The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-08-02
STRIKE REMEDIES
DR.. stoddard's interesting
Paper Before the Cos
mopolitan Club.
CAUSES OF LABOR DEPRESSIoNS.
Purchases on the Installment Plan
Condemned = Capital Not
All Alike.
CAUSES OF LABOR DEPRESSIONS.

CIuD nleU laSG evening IN oU. JOINTS rieo
Church, Summit avenue, and discussed the
Remedies or Preventatives of Strikes"
DR., Stoddard opened the meeting by
reading an essay on the subject, and, al
though rather lengthy, it was listened to
with interest.
Beginning with the relations between capt.
tai and labor, Mr.. Stoddard said:-
"The question before us is the present I'M
satisfactory relation between capitalist
and labor. That relation is at present an
exceedingly unhappy one. 1t has never been
a satisfactory one, yet it has, perhaps, more
than any other economic question, en-
crossed the attention of the think
ers and philanthropists of this
world. Libraries have been written upon it,
and intelligence has exhausted itself in the
discussion of its difficulties. 1t is, therefore,
not a subject which can be treated in a light
essay save in a very general way. l mean
to make the present paper as concise as pos
slble, giving no more illustrations than seem
absolutely necessary, and asking you to be-
lieve it as the facts aud statements which 1
offer, vest as good authority. Let us begin
with the problem itself. Labor desires more
from capital than it receives. By labor We
mean the millions in this country who work
for wages. By capital we mean the few
thousands who employ wage earners in
manufactures or upon railroads.
LABoR'S SIDE OF THE QUESTION.
Labor says;-sI create all the capital and
[ should therefore have a larger proportion
than l do. As it is, CAPITAL has the hons
share and uses it to take from me as it can.
1t is also not content with defrauding me of
my wages, but is enslaving my manhood. 1t
has made me SO dependent upon it that am
no longer q free man. | cannot sell my
labor when and how | will, for Capital con-
/ trolls all markets must do as it says, take
what it gives or starve. Sometimes 10 want,
very often | suffer. / must buy in the
cheapest market because | must buy by
piece-meal, and get far less in proportion
| for my rent than any other class in society.
Machinery has taken the place of men until
[ am little more than a cog i'll a wheel, doing
one monotonous thing, and l count for little
or nothing if l move out of that employ
ment. l am often so dependent that can
not vote as l would. l a my manhood.
| my independence and a fair share of what |
earn. | wish to be able to treat with Capital
| as an independent man.
THE ANSWER oF CAPITAL
''Capital replies to all this, that brain is
worth more than muscle. and ought to have
its lions share. Labor it says, is paid all
and even more than it is worth. Business Is
business, and a mill or a railroad can't be
run on sentiment. Labor likes to buy in the
cheapest market, just as Capital does, if
Labor has become q mere commodity to be
bought and sold like SO many sewing ma
chimes, it is the fault, not of Capital, but of
| circumstances If Labor would stop strik-
ing and have it wages, there would be far
less trouble and no occasion for strikes.
"tMosG of the present capitalists began as
poor men, and if they could rise to fortune,
labor can do SO today if it has ability. Capt.
tai, like Labor, has losses to bear, and its
z-. ,l-r. ~ so rarsta r ,Ea. lnrnr
has no responsibility, but only it's simple
work and wages to draw, while Capital
must plan and scheme and bear the worry
and care Of a great business. Labor, by
| Shaving, may have originally created Capital,
but both are now independent. Labor can't
build a house or construct a mill nor start
any Kind of business without capital i'll
hand. Capital, therefore, must have its re-
wards, but they are not SO large, nor are
capitalists as numerous as Labor l~magines.n
s'These in brief are among the arguments
on both sides. AS arguments, they are well
enough, but meanwhile the strained relation
| remains. There is strife between these two
! divisions of men, and this strife e%ngenders
mutual distrust and mutual dislike. 1t is
| folly to deny this. and more than folly to
| take no steps to heal the difference. 1t is
worse than folly not to see that unless there
is some happy solution of these difficulties,
some modus uigeadi between capital
Ii lQooly - "A M Va O0 lIuCA
less worth living in this country.
1t is because of this that the wise men of
the world are discussing these matters. 1t is
because of this that such clubs as these are
started. Let us tonight enter into the labors
of some who have ~striven to beat these differ
ences. And first let us get together a few
facts which bear upon the question in hand,
| for often an ounce of fact is better than a
ton of words"
After giving a series of statistics, showing
that Notwithstanding the increase in wages
during this century, the laborer was not as
well off in proper ion to his employer as be
was 500 years ago, DIR. Stoddard con-
CAUSES OF THE PRESENT CRISIS.
'Now before we topchany remedy for this
state of things let us look at some of the
causes of such a state. In giving these l ex-
pect to speak very plainly. 1t labor is going
to improve its condition it must be in
exceptions, | do not think it has been
| either. Labor has taken one-sided
views and been misled by men who have
talked sentiment instead of fact. 1t must
| learn to look facts square in the face, to
look at both sides of the question and to re
fuse TO be led by mere theories which have
never been put in practice. And having
said this of labor / must now say the same
OF the we'll to-de classes. l believe that in
many cases capital has tried to get at the
bottom of our social difficulties. But the
ignorance of the conditions of the poor, their
sutferings, their needs, aud their rights
among the ordinary well-to-do and com
| placent class of our communities, is shame
full and appalling.
1.-The first cause which | speak of as hav-
ing much to do with the unhappy relation
between capital and labor, is the other
cause of the greed of man. Man, by nature,
| desires all he can get. He is a selfish ami
NAL. To obtain What he wishes, he has in
the past made men slaves, tortured them,
killed them, been thievish, tyrannical,
false, determined at all hazards to get gold
and power. History is a record of this
greed of man. But is it a record of the
| greed of rich men alone! Does not the poor
MAJ feelsthe passion for gold and yield to it,
Can't you find all about you cases where the
Door are the oppressors as well as the rich?
| Here. then, is a case which belongs not to
capital but to human nature.
FIT is SO mischievous and common a sin
that two of the ten commandments are
directed against it, and the Savior of men
specially warns us from his own lips and
through his apostle, howthey will be rich, fall
into sflares and divers temptation and. pierce
themselves through with many sorrows and
how hard it is fora rich man to enter the
Kingdom of Heaven; not because he is rich,
but because riches always bring responsible
ties which are seldom met. and temptations
which are often yielded to. Here, then, is
one cause for the present troubles. A cause
as old as man and deeply rooted in human
nature.
FOOLISH WASTE OF MEN.
ga second cause is the imprudence and
foolish waste of men. How many rich and