The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1897-09-01
First, the Wrong.

IL il well known axiom of law that
there is no wrong for which there is
not remedy Has labor wrong or
grievance? If So what is the wrong
and what is the remedy?
First as to the wrong. Is there oneF
Yes The wroDg--thc grievancc---and
the only ono that tho workingman can
justly complain of, is that his labor is II
drug 10 is all tho time trembling Oh
the verge of "a declining market The
supply of workers far exceeds the de
mand 1t is this that has caused all tho
strikes and riots 1t IS this that has
multiplied the army Of tramps and de-
veloped the swcatshop, 1t is this that
has inspired labor organizations them
selves, for all these are effects and not
causes They are simply the purulent
sores that come from the common dis
case II lack Of work, for when an en-
pluyer can say to the wofkingmon,
Take these wages or leave them; it
matters not to me, we have the first
requisite of tyranny and consequent dis
content.
But while general conditions clearly
Indicate that the whole trouble is due
to "a lesscncd demand for labor and that
strikes, riots, sweatshops and labor or
CARNATIONS are the result Of it, Hon.
Carroll ID. Wright, commissioner of la
Dor, uses IA good deal of clean, white
paper III the August Chautauquan mag
azine toanswer the question, Do Labor
Saving Machines Deprive Men of La
bor?" i'll tho negative
This question is quite as paradoxical
as it would be to ask, Does food de
prive laboring men of hunger" IL a
machine does not deprive men Of labor,
it is not Labor saving" Of course, and
likewise if it be labor saving" ii must
deprive men of labor. Any other con
olusion would make plaything of
reason, common sense and the English
language. The fact that it requires la
Dor to construct the machine that il de
signed to save labor is Of no cOnse
quence. a machine that requires more
labor to build than it will save after it
be built would be useless, of course. In
the article by Mr. Wright just referred
to he says;
"When linotype machine was first
intro luced successfully, some appre-
pension existed on the part Of the
compositors Of the country, and many
fears were expressed that their occupa-
ton would be seriously injured aud
many men permanently thrown out Of
employment Many men were thrown
out of employment, but have been in
formed by members Of the Typograph-
ical union. by publishers and by news
paper managers that at the present
time, III all probability, there are as
many men employed in setting type,
either by tho old methods or by the
new, as were employed when the limo
type was introduced.
That is not the question, Mr.. Wright.
Although as many men may be en-
ployed az ever, the issue il whether
steady employment in printing offices is
more difficult to obtain now than it was
before tho machines were brought into
1se. Let any printer whose experience
goes back to the time when Sub lists"
were unknown aud when he preferred
the position Of substitute" to that OF
regular" answer.
Effects of the Machine.
But let us see just what labor saving
machinery has done in very few chan
nels Of industry.
In the cotton mills in the United
States the manual labor has been re-
duced about 80 per cent. Now one
weaver manages from two to ten looms
where one loom was formerly tended
by one worker
In cutting out clothing and cloth caps
with dies one worker does the work OF
three by old methods.
In leather manufacture modern meth