The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1903-03-05

a man is dissatisfied let him put on his
coat, draw his pay and go west. If he
has no money for carfare, let him walk"
Let us soncede that lands open to
settlemeESS., and free to all who are
willing to work, exist,-th such is
not the case. Let us suppose that such
lands are Glowing with milk and hon.
ey;" are as a "Garden of the Gods, like
Egypt" in what way is that to benefit
the strikers for few cents extra wages
in the anthracite regions2 Draw his
payp Well! Let us accompany one
of the miner to the company's office,
and listen wsile he draws his pay.
Miner: "l.r. Clerk, want my pay
Clerk: "Just moment, Mr.. Stepni-
owiski, I'll settle with you in a min
ute." Clerk figures up in deadly par
allel columns" what is due to Mr.. S.
from the company, and what is due the
company from Mr.. s., and then says:
"Mr. s.. YOU owe the company $780,
Do you wish to pay now?"
Miner: "How's that?"
Clerk: aYou have earned this month
$42 and the bill against you for house.
rent, coal, groceries, powder, shoes, cal
leo, medicine, meat, and sundries,
amounts to $45.60. believe you would
better work another month before you
draw your pay" @siA $50
Is this exaggeration? Not at all.
But supposing the company owes the
miner $500, shall he leave his family
behind, and start on foot for the prom
ised land? Does Mr.. G. expect him to
beg his way and be arrested for vagran-
cy? Or would he advise him to bundle
his family into an empty car and get
arrested for dead beating? Or suppos-
ing the miner is single man, and will
ing to beg, teat or steal his way to
Canada, what can he, q man without
resources, and without previous ex-
perience in agriculture do on q piece of
prairie land, be it ever so fertile !?
Into what sbsurdities some persons
fall! In Mr.. G. we behold a man who
vociferates against cooperative
schemes, thousands of which are al
ready in successful operation, and then
suggests remedies for existing evils so
impracticable, so absurd, that one
wonders if they are the emanation of
sane mind.
Mr.. C.'s censure of labor unions
needs no refutation. Many of the
leading capitalists and employers of
labor on large scale have publicly de-
clared their belief in the fundamental
principles of labor-unionism. These
fundamental principles are altruistic
in their tendencies. La5orers of either
sex organize for the purpose of better
ing the conditions of the working mass
es. That they sometimes resort to un-
lawful means to bring about desirable
and even commendable, results, cannot
be denied. In this respect they are
no better than many capitalists. But
neither can it be denied that thegood
accomplished by labor unions out
weighs the evil they have wrought at
least tenfold, and in this respect they
labor unions) are better than capital.
respectfully call Mr.. C.'s attention
to few remarks on altruisuic senti-
ments: Whatsoever is good, whatso-
ever makes for moral progress, has its
root in altruistic sentiments. All the
moral reformers this world has ever
seen, from Moses. Confucfus, Buddha,
Christ, Mohammed, down to the hum
blest of their sincere exponents, have
been actuated by altruistic motives.
Prometheus stole fire from heaven that
man might live; and the Promethean
spirit is alive today. Individuals have
found their greatest happiness in pro-
noting the general welfare of man
kind; and what is possible in an indi-
vidual cannot be considered impossible
in community.
To say that all schemes, altruistic in
their tendencies, must necessarily end
in failure, is to say that it is not with
in the possibilities for man to make
ethical progress. Twenty centuries
ago our ancestors roamed through the
forests of Europe cooperating only to
kill; they had no oconception of altruism
outside Of certain dealings with the
members of their own tribe. Today,
as q direct result Of the growth Of altru-
istic sentiments, at least one-half Of
s ~