The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-01-16
OPINIONS
OF Walter Wyckof's
Lecture.
VIEWS AT VARIANCE
Some Agree, Others Disa-
gree with Princeton Man.


Walter A. Wyckof, the well known
student of social problems, who lee
tured in Worcester last Thursday eve
ming, has made lasting impression on
the minds of all those who heard him.
1t is not often that speaker on labor
problems gives his hearers such an i'm
preston of perfect familiarity with the
subject as did the young Princeton pro-
fessor, who, not content with inform
alton acquired in classroom and study,
laid.aside his dress suit, donned pair
of blue jeans and started westward to
live the life of a wage-earner.
After having alternately Joined the
army of the unemployed searching for
work in Chicago, WORKED as a factory
hand, dug in the mines and labored in
the vast wheat fields of the west, who
can doubt that he knows whereof he
speaks? At all events, mis- views must
be treated with great respect and must
be full of suggestions 20 thoughtful lis
teners. Believing this to be the case,
HS spy HAS optdiISd SApiVsslohS "a
opinion from number of those who
heard the lecture.
L was greatly pleased with Mr..
Wyckoff as a lecturer" said DR.. George
H Gould, yesterday. Although l had
never seen him or read any of his
works before the present week, am in
clined to give him a very high place
as a writer, thinker and public speak
er. He certainly has a very thorough
mastery of his subject.
The thing about Mr.. Wyckoff that
impresses me most is his broadness.
He is no narrow gauge thinker. Many
experimenters who had passed as many
years among the working men as he
has done would become radicals and
perhaps socialists. He has done moth
ing of the kind. He seems to have TAX
en- the middle ground between capital
and labor giving each its due and
treating the whole subject with great
fairness.
One of the best things he said was
to refute the common labor argument
that labor produces all wealth Mr.
Wyckoff holds that brain power of en-
ployers and the great organizing forces
are entitled to their due share of
credit as being factors in the produc-
ton of wealth AT the same time he is
loyal to the workers, of whose num-
against the injustces of the employer
wherever he thinks wrong has been
done.
What he said about sweat shops
was new to me. While deprecating the
conditions which have forced the men
and women engaged in the manufac-
ture of clothing to work at starvation
wages, he affirms that the system,
nevertheless, affords employment to a
CLASS af fSa1ly i1, fIaa
tories. and which otherwise might
starVe. 1t is a case of half a loaf being
better than no bread
Mr.. Wyckoff certainly deserves all
credit for the means he has taken to
acquire his information. 1t required
great courage and perseverance, and
he has shown both. There is no royal
road to learning. and it appears that
the young Princeton professor was well
acquainted with this maxim when he.
entered upon his studies. Certainly no
mere theoretical, armchair sociologist
can We'll question the facts gained by
Mr.. Wyckoff in actual experience.
But, notwithstanding all he has
done. Mr. Wyckoff is very modest. AS
lecturer he has cultivated a CONVEX
sational method that is very pleasing"
Said Addison W. Barr: Mr.. Wyck-
offs address brought out MANY points
from which much may be learned. even
II we differ with MIN as to conclu-
sions. His illusions to the earlier in
dustrial conditions, the factory sys-
TEN and the unemploye,.. were correct
and we are pleased to see the dissem-
nation of such intelligence.
concur in his statement that So
clety rs not mechanism and com
plete it by asserting that society is in
Iact an organism and as in all highly
developed organisms, the well-being of
each part or organ is essential to the
welfare of the whole
Il further assert that this organism
develops in accordance with a natural
law OF evolution which has shaped the
course of social development from the
earlier forms through serfdom, slav-
cry and the various forms of indus
trlallsm eliminating in a well defined
system known as capitalism, and that
knowledge of the laws of cause, and
erect makes it not difficult to deter
mine the general form of the next
Phase OF development which must in
evitably arise from the causes now in
force.
Mr.. Wyckoff perhaps unconscious
~ furnishes the key TO our ANALYSIS
In his assertion that the Capitalization
OF capital and the organization of la
Dor will each continue But this is
factors in a problem. To find the rule
by which to solve tire problem, let us
turn to the economic world in which
they move and perceive the trend OF
affairs.
We find, first, competition and this
eliminating in consolidation viewed in
the same light what will be the result
Organized labor and organized capi.
tai.
Competition, wasteful and unsatis
factory, carried to it's logical conclu
sion ends in an inevitable consolidation
ana behold economic classes ar,
merged and1i their place a united an,
ana harmonious COLLECTIVELY. The so
cial organism has developed itself on,
more degree and is in fact the mucl
discussed ISM. the real strength o
which lay in it's being, not a scheme NO
carefully studied method of reconstruc
ton, but really unavoidable and a
the same time very desirable form O
society made absolutely necessary b,