is an enemy to the cause of
the working people
1t is a simple question and can be
stated so plainly that the most ignorant
can understand. In The Enquirer Of
January II Mr.. E. +. Boyd processes to
have discovered and mentally formu-
lated complete science of the labor
problem" and IS willing to devote all Of
his remaining years to calculating it. In
the same number, without any preten-
ton of solving deep and welghtv prob
lem that is beyond common peoples
comprehension, Ieno does elucidate the
labor question, and "he who runs Dlay
read" Everybody can understand that
if man produces $2,764 year and
only gets S457, he is robbed, and it is
not necessary to write book to prove
it or make it clearer. What we need is
that everyone should accept the clear
and very apparent fact that the laborer
is robbed, and then mite to abolish the
system that robS him.
1t is a mischieyous notion that the
wrongs of society involve mysterious
and lofty problems only to be discussed
learnedlY by profound and wordy phil
osophers, and romprehended by none
The remedy Of superficial thinkers is
usually, work" To give men employ
rrent ia to confer the greatest favor i'm,
aginable on them. 50 sure are they that
plenty of work, regardless of am re
suits of that labor, is the remedy that,
if they coulG have their way, all Of
Chicagos $4,000 idle men would be set
to work pounding sand on the lake
shore at IS cents day.
1t is not work We want, but the re.
suits of work. Purp Useless drudgery
would be most unnatural and unscjen
tifc remedy. The natural Object Of
work is to bring into practical shape
some idea in the workers brain
When we labor because we want to
accomplish a certain result, our labor is
pleasant and refreshing, providing we
do not carry It too far. Our muscles
should act in harmony with our thought
else labor becomes what it is u day. irk-
some, degrading, slavish. We make
shoes, dig sewers, cary mortar, etc, not
because We care continental whether
the shoes are made, the sewers dug and
the mortar carried or not, but because
we MCsT, from fear Of starvation.
There is something fendish in our
present wage system, 1t robs men of all
natural rights and places them in so
helpless a condition that they can be
compelled to toll all their lives at some.
thing they have not the slightest inter-
est in seeing accomplished. 1t is q COM
mon question Of our opponents to ask,
How would you get sewers dug, roads
built and all other dirty, dlsagreeabIe
work done under a system of free in
dustIy"
OF course the reasonable answer is
that free men would dig sewers, build
roads and clean the streets because they
want sewers, good roads and clean
streets the Cnlv reason under heaven
why men should do any kind of work.
Rut I would add that if we can only
have sewers and roads and cleanliness
by taking advantage of some man
helnIessness and forcing him to do tins
work then we should do without them
What right has one man to make a
lover of another's necessities to CONF eI
him to perform labor he would not DO II
he we're free? 1t is an abOmlnable idea
and the very keynote of slavery &c
not let us pride ourselves on being Tree
men as long as it prevails.
Prof DenslOH asks in a lecture, WhC
would get your breakfast if every
woman were rich as Mrs. Vanderbilt?
If everyone were rich alike, they would
still see their wants could not be sup
piled without labor, but being on a per
fectIv equal footing, no one could oe
forced to do more than he wished, anC
an equitable exchange of services coulc
easily be rendered. Mrs. Vanderbilt
would get someone's breakfast if it was
the only way she could get the materials
for her OWN; and Prof. Denslow woul.G,
carry market basket filled with pro
visions rather than cook his own break