The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-06-12
Rev. DR.. Lansing Replies to Rev.
Mr.. Payne.


| Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: In endeavorlng to clear the minds
Of the people from Observation-Disclosures
1t is always likely that one may be mis-
understood. Indeed the capacity for mis-
| Understanding Is very large However,
we must take the risk if we are to any
degree to discuss the practical or even
the theoretical questions of life. / would
| not have supposed that Mr.. Payne could
have so misconstrued my discourse on
strikes unless 1 had had experience be-
forehand of the difficulty of making some
men understand what you try to state
In the clearcst terms And now It Is my
purpose to avoid the same mistake and
to take up some of Mr.. Paynes state
ments, not that I may attack him in
any way, but only that I may possibly
help to better understanding of the
| subject which. misunderstood, is work.
Ing such harm to all the interests of our
country.
The present miners strike was not the
only strike which / had in my mind nor
of which spoke on Sunday evening. On
the contrary. I stated that the last
twenty years had been the strike period
Of this country giving the number dur
ing the whole Of our previous history as
1491, and citing the number for the last
twenty years as 22I93 To this ] added
some figures of strikes in Massachusetts
dt various DeriouS, as well as OtnerS
concerning other states, and likewise
those of Europe. The general survey of
the whole subject which I purposed and
which l carried out as far as I was able
IN the time allotted. neither proposed nor
attempted to discuss the present strike
In this valley. save only as. by allusion,
1t might be classed as one of many. The
advantages and disadvantages of strikes
were presented from the worldwide sur
vcy Of tho subject,
1t will be seen both from my purpose
and my utteranceS that I attempted to
lift our minds to a wide survey which
should not prejudge the present situa-
ton but which would throw light upon
1t from all sources. 1t was therefore i'm
possible that should have placed all the
blame of the present miners strike upon
the miners. inasmuch as l did not raise
the question of blame in the present
strike. did not attempt to discuss it, and
so could not be held responsible for MIR.
Payne's total failure to apprehend the
breadth of my discussion. No one has
ever heard me. either in public or private.
and ! speak freely, locate the blame of
this strike on the miners alone. And it
is singular that Mr. Payne should have
confined all his thought to the present
strike when I was endeavoring to make
all my hearers look over the whole sub
ject of strikes and judge Of their value
or advantage from an international
standpoint.
This fact makes it the more impossible
that / should have become special
pleadcr for the employers. There is no
reason in the world why I should have
done so, even If had been combining my
attention to particular strike. Might 1t
be possible that one of my hearers was
so determined to be partisan that he
could not imagine man taking Il fair
and unpreiudiced view? This assumption
of extraordinary sympathy with special
class. which he makes for himself and
which he charges upon me- always savorS
to me of the denlagOgue, because l can
see no reasan why any man should be
SO conceited as to assume that he has a
monopoly of humane sympathies for any
kind of working men. Indeed / would
not wonder If I had done more days
work at manual labor than Mr.. Payne
If he assumes that so doing is the only
way to learn to sympathize with men
who work with their hands, possibly my
education in that line would give me the
right to assume that he has not the
monopoly of the sympathy of which he
boasts.
did not speak of the money loss as
the only loss or the chief loss from
strikes. On the other hand, ! especial
ly called attention to the fact that money
was not the chief loss or the chief gain
in strikes. But. in the valuable article Of
our very able labor commissioner. Mr.
Carroll d. Wright, in the June North
American Review, from which I quoted
the money loss was made very prOmi-
nent, as probably above $500, 100000 in
twenty years. and as the large proportion
of strikes give prominence to the matter
of money wages, as their occasion, it |
would be difficult to consider the sub |
iect at all without giving this some
prominence. The money side is apparent !
ly given a very prominent position in |
the discussion of all questions of indus |
trial economies.
do not know whether Mr.. Payne has |
discussed the matter of labor and wages |
very extensively. Possibly not But If |
he has. does not he find it very desirable
to show on which side of all methods Of
uplifting humanity lies the economic |
and pecuniary advantage? I placed es-
pccial stress on the fact that gains and |
losses. not financial, are far more weigh |
ty than mere pecuniary changes All my |
hearers who listened with fair inteli- |
gence, must remember this. l wonder |
why Mr.. Payne did not see 1t. Beyond |
all doubt there is some benefit in strikes;
but when the leading economists of the |
world tell us that II strike Is a purely |
destructive agency it would seem that if |
the end could be gained without such |
destruction, there would be manifest adj |
vantage from seeking it by other means. !
1nsurrection Is the last resort in political |
struggles; sometimes necessity, no |
doubt. but chronic insurrecton Is neither |
the way to political nor economic advant-
age.
Under Mr. Payne's number "6' he af- |
firms the right of a man "to use all !
moral means to induce as many men as |
possible to side with him." Are the as
sault, the curse, the threat. the black
guardism, the shower of stones. the mur-
hpVpntt
Against these | spoke and the confusion |
of the critics mind, apparent everywhere, |
Is most apparent when he sees barbar- |
isms like these and endeaNors to bring |