The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-04-08
SMOULDERING FIRES.


The skies in the Industrial world
were never darker. A serious and
widespread conflict between labor and
capital is impending. MenCmay talk of
prosperity and profess to- see ahead the
prospect Of a long period of content.
But those who a read theisigns of the
times, who can decipher the handwrit-
ing on the wall, know thattthe outlook
was never so portentious. There are
spots upon the sun OF u republic"
and there eve was a time swhen social
conditions were so ripe fora disastrous
upheaval.
This is not the view of a pessimist;
it is the warning Of one who sees trou-
bic ahead but improved conditions be-
yond, who hears the rumble Of the COM
ing storm md knows how refreshed
viii be the land when it passes.
The struggle betweens the trust and
the toiler is almost here. The tinplate
factories of Pennsylvania experienced a
preliminary disturbance last fall; the
smelters of Utah are scenes Of skirmish
battles now. Organized 'capitaI and Or
gal1ized labor will have to clash. There
is no way to avert the encounter. The
OneCis growing more powerful and ag-
gressive, the other more compact and
desperate every year The phenomenal
growth of the trusts under the present
administration will precipitate the war.
And when it comes it must be Waged
on both sides with wisdom and forbear-
ance lest the innocent may suffer more
han the aggressors, lest the outcome
be anarchy.
Capitalistic combines should be a lit
tie less arbitrary in their manner, and
labor unions aitrifle less exacting. Cap
ital should remember that it has secur-
ed control Of the American market and
raised the price upon nearly every
manufactured necessity Of life within
the last two years; that employees are
not able 10 get along with wages that
were deemed adequate a year ago; that
the formation of trusts and combines
has enabled their stockholders to lay up
larger profits, and that, in nine cases
out of ten, the system of taxation by
which those profits are made possible
was adopted under the pretense Of CIV
ing its benefits to the laboriDg man.
Capitalists do not desire ~bloodshed
and anarchy. Trusts and trust mag
mates would suffer worst. The working
people do not want it. Such a. state OF
affairs would increase their disadvan-
tages and multiply their disabilities.
Each side knows it is dependent upon
the otner. Yet they are drifting wider
and ylder apart every week and every
day. The gulf between them is harder
TO bridge than it ever was. Trusts are
arrogant, offensive and intrenched in
the halls Of national legislation. Unions
are discouraged because they believe
the government, as now administered,
is on the other side, and are ready to
apply almost 1ny relief for the bonds OF
inequality and helplessness they are
forced to wear.
This is the condition which eonfronts
the nation. With mills and factories
running, a foreign demand for our man
ufactured products, many workmen
with their old scale Of wages restored
in part or in whole, the feeling between
the trusts and the people. between or
ganized capital and organized labor
was never more intense or bitter. Prices
are going up from 25 to ESQ per cent
and wages from 5 to 10 per cent, if at
all. The tendency is yet to make the
rich richer and keep the poor forever
poor. 1t is avarice behind the trusts;
it is despair behind the masses.
In such an emergency, wisdom and
moderation must prevail. These alone
viii prevent the threatened devastation.
These will make the coming conflict
one Of ballots instead of bullets. These
viii prevent a war Of bloodshed. such
as the country witnessed in that pan
ner year of tariff prosperity-1S92-an
make it a battle Of peace at the polls.
It is a time for anarchists and agi-
tators to keep quiet and for counselors
to be heard. Nor must it be inferred
that all the agitators and anarchists
are on the labor side. The most dan