People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1894-12-06
Is THERE NO PITY?
UNEQUAL CONTEST BETWEEN
MAN AND MACHINE.
billions Without Work-The Strong De
Tours the Weak-A Timely and For
chile Address From the Eloquent Rob
ert G. Ingerson.

competitors not only of lqborers, but
OF Observation-Disclosures of highest
skill. To-day the ordinary laborer is,
for the most part, peg in the wheel.
de works with the tireless-he feeds
the Unsuitable. When the monster
stops, the man is out of employment
out Of bread. He has not saved any
thing. The machine that he fed was
not feeding him-the invention was
not for his benefit.
The other day heard man say that
1t was almost impossible for thousands
OF good mechanics to get employment,
and that in his judgment the govern
ment ought to furnish work for the
people. A few minutes later heard
another say that he was selling a
patent for cutting out cloth, that one
OF the machines could do the work of
twenty tailors, and that only the week
before he had sold two to great house
in New York and that over forty cut
tiers had been discharged.
On every side men are being dis
charged and machines are being in
vented to take their places. When the
great factory shuts down the workers
who inhabited it and gave it life. as
thoughts to the brain, go away, and it
stands there like an empty skull. A
few workmen by the force of habits,
gather about the closed doors and
broken windows and talk about dis
tress, the price of food and the coming
winter. They are convinced that they
have not had their share of what their
labor created. They feel certain that
the machines inside were not their
friends. They look at the mansion of
the employer-but have nothing them
selves. The employer seem to have
enough. Even when employers fail,
when they become bankrupt, they are
far better off than the laborers ever
were. Their worst is better than the
toiler's best.
The capitalist comes forward with
this specific. He tells the workingman
that he must be economical-and vet,
under the present system, economy
would only lessen wages. Under the
great law of supply and demand every
saving, frugal, self denying workman
is unconsconsciously doing what little
he can do to reduce the compensation
OF himself and his fellows. The slaves
who did not wish to run away helped
1asten chains on those who did. So
the saving mechanic is a certificate
that wages are high enough. Does the
great law demand that every worker
should live on the least possible
amount of bread? Is it his fate to
work one day that he may get enough
food to be able to work another? Is
that to be his only hope-that and
death?
Capital has always claimed, and still
claims, the right to combine. Manu-.
facturers meet and determine prices,
even in spite of the great law of sup
ply and demand. Have the laborers
the same right to consult and COM
bine? The rich meet in the bank,
club house or parlor. Workingmen
when they combine gather in the
street. All the organized forces of So
ciety are against them. Capital has
the army and the navy, the legisla-
ture, the judicial and executive de-
partments. When the rich combine it
is for the purpose of exchanging
ideas" When the poor combine it is a
conspiracy" If they act in concert,
if they really do something, it is a
mob" If they defend themselves it
is treason. How is it the rich can con-
troi the departments of government?
Ir this country the political power is
equally divided among men. There
are certainly more poor than rich.
Why should the rich control? Why
should not the laborers combine for
the purpose of controlling the execu-
tive, the legislative and judicial de-
partments? viii they ever find how
powerful they are? A cry comes from
the oppressed, the hungry, from the
downtrodden, from the unfortunate,
from the despised, from men who
despair and from women who weep.
There are times when mendicants be-
come northumberland a rag be-
comes banner, under which the no
blest and the bravest battle for right
How are we to settle the UNEQUAL
contest between man and machine?
VIII the machine finally go into part
nership with the laborer? Can those
forces Of nature be controlled for the
benefit of her suffering children? Will
extravaganza keep pace with ingenu-
ity? VIII the workmen become intel
ligent enough and strong enough to
become owners of machines? VIII
these giants, these Titans, shorten or
lengthen the hours of labor? Will
they make leisure for the industrious.
or win they make the rich richer and