The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1899-08-24
CAPITAL AND LABOR.
Industrial Problem the Theme Of Dr..
Talmage's Sermon.
Tells How the Continual War Ne.
tween Them May Ne Ended
Lessons Drawn from Re.
cent Strikes.
copyright. 1899. by Louis Klopsch.l

copyright. 1899. by Louis Klopsch.l
Washington. Aug IL
In this discourse DR.. Talmage sug.
gests how the everlasting war between
capital and labor may be brought to .
happy end. The text is I. Corinthians
1921: "The eye cannot say unto the
hand, have no need of thee"
Fifty thousand workmen in Chicago
censing work in one day, Brooklyn
stunned by the attempt to halt its rail-
road cars. Cleveland in the throes Of a
labor agitation and restlessness among
epidemic Of strikes, and somewhat to
better things apply the Pauline
thought Of my text.
You have seen an elaborate piece OF
machinery, with thousand wheels and
a thousand bands and n thousand pull
leys, all controlled by one great water
wheel, the machinery so adjusted that
when you Jar one part of 1t you jar all
parts of IL. Well, human society 10 q
great piece Of mechanism controlled by
one great and ever revolving force-the
wheel Of Gods providence. You harm
one part of the machinery and you
harm all parts. All professions. inter-
dependent. All trades interdependent
All classes of people interdependent
Capital and labor interdependent. No
such thing as independence. Dives can
not kick Lazarus without hurting his
own foot. They who threw Shadrach
into the furnace got their own bodies
scorched. Or to come back to the fg-
ure of the text, what strange thing II
would be II the eye should say: lover
see the entire physical mechanism. I
despise the other members Of the body.
II there is anything I am disgusted
with, It is with those miserable. low
lived hands. Or what II the hand should
say: I am the boss workman Of the
whole physical economy. I have no
respect for the other members Of the
body. If there is anything l despise. 1t
is the eye, seated under the dome Of the
forehead, doing nothing but look.
Ieome in. and wave the flag Of truce
between the two contestants, and I
say: THE eye cannot say TO the hand:
I have no need Of thee
That brings me to the first sugges-
tion, and that 10. that labor and capital
are 70 be brought to better under
standing by . complete canvass Of the
whole subject. They will be brought TO
peace when they find that they are iden-
tical IN their interests. When one goes
down. they both 60 down. When one
rises, they both rise. There will b an
equilibrium after awhile. There never
hss bssn N exception TO the rule. That
which II good for one class Of society
will be good for al. and that which
ia bad for one clasA will event.
ually and In time be bad for all
Every speech that labor makes
against capital postpones the day OF
permanent adjustment. Every speech
that capital makes against labor post
pones tho day Of permanent adjust
ment. When capital maligns labor. It
IL the eye cursing the hand. When la
Dor maligns capital. II is the hand ours
ing the eye. A. far as have observed,
the vast ajority Of capitalists are sue
cessful laborers. II the capitalists
would draw their glove. you would see
tho broken finger nail. the scar OF an old
blister, the stifiened finger joint. The
great publishers of the country for the
most part were bookbinders or type
setters on small pay. The great car
riage manufacturers for the most part
sandpapered wagon bodies in wheel
wright shops.
While, on the other hand, in an our
large manufacturing establishments
you will find men working on wages
who once employed 100 or 500 hands
The distance between capital and labor
10 not great gulf over which is swung
a Niagara suspension bridge. It's only
a step, and the capitalists are crossing
over TO become laborers, and the labor
ers are crossing over to become cap.
italists. Would God they might shake
hands while they cross. On the Other
hand, laborers are the highest style OF
capitalists. Where are their invest
ments? In banks? No. In the rail
roads? No. Their nerve, their muscle
their bone. their mechanical skill, thei'
physical health, are magnificent cap
ital. He who has two eyes, two ears
two feet, two hands. ten fingers, hal
machinery that puts into nothingnesi
carpet and screw and cotton factory and
all the other implements on the planet
Tho capitalists were laborers, the Ia
borer. were capitalists. The sooner we
understand that the better.
Again, there is to come relief to the
laboring classes of this country through
cooperative associations. / am not a
this moment speaking of trades unions
but Of that plan by which laborers put
their surplus together and become thei'
own capitalists. Instead Of being de
pendent upon the beck Of this capitalis
or that capitalist, they manage theil
own affairs. In England and Wales
there are s13 cooperative associations
They have 100000 members. They hav'
q capital Of SIS, ,00O, 900, or what CORE