The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-11-26
Two Interesting Predictions.

| that the worldwide movement
toward the dissolution of existing
social forms and a reorganization
Of society on q socialistc basis was
"irresistible" and he added this cheer
ful prediction: I'VE have bad times
before us and you have still more
dreadful times before you-civil war,
immense bloodshed. and eventually mil
itary despotism of the severest type"
Others have predicted similarly.
Lyman Abbott is scholar having
some points of comparison with Her.
bert Spencer. He also offers Il pre-
diction on the same subject. He. too,
looks upon reorganization OF social
forms as irresistible, but expects it to
come to pass by evolutionary rather
than revolutionary processes, and he
sees this evolution at work today.
Listen to his view, as expressed in The
outlook:
| In the primitive state each individual
himself conducts all forms of industry
| necessary for his comfort. He kills the
| game, skins it, makes of the skins moe
| casins for his feet and a cloak for his
| body, digs out the log to serve for a
canoe. erects his wigwam, cultivates his
| little patch of corn, makes and strings
his own bow and fashions his own ar
| rows; IS, in short, butcher, tanner, shoe
maker, tailor, boat-builder, house carpen-
| ter, farmer, armorer, all in one. This Is
indivdualism, pure and simple.
| Gradually he learns that he is more
skillful in the chase than his neighbor
and that his neighbor can make Il bet
ter bow and arrow than he. So one stays
at home to construct, the other goes
| forth to hunt and the two exchange
their products to mutual advantage. AS
| this exchange of products grows more
| extensive and complicated, a medium for
| the exchange is invented, and thus money
| comes into use and barter becomes
| trade. 1t is discovered that different
| communities have different advantages in
| soil and climate or the taste and temper
of the people; so communities as we'll
| as individuals begin to exchange. ard
| trade becomes commerce. Steam is dis
| covered and machinery invented. With
| steam and machinery comes u necessity
| for u larger industrial organization. Com
| binatiOn of capital is now required. Cap
! tal is what Il man makes by his in
| dustry more than he consumes in his
support or his pleasures. When the in
divldual housewife spins the wool and
| weaves it in her loom into Il homespun
| garment, a single man i'll IL single life
time can easily accumulate the capital
necessary for such household industry.
But when a thousand spindles are revolv-
ing and a hundred looms are clankng
under a single roof. one man cannot in
4 lifetime accumulate the capital fer
such a manufacturing industry. Various
individuals must combine their savings.
| Thus the. corporation is created. When
a single housewife spins and weaVeS the
| wool, no industrial organization is neces-
sary; she spins and weaves as she
chooses and as other duties TO her house
hold permit. But when five hundred en-
ployes are working under a single roof
in the manufacture of woOlen garments
for q widely extended market, the for
mer individual liberty Is no longer pos
siblc. These five hundred workers must
work together Thus labor organization
Is created.
Organized labor Is as essential to mod
ern civilization as organized capital. The
only question Is, Shall labor organza-
tions be autocratic or democratic: shall
they be organized under capital and
wholly subject to its will: or shall they
have something to say respecting the
form. nature and spirit of the organiza-
tion? Shall they work under the condi-
tons which capital prescribes. during
the hours which capital chooses to pay,
or shall they have a voice in determining
the conditions the wages, the hours?
This is the first and fundamental Ques-
tlhn lHNolNeu III Oui lluuSllitl
The mine, the factory. the railroad. are
private enterprises, owned by the capi-
talists, who buy their labor as they buy
ther machinery, and discharge the one
as they discard the other when it ceases
to be proiitable: this Is one view. The
mine, the railroad, the factory are
joint-stock enterprise, to be carried on
by capitalists and laborcrs as partners
who share the control and the profits
neither being Independent of the other
each fulfilling an appropriate function in
IL harmonious organization for mutual
profit and inspired by Il spirit of mutual
respect: this Is the other view. Which
of the two is more in harmony with the
principles OF democracy? To ask this
question Is to answer ii. Whatever may
be said of the Old World, in the New
where the plain people control the gov
ernment OF city state and nation, whore
they direct and adirinister the public
education, where they are the final a,I-
thority in their eccl, ,siastical Institutions
it is not possible thar they will perman-
emily consent 10 n system which allows
them no voice in their industrial organ
izations The countrY which is demo-
cratic in politics, education, and religion,
will not be autocratic in industry
The arguments against the organiza-
tion of labor are plausible but not sound
they are derived from an observation |
OF superficial incidents, not from study |
oil tunuamental principles, ''l4anOf unions |
are irresponsible orgapizations." We |
doubt the truth of the statement; we
are inclined TO believe that in law n
labor union Is nothing but Il great part
nership in which every member Is person
ally responsible for all the pecuniary OBJ |
legations of the organization. But II ii |
We're otherwise the remedy would be in |
corporation, not dissolut ON. 'They |
cause strikes" On the contrary they |
have reduced strikes; it would be more |
true 10 say that, historically, unions |
have grown out of strikes man that |
strikes have grown out of unions. They |
break contracts" Sometimes, but ON the |
whole they have kept their agreements |
quite as Loyalty as capitalistic organiza- |
tions. ''rhey violate the law Then |
punish them; no one proposes to dis |
pense with combinations of capital be- |
cause I'm some cases they have yio ated |
law in more cases have evaded it, and |
not infrequently have corrupted it al its |
spring and source. '"rhey are led by |
bosses and demagogues." So have polpi- |
cal organiza tlons been led by bosses ann |
demagogues; they are more apparent In |
politics than IN industry, and are no,
wholly absent from the churches. Wha,
then? We will get rid of them; We win |
not take the counsel of the anarchists
and dissolve society into its original elc
ments. They destroy individual action