The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-05-24
ready for him. Machinery hauls barrel

cents Yet there has been many Yankee VII
iage where. at first, the stage-drivers thought OF
combining to stop the iron horse. 1 find, too, In
the homes of American laborers the sewing ma
chino, the parlor organ and the piano When
they get home from their daily task, the work
men sit down with an evening paper, and from
that marvellous product of machinery the whole
world comes to talk with them. If these inven-
tons do produce temporary disturbances of in
dustrial forces, and create and difficult prob
lens with regard to labor's welfare, none of us
would wish to crawl back to the days of yore,
when they had lucifer Matches coal oil,
india rubber or gas; when the swift means OF
conveyance was a canal boat, and when it took
thirty five cents and three weeks time to get
an order for Jamaica rum from PittsDurg to
Boston.
Another fact that we shall have to accept is
the great firms and the great fortunes There
is poetry in the picture of the artisan
of the clden time working quietly at home, with
wife and children around him. There was no
clatter but that they made themselves There
was no capitalist to lock them out. There was
no trades union to order them to strike They
could begin the day whenever the sun was up.
and they could quit when they were tired. For
our Don Quixotes there is not little fascination
about that quiet way of manufacturing. 1t is
also suggested by one of the ablest economists
that possibly electricity may enable US to return
to the ancient method of household work With
power provided which for small sum might be
distributed, there would be the possibility of
running the machine at home. But all this is
possible. not probable. We shall not get rid OF
the large and crowded manufactures.
The problem for US is how to make them clean
and happiness of the vast numbers
of toilers congregated under one roof.
That is not simply ethical prob
lem. 1t is an economic problem. too. There
is money in it. In the long run there is the
most substantial success for those establishments
W hQra lab froa a0
but as brothers; where everything consistent
with reasonable self interest is attempted for
the welfare of those employed.
Along with the great firms come the great fort
unes. Here is another economic fact Before
the war man with million was rich. Now a
man is not millionaire unless he has ten or
twenty millions. The larger and more rapid ac-
cumulations come from changed conditions in
the world of business. We shall gain nothing by
giving ourselves up to impatience and envy as
we contemplate these fortunes. 1t is more than
likely that we are far better off with little
The ideal society is not to be reached by a mere
divide There is many toler not
only more virtuous but with a bet
rosy and merry family and larger share of
life's real blessings of every Sort than the rich
proprietor for whom he works Why envy the
dyspeptic. rheumatic, wheeling child of luxury,
tossing on his bed, haunted in his dreams. his
burden never lifted, his cares never lghteneda
and cares, even when there is the most of
strength to bear them9 To the end of time.
and. so far as / can see, through eternity. too
there will be differences in endowments and ac-
quirements. One star will differ from ansther
star in glory. AS regards the pocket, the body,
the mind, the heart, there will always be d.
versity of gifts. That is an economic fact to be
taken into the account. 1t is all right to want
what is fair But we only suffer great injury
when we allow ourselves to grow disconnected
hac IL hot off
/ think it will help our patience and happiness
to consider, too. that these great for
tunes are not unmixed evils. If, as
Mr. George Bancroft recently wrote in a
private letter. the dangerous class is 1.-The selfish
rich" it ought to be matter of pride and joy
to every American to remember how many of
our prosperous couptrymen have been not selfish
but generous In the use of wealth The world
has never before seen such princely endowments
of public charities by private beneicence. Think
of the larger recent gifts for the promotion of
science and education Stephen Girard left al
most his entire estate of seven and one-half mill
ions for an orphans school at Philadelphia The
Astors have given the Astor Library one mill
ion. Johns Hopkins gave three millions for a
university. LELAND Stanford has given ten mill
ions for similar purpose. For Cornell Uni
versitv Ezra Cornell has provided two and one
half miliions for Lehigh University Asa Packer
three millions; for Princeton College, John G.
Green one and one-nalf million. ar James
Lick ten millions for the Lick [ rsity
James Lenox founded the Lenox lilo and
the Vanderbts have provided millions the
Vanderbilt University and the New York Hos
pital. This roll might be indefinitely length
ened Here in our own new State, and in our
young city, we'have had names we'll worthy of a
place among such benefactors of the race All
honor to capital, say l, when it is wisely sell
FISH. so benefcently generous.
The political economists point US to a third
fact not to be despised-the law of supply
md inc Ia
about that law. There is certainly q good ae al
that is mysterious about it, all students of
the present industrial situation will confess. 1t
is law that resolutions will not reach. We
cannot "strike" it out of the way. 1t cannot be
modified by unions, either of labor capital. If
our labor Is commodity that good many peo-
pie want and want very much, we can get a
high price for it. If it is not greatly wanted we
cannot get much for it. If wages low, the
economic lesson lies in the line of self improve
ment Make your labor better labor Put
skill into it, and then yet more skill There is
always room for hrst-class man. He is al
ways called. Learn to do some thing better
than any one else in the town. Your wages will
rise. You will be the gamer by understanding,
rather than by ignoring and despising the
structural laws of society and trade
Strikes, which are seldom necessary or
wise are always unwise when the supply
of labor is abundant. The experiment is so
costly as to be nefarious. That Missouri Pacific
lars, the railroad people two millions, and the
general public two millions besides. Was any
thing gainedY [ think so. Recent dispatches
informed Ia that the man who ordered the strike
has been driven out of town by the indignation
of the men who. through his folly, are out of a
job If that is all right, the suffering of poor
families. who are now made poorer, is all wrong
And little political economy would have pre-
vented it all.
This question about the limits Of a working
day must deal with scientific laws in the same
spirit of Difference. A few weeks ago the conn
try was full of prophets. who, the LIST day of
May, by click of the telegraph, were to trans
form the commercial system of the world. After
May l, laborers shall work but eight hours per
day. and, what is most poetieal and charming of
all, they shall have ten hours pay Possibly
we had few of these appy-go-lucky advo-
Gates in Indianapolis We had them, but
we have them not They are gone with Martin
Irons
In this age of machinery which does away
with 30 much labor, and in this country to