The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1894-05-30
PENALTIES OF MISTAKES.
IN Apparently Harsh statement backed
Up by Logic.

Up by Logic.
Ncto lort Tribune
Labor has come to DO the creates!
obstacle to the uplifting OF labor. The
statement will sound harsh and IN.
feeling to those whose symba,hies are
klndled by 4 just conception Of the
needs oil wOge.earners. Yet 1t is only
the language OF truth and sobo.ness,
prompted By "a earnes. q desire for the
uplifting OF tho toilIng millions as that
oil their own chosen representatives. II
thoughtful workers consider the subject
with candid minds. they will realize that
In this, US in other relations, human
errors and human sins are the source OF
human suffering.
"liowling In three languages" the In.
ternasional Conference OF Miners broke
up III hopeless di,cord. 1t was not an
taconism OF employers, but unwisdom
OF laborers themselves, which brought
about this failure OF high homes, long
cherished, for which earnest meu had
made great personal sacrifice. Tho Bel.
gum section had proposed 4 rule that
employers should DO liable in damages
II miners sustained injury in the die.
charge OF their duties. English dele
gates opposed this with sound reason.
ior the inevitable risks which miners
have to face. il. lands where there are
The best regulations to guard against In.
jury, form part OF tho basis
upon which wages have been ad-
lusted. the English delegates pro.
posed u rule that wages should
never be reduced unless, upon inspec.
ton OF books, it was shown that the
mine yielded no profit. No rule could
DO more unwise ior the miners, because
lie enforcement would throw a great
proportion OF them out OF employment.
SO that the wages OF the rest would be
unduly depressed by excessive conpeti-
ton among them. Next tho German
section proposed a minimum rate Of
wages for all miners, which long ex-
perience has proved the worst OF ali OBJ
atacles 70 advancement OF wages. Then
thd English delegates insisted that they,
representing a greater number OF miners
than al the other delegates, should have
power to outvote them all.
Thinking workers will not wonder
that q conference so conducted broke
up in disorder. But thev NAV well ask
whether the establishment OF uniform
rules Tor workers in different countries.
living under widely differing laws and
regulations, can ever BIO for the true
welfare Of all. This question will irevi-
tably suggest the broader one, whether
all combinations which restrict individ-
uals from mpeiing with o~tl:ers in
efficiency and excellence OF work must
not tend to the injury OF all. Only d
few Years ago labor throughout the
commercial world was enjoying greater
advantages and higher compensation
than it bad ever attained. In all lands
q Tremendous reaction has occurred.
The fall in tho rate OF wages in this
country has been nearly, ii not quite, 20
per cent in eighteen months. ii it has
not been as great in other countries
within the same time, it has at least
been great enough TO startle sincere nd.
vocates OF labor's cause. But is it no.
true that the extraordinary depression
is directly traceable to the mistakes OF
labor itself? In the United States the
votes OF w~orklngmen for "a change" at
a time when prosperity was beyond
precedent. have taken from the re.
Enumeration OF workingmeu in a short
time more than many years OF organ.
lied effort and rising prosperity had
added. II the w~age-earning voters OF
this country had voted in 1892 accord
ing to their political beliefs in respect
TO national measures, not swayed bv
prejudice towards EMPLOYERS, they
would have saved several thousand mil.
lions which they have now los. beyond
recovery.
Organization to compel payment OF
wages higher than the conditions OF in.
dustry as q whole permit, and therefore
such as to narrow production, restrict
the uso OF capital, and lessen the de-
mand both for labor itself and products
OF labor, is tho one great cause OF dis
turbauce, reaction and depression in
Europe. This is not necessarily an ar
gumentagainst organization, but agains.
unwise use OF the power which organ
iza.ion gives. Yet the fact remains that
in 40 occupation or industry eau labor
compel the payment OF wages unwar-
ranted by the general conditions OF pro.
duction without bringing upon itself
costly and disastrous reaction. Labor
has taken upon itself tremendous re-
sponsibilities, economic abroad and
political here, and has to bear tho ON.
sequences. Abroad its organizations,
and hcre its ballots, have brought about
conditions which undo the progress Of
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