St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1886-06-05

| " oNA0 w SoO oNoJ ~oOAu SAhh0 AdAuo
while they are crossing, these from one
side and those from the other side.
| The combatants in this great war be-
tween capital and labor are chiefly, on the
one side, men of fortune, who have never
been obliged to toll and who despise toll,
and, on the other hand, men who could get
labor, but will not have it, will not stick to
it. It is the hand cursing the eye, or the
eye cursing the hand. want it UNDER
stood that the laborers are the highest
style of capitalists. Where is their in
vestment? In the bank? No. In railroad
stocks No. Their muscles, their nerves,
their bones, their mechanical skill, their
physical health, are the highest kind OF
capital. The man that has two feet, and
two ears, and two eyes, and ten fingers,
| owns q machinery that puts into nothing.
| ness Corliss' engine and all the railroad
rolling stock, and all the carpet, and
| screw, and cotton factories on the planet.
/ wave the flag of truce this morning be-.
| tween these contestants. / demand ces-
| sation of hostilities between labor and
| capital. What is good for one is good for
both. What is bad for one is bad for both.
Again: Relief will come to the working
| SAooSoo Va WHO SOAhbiJ d SO"OpoEae
tive association. am not now referring
to trades unions. We may hereafter dis
| cuss that question. But I refer to that
plan by which laborers become their own
capitalists, taking their SURPRISES and putt
ting them together and carrying on great
enterprises. In England and Wales there
| are 1855 cooperative associations, with
100000 m smbers, with capital of 14,0OO,.
900, doing business in ono year to the
amount of $27 600. In Troy, N. Y,
there was cooperative iron foundry as.
ISOLATION. It worked well long enough to
give an idea of what could be accom-
plished when the experiment is fully de.
veloped. Thomas Brassey, one of the
first of the English Parliament, declared:
Incorporation is the one and only solution
of this question; it Is the sole path by
which the laboring classes as a whole, or
any large number of them, will ever
emerge from the hand to- mouth mode of
living and get their share in the rewards
and honors of our advanced civilization"
Thomas Hughes, the ablest and the most
brilliant friend of the workingman; Lord
Derby, John Stewart Mill, men who gave
half their lifetime to the study of this
question, all favor cooperative associa.
ton.
Again: remark that relief will come
to the working classes through more thor.
ough discovery on the part of employers
that it is best for them to let their employ
es know just how matters stand. The most
of the capitalists of to-day are making
less than six per cent, less than FIVE per
cent, less than four per cent. on their in.
vestments. Here and there is an anaconda
swallowing down every thing, but such
are the exceptions. It is often the case
that employees blame their employer be.
cause thew suppose he is getting along
grandly, when he is oppressed to the last
point Of oppression. knew a manufactur.
er who employed more than thousand
hands. / said to him:
"Do you ever have any trouble with
your workmen? Do you have any strikesf"
"No," he said.
What! in this time of angry discuss
sion between capital and labor, no
troubleH'
"None at all-none.0
I said: "How is that9n
SWELL" he said, 81 have q way of my
own. Every little while 1 call my em-
ployes together, and say: 'Now, boys,
I want to show you how matters stand.
What you turned out this year brought
me so much. You see it isn't as
much as we got last year. I can't
afford to pay you as much as I did.
Now, you know put all my means In this |
business. What do you think ought to be
my percentage, and what wages ought
to pay you. Come, let us settle this
And" said the manufacturer, "we are all |
ways unanimous. When we suffer we ali |
suffer together. When we advance, we |
advance together, and my men would die
for me-"
But when man goes among his EN-.
ployes with q supercilious air, and drives
up to his factory as Though he were tina
autocrat of the universe, with the sun and
the moon in his vest pockets, moving amid
the wheels of the factory, chiefly anxious
lest creased or smirched hand should
touch his immaculate broadcloth, he will
see at the end he has made an awful mis-.
take. I think that employers will find out
after a while that it 10 to their interest, as
far as possible, to explain matters to they
employees. You be frank with them, and
they will be frank with you.
Again: remark, relief will come to tho
laboring classes through the religious rec.
LITIGATION Of the country. Labor is apprs-
ciated and rewarded just in proportion 80
a country is Christianized.
The religion Of Christ comes
out to rectify all the wrongs of the world,
and it win yet settle this question betw cen
labor and capital just as certainly as you
sit there and stand here. The hard hand
of the wheel and the soft hand of the
counting room viii clasp each other yet.
They viii clasp each other in congratuls.
kian Thar viii cIasn ZACH other On |