The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1894-11-18
EC, NOMIC BRIEFS.

The following article. which Is taken
from the New York Journal Of Commerce
is full of sound sense:
one of the many radical faults of trades
unionism Is its inelasticity. 1t is inelaS-
tic in respect to the supply OF LABOR: II
becomes so through its rigid limitations
upon the admission OF apprentices
Through the virtual exclusion from en-
ployment of the less skilled ana eHlCIeht
grades Of workmen. Through the proven
ton Of nOn-uniOn hands from WoTKlhE
together with union hands. IhrouSh pro-
noting extreme reductions In the houIS
OF labor. Through discouraSlng the
largest reasonably attainaOle output OF
production In all these respects, the
unions encourage limitations upon the
efficiency OF work which are hostile 10
industry and to national progress. a
nation is prosperous In proportion as II
secures the largest possible production OF
the constituents OF wealth consistent
with the physicl well-being Of the pro-
ducers. Whatever. therefore, contributes
10 limit the elastcities OF the supply OF
labor. or to limit its product, or TO I'M
pair its efficiency tends 10 national pow
ertY and, above all. TO the impoVerlsn-
ment Of the working community, VINO
are first and last dependent on album
dance. These tendencies result inevitd-
bly, from the present methods OF the
Gus form Of elasticity arises from the dis
couragement Of craft ambition Collect
i've contracts destroy all motive for a
luemUtI "a "a union increasing nlS value
to the employer with the result Of aug
lieuung Ia. earnings. he tendency OF
this ban upon aspiration is to produce
mediocre or low quality OF WORK, ana
the whole mass Of labor is consequently
degraded and made less valuable not
only 10 the employer but also 70 the work
man himself and TO the nation. The OBJ
structions 20 elasticity in individual pro-
duct work a great injustice to the indi-
Vidull workers. As collective wages take
no account of the diversity Of capacity
among the hands the men whose abll-
tiles would and justly should ensure
their advancement and their ultimate
ascent into the ranks Of capital, are smut
Ott IIoL ~ur- progress. ms uul,-.b
OF the whole mass on a basis Of common
and equal interest therefore results in a
). - Ihc'ua - siaFeI, 81 .aslr - t.e'p
and oppressive as that OF HindOotsm'
which. while il fails TO benefit the mass,
forbids the individual from ever raising
above the ram OF the average tJiler a.
is so defence OF this surrender Of the
possibilities Of advancement TO say that
IL Is voluntarily undertaken. No man,
whether as an individual or member
of a family, has either a natural or
4OC11. guI 10 voluntarily limit the
possibilities OF his usefulness. his earn
ngs or his social progress, any more than
ne has a right to commit suicide.
The world over, there is a phenomenal
f. ...rn @. g0N-rQmeHt-an u GDH.ty 10
administer satisfactorily 10 the people,
a failure TO deal wisely with the prob
lens OF legislation; a failure 10 promote
conditions of universal peace; failure
10 maintain social harmony within the
respective nations. While this discredit-
ing of government has many tributary
causes, yet II has one more conspicuous
than all others. Owing largely 70 the
marvellous development of productive
resources through the modern introduc-
ton Of steam and machinery, the or
ganization Of industry and social rela-
tons has become much more complex
than formerly. This growth Of complex
ity has come about fOrtuitously and with
out being distinctly understood, 50 that
while all note the food OF change none
knows whence II comes and whittier II
goes. In this common heWiderment. the
people betake themselves with their crude
conditions to their gods, the legislators,
who respond 10 their prayers by decree
ing every imaginable sort Of reconstTc-
ton Of mundane affairs. It never seems
TO have occurred to either people or rulers
that the causes that have brought out
such wonderful evOiutiOns might be
trusted to work out their own adjust
ments in a beneficent and orderly way.
1t has been taken for granted that nat
ral regulatory forces are lame and in
complete in their development, and that
the great social births Of the times need
to be Undivided by the popular ignorance
and doctored by legislative uuacks Had
the modern industrial forces been permit
ted TO take their own course and shape
their own results men confidently fol
would have been we'll there would have
been no occasion for either alarm or
confusion. each would have had his rights
and all would have been blest But. no;
IL IS assumed that nature has been let
loose on a terrible freak OF lavishness:
apprOpriating the worlds resources too
fast smashing sacred interests and pre-
Cedents bestowing right and left with I'M
equal hand. and making some too rich
and the millions not rich enough. The
law-making deities must be called I'm to
stay this alarming confusion OF lawless
beuetIceuCc: the divine statesmen have
responded 10 the call ard the great re-
naissance OF the nineteenth century IS
to-day blocked by mass OF blind leg
isatiOn based upon the crude first
thought Of new situation and the out
come OF which threatens Discrimination
everywhere. 1t is this oyer-legislatiOn
this travelling Of the mighty drifts born
OF scientific research, that is now destroy
ing confidence in government, bringing
law into contempt. compelling the sub
Stitution OF the power OF arms for the
power of moral force, and alarming man
kind for the safety of order and good
government II can only De hoped that
before any impending catastrophe can
arrive. men may see that their only sal
walton lies In a wholesale relief from the
deranging superiority Of so-called regula-
go 10