The record-union., 1897-03-07

solutely necessary to appeal to some
body who had saved something, and
was therefore able to promote an in
dustry. SO a Paris bank advanced the
money, and While it did so the Social
lists ceased to curse banks and bank
ers. Then began what was to be an era
of peace, quiet, ease, absence of dom
ineering, abuse of power and harsh
treatment
But the hopes of the workers were
doomed to disappointment. From the
outset they have found the Directory
the hardest of task masters. 1t not
only abSorts the profits, but it gives no
hope Of battering conditions of the
workers. The rules are more exacting
and stringent than are known in any
establishment in France. The workers
are forbidden even the poor privilege of
grumbling, and as rules must prevail,
there being no Individual headship,
there is no elasticity whatever, no
IOOIn IOF -tfle exercise Ol et4uALy ~ AG-
ieve when laws bear heavily.
The workers cannot curse the en-
ployer. If they dare to mutter an oath
about that power, they are discharged,
and already four have been dismissed
for indulging in criticism of the Di-
recuory The discipline III the shop is
rigorous and eXacting; it has no yield
ing or human side. 1t is all cold rule
Formerly if a fine was imposed, the
worker could protest and appeal to the
heart or judgment of the employer, but
NOW the fine must be paid under pen
atty of suspension, and possible ex-
pulslon. The slightest Hardness is
punished harshly under the ideahstic
rules, and. as one writer puts it, the
workmen find the little finger of the
Directory heavier than the whole hand
of their old employer, who took all
risks and responsibilities, that are now
assumed by the workers while others
take the profits and proclaim rules that
are unyielding, leaving the workers
only the privilege Of striking against
their "friend," socialism.
The story thus briefly related does
not teach the unreasonableness nor the
impossibility of successful cooperation
1t does not prove THAT cooperation
among skilled workmen should not be
promoted, for successes in that direction
are numerous. 1t does prove, however,
that any and all attempts to limit the
capacity OF men and women TO ac-
Quire, any and all effort to keep
group of human beings upon a common
level of efficiency and of living, is un-
natural, unwise and must fail.
Had the glass blowers not feared the
division of profits among themselves,
had not they been taught unreasoning
hatred of accumulation Of gains, and
their investment for profitable return;
it is probable that their venture would
have been satisfactory. When, how
ever they eliminated their personal
responsibility and their right to gain
by division Of rewards beyond the linn
its of wages, and set UP a Directory to
which they surrendered control, they
simply substituted for a personally re-
sponstble promoter interested in the
welfare of the workers, a tyranny in
deed, q control without heart or con-
science, having all to gain and moth
ing whatever to lose, except perhaps
the absorption OF the profits. 1t was
a case which, as the New York
Post" Wittily puts it, proves that
this is not the first time in the worlds
history that the tyranny of the Lords
brethren has proved more intolerable
than the tyranny Of the Lord ) bish-
ops''