The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-05-24
THE LABOR PROBLEM.

A Discourse by Rev. I'll. A. Edison on the
SubjecE of "Labor and Political Economy"
The sermon by Rev. H. A. Edison, at Memoir
nature of continuation of the theme of his dis
course on the previous Sunday. His subject
was Labor and Political Enconomy," and his
text was I'm all labor there is profit but the talk
of the lips tendeth only to penury," Prov
xiv %.
It was fortunate for Don Quixote. said Mr.
Edson that he had Sancho Panza for his squire.
In this case the capitalist furnished all the i'm
agnation, and the laborer, if Saucho was la
borer. furnished all the sense. The Don took
wind mills for giants. focks of sheep
for armies, inns for castles and galley slaves for
unfortunate gentlemen. His squire brought
him back to facts. That was the best service a
Squire could render. It is as good service for
the present as for former times We must either
furnish facts for ourselves, or get somebody else
to furnish them Facts we must have That
was Solomons thought in the text He valued
labor, but he did not value mere talk. Let us
deal with realities.
AS laoorers, and as friends of the laborer. we
certainly shall! make no progress towards solu-
ton of the existing social problems. if we fail to
treat with a DECENT respect the figures and forces
around u.s. In old Dr. Johnson's day some peo-
pie were greatly troubled with Berkeley's theory
that matter is all In your mind. but DR.. johnson
was not troubled A sensible realst, he struck
his cane against a lamp-post. and for him
the fact of matter was plain enough A
lamp post is something to go around. not to run
your head against The same sort % Difference
must be paid to the science of value. The forces
of political economy are not myths, or wreaths
of smoke. They have the severest sort of solid
ity. The Anarchist people at Chicago found in
half an hour that even dynamite would not ployy
them up Labor continues to be profitable and
talk still tends to perjury. Let us have no tits
at wind mills For honest labors sake we must
find out where is the friendliness of existing
forces, and how labor may be advantagsd by
them.
1t will, in the first place. be useless to pick a
quarrel with machinery. So called labor-savne
inventions will be multiplied in spite of our pro-
tests and fears We cannot clap tub over the
nineteenth century The lumber in the Patent
Office will accumulate, and it will not all be lum-
Der. To get up riot when a new machine
is introduced is as vain as 1t is foolish.
That has been tried by spinners, and weavers,
and workmen of every name. Such violence has
been but talk tending to penury. With the in
PRODUCTION Of every important improvement in
machinery there will be degree Of disorder. 1t
will take both labor and capital little time TO
adjust themselves to the situation. But even III
we are thrown out of job this will increasingly
become an age of mechanism.
When we think about it we can see that labor
shares with capital the advantages The alien
Anarchists who do not like our civilization have
crossed to New York from Liverpool. Ham
burg, or Marselles in the steerage of big ship,
and the trip by machinery has cost them only
$50 For $50 an old soldier goes with his whole
family from Massachusetts to Dakota by
machinery and settles down between two Sun
days on . farm the government has