The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1902-03-22
Old MAN QUESTION
RECEIVING CONSIDERA ALTON
FROM LABOR PAPERS.
Movement by Employing Glass to
Get Rid on Workman After He
Has Reached and Passed the Age
of As Year.-Result of q Desire Of
MOney-Mad People to Possess
Great Wealth.

raised by the statement recently made
in Chicago that the se1nploying class
were cutting off the workman who has
reached the age Of IS years. If there is
desire on the part OF the employing
class to get rid OF a. workman after he
has reached and passed the age of As
years, it is largely due to the desires
of a money-mad people to become pos
sessed of great wealth. Social snob-
berry, aristocracy measured by dollars
and cents and unsuitable greed are
contributary forces. The recent rapid
introduction of improved machinery
and new ideas into trade and COM
nlerce is also responsible. What a sad
commentary it is on dur present civili-
zation that honest, LOYAL citizens whose
labor, skill and industry have made our
told at the prime Of life that there is
no more work for them; that they can
steal, beg or live on charity. And
those who reap the profits are hiring
houses at enormous cost on streets
adjacent to where King Edward will be
crowned. This is edifying to the "old
man" who at the age of As years can
look forward to a. residence in the
county poor house, says the Cigarma-
kers Journal.
Perhaps we are trnveling too fast in
the mad rush for commercial and in
dustrial supremacy, and VINO knows
but that some day we may reap not
the full rounded life of industrial, So
cial and commercial contentment, but
instead shall harvest a spent life,
wrecked on the altar of mammon and
selfish greed. While. believing in in
dustrial and commercial progress con-
sistent with the needs of a great peO-
pie, we unhesitatingly say that progress
in that direction which calls for the
sacrifice of honest Workingmen and
women for no other cause except the
crime of having managed to remain
alive until they reach the age of As
years is a burning shame and dis
grace to American civilization.
The question is one that calls for the
serious consideration of all thoughtful
citizens. We of the trade union school
Of thought and philosophy hold that
human beings and their conditions all
through life is Of more Importance
than the piling upHof mere sordid dol
lars that.haXe been sHEpund from the
masses. Great ffKane5af fortunes bufft
with the bones of premature old men
and cemented with the life blood of in
nocent children may dazzle and seem
great, but it isn't substantial civiliza-
ton and cannot stand.
Some have proposed the idea of gov
eminent pension for the natural bread
winner of the family. If the state aid
~
the government is to take a hand in
this matter let them urge a law that
will drive the children out of the fac
tories and in to the schools. The great
trouble just now is that these corpora
tions and captains of industry are look
ing for cheap labor. To our mind it is
not so much a question whether man
at the age of 45 years is capable of go
ing ahead, but rather the one of cheap
labor. The real trouble is that i'm
proved machinery instead of being
worked by the men is now worked by
women and children. Cheap labor is
the real issue. It is not so much the
age limit Of As, but get the ones who
will do the work cheap. If just and
humane laws were put in force such as
would compel the child to go to school
instead of to the shop there would be
no age limit, false or otherwise. Jesus
said, "Suffer little children to come un-
to me and forbid them not" Greedy
employers are saying the same thing
today and are gathering in the little
children and discharging the father.
Improved machinery which should be a
blessing to mankind is turned into an
instrument of torture for the men who
have managed to live until they are
AZ years>of age. The new golden rule
or the manufacturers versions of
Christ's teachings means that we must
dye the hair and lie about our ages.
In the dim and misty past some one
said that grey hairs were honorable.
This may have been true then and per-
haps is now, but under existing money
mad rush for commercial and in
dustrial supremacy set in, but from a
capitalists standpoint it's more honor
able to be very young and ready to
work cheap. About 70 per cent of all
the people employed in the shops owned
and controlled by the cigar trust are
women and children, who work for very
low wages.
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