The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-04-27
BISMARCK ON LABOR.

Whatever may be said in censure of Bis
marclIs abSnluJlst tendencies, there is no
question of his mental grasp. His mind is
prodigous, clear wide and penetrating. He
sees right down to the bottom of q question
at glance, and where his reasoning power
is not disturbed by dogmas, his conclusions
are unerrng. His survey of the labor ques-
ton is a most valuable contribution to So
cial philosophy.
lie applies to that question the great truth
that nothing in this world is final, nothing
susceptible of adjustment for all time. As
in the fixed sciences, the student never
reaches point at which he can rest from
his toll with the conviction that nothing re-
mains to be said, so the social science strug-
gle is incessant and never-ending as the
condition of progress Between the class
which lives from the interest of acquired
capital and the class which subsists by daily
labor conflict can never cease. II it did,
progress would cease with it, and society
would stagnate. 1t is because labor and
capital are always contending for supre-
macy that society advances. 1t is a natural
law that the man who works for wages
shall be endeayoring to better his condition
through his employer, and that the latter
shall on his side exert his utmost endeavOr
to get the most he can out of those he en-
ployS. The strife between the two sharp
ems The intellect Of both and incites each to
the utmost exercise of energy. 1t is this
which makes the world move.
Every demand which labor has made since
1t became an organized force has been ac
companled by an assurance that if it car
rled Its point finality would be reached.
But after each labor victory it is seen that
the tnality is as far off as ever. Each in
crease OF wages, each reduction in the hours
of labor has engendered an agitation for
further concessions by employers. This is
natural and not at all to De regretted.
Whenever a class rests satisfied with what
it has DONE and ceases TO try to better it
self il stagnates and begins to retrograde
If ever the time came that men of science
concluded that discovery and invention had
gone far enough. and that ii was time to
call halt, the world would begin to decay
and human activity would come 10 a stand
still; just so if ever the laboring man con-
cludeS that he has got all that he ought to
have, that he has no desire for more pay
or shorter hours of work, his class will
cease to be factor in the worlds develop
ment, and he will begin to lose the fruit of
former victories. 1t is only by constantly
| aiming at betterment that mankind can
1t is not TO be expected that every plan for
improving the condition of the laborer is
going to be wise and judicious or success
full. In all long campaigns the army which
is victorious in the end makes many false
steps and endures many defeats. Labor
agitators constantly propose impracticable
schemes and ventilate impossible theories.
| These come to grief in due course, and to
| the superficial observer it appears that the
cause of labor has received q fatal blow.
| But that is not the case. The event merely
| demonstrates that the leaders OF the cause
| have. for the time being, started out on a
wrong tack and suffered temporary check.
! The cause Is not unfrequently damaged by
| the leadership OF visionary men who hold
| Governments responsible for the ills to
| which all flesh is heir, and who propose to
| cure lncurable disease with nostrums of no
value whatever. But it implies confusion
of thought to c0nfOund these visionary per
| sons with the cause on which they trade.
! They fade out Of view after little while ::
| but the cause survives none the less active
! because they have for a time checked its
progress. 1t cannot die so long as the in
| stinct of betternent lives in the human
| heart.
Gloomy Vaccinations of a coming conflict
| between labor ana capital, in which blood
and fire shall wreck the work of ages, occa-
| sionally find their way into print. They
are without warrant. There is no reason to
| suppose either that the struggle between
labor and capital is going TO cease, or that
! it is going to be more destructive than
usual. 1t has existed since the days when
! Pharoah required the Jews to make bricks
without straw; it will 90 on so long as man
| kind is progressive. And while the progress
of the conflict viii probably be marked by
vicissitudes and Gibbs and flows of fortune
the general drift of the battle can hardly fail
to diminish the power of acquired wealth,
| aud to increase the power of human labor