The herald., 1896-03-29
A Single Takers PHILOSOPHY

A Single Takers Philosophy
EDITOR HERALD: The Los Angeles OK
position of the labor exchange idea, W. G
B. Randolph, in his last Sundays effort
evinces a disposition to resort to Billings
gate TO sustain his theory. | regret to note
this departure from his former gentleman
ly department. 1t can only have a de
grading effect upon himself, and arouse
suspicion on the theory he advocates. 1t il
foolish for persons that cannot sustain
their theory by logic to attempt to bolster
it up by ribaldry. The gentleman is free
however, to pursue the course most con
genial to his taste, but it cannot divert me
from pursuing the even tenor of my way
Believing in The HERALD's motto, pro
pose writing the truth as ! see it and
fighting the wrong as find it,"
it is difficult 10 discover where / am at
Well. it is not at all difficult to discover
where he is at. have read of men being
saved by the foolishness of preaching.
Where he is at is just reversing that order.
and trying to save men by the preaching
OF foolishness. Concomitant results, dis
appointment and disaster. / will now ex-
plain to THE HERALD readers why work.
ingmen endeavoring to improve their COLI
dlton by joining labor exchanges are chas.
ing delusive phantom, because induce
ments are held out that labor exchange
methods cannot secure. To quote: 1--WE
claim that in working for ourselves we get
all our labor produces, whereas wlile work.
ing for boss we must share with him.
As long as opportunities to labor are mon.
opolized it is absolutely impossible for
workin9men to get all their labor produces.
Any person capable of reasoning priori
can readily comprehend that fact. Again,
quoting Edward Atkinson, they say, "The
average value of a mans labor is $40 per
day, his average wages S1.2O per day,
The difference between earnings and wages
goes into the bosses pockets"
All of which l can only designate as
specious piece of sophis,ry. Only where
monopoly regns can such statement
bear any relation to fact. Where competi-
ton exists between bosses the statement is
fable. pure and simple. Where monopoly
is eliminated bosses are as much the VIC
Tins of social EMBELLISHMENTS as the men
comes high, and the Labor Exchange pro-
poses to dispense with their services" The
Labor Exchange will do nothing of the
kind. All the Labor Exchange can do in
that line will be to change bosses. No
matter what they propose, the probabilities
are they will be disposed and composed to
increase, their number. To dispense with
them, never. Industry can no more be
conducted without bosses than ships could
sail without rudders.
One prominent error of the Labor Ex-
change is their everlasting howl against
the competitive system. This exposes the
weakness of their reasoning faculties.
They erroneously ascribe the present de-
plorable condition of labor to the COMPETE
tive system, whereas it lie just the opposite
of that that is true. 1t is due to the mo-
not competition that Injuries labor, OBJ
structs commerce and retards human pro.
gress.
If competition is wrong, monopoly must
be right. II monopoly is wrong compete
ton must be right, for the one is simply
the absence of tho other. But working
men are prone to revile competition, be.
cauee they reason that if competitors we're
fewer their opportunities for work
would be correspondingly greater. This
is correct only in a very limited
sense. That Is, if the present number of
to labor were maintained.
while the number of competitors we're be.
ing decreased, there certainly would be
more demand for the laborers left. Hence
men otherwise intelligent come to the
grim and savage conclusion that war would
for a time at least solve the labor problem.
O, working men, what a horrible. disgrace
full solution of the labor problem war or
destruction of any kind is 1t is the pro-
ductive and not the destructive powers of
the nation that can save it. Just permit
your reason to examine conditions further.
J. there are more laborers than there are
opportunities to labor it is not because
there are too many laborers, but because
there are too few opportunities to work,
and instead OF attempting the brutal task
of reducing the number of laborers by war
or any other abomination, devote your en-
ergies to the opening up of opportunities
to labor that are being held out of use.
isl,
to abolish all monopolies. FELL your law
makers that you know full we'll they can
not enact laws that confer favors on some
without committing frauds on others.
Tell them you want all laws based on the
rock of universal justice, and any
human institution that cannot stand and
prosper upon that rock should be dashed
you most need is freedom, freedom to ex-
ert your energies on natural opportunities
30 you can produce a sufficiency for your
selves and those dependent upon you, free.
dom to earn your living, freedom 10 lend
it, freedom to spend it, and to do with it
whatsoever seemeth to you right, provided
that in so doing you respect the equal and
exact rights of others: tell them that under
natural conditions your own right hand
will gain for you the victory; tell them the
only protection you need is to abolish the
Internal policy that has elevated robbery
to science and made stealing one of the
tine arts :!tell them they must abolish every
law that Furnishes thrift. discourages in
dustry, intoXicates capital and that has
plunged the nation in the NAV of im-
placable greed; tell them that they must
not waste the peoples substance in build
ing coast defenses or other appurtenances
of war Il tell them that the best coast de.
lenses they can have IS a happy and con-
tented people in the free, full, and fair ex-
ercise of their natural rights for then every
man would be brick and the women and
children will be the cement that would
unite all in one solid wall, that all the bat
teries upon the top of Gods green earth
could not prevail against. o, working
men, vote thus and you will hasten in the
day that philosophers have written and
poets dreamed of when man to man the
world DER shall brothers be and a. that"
JAMES SEMPLE, Pasadena.
Eureka
EDITOR HERALD-Here lie the philoso-
piers stone expressed in the following
IDEAS of finance. which ought to be salts
factory to the gold bug, silver king. scien-
tific or fiat bank-and in fact the whole
human family. but especially the people
of the United States. Ihave not applied
for patent, as prefer to donate the in.
vention to the dear people.
Now this great benefit to humanity can
be achieved by simply adopting the French
system OF coinaRe-only substituting the
word dollar for franc. There would then
be as much gold or silver in the dollar as
there is in the franc. The gold eagle would
then contain Al. grains of gold and gold
would be worth SOFIA per ounce. This
should please the gold bug. I was a gold
1850, but the gold was thinly scattered;
too much dirt amonpat il. and could NOT