The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-09-17
Wages, Prices, and Humanity.


The Washington Star we'll says:
"The American workingman demands |
and should receive good pay. He is
q citizen, with a citizens stake in !
the country. He Is superior both In his
Surroundings and in his opportunities
to the man engaged in a similar call
ing In other countries. This Is the
country of homes and opportunity,
and when ii ceases to be such the gov
ernment will he in peril. In other
words the people are the govern
ment. If the people are protect
ed in their labor and oppor-
tunity the government will re-
main strong and effective. But If
the people are reduced to the pauper
wages and conditions of Europe the
government will suffer accordingly"
There cannot be honest sympathy
with those employers who, either by
the importation Of cheap foreign labor
or the wanton reduction Of the wages
of native labor, make it impos-
sible for their employees to live in
manner conductive to comfort and
must be governed largely by the para
mount law Of supply and demand, the
employer, as a matter of self interest
no less than of humanity, should
where it is possible for him to do so
move for such an adaptation of supply
to demand as will preserve fair mar
ket price and thus make possible the
of
have fallen in the coal business be-
cause the supply of coal has for years
exceeded the normal demand, induc-
ing price-cutting,w (Which In turn reacted
to the detriment of wages. Yet no
industry in this country is better
situated to limit the supply to fit the
real demand and thus maintain fair
and stable prices than the anthracite
coal industry. One thing is as clear
8. as the sun at noon-day; the people
cannot at one and the same time have
cheap coal. and high wages in the coal
mines. They must either be willing
to pay a fair price for their coal, by
which term we mean a price that will
compensate both the miner and the
mine-owner, or they must be content
to see mining wages kept at a point
out Of unison With the best economic
principles.
Nothing practical has ever yet been
gained by crying over spilled milk. The
foreigner Is in the coal fields and it is
out of the power of any law or any
agency to put him out. He must be
-
made the best Of. We can and should
keep other foreigners out unless they
are of a character to add something of
value to our citizenship, but concerning
the foreigner who is already here, and
here to stay, the duty of all concerned
is to take hold of him and lift him up.
He should be lifted up by Just increase
of his wages when practicable; he
should be lift2d up by means of mis-
sions, churches and schools; he should
be lifted up most Of all, by the forma-
tion of a Christian sentiment of COM
passion for his misfortunes, charity for
his ignorance and helpfulness for his
future and for the future of his chill
dren. Wh-n in mobs he assails the
any cost, but this not with animosity
not with bitterness, not with malice OF
persecution, but with judicial firmness
and when once the peace is safe, lei
gentler influences be put forth for his
improvement.
1t is to some extent the fault of soci
ETY. in general that those foreigners il
Lattimer were shot. Society has pu
forth valiant energy and rich treasure
to convert the heathen in India ant
Egypt; society has worked patiently
and generously to civilize the Indian
and Christianize the Turk; society II
many other ways has shown great de
termination to effect reforms at lon,
range perhaps it needed some sucl
startling tragedy as that Of LAST Fri
day to awaken it to an adequate con
ception Of its commanding duty neare
home.