St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-01-10
a HALFWAY MEASURE
Is What John Lamb Calls It--Uni-
VersaI Cooperation Destined.

10 tne Editor or the GlODe:
L desire to say few words in reply to a
communication of r. c.. in the GLOBE of
Sunday. Dec. %. did not see the article
in time to send in any comments for last
| Sundays issue. r. c. seems TO think that
profit-sharing by employees is the most hope
| full measure of relief for the working
classes. / do not agree with him for the
reason that it is a halfway measure, not
grounded in absolute justice. and. therefore.
can serve no more than a transitional or
temporary purpose i'll the general
march of progress. The fact is.
that all these makcshifts might as
well be dismissed as improbable, for the
working classes have conceived an ideal of
fundamental justice and fraternity far in
advance of any mere eXpedents, and they
will not be satisfied with anything short of
! this ideal. Behind all these schemes of
partial ameliOration there turks more or less
of wrong and the existence of the wrong
breeds eternal discomfort Henry Georges
theories have taken a strong hold OH
two continents, because they are based
upon the adamant of justice. the absolute
right of every man to portion of mother
earth. Ii is idle TO waste time in seeking
expedients to bridge the gulf between cap
ital and labor. The gulf is there. it is con-
stantly widening, owing to the centraliza-
ton of wealth. and nothing will bridge il
until one or the other tumbles in. The
reason is plain. Under the present condi-
ton of things capital appropriates a large
share of the values which labor creates,
Labor knows this and demands all it pro-
duces. To concede this demand would do
away with the capitalist class and reduce
them to the ranks of the workers; therefore
capital
WILL NOT CoNCEDE IT.
Capital is entrenched behind laws, insti-
tutions and customs which give it stability
and permanence. Labor understands that
these bulwarks must give way and tries 10
force them; capital very naturally resists.
1t is a life and death struggle with capital,
as it is with labor, for under the com
petitive system there can be no
equilibrium between them; as one rises
the other must inevitably sink. In the adj
vance of labor, capital sees the destruction
of its power, and posseSSors of capital
would be something more than human if
they would yield up what they love so
dearly, and what gives them, whether
justly OF not, a degree OF responsibility and
eXclusiveness which, as workers in the
ranks with equal merit, they would not
possess. 1t is not that labOrers are all
saints and capitalists are all sinners. If
the hosts of the immaculate were depleted,
Jehovah might have hard scratching TO
recruit them from either class, but the argu-
ment does not hinge upon the moral status
of either tramp OF millionaire. The cues
ton is whether the laborer, i'm demanding
the full fruits of his labor, has not claim
strictly just as the capitalist, i'm demanding
the fruits of the labOrer'S toll, has not a
claim criminally unjust.
1t is characteristic of revolutions that
they bring into bold and clear relief the inn
prescriptable rights of man. Fundamental
truths, ObScured by custom. ignored and made
light of by pulpit, bar and rostrum are
forced to the front by human necessity. and
hurled into the teeth of wealth and power
and pedantry alike.
Conservatism has no place in revOlu-
tons. The more radical the idea, the more
likely is it TO take bold of the public mind All
written laws. all customs. all constituted au-
thority are laughed at, scorned and defied.
Man divests himself of precedent, goes to the
root of things, reasons upward. and at each
stage of the evolution. the ordinary society
and government are perceived TO be a con-
temptible mockery.
see no way by which the relations of
labor and capital can. under the present
system, be decently patched up. much less
pAOpNiAg vi Lie
SCHEME OF PRoFIT-sHARING
will not do it, for it presumes the existence
of a class of employing capitalists,
who make profit on labor, the
very thing which the workers do not want
to tolerate. To state it comprehensively.
labor wants full ownership and control of
all the means by which production and dis
tribution are carried on; they want to use
these means comparatively for the benefit
of those who perform some useful service
in the world; they want to do away absO-
lutely and forever with the employing class:
they want to stop paying rent, interest and
profit, which, in general. are only three
different forms of robbery, and they want
to give to every human peing born on this
earth an equal opportunity with his fellows,
distributing reward according to merit.
That is about the size of their demand. and
they will be satisfied with nothing short
of it.
In saying all this, do not mean TO as
sert that the working classes are altogether
capable of adapting themselves to these
stupendous changes, so as to receive the
| greatest benefit from them; but they have
formed this ideal of what they want to do.
and they will never be satisfied until the
means are turned over TO them. and
they are permitted TO make the trial. Ii
must be admitted that they are not any too
active in using the facilities for cooperation
which they do possess; but il must be re-
membered that cooperative efforts have To
be carried on at present in the teeth of a
system firmly established and which is its
direct antithesis; and it must also be re-
membered that between the working people
and the individuals who are striving to d.
rect them into cooperative movements,