The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1901-09-14


from the magnates temporary benefits
for labor, and their II no: harder striker
than your GLASS conscious' socialist.
We may therefore leave the theory Of
socialism, which will no doubt some
day be practiced. though It will not be
inaugurated all at once. out Of the con-
sideration OF the present day question
Of labor, and the trusts. e.
The workingman has q twofold inter-
est IN the trust question. He is a con-
sumer al well as wageworker. With
absolute power the trust catches the
laborer coming and going" In fact,
the laborer is the main consumer of the
products of the trust. An increase in
the selling price Of. these products. a
matter fully within the control Of the
trusts, falls more heavily upon the la
borer than upon any one else. When
prices are advanced beyond the ability
Of the 1aborer to maintain his custom
airy plane Of living, a strike generally
follows. This is the Underlying cause
Of more, strikes than the uninformed
would believe. This is a. thought which
should be considered in connection with
another. and that is that. SHOULD labor
demand as wages more than Just
share Of the profits, it would drive the
employer out Of business and itself out
Of work. This fact is we'll understood
by the trades unions, and they general
1y know perfectly the condition OF the
market, the supply. demand and full
status Of the industry in which they
are engaged. II the public could be
brought to fully realize these truths,
there would be less thoughtless con-
demnation Of strikes where wages is
the issue.
But singularly, the great battle be-
tween union labor and the trust is not
to be waged over a question of re-
Enumeration, but over the recognition
Of labor's right to organize. Capitalists
freely organize and through their or
ganfzations regulate their business.
More, they use the power Of their or
CARNATIONS to destroy competition. If
1t had not within it the seeds Of a
tragedy, the refusal of the trusts to
recognize the rights of labor to extend
the scope Of its organization by the use
Of it's power would be amusing. Does
not the trusts exercise its power unmer-
cifully along this line? Does not the
trust compel the independent concerns
to sell out to it? Is it not true that the
operator who refuses to join the trust
Is destroyed If the trust can work its
will?
The so-called middle class is greatly
annoyed by the development of the
trust. This middle class has had ever
as it's shtbbo1eth the cry that "competi-
ton is the life Of trade!" It realizes
that the trust destroys competition;
that the stage Of competition in indus
trialism IS rapidly giving way to the
monopolistic. OF the business failures,
which amounted during the last decade
Of. the nineteenth century to, on the
average, $4,000 per year, 81 per cent
were Of those whose capital was under
$4,000, and per cent. those whose
capital was over 5000, but less
than SO, 600: Therefore of the. total
failures only about four per cent
had capital in excess Of $780,
600. More, Of the 1;1ss, s43 flrms doing
business In, the United States and Can
ada In the year 1897, 223, 1872 either
failed or went out Of business because
their funds were exhausted. In five
years at this rate the whole middle
class would be wiped out If it were not
for the fact that there are men with
small SURPRISES who think they can
beat the game and who hll up the
vacant places. But the gamblers
axiom that "a sucker IS born every
minute can't hold good much longer
In the business world.
These statistics give an idea of the
methods and progress Of the trust.
What monumental gail, then, for the
Morgans, Rockefellers, Schwabs and
their like to deny the right of labor to
extend it's organization by all the kinds
Of pressure that the law will allow.
The fact Of the matter is that the
trust doesn't offer any objections to
union labor on ethical or sentimental
grounds. It is governed by business
rules-cold business, cold blooded busi-
ness. The magnates see that, If labor
ever has the opportunity and the COM
AAAOAA 0SAAoO at IAAC S<1AAC S1I1S ~ IuOT.
oughly organize, their power to squeeze
the wagewor1<er will be gone. They
can't regulate the common sense end
Of the combination, but they realize
their ability to put q stumbling block
in the way Of the opportunity. That's
all there Ii to it.. War Is the word that
best expresses the relations between
the trusts and union labor, and If the
labor leaders are fit to lead they fully
realise this truth. There may not be a
battle every day, but the conditions of
war exist and will exist while the
wages of labor and the dividends upon
watered stock must be drawn from the
same fund. 1922 :
The trusts are well equipped for, the
war. Their armament includes wealth
In the shape Of money and tools, re-
serves represented by plant judges
and supine legislators and something
called public sentiment hypnotized
by the university and library endow-
ments Of Rockefeller. sor Carnegie.
And labor-what has labor to sus-
tain it in the struggle with such
powerful and resorceful foe? Moth
ing but numbers and the spirit to fight
on an empty stomach. :.
Brains? Why bless your soul, it
takes more brains. ten times over. tn