Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1886-06-21
THE LABOR QUESTION.

| been in the hands of unfit men, with toe
few exceptions. The leaders have beer
selfish, narrow minded, or ignorant. The
true way to utilize the strength of united
labor is to develop the individual power o.
the members. By 40 other means have
great nations ever been formed. An associ
alton, the effective strength of which de.
pends upon the surrender of the rights and
liberties of its members, may be a dangerous
instrument for the use of adventures and
demagogues, but it cannot advance the in.
terests of the men themselves. The most
urgent want of labor to-day is self control
In this free country no man endowed with
average abilities need remain all his life
poor. IF he has thrift, sci: restraint, perse-
verance, ne will pass from the ranks of la
Dor to the ranks of capital. 1t is the saving
man who becomes the capitalist-the man
who has force to deny himself indulgences.
What lesson lies in the drink bill of
the American workingmen, for instance
AT o moderate estimate, it amounts to
between four and fve hundred million
dollars year. While labor is throwing
away tnat enormous sum annually, with
what show of consistency can it lament its
condition? One years remission of that
destructive self-indulgence would solve
every labor problem extant would provide
q fund for the establishment Of cooperative
works, for the sustenance of the sick and
aged, for the maintenance and education of
orphans, for libraries and scientific schools,
for all manner of helps.
At present the workiDgman eau hardly
make both ends meet. Is it not because he
insists on creating capitalists out of the sa-
loon keepers, and, not content with that,
on submitting all his rights Of citizenship to
the same objects of worship? The saloon
in politics is the most hideous abuse of the
day, but where would it be if the working
men withdrew their support from it2 1t
keeps them poor. 1t keeps our politics cor
rupt. 1t supplies constant stream of base
adventures, who disgrace the American
name at home and abroad. 1t makes the
terms "publc Office" and 'public plunder"
Synonymous. 1t STILES progress, fosters
pauperism, brutalizes husbands and fathers,
breaks womens hearts,puts rags on the work
ingman's back, disease in his body, and
shame and despair in his heart. Yet when
labor is most disturbed, when the demand
for advanced wages is loudest, when strikes
are most frequent, when hunger and misery
saloon hourishes still. There may be no
bread ut home, but there is always beer and
whiskey at the bar, and the men who con.
sidcr themselves the victims of circumstances
or the "thralls" of capital squander their
earnings, spend their savings, in these dens.
Can there he serious labor question while
this state of things continues? Can work
ingmen talk gravely of their wrongs while
it is plain to all the world that if they only
saved the capital they earn they would be
comfortable?
This aspect of the case has not been suf-
tciently examined, and for reasons which
will probably occur readily to the reader.
But it is really the key to the situation.
When we see on the one side ayearly waste
of between four and five hundred millions of
dollars, aad on the other side body of men
the squanderers of this vast fund, complaining
that they have not sufficient opportunities,
we cannot long be at a loss to compre-
hend the true nature of the existing dis
satisfaction. 1t is clear that labor has
been melted 10 seek from without the
relief which ought to be sought from within.
The socialist theory of paternal state
system which provides everybody with
work and wages is a mischievous fallacy.
1t simply encourages Incidence and de-.
pendence. The hrst duty OF labor Is
to demonstrate its capacity for self
government. At this moment its drink
bill is an impeachment of that cspaci.
ty. No man who spends half his earnings
at saloon can get on in the world, or has
the least right to expect to get on. Nor
can any body Of men follow the same course
with better results. Prosperity is the re-
ward Of persevering, temperate, ungrudgiug
work. In these days there is, however, a
great wind of new doctrine. We are asked
to believe that it is possible to succeed in
very different ways; that the less sman
works, for example, the more he ought to
receive; that national prosperity can be
advanced by diminishing production and
many other equally hard sayings. But ii
may be confidently affirmed that these new
theories are destined to be shortlived, and
that the world will have to be managed
eventually upon pretty much the old lines
Con Eroder;rE p1reone N, TuI1 dflnnfin