The herald., 1894-07-22

MIR. Bierce, indeed, says "the dissatis-
fed workman can quit and 90 else
where" But that is exactly what work
men, as body, cannot do. 1t is true
an individual workman, here and there,
Can do go, but even in that case it is
generally a case of going further and
faring worse. To ASSERT that body OF
men, such as the artisans at Pullman,
when, as they claim, their wages are
reduced below living rates, can better
themselves by seeking employment else
where is reposterous-this is where
the combination OF employers "has them
ON the hip" The employer virtually
says, "Work for me, or starve"; aud if
we may Judge by the signs of the times
it may soon be, "Work for me and
starve."
Taking example from our beloved
Southern Pacific railroad officials, whom
Mr.. Bierce playfully styles ian insup-
portable lot of vermin," who have long
pursued the policy of charging all that
the traffic will bear, the employers seem
disposed-at any rate conditions make
it easy for them-to pay only such wages
to their workmen "a will suffice to sus-
tain existence; and Mr.. Bierce's law,
justice and reason will uphold that pol
icy.
In tho great strike alluded to above
the strikers fled to the wilderness; no
such refuge is open to their modern i'm
itators. The wilderness ia all owned by
syndicates.
We have all heard the common talk
about the unthrift OF the working man.
We have all heard the common cant
about there always being room at the
top. We have always heard, too, ad
nauseam. the vaunts of the ",elf-msda
man." who boasts that he has out
stripped his fellows in the race of life,
by reason of a noble economy and
heaven-born faculty of taking
care of the main chance. He assumes
that others could have done the same
thing, had they been as virtuous as he.
Thrift, thrift, Horatio." is the cry of
such; but l do not believe that the
workingmsn is more thriftless than any
other in proportion to his means. True.
he does not live as economically as his
81 andsire did before-neither does any
other. The luxury of one generation ia
the necessity of the next. Other quail
ties than thrift make the successful man
of today.
Besides it is likely that the increased
economy on the part of the working
man would be used by the employer as
an argument for the lowering of his
wages, and that is all he would get by
his motion.
Those who make use of the room
at the tcp" argument. as an answer to
the complaints Of the employed, seem
to take it for granted that any one and
by consequence every one, is able to
reach that altitude. otherwise their ar
gument carries no point. This is mani
testify ahsurd-all societies or bodies
polite are pyramidal in form, whether
apexed, like autocracies. or truncated,
like democracies (so.called), and every
man, in order to reach the top, must
tread on the necks of his fellows. A
true democracy (mind, l am not advo-
eating ita right to EXIST would scatter
and lay all level with the soil. 1t ia no
wonder that when the upper strata press
too heavily upon the under ones that
they should grow FESTIVE, and convul-
sion result. Then the strata are apt to
get mixed, and the resulting dip"
force some of the under ones to the top
and send the upper ones to aprawl help
lessly beneath.
ITO affirm right of control on the
part OF the employee is really in the ma
ture OF a reductio sd absurdum." So
says Mr.. Bierce, and he counsels us to
hasten to make merry over so extraor.
binary a claim, lest its becoming an
accomplished fact should compel us to
weep.
though the march OF events renders it
On hrk 10
Mr.. Bierce would have US believe?
In the brave days of old, the en-
ployee, being the captive of the en-
ployer's bow and spear, there could be
no question of his contesting the en-
ployer's right to say how his business
should be conducted, since he had not
even the right to choose how he should
conduct himself At that time men of
Mr.. Bierce's way of thinking would no
doubt have regarded any assertion OF the
latter right 90 a reductio ad sbsurdum.
But the lapse of time has altered our
viewa on this subject, and we may yet
see the establishment of even such an
extraordinary claim az that of "a
right of control on the part of the en-
ployee," without being compelled to
weep" "The world do move"
Arbitration l approach the subject
with fear and trembling, because Mr..
Bierce in his later article has unlimbered
the artillery of his wrath and poured
the grape and canister of his scorn upon
such an expedient.
He says: "The universal cry for arbi-
tration is either dishonest or unwise."
There is, then, universal cry for arbi-
trstion-so vox populi has the floor and
the motion is as good as carried. for Mr..
Bierce says: "SuDmisson to the will of
the majority is still religion" Again
he says: ANY law enforcing it, and
enforcing compliance with its de.
cisions, is absurd and nlischiev-
BUS. Arbitration of labor disputes
means compromise with the unions.''
So one would suppose, but the disas-
trous results implied in the remarks is,
however, not go apparent. The follow
ng narrowing picture sums up the
strange. eventful history" of arbitra-
oitration: "Ths game of follow my
eader would pay until there should be
nothing 10 follow him (the la Dor LEADER
% but empty treasures OF dead indus
ries in an extinct civilization" Surely
he most remarkable case OF ielo de So,
With malice prepense, that the world
ver heard OF,
Believing this, it is no wonder that
dr. Bierce also believes that "the ignor-
mt and vicions are likely to be in the
and prays, "God help u.s."
ct he assures this Ignorant and