Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1902-11-25
PRIEST ELIoT's VIEWS ON LABOR
Work of the Union. Has obligated
EviIs-Certain Features
Condemned.

1
CAMBRIDGE. MASS. November "a
In an address at a private meeting of the
Colonial Club. of this city, President
Eliot. of Harvard made comprehen-
sive statement of his views on labor
unions.
He said that the work of the labor
unions must be counted among the eff
! forts to make the lot OF mankind more
satisfying and happier. and that their
strength lay in their belief in this work
as their mission. He then enumerated
the conditions which ne designated as
humane conditions of employment
those 10 which la5oring men may rightly
aspire.
First was a rising wage based on in
creased experience, attachments. and age;
second. steady employment after ade-
quate probation; third. the opportunity
for the working man to establish a per-
mancnt home; fourth. conditions which
enable him TO give his employer gener-
Gus service and TO take pride in it; fifth.
the right to a pension on disability.
! which gives throughout lie relief from
one great anxiety. and that public con
sideration, which goes with steady Job
and self-respecting. though humble or
unobserved career
These five conditions of humane en-
ployment. President Eliot said. were
realized to-day in Harvard University.
Plainly they were not realized in the
great American industries employing UNI
skilled labor. where the terms of ser
vice were often those of instant dismiss
sal Another serious difficulty With
American employment vas that it was
spasnlodic. Complaints from employers
were often made the ground for disu1is-
sal
EMPLOYERS MORE TO BLAME.
The present antagonism OF employers
and the unions was the fault of both
parties. but on the whole the former
were more to blame because their situa-
ton was more comfortable and their
education superior. The industrial COM
munity was under many obligations to
unions for the evils they have miti-
fated. such as poor sanitary conditions
in factories, an unreasonable number of
hours Of work. child labor, and the COM
pany store.
The oligarchy of capital had COM
bined effectively and the corresponding
com bination of laboring men was a
/ wholesome check upon lat oligarshy.
There was no question that the labor
union had come to stay
On he other hand. Its cause was In
jured by certain evils which We're sub
versive of fundamental American doc
trincs OF liberty. One of these evils
was the limit placed on the number nf
apprentices. whereas IN the learned pro
LESSONS every encourag cement was given
to the training of novices Other evils
were the limitation OF output which de-
stroys the self-respect Of the efficient
workman. and the uniform wage. which
has a cruel reaction on the less capable
worlsmen. because with uniform wage
ne loses mis- Job q; every slack in o,si-
ness. whereas If he were paid according
to his earning capacity his employer
could afford 10 keep him the year around.
| A fourth evil was the violence which vas
| an inevitabi feature OF every strike in
| industries employing unsk;lied labor. The
unskilled laborer on strike had no other
weapon unless it were the boycott, which
was a cruel. cowavdly interference With
the rights OF all the people.
GROUNDS FOR HOPE.
President Eliot declared that he saw
grounds for hoping that the relations Of
capital am labor would be improved. In
spite of their present uninteligent an
Ia gonism paa tly- by frank public discus
sion Of abuses, partly by prearranged
agreements for Cancellation or arbitra-
ton. and partly by the service which
labor unions would renoer to capital
through their constant command Of the
labor resources OF which capital comes
in need