The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1890-06-27


now fill the positions, previously held by
their fathers, brothers or husbands. Is it,
then, any wonder that all trade organza-
tions demand both equal pay for both sexes
for similar work and the prohibition of child
labor?
IMMIGRATION.
In the same category of evils may be men
toned unrestricted immigration. Thousands
of foreigners annually flock hither, bringing
with them their own habits and customs.
The standard of living, common among
them, is always very much lower than that
of their fellow-workmen, born on this side
OF the Atlantic. Bryce, in his American
Commonwealth, says: ''The most conspic-
uOus evidence of American prosperity has
been hitherto seen in the high standard of
living, to which the native working classes
OF the north have risen." But Mr.. Bryce
scents danger in the continued rush of for
eigners to our shores, and he adds this warn
ing: ''There seems to be a danger that If
they continue to come i'm large numbers they
may retain their own. low standard of
decency and comfort, and menace the con-
tlnuance among the working class generally
OF that far higher standard, which has pre-
vailed i'm all but few spots in this country"
quarter of a century ago, most of the inn
migrants were from the sturdy yeomanry of
Germany and Ireland; TO-DAY central and
southern Europe is sending hither its shift
less and half-civilized hordes.
If it is necessary by high tariff to pro-
tect the American workman from competi-
tlon with European pauper labor, working
in Europe, it would seem to be only the
logical counterpart also to protect him from
this same labor when it attempts to settle on
Amariaan I'm dafa
will soon be compelled to adopt restriction
for the European, just as it has adopted
prohibition for the Asiatic
SANITARY REGULATIONS.
Another of the crying evils of the indus
trial system is the poor sanitary conditions.
Workmen are crowded into small, poorly
ventilated shops, which are little more than
breeding places of disease. Disease turks
everywhere and the death-rate becomes
alarmingly high. The tenement house sys-
TEN is also very Objectionable. The men
live great distance from their places of
employment in cheaply constructed build
ings. The employee, in consequence of the
unsanitary condition of shops and houses,
becomes incapaciated from regular and
active work.
CORPORATIONS AND TRUSTS.
The most characteristic feature of the bus
iness world to-day is the formation of heavi-
ly capitalized corporations and their cOncen-
tratiOn into ''trnst." The ayowed object
of the manipulators of ''trust" is the
lessening of the cost of production by a
further application of the division of labor
and by saving of those unnecessary eXpen-
ses that accompany competitive methods of
business. The public is lulled into acquies-
ence by promise Of share in this saving.
This concentration has gone on, until to-day
nearly every important industry is controlled
by syndicate or TRUST, which monOpOlizes
the entire trade of the country. What is
the effect of a trust? Says Hon. w. w.
Cook in his pamphlet entitled Trusts:
''The trust is monopoly, and the most
cruel, the most harsh and the most detesta-
BILE of all monopolies 1t presses hardest on
those who are least able to pay its eXacti0ns.
1t is greviOus burden, which is borne, not
by the rich and the powerful, but by the poor
and the weak. 1t is monopoly in the nee
essaries of life, in those things which render
possible the daily existence of the farmer,
the mechanic.a .andothe laboring man."
As soon as competition is throttled by the
m ethods peculiar TO the trust, prices are in
creased and production is restricted. The pur-
chasing power of the wage-workers earnings
decrease as prices rise and steadiness of en-
plOyment becomes less certain on account of
this restricted production.
l have briefly mentioned some of the evils
connected with the present industrial system,
yet have treated the labor question only on
one side and the side that seems to me the
least important In an article i'm the Forum
recently, Prof. Sumner thus stated the labor
question: "How can those who have neither
land nor capital and who must therefore
enter the organization of society as wage
workers, get their living, or get a better
living, or get more than they now get out of
the stock of goods in society, for the pro-
ductive effort which they put into the work
of societyw If the only question involved
was that of bread and butter, as Prof. Sum-
ner seems to think, we might look with some
degree of cOmplacency upon the condition of
the workman to-day, since 1t Is undeniably
better than half a century since.
But over and above the problem of mere
existence, is the broader, grander problem
of human freedom. There can be no settle
ment of the labor question so long as labor
is treated solely as commodity. The toiler
is more than a machine, more than slave.
and he will no. submit forever to be treated
as one or the other. Those inspiring words,
which have awakened a responsive echo I'm
loyal hearts for more than q century,
men are born free and equal, these words
certainly do not mean that the employee
must be at the mercy of his employer and
forever dependent on his caprice. When
our Saviour said ''the laborer is worthy of his
hire" he forbade any system that should
stifie conscience or lower manhood. Is the
product of our factories more important than
the producers? Is the iron of our mines
more sacred than the iron miners? Is the
wheat of the farmer more valuable than the
farmer himself? No! Rather 1t Is true, as
Mr.. Bonbam says, that ''mdn Is the begin
ming and end of all economic life" The real
labor question, as understand 1t, Is: How
can the workman secure his share of the
material benefits of this nineteenth century
civilization and live life worthy of his man
hood?
REMEDIES.
Let us now consider, for few moments
the solution of this problem. But by the
way of preface, let me say that have no
panacea to propose and that believe its
settlement will be an evolution and not
revolution. The agencies for the solution of
this problem are two fold: /. The efforts
of the workingmen themselves by means Of
cooperation. etc. III. State action.
Q.) As the first method of self-improve-