The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-09-04

WOulQ D0 dNOlucQ IL edCn knew the OtneT
better and both were content to Be
guided by the strict rules of justice.
|. The extremes of society are really not
as far apart as they appear Those who
work for wages today may, under a good
government, be employers in few years,
and the sons of those who are employers
today may in short time be day labor
ers. Since no one can save posterity
from the evil effects of a bad law, all
should strive for legislation which will
protect each citizen in his rights and in
the enjoyment of the fruits of his own
genius, his own industry and his own in
tegrity.
GOOD LAWS AND EDUCATION.
1t is of advantage to the rich as we'll
as to the poor that the children of all
have an opportunity to secure an educa-
ton; for education widens the individual S
horizon, increases his capacity for use
fulness; multiplies his enjoyments and
| makes him in every way more service
able to society. Victor Hugo has de-
scribed the mob as the human race in
misery. Those who are well-to- do have
selfish interest, and should feel NOR
al concern, in removing despair from
every human breast. AS misery is less
ened the security of property is increas-
ed; human life is protected in proportion
as happiness is promoted.
Why should the man who eats at a we'll
supplied table forget the man whose toll
furnishes the food? Why should the
man. who warns himself by the fire for
get the man whose labor in the forest
or in the mine brings forth the fuel?
Why should the man clad in the best
products of the loom forget the man
whose calloused hands make fine cloth
ing possible? Both the consumer and the
producer are necessary, but of the two
the producer comes first in point of time
and in point of Importance. Shall the
rosebud, blooming in beauty and shedding
its fragrance on the air despise the roots
of the bush because they come into
actual contact with the soil? Destroy the
bud and leave the roots and a second
bud will appear as beautiful and as fra
grant as the first; but destroy the roots
and bud and bush will perish.
ORGANIZATION OF LABOR.
How can the wage-erner secure that
share of the earth's bounties and the
governments protection which he de-
serves? The associations formed by
WI hlu6LiCA nave DcSu plONuNC1N VI
much good.
The labor organization as we now find
it is the product of industrial conditions.
The individual found himself at a disad-
vantage when dealing with the corporate
employer, and the organization not only
enables linn to contend for his rights
upon terms more nearly equal, but it
stimulates him to study and understand
xr-bi on i'm
The labor organization has been fore
most in advocating the reforms which
have already been secured. Several years
ago the secret ballot was demanded by
the wage earners for their own protec-
tion That ballot has been obtained and
through it's operations those who toll for
individuals or corporations are able to
protect their political rights and to use
the ballot according to their own judg-
ments. This is long step in advance.
The labor organization has done much
to lessen the evils of child labor. No
one can visit the factories where child
ren are employed without contemplating
the crime which is being perpetrated
upon posterity If there is any tempo
rary economic advantage in the employ
ment of children of tender age, it is in
permanent injury done to present and flu
ture generations. To rob a child of it's
school days is bad enough, but to bend
it's back by load for which only the
adult is fitted is even worse.
SHORTER HOURS FOR TOLL.
The labor organization has also con-
trbuted toward the shortening of the
hours of toll, and it should not cease its
efforts until the eight-hour day is Sc
cured. Approximately, one-third of the
day is devoted to manual labor, only
eight hours are left for eating for going
to and from the place of work, for the
reading of current news. for mental i'm
provement, recreation, social intercourse
and domestic life. Since the hours oc
cupied in eating and travel cannot be en-
croached upon, every hour added to the
days labor must be taken from the time
devoted to intellectual development,
recreation and the family.
The labor organization has been con-
sistent and persistent advocate of the
doctrine OF arbitration, although it is diff
ficult to see why the burden of this re-
form should be thrown upon the laboring
man. Surely the employer, if he would
take comprehensive view of his own in
terests, would be as much benefited by
arbitration as the employee, and because
every prolonged contest between labor
and capital brings interruption to busi-
ness and pecuniary loss to those who are
in no way responsible for the disagree
ment, society in general is even more
interested than employers or employees.
The desire for justice is so universal
that the public can be depended upon to
support the finding of an impartial
board of arbitration as certainly as it can
to support the successful contestant in
a law suit. The court of arbitration is
one of the certainties of the future, and
when it is secured and established, we
shall wonder why its coming was delayed
so long
MENACE OF THE BLACK LIST.
The blacklist, by means of which en-
ployers combine to deprive the dischars-
ed workman Of employment, is one of
the more recent menaces to the laboring
man. The independence of the wage
Garner decreases as the difficulty of OBJ
tanning employment increases, and the
skilled workman whose life has been
spent in acquiring efficiency in a certain
trade or occupany becomes practically
the chattel of the employer if every OPP
NApf,, l., t.