New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1894-05-16
COLLEGE TALK. !.
A B port Of His Address to the Students
in S.. Peter. !.

A 3 port Of His Address to the Students
in S.. Peter.
Capital and Labor the Text for His Dis
course.
Tie St. Peter Herald gives the follow
ing report of Mr.. Lind's address at the
commencement exercises of G.. A. College
on Monday:
Mr.. Lind was received with great en-
thusiasm by the students. He had been
saluted in the afternoon upon his arrival
by the college band and as he rose to
address the audience in the evening there
was burst Of applause from the whole
house. He spoke upon the conflict be-
tween capital and labor, the causes that
have brought about this condition, and
offered suggestions for a!practical remedy
of the present state of affairs. He bega,,
by drawing contrast between the old
relations between employer and en-
ployed, in the days of small industries
andstrade, and the present relation when,
one man employees thousands of laborers
without even knowing them. s'This has
the effect said he 'sof driving away with
that feeling of personal responsibility,
that mu,ual1ty Of interest that character
lied employer and employee in older
days. The present age is an age of re-
lentless competition; it's prime motive,
from the nature of the case, is selfish
ness" Mr.. Lind showed the effect of
unlimited competition and instead of be-
ing the life Of industry he said it often
turned out to be its death. Adam Smith
came in for some severe criticism for the
doctrine OF competition that he promul-
gated. 'The only way to avoid unlimit-
ed competitions; the competition that
destroys Its own end,' said Mr.. Lind sis
by forming combinations. When capi-
ialists form these combinations they are
called trusts. And certainly when viewed
in this light they are seen to be almost
necessary, and required by the law of in
dustrial self preservation. In unlimited
competition all but the strongest would
60 under. Combination keeps greater
number in the field So in the end ought
to be an advantage to the consumer.
But although this much can be said for
the principle that lies at the bottom of
trusts, the principle working of them is
often most severly reprehensible, and
cannot be defended or any gound. The
danger of combinations is tyranny. We
have suffered from the tyranny ofcapital.
But there is the same danger with
respect to labor. We may suffer as much
from the tyranny of organized and COM
bined labor, AS from any trust.'' The
speaker referred at this time to the Great
Northern strike and expressed his pleas
ure in the victory which the ulen bad
won, as showing the power of organized
labor. s'But," said he, "within few
years we may see union of railway EN-.
ployes over the wholecountry which will
be able to tieup thousands fmiles Of rail-
way and bring the greatest Inconvenience
and even distress upon the people of the
land. What is to prevent railroad en-
ployees from rising in body, flushed by
their recent triumph and demanding
doubling of their wages? 1t such were
the case we should be suffering as much
from the tyranny of labor as we have
hitherto suffered from the tyranny of
capital"
Mr.. Lind in conclusion offered some
practical suggestions by which he thought
that the serious conflict between capital
and labor could be lessened and by which
the perils of the tyrants of labor and the
tyranny of capital could be averted. His
remedy was through the law. Labor Or
carnations should come under the law
of corporations, should have the privil-
eges and be placed under the restriction
of corporations. IF labor organlzations
were recognized by the state, the state, he
thought, would find it much easier to
deal with such bodice in times of serious
conflict between labor and capital. This
would mot preclude the possibility of
having permanent boards Of arbitration
for the settlement Of differences between
employees and employed. AS for railway
corporations, Mr.. Lind thought, that
when circumstances arose as in the recent
Great Northern .:skriikc, when the corpora
ton was unable or unwilling to execute
the functions for which it was incorpor-
-