Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-04-04

no labor q q class N tnw cOunLys bes
not Coueress make this classification.
Lat Il not divide I'll Americans into
capitsl and labor ; let Il mot draw the
dividing line between fsllow-citizsns.
In the nsms Of I'll lsboring.msn 10 pro-
tested against this bill. Tia problem
was being solved day By day, hour oy
hour. The time was coming when cspitai
and labor would find in participation
of profit its true solution. Let Con-
eress distribute the burdens OF our
civilization equally between LABOR ana
capital. Let 1t make capital pay its
share. Let taxation be reduced.
,.There are no party tactics in this
bill.n be said. "They for whom you
seek to legislate will turn to rend you
when they take this bill up and find
that in the future it will provide the
means by which strikes can be made
punishable by arrest, for voluntary
arbitration will give place to involuntary
arbitration. Involuntary arbitration
will give place to Federal jurisdiction,
and Federal jurisdiction will be held by
capital. They will find out that it has
been q snare and . sham, worse than
sham, because it has been . delusion
and disaster. / want to put on
record that / stood here for true
labor, the manhood of labor, the
dignity Of labor, that only asks fair
living chance in the great battle Of life.
Mr.. Mckinley, Of Ohio, ironically
suggested that the eloquent words OF
the gentleman from Kentucky would be
received by the laboring-men Of the
country as cure for all the evils which
afflicted them. The general platitudes
which that gentleman had INDUCED in
and the general statement that the way
to help labor was to reduce taxes would
be welcomed by the workingmen as q
panacea for their injuries. He believed
in the principle Of the bill. 1t con-
ferred no rights or privileges touching
arbitration which were not now enjoyed
by common carriers and those engaged
in their service. It left them where it
found them, with the right Of voluntary
arbitration, to settle their differ
ences through a peaceful tribunal Of
their own selection. 1t only undertook
to furnish to them the machinery for
carrying on that arbitration. 1t did
not propose to do an impossible thing,
and that was one feature he liked about
it. He regretted if it would deceive
anybody. 1t was said that there was
no way to enforce the judgment OF ar
bitrators, and therefore it was anullity.
He had not the least concern on that
score. He had no fear that after the rail-
way corporations and their employees
had united in an arbitration that its
Judgment would be disobeyed or not
acquiesced in as final aud conclusive.
A refusal to obey judgment of
arbitration would be the exception and
not the rule, and an award honestly
reached would be sacredly observed.
Either party believing it had genuine
grievance, and inviting the other to
arbitrate, would occupy vantage
ground which the other could not sue
cessfully defy. There was a sense of
fair play among the people, crystallized
into public opinion, and no railroad
corporation, no labor union could long
hold out against fair demand, backed
BY a willingness to submit the JUS
tice of that demand to board of COM
petent arbitrator.
Mr.. Hewitt, Of New York, said that
arbitration had Of recent years been
developed as a means for the equitable
distribution Of the proceeds Of labor so
as to reward every man according to
his deserts. His objection to the bill
was that it would arrest the healthy
progress which had been going on.
The profit-sharing system, he said, was
the final solution of this great question.
Profit-sharing had come into esteem in
Great Britain, and was rapidly extend
ing, and if we allowed our workmen
and employers to come together in the
same spirit, the proft-sharins would
occupy the whole field of human indus
try, and after that no more malice be-
tween capital and labor would be
heard of. But arbitration leading to
proft-sharing could only come Of
organization on the part Of the
workmen, and the workmen now,
for the first time understood that they
must perfect their organization. The
Grand Master Of the Knights of Labor
had recently issued circular to his
subordinates, informing them that they
were not to organize more assemblies
until they could make those already
organized understand their rights and
duties. What the workmen required
was a perfect understanding. When
they had a perfect organization and
came to the railroad corporations and
demanded arbitration, they would not
only get it by the force they had in
their organization, but they would be
welcomed by their employers here-as
they were now in Great Britain-as
bringing a great solution to the ques-
ton. Pass this bill and the reliance Of
the workmen on themselves would be
transferred and this reform would be
put back for a century.
Mr.. Lawler, Of Illinois, declared that,
without wishing to become communis-
tic in his utterance, he was free to say
that if jay Gould was hung to lamp
post in New York it would be bless
ing to the community known as the
United States. [Laughter.l The action
of Jay Gould might cost hundreds and
thousands Of lives throughout the
western States. The death Of man
like this was nothing compared with
what might occur if the difficulties were
not settled in those States. There was
no sentimental basis in this matter. II
was Justice to the workman. There
was no harm in this bill, and the dis
cussion had had a healthy effect upon
the country. 1t was an honest bill,
and if there was anything wrong with
it Congress could repeal it at any time.
Mr.. Breckinridge's motion was de-
feated..
Mr.. Farquhar, Of New York, spoke
as q representative Of skilled labor. He
could not see how the skilled unions
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