Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1886-02-09
NATIONAL PROBLEMS.
ARTICLE vi.
THE LABOR QUESTION LATEST
PHASES OF THE AGITATION.
GREAT Changes in Few Yenrs- Revolution
OF Indust ries--rhe Power and the
Danger of Boycotting.
ny PROF. ARTHUR r. MADDEN,
Chief OF the Connecticut Bureau OF Labor
Statistics.


Copyrighted, 1850
Almost every one will admit that we
have reached critical period in the rela-
lions between labor and capital. Few
would undertake to tell the reason why
7 this is so; still fewer would succeed in
giving the right reason.
IL Is not because the laborer is worse
| off to-day than he has been In the past.
! On the contrary, he is better off in almost
every way. lie works less hours, re-
ceiyes higher wages, and is able to buy
more comforts. Bad as are many of the
abuses connected with modern industry,
! 10 Is safe TO say that those Of former times
were worse; and that the workman to-day
is better off, both at work and at
home, than their fathers were before them.
Nor is the laborer's share in the total
product less to-day than 1t has been in the
past. There is widespread belief that
! this is 50, but IL will not stand the test of
fact. The careful investigations of Mr..
Atkinson leave little room for doubt that
at least 80 per cent. of the gross prod
uct goes to the laborer in the form of
wages, and that this proportion is the re-
suit OF constant increase for many
years.
Nor is IL because the state of thought
and feeling among workmen is of kind
to threaten us with social CONFUSION. 1t
is undoubtedly true that the last five
years have seen a great change in this
respect The writings OF Henry George
and others have awakened thought on
these subjects among millions of
readers and the expression of
! this thought has been loud enough to
! brighten conservative men on both sides
| of the Atlantic. But such change is
source of safety as we'll as Of danger. 1t
has substituted open discussion for sui
! len discomfort, clear statement Of griev-
ances for suppressed brooding over
wrongs. BY giving vent to these social
| forces IL has revealed their strength; but
II has at the same time diminished the
danger OF catastrophe. Suppressed
discomfort is what explodes most yio-
lently. In the hard times through which
we have Just been passing, we have had
more widespread excitement and louder
talk OF violence than ever before; but no
such dangerous outbreaks as occurred in
| the railroad strikes of 1877. The worst
! instances OF violence in 1885 have proba-
bly, been among those laborers who read
and thought least.
! Nor can we attribute the critical condi-
/ ton Of things TO the discovery of new
Instruments OF industrial warfare like
! dynamite on the one hand, or boycotting
on the other. The actual use Of dyna.
mite has been extremely small; and the
results which have followed its use have
not been such as to encourage the prac-
tlce. 1t reacts most heavily against the
| persons who employ it, and makes it
absolutely impossible for item to com
mand the public sympathy, which is
essential to any lasting success. Boy
\ cottlng is an instrument of vastly greater
Importance, and one which has thrown
certain sections of the community into q
state OF panic. 1t is, perhaps, the most
characteristic symptom of the present
labor troubles. But 1t Is not their cause.
If we assume that it is, we make the mis-.
take OF confounding the symptom with
the disease
The Importance Of boycottlng is new,
and the name is new; but the practice
itself, even on a large scale, is no new
thing. The anti-slayery men were sys.
tematlcally boycotted by the Shareholders
The British tea-traders were most active
ly boycotted by our foreiathers Just be.
fore the outbreak of the revolutionary
wal ut JGNo uuNt OGNA DOlEOlLtU
various parts of the world, off and on,
for nearly two thousand years. Every
community where there is any such thing
as public opinion, from nation down to
y boys school, has possessed the power
of boycotting, and has occasionally used
it. What is II that within five wears has
transformed an old and commonplace
/ practice into an Industrial weapon OF
enormous power and almost unlimited
temors?
4 THE PRESENT PERIOD CRITICAL.
In answering this question, we answer
the wider question why the present time
is critical one in the relations between
labor and capital. 1t is not boycottine
that gives danger TO the Industrial situa-
ton; it Is the industrial situation that
gives danger to boycotting.
The state OF things may be briefly dc.
scribed as follows:
All through the present century labor
and capital have been growing more and
more dependent upon one another. For
many years IT was supposed that this
effect was all one-sided Every change
seemed to increase the power OF capital,
or rather the capitalist employer,
In the industries of the conn-
try. Large factories, and yet larger rail
roads, were run under centralized man.
agenent. Attempts to check this consol.
idatlon were futile. Against these MASSES
OF organized capital the power of the
workmen seemed TO have shrunk to
nothing. Now, however, it is suddenly
found tnat the very events which have
put the laborers so completely at the
mercy OF organized capital, have also, In
many cases, put the capitalist at the
mercy of organized labor. Neither party,
by itself, can do much good; but each bl
itself can do the other almost unboundec
harm. II is only within few years tha'
this fact has been ger orally seen and felt
and it is this discovery exaggerated a
every new discovery always is--whlcl
has thrown conservative people into Sc
much alarm. Let us examine these points
In detail
THE REVOLUTION IN INDUSTRIES.
The great difference between the in
dustries OF to-day and those Of a century
ago lies In the existence OF large per
mancnt Investments. A great part OF tn,
4 business capital of the country is now
embodied in railroads, machinery, build
ings constructed Tor special purposes, o.
other forms OF plant which would be q
little value for any use excant tho ona a.,