The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-05-10
BP. POTTER ON MACHINERY
AND LABoRERS' RIGHTS.

New York has thrown a bombshell into
the ranks of the capitalist classes He
has noted the great discomfort among
the laboring classes and assigns two
causes for it. These causes are ma
chinery. and the manner in which the
capitalist looks down upon the men in
his employ. Grief of these two says
the bishop, lis machinery. 1t is doing
away with intelligence in labor. 1t is
turning the 1aboring man into simple
idiot. Not long ago / visited a large
factory in this state and was much i'm
pressed with what I saw. The owner
proudly showed me around, pointing
out the manner in which labor was
simplihed. / saw a young man sitting
before some sort of a. large hammer.
He sat with his legs crossed, and all his
work consisted in showing into an OPEN
ing in the machinery a small piece Of
iron. He would turn the metal two or
three times, throw it into large box,
and take another piece. That was this
mans work, day after day, week after
week. No wonder that at nighttime
he drank, gambled and fought. He had
to; otherwise he would go mad. How
many of US would stand this and not
cry out? Not one of us but would be-
come a striker. Myself among the first.
The master of today looks down upon
his men. He treats them as though
they had no souls. They never get
chance to rise. Daily they drift further
apart. In former days the owner Of
lor Itch int in
his servants. He knew every one by
name and promoted and helped them.
Today nothing like that exists. Few
owners know any Of their employers
even by sight. Employers are con-
stantly on the lookout for new inven-
tions which will save money and throw
out of work as many men as possible.
The laboring men must be looked after
if trouble is to be averted. They must
make the capitalist respect their rights.
Let them stand on their feet and use
their voices. This association (the
Church Association for the Advance
ment of the Interest of Labor is looked
upon as a dangerous and revolutionary
one, because it tends to unite the
church with the laboring man in his
great struggle. Say what they will
against it, but for one announce that
from today on the church of God is
with the laborer"
Were such talk to come from a cler-
gyman of lesser note than Bishop Pot
ter it would be said he was sensational
and prostituting his position for the
sake of obtaining a cheap notoriety.
Had such talk been made on a political
platform it would be characterized as
anarchistic. But the Rev. Henry c.
Potter having said all this nothing of
this kind will be said about it. Yet
what he said was of a decidedly sensa-
tional nature What he says of ma !
chinery is of a positively reactionary !
nature. The moral, material and in |
tellectual progress of the world during |
the nineteenth century has kept pace
with the development of machinery. /
Every charge that Bishop Potter brings
against machinery today was brought
against the first innovations in the
mode of travel in the early years of the
century
When the first railways were built
the same. cry was made against the
damage done to the laboring man, es-
pecially those who were in any way
with the transportation Of
or~freight. The substitution
of the cable and electricity for horses
on street railways brings forth very
similar complaints today. The bishop
overlooks the fact that ma
chinery has revolutionized the indus
trial world, and that the world has
benefited by the revolution in every
respect. He simply declares himself
a reactionist.
Whether the master of today looks
down upon his men is at least open to
lebate. That the great employer is
unacquainted with them is
doubtless the case. Changed industrial
conditions make this almost inevitable.
No one will dispute that capitalists are
constantly on the lookout for new in
Fentions that viii either save or make
money That the rights of the labor
ng classes are neither respected nor
as those of the capitalist ;
classes, few will deny. 1t may almost
)e Sdlu lIldJ lIl6Se OulteQ states 4
has come to be regarded as 6
more sacred than persons. The cause +
# this to a large extent is that the
.apitalistic classes can invoke the aid |
# the law to protect their rights where i
he laboring classes cannot. And this I
because of the great expense attach s
ng to the setting of the machinery of {
he law in motion E
No doubt much of the trouble in the {
Industrial world today arises from the
act that things industrial are in a f
transition state. Methods of produc-
ion of all kinds are changing, and with c
he Introduction of each positive [
hange there must be a readjustment t
f the employment of labor. But one il
hing that all reformers are very apt to a
verlook and which when overlooked a
oes much to destroy their plans for
he betterment of the condition of the
aboring classes, is the stern, persistent q
act that poverty can never be. abol- 4
she'd any more than sin and sorrow +
not extirpation, must Y
he Of, ,ad OF