The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1886-09-16
Capital AND LABOR.
rCinclnnatI EnquIrer.l


friendly intercourse, where there is
hostility, jealousy, suspicion, hatred.
Each suspects the other OF disposition
to oVerEeaoh, defraud and Oppress.
There may be for q time suspension
of hosttlities, but 1t is only a truce; the
war still exists. Deprecate 1t as we
may, there Is an "lrTepressible conflict"
between capital and labor.
Wise statesmanship should ascertain
the causes of discomfort and devise ways
and means for their removal. II Is true
that both sides are to blame, for when
war RACES, strategy, deception and false
pretenses are regarded as legitimate
weapons.
There can be no question but that the
laborlng or wealth-prOdueing classes
have real grievances and just grounds
of complaint.
With a wealth of raw material beyond
computation, with the adventitiOus aids
of machinery and improved processes,
with educated and skilled labor unpar-
alleled In history, there is scarcely a
limit to production. By some legerde
main this vast production Of wealth Is
absorbed by the few. A meager subsis-
tence is the heritage of the tOiling
masses. Millionaires and tramps are
the results of our high civilization.
The enormously rich and the abject poor
are multiplying everywhere.
Capital and labor are mutually deDen-
dent partners, and they should share
eQuitably 10 the prof Is and losses of all
business ventures. The kindliest SYM
pathies and the must unbOunded conf
dence should exist. The partnership Is
not satisfactory. Labor is allowed to
share literally in all the losses, while all
the profits go TO the other member of the
firm.
In former articles we showed that the
rate of interest allowed to capital for Its
use was the rule of distribution, deter
mining what proportion the joint earn
ings should 60 to each factor In the pro-
ductiOn of wealth. Weinsisted that labor
was robbed whenever capital was allowed
greater annual interest than the
growth of the nations wealth, and that
1t had not exceeded 3 per cent. per an
mum in a hundred years. In perfectly
normal state Of society an abundance of
money at per cent, interest would Sc
cure to labor Its jast and equitable share
Of the partnership assets. But ours is
an abnormal condition. By cOmbina-
tiOns of capitalists legal advantages
have been secured and mOnOpOlies have
been organized, which allow to labor
nothing Outa mesgre subsistence. These
legalized mOnOpOlies not only control
the money volume, but embrace within
their range even the necessaries Of life.
The cost Of bread and meat, and fuel
and light, transportation of products to
market, the wages of labor, are all de-
termined by syndicates. How can we
appropriate to ourselves the legltima
earnings and profits of others without
giving an equivalent, is the all.sbsOrb-
ing problem? A few illustrations will
fully explain what we mean. Every
railroad entering New York City has a
daily train devoted exclusively TO the
transportation of milk. The train usu-
ally consists of twenty cars, each car
two hundred cans of capacity |
of forty gallons. At almost every sta
tion within distance of sixty or eighty
miles from the city, the farmers fill the |
platforms with the cans, whence they |
are carried every day In the year to the |
city. The cars are emptied by the milk |
dealers, who distribute the milk TO their |
customers. The railroad officials, by
agreement among themselves, fixed the |
price Of transportation at forty five
cents per can or $40 q car. The daily |
train yields to the road $1,000, which for |
365 days amounts to 1867 600.
Any one Of these roads having West |
ern connection would transport milk |
train to Chicago or st. Louis and back |
10 New York City every day In the year |
for the same sum Of money. Ten cents |
per can would give large margin of |
profit to the railroads. Milk Is con-
siderable item In the cost of living
among the poor. Children most have
milk, and the working glasses have the
,hildren. Over 81 100000 per annum Is
ilched from the pockets of the produc-
srs and consumers of milk in
New York to satisfy the insatiate
greed of the railroad monODOlies.
Anthracite coal Is the principal fuel
n New York City. The anthracite coal
mines are owned and controlled oy a
lyndicate, which is composed largely Of
'ailroad kings. The standard price for
,Oal in New York and Brooklyn delivered
8 $5 80 per ton. Without reducing the
wages paid to the miners or the profits
II the dealers the coal can be taken by
all and delivered at the houses of the
allowing liberal profit, for
% 80 per ton. We are safe In saying
hat there is an average profit to the
yndicate Of So on every ton Of hard coal
consumed In the United States, over and
IboVe cost, with reasonable profits to
miner, shipper and dealer.
Tho 90 ~, n INTO iak no fo kho uund-o /
ion and consumption of oil. The poor
woman watching by the bedside Of a
lick child by the light of an oil lamp
must contribute from her meager purse
Omething to swell the profits Of a mil
iOnaire.
Syndicates determine what the cattle
aisers In Kansas and Texas shall have
or their stock and what the consumers
n the East shall pay for their meat.
They are robbed at both ends of the line.
rhe same is true Of breadstuffs and of
III materials which form part Of the
consumption Of every family.
Illustrations can be multiplied hun
lredfold, but they will suggest them.
Ielves to the mind of every reader.
For this class of wrongs to labor there
ire remedies within the legitimate
Jphere of Government. 1t is NOT true, as
8 often claimed, that a railroad, for ex
ample, has the same right as an indi
7idual citizen to charge what 1t pleases |
'or services rendered. A corporation is
not private, but public person. 1t is
} creature OF the State, and owes its |
existence, and Its right to continued |
existence to its supposed advantages to
10 the great body Of the people. It can
never be greater than the State, nor
properly antagOnize the public welfare. |