Morning journal and courier., 1886-10-08

why the question was considered of any i'm
portance. Such person would say that Mr..
Benedict had certain definite sum of mon
ey appropriated by Congress to expend in
the employment of labor; that he would
certainly be moved to expend it all, no mat
ter how great his enmity to the laborer; that
he could not expend dollar more, however
strong his friendship might be; that the rate
of wages which he had to pay was SO fixed
by law and custom that no change in this
respect could be expected, and that the hours
of labor were also so fixed by custom or by
regulations that Mr.. Benedict could not treat
his men differently from any other public
printer. To the unsophisticated person who
took this view, it would have seemed that
Mr.. Benedict could prove himself a friend of
labor only by acting on the general principle
of the political equality of all men, and Sc
lecting the best workmeD regardless of inf1u-
ence, social position OF membership of socie-
ties. He would have been surprised to learn
that not one of the people who feared that
the new printer was an enemy of labor sup
posed for moment that he would ill-treat
his men or recognize class distinctions among
them.
In the sense in which the phrase was used
in the discussion, friend of labor means a
man who, when a laborer goes to him seek
ing employment, will first of all ask of him
has a certificate to that effect. If he an
swers in the negative the employer shows his
friendship for labor by refusing to engage
him on any terms whatever. He may pos
sess the highest testimonials of character
and ability; he may have family de-
pending upon him for support; he may
prove himself a workman Of the highest
class; he may show that unless he can get
employment his family will suffer for bread
To all this the true friend Of labor has but
one reply to make: "Your family is none of
my concern and you must look after it your
self in your own way. Nobody finds any
employment here unless he is a member in
good standing of some union; and as you by
your own showing are not such, you have
only to go where you please and make liv-
ing as you can" If the employer fails in
this duty, if he is moved either by sympa-
thy or the desire of having good workman
to give the man employment he is called an
enemy of labor; and if he occupies as prom
inent a position as that of Mr.. Benedict he
will be denounced as such from Maine to
California.
The other day dispatch from Cincinnati
in the morning papers. 1t bore
the rather startling heading: "Deciding
Against Organized Labor" The reader who
went no further would naturally infer that
someone had been doing something to pre-
vent laboreIs from organizing, or had taken
some action tending to discourage labor or
ganizations. But on reading the dispatch he
would find that nothing of the sort had been
done. The step taken by the board of pub
lie affairs consisted in the passage of reso-
luton that, acting in its official capacity, it
had no right to discriminate between skilled
workmen and would not do so. So far as it
was concerned every man should have the
same right whether be was or was not a
Knight of Labor. How could such action be
considered directed against organized la
bora Simply in this way: A resolution had
been brought before the board that mono but
union laborers should be employed upon
as resembling other resolutions in favor of
labor unions, was looked upon as decision
against organized labor.
The mutations in the meaning of words
make most interesting theme for the stu
dent of language. In the present case we
have an example of how word may reverse
not only it's meaning, but the very order of
thought in the men who use it. We make
bad thing seem good by giving it pleasant
name. Excessive duties on imports for the
avowed purpose of making goods scarce and
dear could never have been so popular
they are had they not been grouped under
the very pleasant term protection. There is,
however, in this use of the term certain
in that a seller of goods who
sees somebody else underselling him feels in
jured, and naturally looks upon the stoppage
of this injury as a kind of protection. But
there is no such excuse for calling man
who would make class discrimination be-
tween laborers, and recognize only select
few as worthy of employment, a "friend of
labor" Yet it is doubtful if anyone could
at the present time be got to use the phrase
in any other sense.