Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-11-06

DR.. Lyman Abbott propounds a new
creed for the workingman, in the Novem-
Der Century. He shows that the strike is
always detriment to the interests of the
laboring classes that it does not and can
not accomplish what it is intended to. BY
combinations of labor against capital, the
workingman involves himself in great
risk and a foolish expenditure. DR.. Alb
bolt points out the fatal defect of all So
called labor organizations, in that instead
of being labor organizations they are
really anti-labor organizations. The
workingmen combine not to work but to
strike, or in other words that they may
not work. Instead of applying the ma
chinery of their organizations to the fur
therance of their interests rs laboring
men, they apply it to the help of idlers.
Dr. Abbott cites facts and figures in
support of his point I'm one summers
telegraphic strike" he says, you spent
800, 900 for the right to be idle. Why did
you not expend it for the right to be indie
pendent Half II million dollars, plus all
the best telegraphic talent in the United
States, with the sympathies of the nation
as a reserve, combined to establish postal
telegraphy, might have given you success
instead of failure. Strike, not for better
wages in servitude, but for independence
Organize not to be idle, but to be busy"
There is sound good sense in these
observations. Experience proves that
strikes hardly ever pay, even when the
shallow purpose for which they were I'M
dertaken is considered. In the majority
of instances the striker is obliged to yield
to the superior resources and staying
qualities of the capitalist. AS DR.. Abbott
says, in nearly every case the organized
revolt among workingmcn amounts to
nothing more than paying heavy tax
for the privilege of being IDLE. SO that,
even from the economical view, it would
b" better If Wortln I.n 'H'. unions did
not exist WhcA ii petition, signed
by the employees of any large bust
ness concern fails to secure the de-
sired increase of wages or of privileges, it
is commonly hopeless to try to bully the
firm or corporation into yielding. De
liberate defiance only steels the heart of
the employer, and induces him to hold out
against the demands of his employees as
long AS he possibly can.
AS to the new creed what DR.. Abbott
means when he says, "Organize not to
be idle, hut to be busy" is that the work
ingmen of this country should themselves
become capitalists, by associating for the
work which they alone are fitted to carry
on. Independence is his theory for the work
ngman. The half million of dollars spent
by the telegraphc operators of this coun-
try in fighting the monopoly to which they
finally yielded would have made them, as
IA class, Independent of all monopoles. If
their combination had been for the pur-
pose of securing government telegraphy,
they might have attained all they aimed
at, and more. According to DR.. Abbott
theory, the capitalist class can be done
away with-not by resistance but
by rivalry. Let the workingmen of
this country form associations, back
ed up by the capital wasted in strikes, --
for the purpose of conducting the various
great enterprises now controlled by CAPT
talists, Let the vast profits accruing
from.these enterprises be more fairly APP
portioned among those who earn them.