The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1892-09-16
THE LESSON Of The HOUR.

Q
/ increasing as time advances must be
, clear to ali who pretend TO keep pace
/ with current events. The association
I of laboring men in the various labor
( organizations, with view TO the bet
/ ter protection of the interests of those
I who toll, is a natural result of the
| gradual encroachments upon the rights
/ and profits Of la Dor growing out of the
I Concentrat ton of capital and the organ
J izatiOn Of those who control it. 1t
must be apparent, however, to the most
casual observer, that the means thus
far employed by organized labor have
not been productive of results as salts
! factory as could be desired. While uu-
doubtcdly much good has come from or
! glnizatiOn in many ways, and especial
ly in the way OF educational benefits,
( there is evidently disappointment IN
regard TO the attainment of much that
has been anticipated.
Very evidently organized capital seeks
nothing short of the absolute destrue-
tiOn OF all labor organizations. They
stand in the way of that complete CON
| troll of labor which has unquestiOuably
I been determined upon. To the thought
! fuI observer this has been apparent for
some time, and it has been clearly in
dicated in the labor troubles of recent
date. While organized resistance to
I the eucroachmcuts of capital is more
potent than individual resistance, it IS
! evident that the method must be
changed if it is ever to be entirely sue
I CessfuL The strike and the boycott
have, at best, achieved only doubt n
! success. All the powers OF so-called
civil government are at the disposal of
capital in all such contests. The tele-
graph system and the daily press are
employed to disseminate false impress
sions among the people, always to the
prejudice of labor. Every possible
agency and instrunentality is brought
TO the service of capital The idle
hordes, which 1t has been "a part of
our public policy to produce and main
tSin, are always availabls from w hich
to recruit substitutes for strikers. and
nearly all such contests result either In
the submission of the union mon to less
favorable conditions than they former
ly enjoyed, or in their entire disPiace-
ment by men whoare not affiliated with
any labor organization. 1t must be
/ granted. therefore, that such methods
are decidedly unsatisfactory in their re-
suits.
At Homestead, the men are locked
out because they refused TO comply
with the unjust demands of the Carne-
gle company and place themselves COM
pietely at the mercy of such a hcartIesl
j tyrant as manager EriclS, and their
places are being filed, very slowly to
be sure, but with "a pcrsistaut deter
miuation that promises ultimate sue
cess,
In case OF the swltchmCu's strike at
Buffalo, y. Y, the outcome is the same.
The ultimate triumph of the eorporl-
tion was never a matter of serious
doubt.
In Tennessee is presented another
phase of the labor problem The en-
ploymeut of cOnvicts there suprrcedes
free labor and robs the families of
honest men of their daily bread But
there seems to be more in this convict
labor system than appears upon the
surface. Senator Thomas c. Piutt,
president of the Tennessee Coal * Iron
Co, in a recent interview respecting
this system, said:
'One OF the chief reasons which first
induced the company to take mp the
system was the great chance which it
seemed to present for overcoming
strikes For some years after we began
the convict labor system we found that
we were right in calculate that the
free laborers would be loath TO enter
upon strikes when they saw that the
company was amply provided with con
vict labor, and as 1 am one that does
not approve of the convict system. /
don't mind saying that for many years
the company found this an effective
club to be held over the heads of the
free laborers-"
Think of this for a moment. A
wealthy mining company whose presi-
dent has been honorcd by a seat in the
United States senate, employing peni-
tentiary couvicts at cheap rates with
the idea that free laborers, seeing the
company was amply provided with
convict labor would be loath to enter
upon strikes, 20 and holding this fIct as
. a CLUB over the heads" OF honest men
to terrorize them into the most abject
submission
But it is unnecessary to detail special
instances of the eucroac chmcnts Of
capital upon the rights of labor or the
unsatisfactory results of past or present
methods of resistance. Nothing mas
yet been attempted by the great body
of organized laborcrs intended to change
the conditions that render strikes and
loclz-Outs possible. 1t must begin 10
dawn upon the minds of laboring men
that this is the only practical solution OF
the labor problem. Everything else is
nereiey OF temporary benefit, even IL
successful As long as these conditions
exist, there is no hope CT possibility OF
permanent relief
How is this change to be effected?
/ The conditions have grown up under a
system of class legislation and class
favoritism for which existing political
parties are responsible, and which they
manifest no disposition to remedy; and
if laborinE men would make their
organizations efTectuaI for che per
manent betterment OF their condition,
they should utilize them politically Tor
the overthrow of parties that propose
no practical plan of relief, and in
support OF q party that is pledged TO
such a revolution as viii enable the in
dustrial classes to legislate in their
own interests There are laws that
must be repealed and others that nust
be enacted g'he power to control tine
volume of currency must be taken from
corporations and restored to the people
where it tcOnstitutionsuy belongs Taxa
. tion must be limited to the necessities of
an economically administered govern
mcnt, and it must be levied upon the
possessions and the incomes of the
wealthy rather than upon the necessi-
lies CONSUMED by the poor. The labor
sr must be protected against the pau
per labor of Europs," not by a duty
upon manufactured products, but by
effective protection against the inpor-
.ation of the pauPer labor itself Labor
must Ila r-ags-5t I'd ed with the urOlluet of