Kansas agitator. [volume] (Garnett, Kan.) 1890-1905, 1890-12-29
WRIGHT MAY BE WRONG.
THE LABOR DEPARTMENTS HEAD
GOES FOR THE CRANkS.

dress in q Brooklyn church few days
ago on the progress made in the inven-
ton of machinery and the consequent
improvement in the condition of the
workingman Mr.. Wright makes the
popular error Of calling these machines
-labor saving" How has labor been
saved by the machine? How has the
laborer been greatly benefited? The
machine has enabled the capitalists to
do more manufacturing with smaller
expenditure for the wages Of labor, but
the machine tender is driven harder
than he was when working under the
old methods The individual laborer
has not been enabled by the machine to
save his strength and health; the con-
trary has been the case. Collectively
the laborers have suffered by displace-
ment, and the suffering would have been
greater had not the labor organizations
fought for reductions in the hours of
labor. The statistics prepared by the
department of which Mr.. Wright is the
head prove this.
The machine is not to blame, and no
sensible man quarrels with inventions.
The trouble lies in the fact that the
machines are owned by the class whose
business it is to get as much in return
for the wages paid as can be squeezed
lout of the wage worker. The operative
is simply a part of the machine; the
wages paid him the fuel and oil which is
necessary to keep him going. When the
oil is stingily laid on there is sometimes
a little friction. But this is an old
story, and an hours thought in the right
direction will convince any sensible per-
son of its truth. Let the operatives con-
troll the machines and they will be "labor
saving" in truth. T the workers the
tools should belong.
Mr.. Wright takes exceptions to what
he calls 1.-THE pernicious statements made
current in labor circles" that "the rich
are growing richer and the poor poorer"
He treats this as he does the machines,
in general way, by saying that condi-
tons are better than they were in past
centuries; that 1.-THE poorest man of today
is infinitely better off than the best con-
dition of the olden days" This is rash
statement for one of Mr.. Wright's oppor
tunities of investigation to make. Star
walton is and always was starvation, and
there is more of it today than in 1.-The
olden days" 1t doesn't answer to harp
on the statement that "workingmen now
have carpets on their floors" and pie on
their tables. They are part of society,
and their desires have grown with those
Of the rich. But leave out Of the ques-
ton those with the carpets and pie. How
about the more than a million in this
country alone who are hungry, ragged
and wretched more than half the time,
according to the bureaus of labor sta
tisticsl
1t is because we have tramps now, I'M
known in 1.-The olden days." because
crime and pauperism are ever on the in
crease: because the amount given in
charity is out Of all proportion to past
records: because the shadow of the mill
ionaires palace falls upon the howell of
the penniless one-half the day and upon
the prison the other half. These and
hundreds of others are reasons why we
say the rich are getting richer and the
poor poorer. Everybody knows the rich
are getting richer. else the wealth of the
Vanderbilts. Goulds ct al. is a myth
The second half of the proposition may