The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-08-14
SpeciaI Contributors.
SOME OTHER THOUGHTS ABOUT
LABOR AND CAPITAL.
BY REV. j. COLEMAN ADAMS.
(Chicago.)

(ChcagoJ
1t was recently the privilege of the
Congregational Club, of Boston, to listen
to a paper by Mr. Henry B. Metcalf, of
Pawtucket, entitled, "Some Thoughts
on Labor and Capital" The essayist
had previously presented the same
thoughts to the "Uniyersalist Club" !"
and the same doctrines seemed to be
equally good orthodoxy on Beacon Hill
and at Berkeley Hall 1t is a great
pleasure to the large circle of Br. Met
calf's friends, that his interesting dis
cussion OF the theme should have been
placed before the wider audience reach
ed by the And0rer Rerjec. And who
ever wants to read a fresh, unhackneyed
treatment of most absorbing subject,
will do well TO turn to this article in the
July number of the ReUjelc. And bear
ing in mind the writer's practical expe-
rience in business, and his broad and
intensely sympathetic nature, he will
ind a new value in the pages.
And yet if one brings to the reading
of this paper sense of the evils in the
industrial and social environment in
which SO many millions Of our fellow
men are spending their lives, he can
hardly fail to lay it down with regret
that the author apparently sees SO little
hope of betteTment, at least by any
methods now known, and is so sensible
Of the binding force of certain laws"
Of industry and trade, that he gives
scant encouragement for the belief that
human efforts and Christian sentiment
can modify them. The tone of the az
tiele, to one who wishes to believe in
tire possibility of social reform, is pes
simistic; and it has appeared to one
friendly reader at least, that the writer
and others who sympathize with his
view of the situation of society to-day,
do not sufficiently value the transform
ing power OF ethical and human ideas,
even on the fixed claws" of social and
industrial development.
Thus, for example, Br. MetGalf be-
heves that until "men shall have be-
come equal in industry, integrity and
economy" neither legislation nor res
olution, by any organization whatever,
can make all men equal i'll their c0ndi-
tons, comforts, or possessions. " Grant
ell. But is it not true that. with all the
inequalities of human endowments and
effort, & vast deal has already been
doae, by organization and by the legis-
latiUn for which that organization has
striven, to reduce the inequalities which
have oppressed human lives, and to
bring men more nearly into the enjoy
meut Of the same privileges and bless
ines It used to be the Jaw in a
more savage state of society, that the
weak man got less protection and i'm
munity from attack, because he was
weak now, we have framed our ciYiii-
ZttiOn and our laws, SO that it makes
10 difference whether the man is weak
or strong, he shall have equal protec-
ti0n. We have done a great dedl to
eoualizs men lin their conditions, COM
forts, and possessions" by ''organiza-
ton and by Legislation The Magma
Charta effected something. Sc did the
Declaration of Independence. So did
the Emancipation Proclamation. The
ten-hour law did something in Massa-
chusetts. The prohibitory law has done
something in Maine and in Iowa.
Something may be expected of organ
i2ed tffJrt, and the enactment of laws
which grow out of such effort TO i'm
prove human conditions. We may look
for the same relative advance Oh the
industrial side of society as has taken
place on its political side. And just as
the unequal endOWments of men have
not prevented their being put on much
more equal footing, one with another,
in the State, so we may look for the
same thing to occur in future move
ments of the world toward improve
ment in social organization. If organ
iZAtion and legislation have put the bal
lot in poor mems hands and secured the
trial by jury, why may they not some
time destroy monOpolies and protect
the laborer from the greed Of an un-
scrupulous employer?
The paper we are discussing seems
to express an undue sense of the law
of trade'' which its author regards as