The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-09-25

Employees Is Advanced - GIlded
Promises of Capitalists Held Re-
sponsibe for Anthracite Trouble.
The morning session Of the conven-
ton of employers and employees, which
was held in the university chapel yes
terday, was enlivened by tilt be-
tween President A. B. Stickney, of the
Great Western road, and Miss Jane
Adams, of the Hull House, Chicago,
over certain statements made by Mr..
Stickney, in which Miss Adams had
considerably the best Of 1t In having
the last word.
Mr.. Stickney's paper on the "Re-
wards of Industry" contained several
statements which Miss Adams did not
allow to pass unchallenged, and to
which she made spirited reply. The
first statement to which she took ex-
ception was that the sole object for
which the labor unions We're formed
was the obtaining of a fair division of
fruits of labor; In other words, to
secure the laboring man fair wages.
To this Miss Adams replied that the
object of the union was to secure
higher wages, better hours and more
favorable conditions, quoting govern
ment reports to prove her statement.
Blames Mine Operators.
Another remark to which Miss Ad-
dams made objection was one in
which Mr.. Stickney said that the trou-
BILE in the anthracite fields was caused
by more workingmen being attracted
to the fields than there were positions
to fill. Miss Adams contended that
the men had not gone there because of
high wages offered, but had been in
duced to go there by the operators,
who hoped to increase the supply be-
yond the demand and thereby diminish
the price.
Mr.. Stickney opened his address by
referring to the three partners of all
production-"the wage arners, who
work more than they think; the profit
earners, who think more than they
work; and the interest and rent earn
ers, capital" Neither partner, he said,
could produce without the co-opera-
ton of the other two.
1.-THE first conflict In trade arises be-
tween the wage earners, as sellers of Ia
Dor, and the profit Garner as buyer" He
explained the uses of money and the cause
of it's invention, which, he said, was the
division of labor; and then pointed out
only what it will buy; that It's value de-
ponds upon local conditions and is, in
fact, a question Of industrial geography.
Pro-Labor Legislation.
Referring to pro--labor legislation, the
railroad man said Law laws designed to help
fitting capital instead, and he instanced
the immense fortune accumulated by An
drW Carnegie as a case in point, saying
that the laws which made the amassing Of
that fortune possible were today enrich
ing the wealthiest corporation the world
had ever known, the steel trust.
900 men were on hand to do the work
that should have been done by 100000
Regarding trusts formed to raise 4prices,
he argued that T. the system should be
dominated by trusts, the rise would be
general, and hence would be a rise in name
only. .,,-..s. 1870
strikes and lockouts, Mr.. Stickney COM
pared their effect in the industrial world
to that of the South American revolutions
r rp0n M e
justification for an occasional revolution,
but their baneful effects in the southern
continent would; he thought, be readily
admitted by all. So ''''aF@3f -
"socIa Waste of Child Labor"
Miss Adams subject was THE Social
Waste of Child Labor. Before she took
it up, however, oshe devoted several min
utes to a comment upon Mr.. Stickney's
views.
an investigation made in England which
showed that factory children, even when
allowed to work only half day, were on
an average four inches shorter than their
eight to eleven pounds lighter In weight.
Let u.s." she said, bear the burdens
of our own generation and let us protect
the children and give them their just op-
portunity.
The Purchaser.
The last speaker of the morning ses-
sion was Florence Kelley, secretary of
the National Consumers league, New
York. She spoke on The Indirect En-
ployer, the Purchaser" and said the key
note of the convention, so far as she had
been able to discover it, had been study
of the relations existing between supply
and demand.
She then spoke of the interest had by
the consumer in the welfare of the laborer,
pointing out that it was to the cOnSum
ers interest to see that labor was clearly,
that it's work was performed under proper
sanitary conditions and in healthful
manner. She referred to the prevalence of
tuberculosis in the New York tenement
districts, a disease which, she said, might
readily be scattered broadcast through
"sweatshop" clothing; to the adultera-
ton of food stuffs and to similar evils
which she said the public generally dis
regarded. If only as matter of self
preservation, she argued that it was the
consumers business to see that labor re-
ceived proper treatment.
The encouragement of employees to pur-
chase some interest in the company by
which they are employed is the gist of
the experiment proposed by Terrence V.
Powderly, formerly United State commits
Sloner of immigration and organizer. OF
the Knights of Labor, in a paper read be-
fore the afternoon session, as an allevia-
ton, but not solution, of the veXed la
Dor problem.
Jealousy Is Figure.
Mr.. Powderly, in his opening remarks,
denied any intention Of pointing the way
to settlement of the chronic differences
which exist between the employers and
the employed. He was willing to go
farther and assert that man endowed
with godlike attributes and divinely in
spired in the solution of plan for the
settlement of industrial controversies,
would be defeated in securing it's adoption
by the jealouSieS, prejudiceS and diverse
interests of mankind But there are
ways at hand, he said for bringing men
into closer touch, so that the questions
| at issue may be approached in fair
and just manner.
Mr.. Powderly described the industrial
| development by which the present labor
! conditions were brought about; the alb
| sorption by corporations of the produc-
| tive trades and the consequent decadence
| of the craftsman from the position in
which he labored for his own profit into
! one in which the fruits of his industry
went to swell the profits Of another. This
condition, where the man was uninterest-
! ed in the success Of the company for
| getting his daily stipend, was RESPONSE
| BILE for much of the irreconcilable and
| unreasonable differences between en-
| ployer and employee.
Trusts Are Natural.
| The fact that they could so invest is
| shown by the enormous amount spent by
| the Pennsylvania miners in battling for
| their rights. Mr. Powderly had nothing
to say against the combination of capital
1 hut sh~1 H.