Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-09-18


own prosperity as well as of his they
worked as they never worked before.
Those employees made thousands of
dollars FOR themselves. They made
millions upon millions Of dollars for
Mr.. Childs. The magnificent results
from practicing the Golden Rule in
the Philadelphia Ledger can be dupli-
Gated in every other big business cor
poration In any part of the world.
But the trouble with most capitalists
of the present day Is that they refuse
to do as Mr.. Childs did. They shlrk
their individual responsibility. AS your
moneys are collected into great trust
or corporation and you only hold few
shares you say you are not responsi-
bic for what the whole concern may
do. You are like the members of an
execution squad who have been de-
tailed TO shoot spy caught within the
military lines. You say no one indivd-
ual is responsible for the execution, be-
cause twenty-five bullets instead OF
one strike the doomed mans heart, but
every capitalist who has his money in
vested in a corporation where starva-
ployees is responsible for the damage
that his money helps to do. He is re-
sponsible IL child labor be engaged in
his factory. He is responsible If men
and women, on account Of his indiffer-
ence, go to their mental and physical
and perhaps spiritual doom. He is his
brothers keeper in so far as that he is
bound to see that the man whose toll
adds to his wealth has fair wages.
Cause of Social UpheavnI.
But the laboring classes as we'll 8s
the capitalists have sinned and helped
to cause the present social upheaval.
The employee is not any more a saint
than his employer. They both at times
seem to be tarrad with the same black
stick Yet the average laboring man
pretends to think that all the cause
for the present social &pheaval is to
be laid at the rich mans door and not
at his own. In his own blind egotism
he seems to be almost as contented
with himself and his actions as was
the old Quaker, grumbing against the
pecularities of the human race, when
he said to his wife, "All the world is
queer except me and thee, Mary, and
thou art little queer"
DO the laboring classes always make
their employers interest their own IN
terest? oh, no. There are thousands
and hundreds of thousands of them
who show little If any, sense of moral
responsibility, When engaging their
services to a man, they do not for one
tr,csf mt CT 70 no
which that employer has invested in
his plant. They do not stop to think of
the financial risk he is running, of the
seven years of financial depression
which may come to him when he may
have to run his works at practical
dead loss, as when the seven years Of
famine came to Joseph in the land of
Egypt. They do not seem to realize
that when they shrk their work they
are stealing their employers money,
for time means money.
The different labor associations, like
the Bricklayers' union, the Stone Cut
ters', the Carpenters and Builders, the
Steam Filters, Gas Filters and
Plumbers unions the Brotherhood of
Locomotive Engineers, of Firemen.
Brakemen and Conductors, all have
their beneiicent mission. They ought
to benefit capital as well as labor.
They ought to be the means of putting
through the different state legislatures
laws to prevent the employment of
children, to limit the hours of labor
and to prevent fragrant lnjustces
against their members. But the work
Of the modern labor union does not
stop there. 1t often goes to the capt
talst and tries to dictate what men he
shall or shall not employ. 1t goes to
the capitalists and says: You must
look upon every one Of our members
as an equal and pay all alike. You
must pay just as much daily wages to
the ordinary worker as to the skilled
worker" Or the labor union goes to
the capitalist who is paying satisfac
tory wages and whose employees are
all contented and says: "Mr. So-and So
we have got to call your men off on n
sympathetic strike. We cannot make
your neighbors pay the union rate.
Therefore we shall stop work until the
pressure compels your neighbors to
yield"
We'll" answers some walking dele
gate, that Is an exaggerated illustra-
ton, but uniform wages to all union
workers and when necessary. sympa-
thetic strikes are absolutely indispen-
sable in their way, and we are only
following the example of capitalists
and employers in making such combi-
nations. We must look after the inter
ests of the laboring man and keep our
labor unions intact. 1t Is only by the
cooperation of one union, fighting for
the interests OF other labor unions,
that the pressure is applied and our
reasonable demands are granted. The
laboring man cannot practice the Gold
en- Rule of looking after the interests
of his employer or else he will starve
to death. The first thought the labor
Ing man must have is for himself, and
himself alone"
Mutual Trust.
My lnboring friend. II you cannot
reach the high Christian standard Of
loving your employer as you would
love yourself, you are simply heading
toward the social economic Wilderness.
The greatest inspiration for future ma
tional prosperity is not to be found in
the gold bricks which are stored away
in the vaults of our national banks: it
is In the mutual trust which the capt.