The Portland daily press., 1897-02-23
A SHORT SIGHTED POLICY.


| largo American dollars.
A SHORT SIGHTED PoLICY.
Whenever a machine is insented that
| will do certain kind Of work the first
| impulse of the men. who have been paid
| for doing that kind of .work with their
hands is to prevent its use. Sometimes
| they smash it, But the antago-
nism of labor has never prevented for II
long time the use of machinery. The
great mass of the people who would be
benefited by the cheapness brought about
blythe machiue have always in the long
run proved more powerful than the few
who wouid be injured by having their
employment taken away. Gradually
laborinR men have come to understand
this, and the futility of opposing machin-
cry has become SO apparent to them that
forcible resistance Ia now seldom heard
of.
But what the workingmen have
learned ths capitalist has vet to learn.
The.capitalist who has money invested
in one kind of a machine still seeks to
hold up another KIND of machine which
Will do the work better or more
cheaply. His method is some
| what different from that OF the
workingman, but the spirit that animates
him is precisely the same. The working
man objects to machinery becausealt
renders his labor unproductiye. The
capitalist reslsts the new invention be-
cause he fears it will destroy the profits
OF his capital. The capitalist does not
smash the machine, he knows better
way. He takes his influence. and not
infrequentIy some of his cash, to the
capital of the state and gets law passed
forbiddinR any body from using the new
device. Thenlhe. rubs his Glands in glee
and thinks he is safe.
Laboring mensyear ago before they
had learned the lesson thought they were
safe when they had pitched labor
saving machine into the street. But they
found that their violence served to
convince people of the usefulness of the
machine they sought to destroy and
aroused a popular demand tol it's use
which was irresistible. By daming up
the current they increased it's vol-
ume, So thatIthey gained temporary
respite only at the.expense3of sudden and
overwhelming destruction a little later
on. The capitalist lwho undertakes to
check the use of new inventions by legis-
vesenactments is destined to undergo
the same experience. He is only hold
ing back the public demand Euntil it &C.
quires aiforce that will be irresistible
| and will sweep away in it's mad course
| rights and privileges that might have
been preserved had tbs stream been
recognized when it was small and before
it hadlgained so great "a volume that it
could not be guided.
At the capital Of Maine today is pro.
ceeding one of those foolish attempts to
hold up the use Of modern device of in
oalculable benefit to the people of this
All the proprietols of steam railroads
have assent led there either in person, or
by their agents and attorneys, to pre-
vent the use of the electric motor for
transportation purposes. Their motive
Is analogous to that which impels labor
ing men in countries where the masses
are benighted to smash machinery.
They fear it will reduce the profits OF
their capital, and so they are saying that
nobody shall have the benefit of it. The
chances are that they haze influence
enough with the present legislature to
prevent it's use, and that they will gain
temporary victory. Yet their policy is
an exceedingly short sighted ane. They
can no more pre- vent the use of electric
ity for transportation purpose for any
considerable length Of time than the
farm hands of the west could prevent the
use of the reaping machine, or the typo
graphical unions the use of sthe typeset-
ting machines Ihey may hold back
public opinion for WHILE but only
at the expense Of making it resistless and
relentless. The true policy of the steam
roads is to accept the existence of the
new locomotive power and. try to accom-
MEDIATE themselves to Tit. Their present
attitude is the sheerest folly. 1t is invit-
ing their own destruction. Western rail-
roads have learned from experience the
danger Of holding up communities
Maine railroad managers ought to heed
the lesson and not insist on learning it
by person al experience.