The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-07-20
ElLA SC(LDS JOHN J.
Points to the Workingmen's
Republic in Flanders.
SAYS INGALLS, Is WRONG
In Considering American
Labor So Fortunate.
SAYS INGALLS, is WRONG

world, lauding our millionaires as men of
foresight and acumen, ard branding the
unsuccessful of the land as the undeserv-
ing, because Of lack of ability to grasp
the golden opportunities. which America
offers TO all alike. These same optimists
sheer at any suggestion. of socialistic or
cooperative methods for the working
! classes as a chiInerical dream entertained
from time immemorial by cranks and
fools, but never materiatizing into a real
ity because Of its impracticability.
They cheerfuIly announce that this
country is all right, AID that only the
pessimists and vagabonds complain.
Meantime all about US are thousands of
industrious, sober and intelligent people,
forced 10 toll from ten to sixteen hours
each day for an income which barely
keeps the wolf from the door, and with
no glimmer Of hope held out to them Of
anything better in the future.
have no doubt Sc nator ingalls, and
Ambrose Bierce would say that these
toiIers( should consider themselves FORUM
ate 10 have work to do. an that the
smart" laborer in the feather factory OF
in the mines would find a way to better
himself and rise 10 more congenial toll
These gifted gentlemen would assure US
that the thousands of labor ers who do not
rise to better things deserve nothing bet
ter because they have no brains to be
other than what they are
II is not work. however isagreeable,
which the masses object tot is the mis-
cradle, barren existence and the hopeless
future and the possibility of a paupers
burial which embitter their toll
That there is something better possible
for the workingman today than what he
now submits to 1 am fully convinced, as
l read M. Vance ThomrSon's description
IN the July Cosmopolitan of his visit to
the workingman's republic. known as the
''Vooruft," OF Client, in FLANDERS.
Anyone who studies the beginning and
growth of this organization must, in spite
Of Senator ingalls, eloquence, realize that
the condition Of the laborer in America
might be improved upon, and that coop
erative methods of business were possible
outside of cranll's dream
Mr. Thompson says: "This society NAV
be described as one in which labor and
capital are a unit; and in which there
arc no conflicts, because no interests
clash. There are stately palaces, factor
les, banks. cafes, shops, all Of them the
property of the common Deople-of weav-
ers who gain 50 cents 4 day or wool card
ers who gain less"
This society was founded in 1872 by less
than twenty men, known as the free
bakers''-men whose discomfort took
practical form.
Today the society has 10000 members,
and, counting the wives and children, is
an organization Of 5000 people.
The ''Vooruit' supplies them with
everything; assures them the means of
nourishment, insures them against Illness
or old age. provides instruction for the
young and amusements for all ages.
The society has in a score of years in
creased its capital from two thousand to
four hundred thousand dollars, and the
ten thousand members have become capt.
ta-sts
The members live where and how they
please. and vote as they please. Every
la5orer receives the wage he would receive
outside the society for the same work,
and every six months he receives, be-
sides. a profit on what he has purchased. |
what man has done, man may do"
doubt if one laborer in ten thousand
in America today ever heard Of this soci-
ETY. in Flanders. or Of other successful
cooperative societies which are in -four
ishing condition today.
However emphaticaUy the comfortable |
and well-fed citizen Of the United States
may declare that the laboring classes of |
America are as well of as they could be |
anywhere in theworld, yet the question
Of their relation to the colossal fortunes /
they produce for their employers grows !
To be more vital one every day.
Tho the heel Of the strong oppressor
May grind the weak in the dust,
And the voices Of fame with one acclaim |
May call him great and just,
Let those who applaud take warning.
And keep this motto in sight,
NJ question is ever settled
Until it IS settled right
Oh. men bowed down with labor,
Oh. women young yet old,
Oh, hearts oppressed in the to.Isr's breast
And crushed by the power OF sold.
Keep on with your weary bac,.s
Against triumphant might;
No question IS ever settled
Unt4 ii is settled right.