The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-12-18

| NE OF the speeches made at
the meeting in New York of
~ the industrial department OF
| the National civic F'etlernt ion,
which is trying to bring worliingmen
and employers to II more peaceful basis
| of mutual understanding and cooper
alton, was by Charles NJ. Schwab, presi-
dent of the United states Steel Cor
poration. the largest employer Of labor
in the world. 1t is thus reported:
| am prcs,nt with the ile, to hear fairly lnd
| 20 act fairly. Now | sluIl speak With cnitn
| frn'lkncss am opposed to organized lIl"r in
| tile way II is nov organized. Onc oi the causes
| ot the line OF som" Of our connections N
! Europe is because of the demands Of organized
| labor. do not mean tr say that employers
| have not acted arbitrarily and radically. They
| have. Labor organizations have also acted ar.
| htiarily and radically. No Ml,o" ocganaa,ion
| can succeed that Undertakes to rcdncc the ont
| put of labor any more than any trust can sue
rcCd that undertakes to Cutail the output OF
its manufacture. Neither OF these ,un succeed.
Every labor organization | have come in con.
| tact with has had for its fundamental ptinciplc
| he restriction of output. This is one Of the
| causes OF the decline OF manufacturing in En;.
| land ! am opposed TO labor organizations ne.
cause all have come III contact with are basel
| on that principle. Manufacturers not an
! posed 10 labor organizations per -. They are
opposed TO no organization that abiles by its
| contracts and does not attempt TO fcstrwt the
output. Tie Interests oI labor and capital are
and must ever be Identical. They must stlni
together
Not all labor organizations break con-
tracts or hamper the individual effici-
ency Of their members. The Brother
hood of Locomotive Engineers is con-
spicuous example Of those which do
| neither So is the Typographical union
us managed in many places. Yet it is
undoubtedly and unfortunately true
that in the main the facts are as Mr..
SchWab states them. And they repre-
sent Il condition which will have to be
modified and improved before the great
employing interests of the land will feel
safe to enter into stated agreements
with organizations of labor whose rec
ords in these particulars are cloudy.
1t will in our Judgment come to pass
that labor unions will have to incor-
porate and accept the same legal re-
sponsibilty and accountability as in
vestment unions before there will be a
durable basis of harmony between the
two. If an incorporation of investors
should enter into q conspiracy to injure
the business of another incorporated
enterprise like that which was entered
into in this city by the American Fed
GRAFTON of Labor in it's boycott of the
National Cash Register company, OF
Dayton, o., there would be immediate
legal redress and n tangible body upon
which to fix the responsibility. This is
only fair. Power and responsibility
should travel together.
Arbitrary use of powe. for unjust and
unlawful ends is equally hostile to the
genius of American institutions and to
the liberties guaranteed under those in
stitutions, whether it be exercised by
incorporated bodies Of investors or by
Incorporated or unincorporated bodies
of workingmen. In law there is no diff
ference save that the Incorporated body
can more readily be reached and pun
ished than the body which is not in
corporated. which is elusive and in
tangible. Every word uttered by labor
leaders against the abuses of trusts. by
which term they always have in mind
large combinations of invested enter
prise, applies with equal pertinency to
the abuses that arise from a misuse of
power by great combinations of work
ingmen. Because our people sympathize
more deeply with the men who have to
earn their living by physical toll than
with those men who have money to in
vest in enterprises furnishing employ
ment to wage-earners, more has been
tolerate from labor union abuses and
eXcesses than from the abuses and on
cesses of capital, so-called and more
will be tolerated.
But there is n limit to tolerance in
both cases, and that limit is reached
when peaceful industry is turned into
anarchy and the great mass of patient
people are robbed of their fundamental
rights. Capital must see this. Labor
must see it. Each and both must gov |
crn their conduct accordingly.