The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1886-02-25
BOYCOTTING AND LABOR ORGANIZA.
TI0NS.

AAONSs
Labor, like wheat or cotton. is reg
ulated in price by supply and de-
mand. The same is true Of manu-
featured goods, the productsot mines,
and even the tonnage of freights Of
fered for transportation. While the
question Of subsistence, as well as
the laying up of money for a rainy day
confronts every laborer, just as it
does other men, neither the necessi-
ties nor wants Of labor can be provid-
ed for by employers beyond the point
justified by the profits of their bust
ness.
The highest rates Of wages do not
always assure the greatest amount of
comfort to labor. Neither are the
lowest rates of wages a guarantee al
ways Of better or even as good profits
to producers as are often obtained
under high wages. What an employ
er can afford to pay is determined by
the price Of his products, and what
labor can afford to work for should be
determined by the profit realized by
his employer upon his work and the
purchasing power of his own wages.
Unjust remain optional with men
who employ labor to determine the
prices they can afford to pay and
with men who labor to accept or re-
ject the terms upon which employ
ment is offered. Any attempt to
take away this privilege and right
from either and to transfer the same
by legislation to arbitrator, will and
ought to provoke revolution.
Tie plan of boycotting men or es-
adjustments that do notyield prompt
obedience to labor organizations is of
recent origin. 1t was first tried as
remedy for evils claimed by the
Irish to exist under the system of
land renting in Ireland. Without
stopping to discuss the commences
of the evil complained of, or the JUS
tice Of the remedy applied, we may
say that if the former justified the
latter in Ireland, no such conditions
as are complained Of in that unfor-
tunate country are in existence here,
and hence the attempt to bully and
overawe a whole community into sup
port of the demands Of the knights
of Labor and the Typographical I'm
ion, of Richmond, or other guilds or
labor unions elsewhere, has its orig
in in species OF lawlessness and
tyranny, to which the country cannot
afford to yield
Inspired to enthusiasm by the prom
Uses and representations of emmissa-
ries of these organizations, the labor
Of the country is led to believe that a
golden era is just at hand, when
faithful service to employers aud
just regard for their rights and the
rights of labor are no longer to con-
stitute the basis OF wages, or the mu-
tual friendship and dependence of
capital and labor They suppose
that money hereafter, instead of
measuring the value of service rem
dered is to be awarded upon the
edicts of organizations, which conf
dent of power, ignore the conditions
upon which all useful, profitable or
permanent employment is based.
1t may take long seasons of idle
ness, hardship and suffering to de-
monstrate the fact that honest labor
must pay the eventual cost Of that
disorganization, turbulence and loss
which are sure to come when cap
ital is forced to organize, as organize
it will for its own protection. This
lesson has been often taught, and it
seems as often disregarded and for
gotten, but indications point to the
fact that this country is approaching
a crisis which will demonstrate that
excessive demands upon employers
will force the closing up OF a large
number of our industrial establish
ments; for while they may be pre-
vented from running at a profit they
cannot be forced to do business at a
loss.-Macoa Telegraph.