Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1892-07-14
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bling the laborer of the fruits of his
labor. Let us see if this is true.
Many of the wealthy capitalists of
our country are, as a rule, successful
iaborers. The great publishers of
New York and Philadelphia began as
book-binders or printers on small pay.
The carriage manufacturers used to
sandpaper wagon bodies IN the Wheel
Wrights shop. Peter Cooper, who
with his millions founded the Cooper
Institute for the education of poor
boys, was glue-msker. Henry Clay
was the 'sMill-boy of the Slashes,''
Hugh Miller was a stone-mason,
Bloomfield was a shoemaker, and
Horace Greedy began life in New
York with ten dollars and seventy
five cents in his pocket.
Then there are a few capitalists
who are doing their best for their la
borers; but these are men whose lives
began amid misfortune and poverty
and they haze st forgotten their
own early struggles and are sympa-
thetic with their workers.
But what of the majority of the en-
ployers? Do they consider the wants
of their employees and treat them as
individuals to have and to hold some
thing as their own, apart from all
others? If SO why are laboreTs get
ting poorer all the time? Why do
they have to vote as their employers
say or be discharged? There must
be something t0ronq, radically wrong,
else whence come our strikes and la
Dor disturbances? Look at the riots
in Paris few years ago, the attempt
to assasslnate the Emperor of Ger
many, the disturbances in all parts of
Europe, and the hay-market and rail-
road strikes in America.
In Ireland, the boycotting and
Establishing is an illustration. The
laborers organized the land-league,
and resolved to purchase none of their
supplies from the landowners, and
those of their class who did so, were
Threatened with punishment by death.
Then the capitalists, in their turn,
kept blacklist on which was enter
ed the names of those laborers who
had joined the land-league or compli-
ed with its demands; these lists were
circulated among the employers of
the country, who refused employment
to those whose names were on their
lists. thus forcing thousands of labor
ers to accept, in the end, almost any
|
their doors.
These conditions, with all their at
, tendant evils, have been carried to
I our own fair land, except that here it
Is between the manufacturer and the
railroad magnate on the one hand
) and the labor organizations on the
, other. The chasm between employer
and employee is getting wider and
wider. The laborer feels that the
) capitalist considers his employees on
, ly as beasts of burden to which he
: must give so much money for so much
, drudgery; so many pieces of silver for
: so many beads of sweat. The capi-
{ talist regards the laborer as an enemy
who seeks to deprive him of his wealth.
9 The wealth of the great capitalists
/ of the United States, such as VIM.
f Astor, Vanderbilt, Gould, and others,
/ far exceeds tho wealth of the largest
2 land holders of England. Is it Just
: that one man control SO much more
Q than he needs when he grinds his Ia
borers' wages down to the lowest cent
he can, and the fight to keep poverty
Q from his door, compels the laborer to
g do the only the only thing he can;
/ toll for mere daily bread, when he
3 can see no opening through which to
3 rise above this drudgery? His only
Q capital is his muscular strength, and
: when that is gone. what then? Is 1t
any wonder that under such oppres-
:, sion there will sometimes be an out
0 break?
The solution of these aggravated
/, difficulties lies through the agency of
q culture. The common school has a
}. grand, noble mission here to perform.
/, The triple-headed chimera, prejudice,
), ignorance. and selfishness must be
: slain. Does an employer Cypress and
;, grind down his laborers; 1t is the di-
e rect result of prejudice and selfish
! ness with peradVenture a liberal al
d lowance of ignorance, and everybody
t. knows that Ignorance and prejudice
% cause strikes, and no uncomfortable
2, sprInkling of selfshness is also add
ed TO this mixture.
10 Taste in mankind is everything
l. 1t is not enough that men do good
l. from a sense of obligation to their
1t conscIences; but they must have q
], taste for doing good. Ruskin says
r "a mans character can be pretty &C.
r curately told from his tastes. Show
d me man who finds his chief amuse-
re ment in attending the races and bet
y ting and will tell you his charact-
q. er. Show me boy who delights in
robbing birds nests and torturing
BIT dumb animals, and I will tell YOU
in what kind of man he will be; or {
e. girl who loves to play with dolls anc
I'd listen for hours to stories read to heI
I'd and will tell you her character"
er When a taste for doing good il
r. created and good IS done for The love
is of mankind, then there will be much
or less complaint and strife between
w men. A love of doing good is prof
I'd table for the life that now is. 1tpayr
to for the Capitalist. It pays for tn
e. Laborer,
The hard hand of the wheel anc
Ii the soft hand of the counting-roou
to will clasp each other yet. The hare
'r. hand will say: II ploughed the deser
be into a garden" The soft hand vii
lis reply, ST furnished the seed" TIL
d. one hand Will say: Il hammered tn
n spear into a pruning hook" Tn
other hand will answer: Il signed ia
in treaty of peace that made that posi-
X hle.''
he Work is honest. Work IS useful
by Work is cheerful. It is crowne
with spray of 1Cild olive mind you
ire the tree that grows csrelessly, tuftin
tai the rocks with no vivid bloom, n
la verdue of branch; only with soft snol
Tor of blossom, indicating purity. 1t
ro- no rich, jeweled diadem, but thu
or such as it is you may win while 20