Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1902-12-05
THE LABOR PROBLEM.
UntOntAm Contains Much That Iu Good
and Some Bad.

How to secure fair treatment alike for
labor and for capital, how to hold in
check the unscrupulous man, whether
individual initiative. without h amnerins
and crampinE the industrial development
of the country, is problem fraugnt with
great din9uitl IT,; and one which is OF
OF sanity and far-sighted common sense
as Well as Of devotion to the right This
Is an era Of federation, and combination.
EXACTLY as business men find they must
often work through corporations, and as
1t Is a constant tendency of these cor
poradons to groW larger, so it is often
declarations, and these have become i'm
portant factors of modern industrial life:
Beth Both kinds Of federation, capitalistic and
essary corrollary they can both do evil.
Opposition to each kind of organization
should take the form of opposition to
Whatever Is bad in the conduct of any
tacks upon corporations as such nor upon
unions as such: for some of the most
far-reaching beneticent work for our peo-
pie has been accomplished through both
corporations and unions Each must re-
frain from arbitrary or tyrannous inter-
ference with the rights Of others Or
Should remember that in the long run run
the interest of each must be brought
into harmony with the interest of the
general public: and the conduct of each
freedom, and Of justice and fair u dealing
toward all Each should remember that
In addition to power 1t must strive after
the realization of healthy, lofty and gem
erous ideals. Every employer, every
Mags worker a6 f. must n1+ be guaranteed his
with his property or his labor so. long
Of others It is Of the highest impor9
shoGd sa sWgo 70 and epoye alike
viewpoint of the other and the sure dis
aster that will come upon both in the
long run if either grows to take as habit
trust toward the other. Few people de-
serve better of the country than those
representatives both of capital and labor
continually to bring about good under
standing of this kind. based upon wisdom
and upon broad and kindly sympathy be
a need to tHst any Rnd
of class animosity in the political world
is, II possible; even more wicked, even
1So destructive to national welfare
upon condition that we keep true to the
principles upon which this nation was
part of a class. but upon his individual
merits. All that we have a right to ask
Of any man. rich or poor. whatever his
his e IS that he s%a aet we
and honorablv by his neighbor and bv
his country. We are neither for the rich
man as such nor for the poor man as
such: we are for the upright man. rich
or poor. SO far as the constitutional
powers of the national government touch
these matters Of general and vital mo-
ment to the nation. they should be exer-
cised in conformity with the principles
above set forth.
Recomm e nds Depa rtment of Com
merce.
1t is earnestly hoped that a secretary of
commerce may be created, with seat in
the cabinet. The rapid multiplication OF
questions affecting labor and capital. the
growth and complexity of the orgariza tons
through which both labor and capital now
find expression, the steady tendency to-
ward the employment of capital in huge
corporations, and the wonderful strides Of
this country toward leadership in the IN
ternational business world justify an ur-
gent demand for the creation Of such DO
sitioE. Substantially all the leading com
mercial bodies in. this country have united
in. requesting its creation. It is desirable
that some such measure as that which has
already passed the senate be enacted into
law. The creation of such department
would in itself be an advance toward deal
ing with and exercising supervision over
the whole subject of the great corporations
doing an Interstate business; and with this
end in view, the congress should erEow
the. department with large powers, which
could be increased as experience might
show the reed: