The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1886-08-14


be that supply and demand are reciprO-
cally related, and that it takes two to
make a bargain. Granted. And yet
moral considerations affect even these
fundamentals of commerce, For let it
once be known that an article supplied
is the fruit of fraud or blood, and the
demand becomes seriously impaired.
Or let the demand be for commodity
which it is shameful to vend and the
supply diminishes. And it becomes
clearer with study that in what we may
roughly call the purchase and sale of
labor, something more has to be taken
into account than the lowest rate for
which the exchange can possibly be
made. The ''law OF trade is undoubt-
edly to buy il the cheapest and sell in
the dearest market. But when some
tricky politicians tried by forgery to
put that sentiment in Garfeld's mouth,
with an application, it nearly lost an
election. People were not pleased to
hear that q candidate for the presidency
held such an unfeeling theory about
labor. Were they not right?
Br. Metcalf thinks not. He seems to
be aware that those who are guided by
theoretical arguments may protest,
but all the same he holds this theory
about labor. because we buy where
we can buy cheapest, the party who
seeks our trade must himself buy where
he can buy cheapest, and hire his help
where he can hire cheapest" And so
he justifes the 'domipio's good wife"
who buys her cheap shirts with some
compunctions when she knows at what
starvation wages they are made, be-
cause, forsooth, the wages to those who
get them are better than none, and be-
cause in this wise the "d0minie's wife"
saves her back and fingers. But are
we willing to accept that doctrine? p? Is
it right FOR me to save my strength by
purchasing the labor OF sewing woman
at price which means slow starvation?
If 1 get my shirts SO cheaply because
they are sewed by woman who gets
but thirty-fye to fifty cents a day for
doing them, then am buying them too
cheaply. I have no right to them.
There is blood on them. Aud if the
curse is on all the traffic III those indis-
pensable garments, then it is my bust
ness to work as hard as I know how to
bling about state of things in which
men shall pay the value of what they
are wearing, and not grind them out Of
the weaker members Of the human fam
ily, who are simply too weak TO better
themselves. It needs but a second
thought to see that this principle can
not be accepted 10y itself nor as final
ity. The cheapest market" as far as
labor is concerned, must mean the cheap
est consistent with justice and human
ity. A market where labor is bought
at any price which involves the phys
ical or the moral degradation Of the
man who sells it, is not labor market,
but a slave mart.
And let this be said, toe. Every
thing that is bought in this world has
to be paid foG, aud that too at its full
value. If the purchaser cheats the
seller, then he will have to pay indi-
rectly what he does not pay outright.
If labor is not paid its fair wages, wages
/ mean which will enable the laborer to
live in decency and honesty, then the
cost comes out of all Of us in taxes to
support the poor, to reform criminals,
to pay the expense of the sickness and
death imported to our own homes out of
the foul nests where underpaid and
half fed labor breeds disease and
death. There are laws which take
broader sweep than laws OF trade.
And our conservative thinkers must
not forget them in these days of agita-
tion aud reform. And there is no law
of trade, and no law of supply and de-
mand which can prevent labor from
costing enough to give every man fair
living, If we do not pay it in one way
We have to in another
Some recent words of the Rev. Wash
ingtOn GLADDEN., in 1.-The Forum fit
so well into this discussion, that quote
them 1.-The theory that labor is moth
ing but a commodity is a theory that
will not work. The en-
ployer is bound TO consider the effect of
the employment which he furnishes,
and the reward which he gives for this
service on the lives Of those whom he
EMPLOYS. < He has no
right 30 wax fat by consuming their
strength and their life. II is possible
that some of the disciples of Ricardo
may require me to prove these PROPOSE
tions. But | am 10th to argue the the
sis that a man ought not to be cau-
nibal 1 will venture to regard it as a
moral axiom. All talk Of cheapest and
dearest markets is impertinent in the
face of these great facts of human deg
radiation and human suffering" am
far from believing that Br. Metcalf does
not sympathize with that sentiment.
And yet his words certainly make him
appear On the other side. And l hope