The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1886-04-29
4 GREAT 1sDusrn1AE CONTROVERSY.
Things THAI Musi be Taken Into Consider
alton im IrbitratinO Labor Disputes.

Things That Must be Taken INTO Consider
alton in 1rbit,atin0 Labor Disputes.
The Rev. DIR. Behrends, OF Brooklyn, in
delivering the fifth in his series OF %discourses
on Christianity and Modern Socialism,
on Sunday last said on the subject OF "1he
Rights OF Labor"
There are no rights which are not
grounded on reason, and which cannot be
justified by an appeal to sober fact. Firm
ness is indispensable in the prosecution Of
every just claim, but when firmness breaks
with intelligence, it degenerates into sullen
obstinacy and invites defeat. In the de-
bate that labor conducts, there are some
things that no combinations a alter, and
that must be accepted as entering into the
great Industrial controversy. There is,
first Of all, the fact that inequality in ply
steal and mental endowment is original,
ultimate, and unalterable. 1t can no more
be ignored in the economic life of man,
than can the force of gravity in mechanics.
There is ;t great deal of nonsense about
what is called the accident of birth.
Nothing is less accidental than an
cestry and blood; and all social improve
ment, to be radical and permanent, must
begin with the habits of parents, and the
eariiest care of the newborn babe. A Wig
orous infancy and childhood are the best
fortunes parents can give to their children.
There is an inequality for which The state is
responsible, so long as under its guardian
ship any child is born III a den where pure
air is unknown and impossible. There is
an inequality winch the state cannot re-
move, but whose guilt must be charged
against careless fathers and mothers, who
spend in the saloon what is needed at home,
and who doom their children to industrial
servitude. There is an equality, too, that
is inherent and permanent. Neither public
statute nor private virtue can do away
with it. He who fights it fights against ma
ture and God. All that anyman can claim,
and all that public justice can secure to
him, is a fair opportunity. And there never
can be equality in the possession of mater
ial goods so long as there is inequality in
human nature. Another equally prosaic
TACT is that there is no way of annulling
The necessity of hard work. 1t is sheer
folly to deceive the poor with the notion
that play can ever take it's place. Leisure
must always remain q luxury, however
widely its enjoyment may be extended. 1t
may be true that every human being needs
only about three pounds of food per day, a
few yards of cotton or woolen.cloth a year,
two or three tons OF coal and a given num-
Der of cubic feet OF space, sheltered by a
roof But scanty as such provision may
seem to be, there never has been q time
when mucn more thar tina could be secured
by the most patient and persistent toll.
Savagery is q perpetual struggle for exist
ence. Farming is not a life OF ease, where
the hours OF labor can be reduced at will.
Agriculture is the most eXacting OF pur-
suits. The world actually lives from hand
tn month. iS ~ Two VIC within a uaor from the
brink of starvation. and the universal
failure of a single harvest would produce
widespread famine and disaseter. There is
still mother dream that rules much OF eX-
listing discontent-the notion that vast
stores OF grain and merchandise are piled
up in warehouses, whose prompt distribu-
ton would make want unknown and meas
urably increase average comfort. A sober
study OF the actual facts dissipates the
Illusion. The total wealth OF our country,
now the richest in the world, is reported at
sis, 500, 900, 600, in a population OF So
0O0,O 600, with a total OF $500, 900 pro-
ulcers. An enormous sum in the aggregate,
representing, however, the accumulation OF
$50 years, much OF it in land, buildings
and machinery. An equal division
would give to each man, woman
and child q capital OF only $3.50, much
of it relatively worthless to the individual
owner, or $4,000 to each producer. The
latter sum represents the limit of average
wealth attainable. There is no more to be
had. The same result is emphasized by
Analysing the annual production. The
most careful estimates place this at SlO,-
OOG, 600, 900 annually. From this must
be deducted S7Gu, O00, 600 paid in taxes,
81, 800, 500, 600 to make good the annual
wear and tear of the means Of production,
leaving IS, 1000, O0O, 900, to be divided
among so, 900, 900 consumers, without
allowing anything for interest on invested
capital or for its increase. Allowing . per
cent for these. the net production is re-
duced to So, 725, 600, 600. Throwing rapi-
tai out Of the account there is only S16O a
year for each inhabitant, or OF S115 ii
capital is entitled to a dividend-an
average OF from 81 to Al cents a day.
Forty cents a day must suffice, on the
average, to feed, clothe and shelter
the people OF this country. Or divid-
ing the annual production among the
actual workers, the average income
will be between 1927 and S457 q year.
Three hundred and fifty dollars a year
must buy bread, raiment, pay house rent
and provide a margin for saving in every
family OF three persons. Two dollars a
day is far above the average income that
the productive energy OF the country can
nay. He who secures it belongs to the
privileged classes, with many perhaps above
him, but with many more below him; and
every man belongs to the bloated plutoc-
racy, against whom socialism urges its cru
SADIE, who owns $4,000 worth OF property,
or who receives more than $500 Il year for
his work. If such commonplace things
were only generally understood, the classes
that now are most restless and discomfort
would be deal to all insurrectionary up
peals, and modify very materially their
traditional conceptions about the tyranny
OF capital. Contentment with food and
raiment is not only the recommendation o!
q religion that discounts material treasure
but no less the injunction OF a hard com
mon sense, which encourages every man tc
secure all he "a
TIE BISHOP OF NIDRID SLOT.
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