The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1890-09-25

united DandS OF workers was 10
determine and regulate the question of
wages. This bone of contention con-
tinued to agitate the industrial communities
the entire European continent was depop-
ulated by plaques and famines, which
created such scarcity of skilled workmen,
that it inspired the members of this vast
organization, with the hope that they
might be able to obtain higher rate of
wages; but all the efforts of the working
classes were met with strenuous and per-
sistent opposition by the employers
at last, determined to put an end to the
conflict by inaugurating the factory system;
and the introduction of machinery and
steam power into the several classes Of
manufacture then carried on. The war
fare between the workmen and the en-
plOyers now Increased in intensity; and. at
last. in the latter part of the 18th century.
the wOrkmen conceived and adopted the
organization of the modern trades union.
which institution has continued to thrive
and combat capital until the present day.
1t is needless for us to continue the his
tory further-the blood -curdling horrors of
the labor conflicts of the present century,
the unspeakabe sufferings, privations and
death of hundreds of thousands of innocent
women and children from starvation,
caused by the lock outs, strikes, bOycotts
and explosions; the appalling Outrages Or
ganized and inspired by the frOthy. sense
less utteranceS of the professional agitatOrs,
such as the Communist orators and dyna-
miters, the John its. Ernest Schawbs
O'DonOvan ROssas. and their murderous
crew-men who never did an honest days
work in their lives, and who, having no
other OstenSible source Of income, live III
luxury by imposing on the credulity and
ignorance of the industrial classes. kindlng
false antagOniSmS and prejudceS between
the employers and the employed.
1t is high time. then, that all intelligent,
well-meaning artisans-aye. and capitalists.
toO-should awake from their Rip Van
Winkle slumber of the past, shake off the
incubus of class prejudice, class legis-
lation. and the silly schemes of unprinci-
pied agitatOrs. who make living by the
miseries of others. There is no valid rea-
son why labor and capital should be an
tagonistic-their interests are identical, in
separable and nter-dependent They will
run quietly and well in double harness. if
they are only let alone by the dreamers and
schemers OF the day; and peace and pros
perity for both will be the natural and in
evitable result.
The only effectual solution of the labor
general boards of arbitration. whereby the
rights and requirements of both parties
could be equitably and harmOniously ad-
justed and finally settled. The workman
has inalienable rights, and is just as much
entitled to recognition and protection as the
capitalist. The latter has administrative
ability and bank account; the wOrkman'S
capital is his mechanical skill and con-
structive ingenuity to transform the raw
material nature furnishes with a market
able commodity. They are the Siamese
twins of commerce; and, if the billions of
dollars yearly squandered and ruthlessly
sacrificed in the maintenance of strikes
and lock- outs had been utilized for the ed
ucatiOn and sanitary improvement of the
industrial classes and their families during
the last hundred years, we should not have
now known the need of either poor farms
or prisons. AS we have remarked. the
only practical remedy for the evils which
now exist, and the only effectual solution
of the labOr-prOblem is to be found in the
establishment of boards of arbitration. COM
posed of an equal number of skilled, eX-
perienced and intelligent artisans. chosen
| from the several branches of trade repre-
sented in the locality-and capitalists,
whose wealth is embarked IN and dependent
upon the prosperity of these industries.
These boards should be presided over by
persons whose thorough independence of
position, integrity of character. and absence
of personal interest with either party
would repudiate the slightest suspicion of
undue sympathy or partiality. These
boards should be appointed either by the
President or by Congress, the members
thereof having been nominated on the joint
recommendation or election of both the in
terested parties. All question of wages,
| technical differences and disputes, regula-