The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1897-08-27
.LABOR'S HOLIDAY
Food for Serious Thought
Sept. 6.
THEMACHINE ANDINDUSTRY
Labor's Wrong and the Only
Remedy.

| AdDOI > WiOhS oho IhC OAuy
Remedy.
The Genesis OF Strikes. Riots, Tramps and
the Sweatshop-The Great Labor Prob
lem Considered From q Standpoint OF
Justice to Both Employer and Employ
ed-The Movement For q Reduction Of
the Hours Of Toll.
Monday, Sept. 6, is Labor day and
national holiday More than I 200, 600
of active and enrolled representatives OF
labor will celebrate it, while twice this
number from the ranks Of unorganized
toll will bear them sympathetic oom-
pany.
A good deal has been said to the eject
that no reason has ever existed for speoi-
tying such a holiday any more than
there would be for capital" day.
Yet few would object seriously If CAPT
tai were to have holiday, and it might
likewise be said that whatever Is bene-
fetal to labor and permanently advances
the interest Of the general industrial
world must necessarily operate to the
advantage of all other branches Of bust
ness and social life. Labor day is there
fore properly everybody 3 day. Let those
who labor with their brains as well as
those who labor with their hands OBJ
| serve it.
AS a rule, public holidays are not
conducive to much serious thought.
The Fourth of July Grafton is usually
regarded as somewhat perfunctory, and
the people who listen to it are anxious
to get out under the trees and hear the
band play or see the fireworks. Thanks
giving day very much bellies its name,
and Memorial day has likewise become
misnomer. Probably the parades of
the coming Labor day will be the over
mastering feature of the occasion, but
the real and vital lesson will be found
in the simultaneous teachings of those
selected to lay before labor its grievance
and the lawful remedy. 1t is as good a
time as any for employers as well as
employed to consider this problem.
Most attempts to settle the labor ques-
tion have been made without any effort
to discover the real cause of the trouble.
When a physician is called to see pa
tient, he first makes diagnosis of the
disease. To attempt to prescribe other
wise would be little short of q crime.
Yet people are prescribing every day
| for the labor trouble without having
made the slightest attempt to learn the
| cause of it.
First, the Wrong.
1t is well known axiom of law that
there is no wrong for which there is
not remedy. Has labor a wrong or
| grievancep If so, what is the wrong
and what is the remedy?
First as to the wrong. Is there one?
Yes. The wrong-the grievanoe-and
the only one that the workingman can
| justly complain of, is that his labor is a
drug. It is all the time trembling on
the verge of declining market. The
| supply of workers far exceeds the de-
mand. 1t is this that has caused all the
strikes and riots 1t is this that has
multiplied the army Of tramps and de-
veloped the sweatshop. 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
ease, O lack of work, for when an en-
ployer can say to the workingmen,
''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 lessened 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 good deal of clean, white
paper in the August Chautauquan mag
azine to answer the question, "Do Labor
Saving Machines Deprive Men Of La
bor?" in the negative.
This question is quite as paradoxical
as it would be to ask, "Does food de-
prive laboring men Of hunger?" If a
machine does not deprive men of labor,
it is not "labor saving" of course, and
likewise if it be "labor saving" it 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 is 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
introduced successfully, some appre-
hension existed on the part Of the
compositors of the country, and many
fears were expressed that their occupa-
tion would be seriously injured and
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
tive -, oil ,,oLoIs1;fu fhora oro M