The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1899-1900, 1899-08-16
CAPITAL AND LABOR.
Industrial Problem the Theme Of Dr..
Talmage's Sermon.
Tells How the Continual War Be-
tween Them May De Ended
Lessons Drawn from Re-
cent Strikes.
copyright, 1899. by Louis Klopsch.l
Washington. Aug 13.

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
ceasing work in one day, Brooklyn
stunned by the attempt to halt its rail
road cars, Cleveland in the throes of
labor agitation and restlessness among
toilers all over the land have caused an
epidemic of strikes, and somewhat to
better things l apply the Pauline
thought of my text.
You have seen an elaborate piece of
machinery, with thousand wheels and
thousand bands and thousand pull
leys, all controlled by one great water
wheel, the machinery so adjusted that
when you jar one part of it you jar all
parts of it. Well, human society is a
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
AL
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 fig
ure of the text, what a strange thing ii
would be if the eye should say: lover
see the entire physical mechanism.
despise the other members OF the body.
If there is anything | am disgusted
with, it is with those miserable, low
lived hands. Or what if the hand should
say: / am the boss workman of the
whole physical economy. | have nc
respect for the other members of the
body. If there is anything despise, il
is the eye, seated under the dome of the
forehead, doing nothing but look.
come in, and wave the flag of truce
between the two contestants, and
say: "The eye cannot say to the hand
Il have no need of thee
That brings me TO the first sugges
tion, and that is, that labor and capita
are to be brought to better under
standing by a complete canvass of thu
whole subject. They will be brought tc
peace when they find that they are iden
teal in their interests. When one goei
down, they both go down. When ont
rises, they both rise. There will be al
equilibrium after awhile. There nevel
has been an exception to the rule. Tha
which is good for one class of societ,
will be good for all, and that whicl
is bad for one class will event
ually and in time be bad for all
Every speech that labor make
against capital postpones the day o
permanent adjustment. Every speecl
that capital makes against labor post
pones the day of permanent adjust
ment. When capital maligns labor, i
is the eye cursing the hand. When la
Dor maligns capital, it is the hand ours
ing the eye. As far as have observed
the vast majority of capitalists are sue
cessful laborers. If the capitalist
would draw their glove. you would se
the broken finger nail, the scar of an oil
blister, the stiffened finger joint. Tn
great publishers of the country for tn
most part were bookbinders or type
settlers on small pay. The great car
riage manufacturers for the most par
sandpapered wagon bodies in wheel
wright shops.
While, on the other hand, in an on
large manufacturing establishment
you will find men working on wage
who once employed 100 or 500 hands
The distance between capital and labo
is not n great gulf over which is swun
Niagara suspension bridge. tits onl
a step, and the capitalists are crossin
over to become laborers, and the labor
ers are crossing over to become car
italsts. Would God they might shak
hands while they cross. On the othe
hand, laborers are the highest style q
capitalists. Where are their invest
ments? In banks? No. In the raj
roads? No. Their nerve, their muscle
their bone, their mechanical skill, thei
physical health, are magnificent car
ital. lie who has two eyes. two earl
two feet, two hands, ten fingers, ha
machinery that puts into nothingnes
carpet and screw and cotton factory an
all the other implements on the plane
The capitalists were laborers, the 10
borers were capitalists. The sooner W
understand that the better.
Again, there is to come relief to tn
laboring classes of this country throug
cooperative associations. | am not q
this moment speaking of trades union'
but of that plan by which laborers pu
their surplus together and becomr thei
own capitalists. Instead of being dC
pendent upon the beck of this capitals
or that capitalist, they manage thei
own affairs. In England and Vale
there are sl3 cooperative association
They have 100000 membcfs. They hay
q capital Of Sls,0O0,000. or what corr
spends to our dollars, and they do
business annually of S63, 100000. Thou
as Brnssey, one of the foremost men
the British parliament, on the subjec
says: Cooperation is the one and til
only relief for the laboring population
This is the path" he says, "by whic
they are to come up from the hand
the mouth style of living to reap IL
rewards and the honors of our az
vanced civilization" Lord Derby al
John Stuart Mill, who gave half the
lives to the study of the labor question