San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-06-24
Ehe Daily Eight.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE "a. 1891.
A Fire Brand Quenched.

20rC, q communication unuer the
signature of LIZZIE n. Holmes"
which was read by me with deep re-
greet and no small torebodlng.
Whether Lizzie Ii. Holmes" be
nom de plume, or the actual name OF
q veritable woman, and whether this
woman be spiuster, or married
woman, is a matter unknown to this
writer, and wholly disconnected
from the subject 1 shall deal with
her remarks.
The premises, or foundation, of
Lizzie h. Holmes are either imagi-
nary, or the outcome of that sort OF
exaggeration, which arises from warm
impulses and strong feelings, and as
no structure is able TO stand without
a foundation, her conclusions tumble
to the ground in a confused mass.
There is no law compelling men to
become carpenters, brick masons,
miners, or factory hands. They
choose their calling for them.
selves. They could become
farm laborers If they were
SO inclined, and thus escape from the
tyranny of capital. They could all
acquire homesteads and run farms of
their own, and enjoy the utmost pos
sible independence. They could sit
composedly ''under their own vine
and fig tree, With none to modest
them, or make them afraid, =" on snug
farms. But the truth Is, rural life
and farm work, do not suit them; 80,
they engage i'm some calling more to
their taste and cOngregate in mines,
factories, rail road shops, etc. l am
not blaming them for exercis-
ing their natural right of
choosing their callings. But work
ingmen cannot justly claim exemp-
tion from the changes and chances of
time-the fluctuations of trade-the
consequences of flood and drought,
and the law of supply and demand.
They must, like all other classes, be
affected by monetary stringency,
by short crops, dull sales, difficult
collections, glutted markets etc, as
well as by prosperous times. Right,
here is where working men commit
great mistake and Lizzie H. Holmes
appears to share this mistake
Hard times reciprocity curtail sales
as well as produce financial embar-
rassment, and these depress industri-
al pursuits to q large extent. Such
things cause mill owners, etc., to re-
duce wages or to lessen the number of
their hands, or as sailors say to
"shorten sail while the storm RACES"
Lizzie II. Holmes and quite number
of working: men, judging from their
violent denunciatiOn OF capital, seem
to think, that nothing at all ought
to affect wages or lead the
capitalist to discharge his hands
is period of business depression.
They seem to labor under the de-
fusion that capital causes drouths
and floods and short crops, for the
sole purpose of screwing down wages.
The factory and the mine owner do
not operate their respective industries
for the sole purpose of furnishing en-
ployment to men, but for the purpose
of making money for themselves, and
to do SO, they must operate them on
business principles. What l am try
ing to impress on Lizzie H.
Holmes and workingmen, gener.
ally, is that they must,
like all other classes, endure
the ever recurring ups and downs of
business-the alterations of prosper.
ity and of hard times, and the conse-
quences of short crops from flood and
drouth. Capital is under no manner
of obligation to ensure working men
against such ills as are common to all
classes and befall all nations. Wages
must fluctuate as no business and
trade.
OF course, all men, whether capt.
alists or workingmen, ought to act
on the principle of, "live and let
live" This obligation rests on all
alike, and not capitalists alone, as
many seem 10 suppose. No cOntrac.
tor is under any obligation to take a
con tract 10 build house at a ruinous
rate, simply to furnish work to work
ing men. The same is true of factory
aud mine owners.
/ would like to have Lizzie H.
Holms tell the public if mine aud
factory owners do not possess the
legal right OF stopping work whenever
they find they are losing money, or
that they cannot pay the rate of
wages demanded? What would be
the consequence, should capitalists
SOP all their industries?
All men like to get goods, groceries,
and labor, at the CHEAPEST price.
Workingmen are no exception to this
rule. They are as keen as other men
to drive the best bargains, possible,
when they hire horse and buggy, or
a man, or a woman, or buy goods.
They are men, not angels. am sure,
if Lizzie II. Holmes enters a store, she
tries to beat down the price of goods,
and that when she rents a house, or
hires a servant, washwoman, or
seamstress, she gets them as
cheap a. possible. Human nature is
the same in men of all callings, and
there is a good deal of selfishness In
every man and woman, when he sells