The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1902-12-04
THE LABOR PROBLEM.
Uniontsm Contains Much That Is Good
and Some Had.

and Some Had.
How to secure fair treatment alike for
LABOR and for capital. how to hold In
check the unscrupulous man, whether
employer or employe, without weakening
individual Initiative, without hampering
and cramping the industrial development
OF the country, Is problem fraught with
great difficulties and one which IL Is OF
the highest importance to solve on lines
of sanity and far-s.ghted common sense
as well as OF devotion to the right. This
Is an era OF federation and combination.
Exactly as business men find they must
often work through corporations. and as
IL Is constant tendency of these cor
porations to grow larger. so II is Otter
necessary for laboring men to work in
declarations. and these have become i'm
portant factors of modern industrial life.
Both kinds of federation, capitalistlc and
labor, can do much good. and as nee
esSsry corrollary they can both do evil.
Opposition to each kind of organization
should take the form of opposition to
whatever Is bad in the conduct of any
given corporation or union-not of at
lacks upon corporations as such nor upon
unions as such. for some o. the most
far-reaching beneflcent work for our peo-
Pile has been accomplished through both
corporations and unions. Each must re-
fraiR from arbitrary or tyrannous inter-
fererice w,,n the rights of others. Or
ganized capital and organized labor alike
should remember that in the long run
the interest of each must be brought
into harmony with the Interest OF The
general public; and the conduct of each
must conform to the fundamental rules
OF obedience 10 the law. OF individual
freedom, and of Justice and fair dealing
toward all. Each should remember that
In addition to power IL must strive after
the realization of healthy, lofty and gem
-Tft0vrr n
wage worker, mus, he guaranteed his
liberty and his right to do aS h. likes
with his property or his labor so long
as he does not inirin"c upon the ri" hts
OF others, II Is of the highest lmpor-
lance that employer and employc nj Ike
should endeavor to appreciate each the
viewpoint of the other and the sure dis
aster that will come upon both In The
long run II either grows to take as habit
ual an attitude of sour hostility and dis
trust toward the other Few people de-
serve better of the country than those
representatives both Of capital and labor
and there are many suCh-who work
continually to bring about a good under
standing of this kind, based upon wisdom
and upon broad and kindly sympathy be-
tween employers and employed Above
all, we need to remember that any kind
OF class animos!ty in the political world
is II possible, even more wicked. even
more destructive to national welfare,
than sectional, race or religious animos-
ity We can get good government only
upon condition that we keep true to the
PRINCIPLES upon which this nation was
founded. and judge each man not as a
part of a class. hut upon his individual
merits All that we have n right to ask
of any man. rich or poor. whatever his
creed his occupation. his birthplace. "r
his residence Is that he shall act well
and honorablv nv his neighhor and bv
his country. We are neither for the rich
man as such nor for the door man as
such we are for the upright man rich
or poor So far as the constitutional
powers OF the national government touch
these matters ~ re-eral and vital mo-
mput- to the u1ttr-r- trrv should he eXer-
cised in conformity with the principles
above set forth.
Recommends Department OF Com
merce.
1t Is earnestly hoped that a secretary of
commerce may be created. with seat H.
the cabinet. The rapid multiplication OF
questions affecting labor anG capital the
growth and Comp.eXity OF the organizations
through which both labor and capital row
find expression, the steady tendency to-
WARD the employment of capital in huge
corporations and the wonderful strides Of
this country toward leadership In the in
gent demand for the creation of such po-
sltion. Substantially all the leading com
mercial bodies In this country have unite q
in requesting It's creation. 1t is desirable
that some such measure as that which has
already passed the senate be enacted into
law. The creation OF such a department
would in Itself be an advance toward deal
ing with and exercising supervision over
the whole subject OF the great corporation
doing an interstate business; and with this
enc In view. the congress should en6ow
the department with large powers, which
could be increased as experience might
show the need.