The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1890-05-12
THE LABOR QUESTION.
Labor Troubles, Their Cause and
Their Cure"
Admirably Set Forth by Rev. J. r.
Clymer.

Clymer.
Labor Troubles, Their Causes and Cure"
was the subject of Rev. j. F. Clymer's lee
ture at Pine street church last evening. Mr..
Clymer commenced by the statement that
the whole world is in state of Industrial
fermentation. The leaven of discomfort is
working nightly in the mind of humanity.
especially in the great cities. The May-day
labor demonstrations stirred the great GEN.
tres of humanity-London, Berlin, Vienna,
Paris, st. Petersburg, New York and Chica-
go-to that degree that the old commercial
phrase capital can go without its dividends
longer than labor without its dinner" has
become meaningless. The American FEEDER
alton Of Labor. numbering nearly 100000
men, with its centre at Chicago; the labor
conference lately held at Boston marked by
so much conservatism; and the working
girls convention held at New York last
month, composed of intelligent representa-.
tives from all classes of wage-workers, have
added such dignity and divinity to the la
Dor problem that it especially demands the
respectful consideration of all men, especial
ly press, platform and pulpit. 1t is not a
class problem. but an Industrial political
and moral one. Life in America is set in
such organic togetherness that anything that
touches part of it affects the whole. No
class In America can have trouble without
affecting all other classes in some degree.
The real question involved In the demand of
wage-workers for less number of working
hours per day and better pay is not to be de-
cided by the excuses of some workingmen on
the one hand, or the prudence of others on
the other hand.
The speaker then proceeded to say that
our times are full of peril to all institutions
iistinctiveiy american. free speech is
abused by anarchist haranguers, the press is
terrorized by the timidity of capital the re-
bellion of labor and political boycotting
The right of suffrage is violated by impeni-
tent traitors, unprlncipled politicians and
lawless liquor dealers. Liberty and just re-
wards are denied to labor. the rights of capt.
tai to protection trampled on by the unrea-
sonable demands of labor organizations, the
lawless deeds of tramps and dynamiters
This reckless social revolution is fraught
with more danger to the republic than the
late civil war. Ii divides people into fac
lions everywhere, setting even kindred
against each other. The provisions of 1877
are crystalizing into dogmas, and the
waters of discomfort threaten to food with
destruction all that is dear to American lib
erty. We have an ..irrepressible conflict"
on our hands that will not be settled until 1t is
settled In righteousness. Quotations from
eminent political economists and public men
abroad were made by the speaker to show
the feeling In foreign countries as against
the mass OF wealth and power obtained by a
few contrasted with their own earnings.
The revolutionary spirit is spreading and
may find its greatest field in republican Am
erica. Look at men In this country support
ing families on ninety cents day, while the
daughter Of railroad raj magnate who employs
| pin money. Frances E. Willard shows the
i temptation to crime In Chicago when women
have to make twelve shirts for seventy-fve
| cents and provide their own thread; children
| who work twelve hours day for one dollar
a week.
"Alasi that gold should be so dear
And flesh and blood so cheap"
On the other hand workmen who are get
ting as good wages as justice and equity de
mand, strike for higher pay and leave thou
sands Of dollars, worth of property belong
ing to their employers to burn or rot and
then violate the rights of their employers.
Cases were quoted to show that where one
just strike succeeded, labor committees, en-
b0ldened by success, ordered strikes that
paralysed the business Of a'great city, and
brought suffering on thousands of innocent
people. Because an incompetent man is dis
charged strike occurs that renders the
property OF nine railroad companies unre-
munerative and the railroad traffic of half
continent interrupted for weeks. Labor
should appeal to reason. to arbitration, but
not to strikes and the ruin of riot. There Is
no propriety In SOC, 900 Knights of Labor de-
priving 10, 000, 900 working people who DO not
belong to their order. of the common rights
terms CT their labor. 1t is true that there
has been unjustifable oppression of labor by
capital in some cases, but unreasonable de-
mands and inhumanities are not the remedy
Laboring men have the right to be treated
| like freemen, their humanity and manhood
recognized by their employers, their right of
| choice must be respected, their grievances
/ right to put his brain and mind where it will
bring him the best product with due respect
/ to the rights of others. If his rights are in
flinged by long hours and short pay he has
the right to ask for shorter hours and better
aDSi mas rg to organize for
en- its organization by intelligent persua-
sion, but not by the tyranny of the mob or
boycott. Men outside these organizations
have just as many rights; the ''scab" or the
Employers and capitalists have the right
please in legitimate business; to a Just inter.
est for invested capital and time,
labor and skill in its management. Some en-
f @eey s saisf Il The (which pno the Of
skilled Workman. After aHA'' paying ali ii
wages, taxes, etc., it is shown by figures that
| the average profits of all manufactures are
not over five to six pei. cent on the capital
tr.xrn tod Hhn Gov
those that pay but fraction of one per cent
l Of profit. Every employer has right to
| close his business in legitimate way, to de-
eide what kind of men he will employ, their
hours Of labor and their wages, and to dis
charge those he does not want at the end of
their contract; to legal protection against in
timidation. obstruction or destruction in
prosecuting any legitimate business.
The above are the rights Of both labor and
capital. How to remedy any violation of
| grafton be regulated by law, and the supply
| of unskilled labor will not exceed the de-
| mand and better wages will be the result.
| Labor is degraded by the vast hoard of in
lands seeking these shores. The trite maxim
that America is the asylum for the oppres-
| sed Of all nations" has become prostituted
| by making the land a reformatory and aims
house for the paupers and criminals Of Eu-
rope. Ii we have a contagious disease the
ment quarantine all this class of persons
| coming here. Our own workingmen are, as
a whole, industrious and energetic. But
there are many drones. Let workingmen re-
member that knowledge is power in muscles,
as well as In brains and books Lack Of
manual training is one of the curses of the
nation. Let wOrkingmen exhaust the power
of arbitration and law before resorting to a
strike. A strike never aims at the cause OF
declining wages and can never accomplish
permanent good Purify and elevate the
family, recognize the right of each child
| to an education. Mr. Pnwdarlv saws