St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1899-09-16
CAPITAL AND LABOR.
Industrial Problem the Theme Of d.,
Talmage's Sermon.
Tells How the Continsal War De-
tween Them May he Ended
Less0nS DFawn from Re.
#&E cent Strikes.
Copyright. 1899. by Louis Klopsch.l

I'll. Copyright 1899. by Louis Klopsch.l
Washington.
In this discourse DIR. Talmage sug
gests how the everlasting war between
capital and labor may be brought to |
happy end. The text is /. Corinthian.
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 q
, labor agitation and restlessness among
. toilers all over the land have caused an
epidemic OF strikes, and somewhat to
better things I 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
when you jar one part of it you jar all
parts of it. Well, human society is 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 fig
| ure of the text, what a strange thing it
would be if the eye should say: lover
see the entire physical mechanism. l
despise the other members of the body.
If there is anything 1 am disguised
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. If there is anything despise, it
Is the eve, 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 eve cannot say to the hand:
Il have no need of thee
That brings me to the first sugges-
ton. and that is, that labor and capital
are to be brought to a better under
standing by complete canvass of tho
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 go down. When one
rises, they both rise. There will be an
equilibrium after awhile. There never
has been an exception to the rule. That
which is good for one class of society
will be good for all. and that which
is bad for one class 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 the day of permanent adjust
ment. When capital maligns labor, it |
is the eve 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 capitalists |
would draw their glove. you would see
the broken finger nail. the scar of an old
blister, the stiffened finger joint. The
great publishers of the country for the
most part were bookbinders or type
settlers on small pay. The great car
rage manufacturers for the most part
wagon bodies in wheel
wright shops.
While, on the other hand, in all our
large manufacturing establishments
you will find men working on wages
who once employed 100 or 500 hands.
The distance between capital and labor
is not great gulf over which is swung
\ Niagara suspension bridge. It is only
! step, and the capitalists are crossing
over to become laborers, ard the labor
ers are crossing over to become cap
italists. Would God they might shake
hands while they cross. On the other
hand, iaborers are the highest style of
capitalists. Where are their invest
nents? In banks? No. In the rail-
-oads? No. Their nerve, their muscle.
heir bone. their mechanical skill, their
physical health, are magnificent cap
tai. He who has two eyes, two ears,
wo feet, two hands, ten fingers, has
machinery that puts into nothingness
arpet and screw and cotton factory and
i'll the other implements on the planet.
The capitalists were laborers, the la
'orers were capitalists. The sooner we !.
understand that the better.
Again, there il to come relief to the
of this country through :
Operative associations. / am not ut
his moment speaking of trades unions, /;
ut of that plan by which laborers put :
heir surplus together and become their :
wn capitalists. Instead Of being de- !
endent upon the beck Of this capitalist :
r that capitalist, they manage their !,
WI affairs. In England and Wales
here are s13 cooperative associations. =
hey have 340, 900 members. They have i
capital of $4,000, 900, or what CORE \
ponds to our dollars, and they do 4
nsiness annually Of 500, O00, 900. Thorn /,
Brassey, one of the foremost men in >,
le British parliament. on the subject Il
VS.: Cooperation is the one and the a
,ly relief for the laboring populations. It
his is the path" he says, by which ii
ey are to come up from the hand to h
e mouth style of living to reap the a,
wards and the honors of our i'd
need civilization" Lord Derby and &C
Inn Stuart Mill, who gave half their ca
-es to the study Of the labor question, er
,lieved in cooperative institutions. th
ne cooperative institution formed in
'oy, n. Y, stood long enough to il st
strate the fact that great good might ri
me of such an institution il it were in
Chilly carried on and nightly devel- stl
ed. ~,
But says some one, haven't these an
situations sometimes been failure? p an
$. Every great movement has been a KIN
lure at some time. Application OF en-
steam power failure, electr-teleg- De
ply failure. railroading q failure.
now the chief successes OF the IN
rid. =;
But" says some one, "why talk OF v.
rplus being put by laborers into CO "a
eratiye associations when <ha x~cx