The times., 1897-05-02
A PLEA FOR LABOR
ORGANIZATIONS
to Industry, Society aud Govern
rnent-Fifth Paper.

before tie black death, IN l34S, There
had been no conflict Of any Importance
between the capitalist and laborer in Eng
land; after that date a conflict appears
Prof. Rogers calls it a warfare. III this
struggle The laborer was striving fer
more wages aud better conditions This
is shown by the fact that before the black
death women often worked in the fields
and assisted the tiiier and thrashcr.
From the black death to the death OF
Henry VIIJ women were seldom employed
in outdoor work and when they We're their
wages were increased threshold over The
wages they received prior TO 1345. After
the wages were fixed by the assessment
OF the justices at quarter sessions, women
became more generally employed than be-
fore TIE black death, and at wages OF much
less purchasing power. TIE lords resisted
the demands OF the working people, and
strove TO retain as much OF their former
power over their yilleins as possible. On
struggle for freedom; on the part of tie
lord il was a struggle to maintain the
slavery which had prevailed.
The laboring people had tasted of free
dom. and. like Jonathan. when he haa
eaten of the wild honey, became eniight-
ened, and for nearly two hundred years
they enjoyed freedom and received good
wages. When, through religious Teyolu-
tion, their guilds (lahor organizations We're
destroyed. and through the Iise in prices
their wages We're so lessened as TO make
their purchasing power less than fourth
of what il had been, the lords triumphed,
and they were forced to endure poverty
for which they possessed 10 remedy.
When the struggle was renewed at the
close OF the Eighteenth century, the ruling
classes We're as mech opposed to the
objects and methods Of tile laborers as their
ancestors had been 400 years before, and
the warfare then renewed has continued
in England and the United States from
that day to this, and though the working
people have gained many of the objects
contended fer, the wealthy classes are
as bitterly opposed to their further de-
mands as they Were to their demands
100 or 400 years ago. They resented! tEe
InanuiniS sion OF the serfs, rl@y opTospa
all combinations OF workinglneu, and by
their action today are resenting tile free
dom working people have acquired and
resisting any further extension of it
They are not only denying TO them full
justice, bat are ready to again put upon
them the ehains forged by lawmakers of
Henry and Elizabeth, which haze been
worn out or broken and thrown away.
But they Will fail, for there is nothing
more certain than that the laws, the
decisions OF courts, the customs that are
hsmpering worldnen in their efforts to
improve eileir condition, VIII soon pass
away, and like the statutes of Edw ard
III, Elizabeth and Charles IL, have only
an historical interest The iaborer will
he a freer man, and. therefore, a WISER
and better man, and his associations viii
make their own contracts in regard to his
labor; he viii enact his own laws for the
governme mt OF the people, and put in office
men OF his own Choice to administer the
affairs OF government No court viii then
hold il a conspiracy, TO be punished, for
body of men to do what each one OF them
has a right t. do, or insult body OF men
struggling legally for their rights and
accuse them OF crimes of which it had no
evidence before it.
And why does the capitalist refuse TO
give the iaborer a fair show in the battle
Of life. which is now a battle forlife? Man
ifestly that the capitalist may secure more
than a fair share Of the profits aris-
ing from the cultivation of the SELL the
labor in manufactures or the mines, or
in the distribution OF the products OF these
over the world. The fertility OF the sell,
the richness OF the mines, the excellence OF
the manufactures are as useless without
Intelligent labor as they would be with
out capital, and labor is as necessary in
10
or manufacturing them. The interests Of
labor and capital are identical in produe-
ton and distribution-the interests Of both
dema nd that the process OF production and
distribution shall be carried on with econ
omy and, if possible, without waste, and
their interests only clash when they divide
the profits OF this vast business. It is
either ignorance or malice (and malice is
as often the offspring of ignorance as Of
injustice) that viii raise bar 10y law
or custom TO the right OF either capitalist
OF iaborer Co his fair share-of the profits
arising from the production or tlistribu-
ton OF things, or hamper or restrain either
from proper assertion Of his rights
1t is for the interest of the capitalist
and iabOrer that government shall be con-
fined to proper functions which Prof
Rogers declares to be, ITO maintain the
public safety, to PROFOUND useful and
equitable legislation, to arbitrate between
interests, when it is necessary; to extin-
guish privileges to unite efficiency with
economy in the administration OF affairs,
to punish fraud and violence, and TO under
take those greater offices for which pTi-
vate action, individually or collectively is
inadequate" 1t is to the interest Of both
that taxation shah be as low as possible
consistent with good government as well
as being Just and equal to all classes that
the fertility Of the soil be preserved, the
best OF machinery be used, that the cost
of production at distribution be iessened
and waste, whether of labor, Of interest or
useless rent, be eliminated.
The greatest INJURY to capital and labor
is the interference by law or b. comhi-
nations Ct capital with the natural order
OF production ana distribution Of goods
and money of the world. Suchinterruptions
have always come from capitalists
whose greatest profits arise from the
miseries Of the people. They have main
tanned tariffs when workmen were suffer
ing and business decaying. They have
increased the amount of money in cir