The Yale expositor., 1899-08-25


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 a thousand bands and a thousand
pulleys 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 So
ciety is a great piece of mechanism
controlled by one great and ever-re-
volving force-the wheel or GODS
providence. You harm one part OF the
machinery Of society and you harm all
parts. All professions interdependent.
All trades interdependent. All classes
of people interdependent. No such
thing as independence. Dives cannot
| 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
it would be If the eye should say,
|
/ despise the other members of the
body. if there is anything l am dis
gusted 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 no
respect for the other members OF the
body. II there is anything | despise,
it is the eye seated under the dome
of the forehead doing nothing but look.
come in and | wave the flag or
truce between these two contestants.
and say: THE eye cannot say to the
hand, 1 have no need of thee.
That brings me to the first sugges-
ton, and that is, that Labor and Capt.
tai are to be brought to a better I'M
Outstanding by a complete canvass OF
the whole subject. They will be
brought to peace when they find that
they are identical in their interests.
When one goes down, they both go
down. When one rises. they both rise.
There will be an equilibrium after
awhile. There never was an exception
to the rule. That which is good for
one class of society eventually will be
! good for all classes Of society, and that
which is bad for one class OF society
} will eventually 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 the day of permanent adjust
ment. When Capital malgns Labor. II
Is the eye cursing the hand. When
Labor maligns Capital it Is the hand
cursing the eye. As far as | have OBJ
i, served. the vast majority OF capitalists
are successful laborers. II the capital
lists would draw their gloves, you
would see the broken finger nail, the
D scar OF an old blister. the stiffened
finger joint. The great publishers o.
the country for the most part we're
bookbinders. or typesetters. on small
: pay. The great carriage manufactures
for the most part sandpapered wager
bodies in wheelwright shops. While
d on the other hand. in all our large
:, manufacturing establishments you will
a find men on wages who once employed
: a hundred or five hundred hands. TIL
) distance between Capital and Labo
Is not a great gulf over which is swuni
Niagara suspension bridge; 1t is onl
e step. and the capitalists are crossin
l. over to become laborers. and the la
g borers are crossing over to becom
% CAPITALISTS. Would God they nigh
le shake hands while they cross. On tn
r other hand, laborers are the highes
n style of capitalists. Where are thei
lie investments? in banks. No! In tn
n railroads. No! Their nerve, thel
e, muscle, their bone, their mechanics
IN skill, their physical health are MAG
Id nifcent capital He who has two eye
is two ears, two feet two hands, ten fir
ne gers. has machinery that puts int
to nothingness carpet and screw and CO
ID ton factory, and all the other implC
IN ments on the planet. The capitalist
a were laborers, the laborers were cap
he talists. The sooner we understan
that the better.
Again: There Is to come relief
"a the laboring classes Of this countr
bo through cooperative associations.
- am not at this moment speaking
- trades unions, but of that plan
- which laborers put their surplus t
- gether and become their own capita
\, lists. Instead of being dependent upC
the beck OF this capitalist or that car
taiist. they manage their own affair
=, In England and Wales there are 3
Gu cooperative associations. They ha
~ $40 900 members; they have capital
Us $4,000 600. or what corresponds to o
n dollars, and they do business
a nually of $63,000.000. Thomas Brasse
ed one of the foremost men in the Britt
lst parliament on the subject says: &c
BILE operation is the one and the only
So lief for the laboring populations. tt
OF is the path" he says, "by which Tn
on are to come up from the hand-to-tt
Ter mouth style of living, to reap the
wards and the honors of our advanc
civilization" Lord Deroy and 10
ian Stuart Mill, who gave half their liz
'rl- to the study of the labor question,
10 lieved in cooperative institution
MS The cooperative institution formed
me Troy, N. Y, stood long enough to ILL
ere trate the fact that great good mis-
md | nor,a 90 e,,oh an institution IN ~ W,