The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1895-06-21

~ formidable, il the multiplication of
what Is called the "lah5r saving machine.
BY some writer's the machine has been reA
garded as the greatest boon that ever fell
to the lot OF labor. IL must be underst ood
that | make no war upon invention. With
all who grasp the power of genius take
pride in all of its wonderful accomplish
ments. The industrial world, mt lers: in
enlightened lands, long since ceased fight
ing tie power of invention, and all who
think admit that the labor saving ma
chine" has como 10 stay IL can neither be
destroyed nor exiled 1t Is profitable. 1t
neither eats, drinks nor sleeps 1t does not
weary, nor does 1t rear families to be fed,
clothed and sheltered. Its diseases are
''wear and tear, 4" and remedies are always
at hand, and vt last when IL succumbs and
has ceased TO ~ useful IL has made money
sufficient to many times duplicate itself
But il does displace workingmen by the
thousands, and hence the question arises,
Is there u remedy, and, IL so, what is it,
Men, and their name is legion, who have
given the subject their best thought say
the only remedy for the disquietudc result
ing from the introduction of labor saving
machines as seen in the exile of men from
work Is the reduction Of the hours of la
Dor. The proposition as without an ele-
ment of vagary. 1t antagonizes no premise
of logic. 1t involves no mental hallucina-
tiop, 1t is based upon mathematical AK
IONS. 1t is of supreme Importance to the
state, the nation, that the idle should be
employed. Idleness Is a colossal calamity.
The machine takes the place of men. That
1t reduces the cost of production is admit
ted, but that fact does not compensate for
the ideness 1t entails upon its victims,
and the reduction of the hours of labor,
another mathematical truth, affords the
idle, at least a per cent of them, opportu-
mites to earn their daily bread. In this
controversy am met by those whose ra-
pacity renders them unmindful and re-
CARELESS of the ills which the machine in
ficts, and who insist upon the 10 or IL
hour day, as their greediness and the ex-
igencies of poverty may determine. And
TO make the situation still more grewsOme
for labor, statutes making eight hours a
lawful days work are pronounced uncon-
stitutional upon the ground that women
In sweatshops may contract 10 work as
many hours AZ they please, and it pleases
employers to exact all the hours that i'm
poverished and half starved humanity can
endure and for the lowest wages that
heartlcssness will offer. The machine,
which is accounted a potential factor in
carrying forward those enterprises of phys
ical advancement that have made America
wonderland Is wealth producing con-
trivance in the hands OF corporations,
trusts and monopolics, but as il requires
men to operate machines the reduction of
the hours of labor would. To "a certain ex-
tent, improve conditions and mitigate the
sufferings Of those who have been forced
into idleness by the introduction of the Ia
Dor saving machine.
A Debauching Power.
BY the educational processes in vogue
workingmen have discovered that the rail
roads of the country have become DOM
mating and a debauching power in the
government, and so startlingly manifest
is the fact that few are found with suffi-
cient guile and effrontcry to deny the al
legation. The humiliating fact crops out
on all occasions when an effort is made
either in congress or in state legislatures
TO in any way bring these corporations TO
a sense OF their dependence upon law for
their existence. The very common remark
that railroads own the government" is
in consequence of their arrogant attitude
in all cases when redress for grievances is
sought, whether by communities, states or
individuals. These corporations promptly
resent any and all Interference with their
schemes of fraud and ACKNOWLEDGMENT, and
the laws under their manipulation of leg
islative machinery have been so framed
that their astute attorneys have little trou-
bic in finding u technical hole of sufficient
extent to permit the corporation Ia pass
through unharmSd, and If the attorney is
lacking in the required acumcn the judge
usually finds it, and TOR the generous act
does not, il is surmised, wait for his re-
ward in heaven. In this educational evo-
luton OF wurkingmcn il is discovered that
railroad corporations have number Of
methods by which they prey upon the pub
lie and upon each other, among which is
what Is termed capitalization, u happy
process by which water is injected into
stocks and bonds designated rs an invest
ment and upon which tribute is collected
from an overtaxed people. This stupen-
dous fraud has proceeded until the total
estimated value of the railroads of tho
country is known to be three-hfths water
70 pay dividends upon this colossal fraud
requires that the wages of employees shall
be reduced until the lowest point of en-
DURANGO has been reached. In looking
about for "a remedy for an evil of such
NtNllhSH pIOllOIIloho anu piOlilN AAlts Iiic
government ownership of railroads has
been brought prominently forward in la
Dor discussions. If the government owned
and operated the railroads of the country,
it is held, and with great propriety, l con-
clude, that "a brood of vicious practices
which the Interstate commerce law was
specially enacted to stamp out would, with
thousand others equally at war with
honesty disappear. The government
would not tolerate fraud in the manage
ment of railroads and would be as quick
to punish those who perpetratcd them as
if they were postoflice employees. Nor
would the government be anxious 70 earn
profits beyond an amount required To keep
them in first class operating condition. AS
result, the government could pay fair
wages and at the same time reduce the
rates of transportation. The vicious policy
now in vogue would disappear Railroad
wrecking by the Brices, Goulds, Hunting
tons and the rest would be of the dead
past" Railroad memberships and the
petty tyrannies of diminutive but proud
and pompous judges would no longer ex-
cite the disgust of men nor make angels
weep like an April cloud.
The railroad lobby in all the halls of leg