The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1901-09-21
LABOR
AND BALLOT

Every man who IL not q social ex-
crescence is In some sense a laboring
man, but upon this day we are &C
customed to devote our attention Pc
culiarly to organized abor, and my
~, though briefly, directed to what
I conceive to be the true interests Of
union labor, whose representatives It
is my privilege to address today
The organizations which you main
tain are, it seems to me. to be espe-
cially commended. Under existing
political conditions unionism Is the
palladium Of the labor interests. 1t
Is a vital necessity. You must at all
hazards maintain the union, or you
are lost. As Edmund Burke says:
when bad men combine the good
must associate" With each new, con-
solidation of gigantic corporate inter-
ests the situation more imperative1y
demands that you weld more firmly
the bonds of that defensive alliance
which the solidarity of your interests
requires for your mutual protection.
But after all, as it seems to me, labor
unions are but the means to an end,
and that end Is, take it, the complete
emancipation Of labor: and there can
surely no objection to attaining the
end by a more certain, a more secure
and a shorter route, if that route may
be followed without yielding up the de-
fensive weapons which you now employ.
Kinship OF Capital and Labor.
You are united not only by a sense OF
mutual interest, but also by the sense
of common danger. What danger:
What is your fear? Whatever that
thing Is, it Is the real object against
whose encroachments you are united
Now, what Is it? Some Of you may call
it capital. And what grievance have
we against capital? Capital Is merely
wealth-wealth devoted to productive
uses. Nothing that is not wealth can
be capital. Capital does not employ la
Dor, my friends. Labor employs capt.
tai. Capital must seek It's life at the
hands of labor. Destroy capital, and,
If labor is free, it will spring again into
newness of life; strike down labor, and
capital will rot in it's vaults.
Capital and labor are not natural
enemies, nor is there any good reason
why they should be. There Is an indis-
soluble bond of relationship between
them. Labor creates capital for it's own
uses. and capital Is the natural tool OF
labor; and in it, heart of hearts labor
loves capital as the father loveth the
son. What has brought about this un-
natural enstrangement between them
Why should the created turn against it's
creator, and the father spurn his off,
spring?
1t is not because capital is too often
fortified by privilege? So it seems to
me. It Is only by means of special
privileges owned and controlled by
capitalists, that capital can ever secure
an advantage over labor. And it is
only by securing privileges from which
other men are debarred, that the so.
called capitalist" is enabled to take
wealth from society without giving any
thing in return for what he receives
There should in the nature of things
be no conflict between labor and capital
But there is, under present economic
conditions, necessarily a very decided
conflict between labor and certain
class VI SOCducU CdplldllSIS, anu LII
very thing they are fighting about i!
capital-or, more properly speaking
wealth. We cannot deny it, and w
need not attempt to disguise the fac
that we all want wealth. We all neet
it, and those of US who earn it ought t.
have it; and, I may add, those of u
who do not earn it ought not to hav'
it.
The Menace of Privileges.
Now, what is it that prevents labo
from reaping the full measure of it
reward, while permitting other men t.
fill their pockets with what they hav
not earned? It is privilege. You ar
today combined against the power o
special privileges. And what is tn
nature of these privileges? You fire
quently hear courts and lawyers spea
of them as vested rights They ar
vested wrongs. They are nothing les
than the power, vested in private hand
to control the ultimate sources of pre-
duction and the means of distribution
There can be no ironclad, indestructibl