The Tucson citizen., 1902-01-03
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT

De SnreWu move ON JHe part OI the
steel colossus. 1t is not popular cor
poration; it is constantly held up be-
fore the public as an example of the
evils of unrestricted combinations; a
sudden change in the political control
of the Government might result In
legislation which you'd prove. embar-
RAISING if not disastrous to the trust
! as a business enterprise. The able
managers of the steel trust doubtless
realize the dangers of the situation,
and probably have concluded that the
adoption of policy which would
establish more friendly relations be-
tween the corporation and its en-
ployes would make the public regard
the trust with greater favor than it
/ has heretofore manifested.
! While it is temporary expedient a
system of profitsharing might prove
advantageous to the trust as Well as
TO its employees.
1t Is most unlikely that the opposi-
tion to trust methods would materially
diminish because the United States
Steel trust adopts more liberal policy
| toward the workingmen in its employ.
Some of the more practical ana ad-
vanced labor leaders have been con-
tending ever since industrial concen-
tration became an accomplished fact
that the interest of labor and capital
are identical, and that an arrange
ment could be effected between the
great organizations of workingmsn
and the organizations of capital which
would be mutually beneficial Whether
this arrangement Is to take the form
of profit-sharing under binding con-
tracts, or whether it is to take some
other shape, does not yet appear. La
Dor has long contended that it doea
not receive fair share of the wealth
which it's creates, not even when it re-
ceives the highest scale of wages paid
by liberal employers. If, in addition
to larger remuneration for the skin
and industry of trained workers. labor
is also to obtain a share of the net
profits, the relations of the capitalist
and the wOrkingman will be revolu-
tionized. The workingman will derive
a steady income not only from his la
49,. 1,.A
the products of his TOLL whereas the
capitalists income will be derived
wholly from the profits on the money
which he has invested in labor and its
products.
The managers of the steel trus. are
shrewd and practical men. II they are
| inclined to give their employees salts
factory wages for their work and also
bonus in the shape of share OF the
profits it may be taken for granted
that they have counted the cost and re-
gard the outlay as an investment from
which profitable returns may be ex-
pected. A trust however liberal it
may be be in the treatment of It's en-
ployes, is none the less trust because
! it shares it's profits with those who
create it's wealth. After capital and la
Dor have pooled their interests, the
consumer will have no guarantee that
he will be fairly and justly treated.
The Coal Trust, for instance, might
enter into the most philanthropic ar-
rangement with its employees. 1t might
raise their wages and share profits with
them, but If i made the rublia pay
an eXtravagantly high price for coal,
it would be an unmixed evil despite
its generosity 10 it's employees. II the
steel trust should obtain a monopoly
Of steel production and make ex-
orbitant demands upon consumers, it
could not expect the public to tolerate
/ 1t simply because it was generous to
the workingmen in its service. IN
establishing a profit-sharing system
with its employees, the steel trust is
apparently seeking to make the inter-
ests of labor and of the trust identical
possibly with the view of disarming
the opposition of the public. Whatever
Mr.. Morgan and the other officials of
the steel trust may do to reward labor
more literally deserves to be COM
mended; but they should not delude
themselves into the belief that CON
sumers will be more willing to SUD-
NIT to extortion because workingmen
share the enormous profits OF the
trust.