Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1886-04-01

manufacturing CnanHels. IL - luio W say
such an idea is chimercal since clear. head
ed business men Will not continue 10 prose-
cute losing concern.
Nor is it possible for q board of arbitra.
ton, in each State, to establish and main
tain an equitable rate of wages, and to
adjust amicably the disputes and misunder-
standings that may arise between employ
ers and workmen. If such a board be
merely advisory, its effect and influence
would wear of with the gloss of novelty.
On the other hand, if the decision of such
& hoard was given the force and effect ofthe
Judgment of n court OF last resort, and was
compulsory upon the employers and work
men. IFS effect would be to strip both of
these classes of the right to regulate their
private affairs, and establish dangerous
and vexatious bureaucracy. Mr.. Jeiler
son was satisfied in his day. that the world
is governed too much" but we have acted
on the opposite ground, that men could not
be governed enough. 1t is needless to say
that if committee representing secret
society of workingmen is to establish tho
rate of wages and then 10 enforce the pay
ment Of them by ordering a general strike
throughout the union, capital will be driven
out of the field, since no sort of business
can prosper that is not under the control
and management OF its owners.
What Monsieur Say said of writer's on
"Political Economy" is true Of writers up
on the problem of capital and labor. Writers
are found who possess the lamentable facil-
ity of composing articles for journals,
pamphlets, and even whole volumes upon
subjects which, according to their own con-
fession, they do not understand. And what
is the consequence? The science Is involved
| in the clouds Of their own minds, and that
| is rendered obscure which was becoming OBJ
scurc. Such is'the Indifference ofthe public
| that they rather prefer trusting TO assertions
than be ut the trouble of investigating
| them"
A host Of journals and newspapers espec-
| tally devoted to the advocacy Of the rights
of labor and to the accommodation OF capital
have sprung into existence within the past
few years Each one has its pet theory and
its panacea, but nine-tenths of these news
papers are more remarkable for sour intol-
GRANGE, Impotence OF contradiction and
doguiatism Of assertion than for soundness;
| of argument and breadth Of their views.
They are one-sided and partisan, and
usually bitter and iliberal towards
such as ere una.lo &c roo things
through their spectacles. But by far
the most lamentable circumstances is that
the majority Of such papers appeal TO the
passions and prejudiccs CT the working
Glasses and denoUnce and anathemali-e cap
ital as the cause OF everything that IS amiss
a proceeding which is sure to SOW broad
cast seed that will lruclty into harvest OF
disaster Many of these advocates OF the
rights of aoor propose the most radical in
novations, prominent among which is The
adjustment OF the ownership Ct land by
private persons and the making of the State
the common and sole landlord, leasing out
lands and collecting tho rents. And they
propose TO accomplish this result Ivy impos-
ing such tax on land As shall amount to
its conliscation by piecemeal. Then again,
some CT these newspapers proprsaa rcdl-tri-
button oil property and n law iorhlddEg men
10 own over II specified amount Of property
The more startling The theory, and the wild
er the bravado, the more likely it is to at
tract notice and create 81 sensation, and
ptchfork its author into noore;y.
III my poor Judgment we arc wandering
away from tho land marks Of our ancestors
and sacrificing the lessons of experience, the
accumulated wisdom OF mankind 10 the
cries and experiments That have nothing bl,l
their wildness 10 recommend them TO favor
| Thcrc ~ No real ground Tor any ill-iecline
and antagOnlsm between capital and labor,
and | depreca!e all attempts 10 proI"Ct
them rs certain to produce n large crop ol
private and public disaster, from the effect,
Of which he people would Sullcr for gene
rations 10 como. The writer has no selfish
motives 10 warp his opinions; his poverty
Iut,' it out Of the power Of any changes or
revolutions 10 make him poorer than he is
| y! present, and he has reached that period
of life that a,lmonishcs him that the shades
Of night arc approaching. Nor does he wish
for any Office from rich or poor, or from both.
This statement is mad" that tho opinions OK
pressed may not h. imputed to any selfish
or sinister motive. a. ~ too apt to bn done
By men of illiberal ANA intolerant minds
which resent 81 difference Of opinion as n
personal ailront, an: regard vituperaiion a;
argument.
Principles are either intrinsicaly true or false,
and arguments arc intrinSically sound or unsonnd.
| In argument is not necessarily imprcgnablc be-
| Ganso il cmauatcs from Il rich man or poor man
but must br accepted or jccted according {" its
/ merits or icmeriti That IS my position. pro-
| pose no panacc.:. | have no faith in curc-:ll!I
aIlopaLhc or homeopathic. We must deal with
! men men, and rot on the Supposiinn that they
are either angels or devils. IL is not true that
the rich arc all cruel and ard-hcartci orprcssors.
FOR that they I'll ph;lanth.opists and patriots;
| nor il it true that all work I'M men socialists
| and communists, intent upon piundcrng the rich.
! nor is it true that they arc all patriots and
| philanthrupists, FREQ from all sciIish motives.
Good and vicious men are to he found i'll all
| classes.
! propose to consider from an independent and
:! impartial standpoint the organization called the
| -knights>f Labor. and to adduCh arguments ~
| SHOW that il IS dangerous tn public order aud
/. rcace. we'll as to private aud public liberty.
! Ny first objection to the knights Of Labor or
gtnization is that ii is morally crtain 10 hc run
rs a political body. This result is absolutely in
| cyitahlc. netcnths OF those who 'hnngCr and
thirst after Office have enrolled themselves in
the knights of Labor, and they have carried with
! them their thirst for Office. Let us take San An
| tonic as an example In 1884 the workinsmcn
! of San Antonio nominated their own candidates
for several Offices, and it is likely all these work
! men are now ZealOns members of the knights Of
Labor IL is notat all likely that they have Civ
| en- up he ideas held by .hcm in 1884.
| The Knights of Labor have started new party
! in Illinois. The men that nominated Gen. But
ia7 rs the workingmen's candidate for president
in 1881, arc doubtless all members of tho
Knights of Labor, and it is fair to presume are
still resolved to make tho workingmcn n factor in
politics From its birth have regarded this Or
rauiZatOn rs q nolitical ono