Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-05-26

Dilster, here and there stlffened finger
joint. The great publishers of New Yorl
and Philadelphia, so far as know them, wer'
bookbinders or printers on small pay. Th'
carriage manufacturers of the country uset
to sandpaper the wagon bodies in the wheel
wright's shop. On the other hand, you viii
find in all our great establishments men OF
wages who used to employ their one hun
dred or five hundred hands.
Peter Cooper was glue-maker No ONT
begrudged him his millions of dollars, fol
he built Cooper Institute and swung oper
its doors for every poor mans son, and sale
to the day laborer: "Send your boy up tt
my Institute if you want him to have 3
splendid education" And young man o.
this church was the other day walking ir
Greenwood cemetery and he saw two young
men putting flowers on the grave of Peter
Cooper. My friend supposed the young mer
.Sere relatives of Peter Cooper and decorated
his grave for that reason. "No, they said,
1--WE put these flowers On his grave because
it was through him we got our education. y
Abraham Van Ness was harness maker in
New York. Through economy and indus
try and skill he got great fortune. He
gave away to help others hundreds of thou
sands Of dollars. / shall never forget the
scene when l, a green country lad, stopped
at his house and after passing the evening
with him he came to the door and came
out side and said: "Here, Dewitt, is fifty
dollars to get books with. Don't say any
thing about it." And I never did till the
good old man was gone. The wealthy men
of the twentieth century are i'll these last
fourteen years of the nineteenth century
sitting with their feet on the shuttle, OF
standing up swinging the pick-axe, or doing
some kind of hard work, and from the sane
classes are to come the philosophers and
poets and orators. Henry Clay was ''the
Mill boy of the Slashes.'' Hugh Miller, a
stone-mason; Columbus, weaver; HALEY,
a soap-boiler; Arkwright, a barber; the
learned Bloomfield, a shoemaker; Hogarth,
an engraver of pewter plate, and Horace
Greeley started life in New York with ten
dollars and seventy-five cents in his pocket.
The distance between Capital and Labor
is not great gulf over which is swung a
Niagara suspension bridge; it is only step,
and the laborers here will cross over and
become capitalists, and the capitalists will
cross over and become laborers. Would to
God they would shake hands while they are
crossing, these from one side, and those
from the other side.
The cOmbatants In this great war between
Capital and Labor are chiefly on the one
side men of fortune who have never been
obliged to toll, and who despise labor, and,
on the other hand, men who could get Ia
Dor, but will not have it, will not stick to
it. 1t is the hand cursing the eye, or the
eye cursing the hand 1 want it under
stood that the laborers are the highest style
of capitalists. Where is their investment
In the bank? No. In railroad stock? No.
Their muscles. their nerves, their bones.
their mechanical skill, their physical health,
are the highest kind of capital. The man
who has two feet, and two ears, and two
eyes, and ten fingers, owns machine that
puts into nothingness Corliss's engine and
all the railroad rolling stock, and all the
carpet and screw and cotton factories on
the planet. wave the flag Of truce this
morning between these contestants. de-
mand cessation of hostilities between La
Dor aud Capital. What is good for one is
good for both.
Again: Relief will come to the working
classes of this country through the coopera-
tive association. am not now referring to
trad alions. We may hereafter discuss
that question. But l refer to that plan by
taking their surpluses and putting them to-
gether and carrying on great enterprises. In
England and Wales there are 765 co opera
sand members, with capital of fourteen
year 20 the amount of fifty. seven million
iron foundry association. 1t
worked well long enough TO give an idea of
what could be accomplished when the ex-
pertinent is fully developed. Thomas Bras
sey, one of the first of the english Parlia-
ment, declared, ''Cooperation is the one and
only solution Of this question; it is the sole
path by which the laboring classes as a
whole, or any large number of them, will
ever emerge from the hand-to-mouth mode
of living, and get their share in the rewards
and honors of our advanced civilization" !"
Thomas Hughes, the ablest and the most
brilliant friend of the workingman; Lord
Derby, John Stuart Mill, men who gave
half their lifetime to the study of this ques-
tiop, all favor cooperative association.
The principle was illustrated in Ireland.
One day mail-coach traveller found man
standing in the water repairing DAM
"Are you working by yourself?" inquired
the traveller. eyes" was the answer
''Where is your steward % ''We have no
steward" "Who is your master?'' "We
have no master. We are on new system. ="
"Then who sent you to do this work ?''-
sThe committee" "Who is the commit
tee ?" ''Some of the members" ''What
members do you mean?" asked the visitor.
''The ploughmen and laborers who are ap-
pointed by us as committee. l belong to
the new systemites."
You say that there have been great fail
ures in that direction. l admit it. Every
great movement at the start is failure.
The application Of steam power failure,
electro -telegraphy failure, railroading a
failure, but after awhile the worlds chief
successes. hear some say: "Why, it is
absurd to talk of surplus to be put into
this cooperative association, when men can
hardly get enough to eat and wear and take
care of their families" l reply: Put into
my hand the money spent in the last five
years in this country by the laboring classes
for rum and tobacco, and I will start CO.
operative institution of monetary power that
will surpass any financial institution in the
United States.
Again: remark that relief will come to
the working classes through more thorough
discovery on the part Of employers that it is
best for them to let their employees know
Just how matters stand. The most of the
capitalists of to-day are making less thar
six per cent, less than five per cent, less
than four per cent, on their investments
Here and there is an anaconda swallowing
down everything, but such are the except
ions. 1t is often the case that employees
blame their employer because they suppose
he is getting along grandly, when he is op-
pressed to the last point of oppression.
knew manufacturer who employed more
than thousand hands. said to him: 'Dt
you ever have any trouble with your work
men? Do you have any strikes?'' "No,'
he said. "What! in this time Of angry dis
cussion between Capital and Labor, no
trouble?'' "None at all-none" I said
''How is that? ?" 'tWell," he said, 81 have
way of my own. Every little while | cal
my employees together, and I say: "Now
boys, want to show you how matters stand
What you turned out this year brought
so much. You see it isn't as much as WI
got last year. can't afford to pay you 81
much as did. Now, you know l put al
my means in this business. What do yor
think ought to be my percentage, and wha
wages ought l to pay you? Come, let u
settle this And" said that manufacturer
1--WE are always unanimous. When we suf
fer we all suffer together. When we ad
vance, we advance together, and my mer