The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1903-11-21

possibilities! |! | !! ]! 1Df:. /
:. FINANCIAL PANIC:
e. CLARK TELLS "A FEW
THINGS RELATIVE TO FINAN-
CIAL CONDITIONS,

EDWARD e. CLARK TELLS "A FEW
THINGS RELATIVE TO FINAN-
CIAI. CONDITIONS.
A Few Reasons Why. Public Utilities
Should BE Owned and Controlled
BY the Government. The Outlook
For the Coming Year. A Review
of the Past.
The following by e. E. Clark, Grand.
Chief of the Order Of Railway Con-
ductors, in Boyce's Weekly last week:
is very interesting from a statistical
standpoint ="
There has been some discussion in
the newspapers recently of the posi-
bilities Of a financial panic being
brought about by the withdrawal from
banks and commercial channels of the
funds of labor organizations and the
deposits Of workingmen, because Of
the disposition lately developing to
attach financial liability to labor or
ganizations and their members for
losses to employers resulting from Ia
Dor difficulties. While it is not prob
able that such action will be taken by
labor unions and labor unionists in
and the effect of such action, if taken,
is not now estimated when spoken Of
as the prime factor in a financial
panic.
We have not at. hand data showing
the amount Of actual money in curcula-
I ton or the amount earned annually
| by working men. 1t is, however,
known by all that but a small portion
OF the commercial business Of the
| country is done on a strictly cash
basis. Every Fall when the time
comes for moving the crops of the
agricultural States of the West there
! is a Tightening of the money market,
and not infrequently the ingenuity of
| the Nations Treasury is taxed to de-
wise ways and means of averting a
panic. The necessity for financial
! legislation which will give more elias
ITCHY to our finances and permit the
available cash to go further in pro-
tecting the credit which is the founda-
ton of our commercial structure is
deemed imperative by many of those
whose years and means Of study of
these questions make them authorities
thereon.
The serious effects, therefore, of
withdra wing from circulation such en-
ormous sums as are owned and are
on deposit by trades unions and trades
unionists can more readily be imag-
ined than described.
All protection OF life and real
estate property rests in laws, and pro
lection Of financial investments and
deposits rests largely in the personal
honesty and integrity of those charged
with administering the affairs of the
enterprise or depository. No doubt
some men are made honest by fear OF
the results Of dishonesty, but the af-
fairs Of large financial institutions
must be in charge of men who are in
/ herently and: scrupulously honest, for
j honesty's sake alone, it the institution
is=st to be- safe and sure beyond doubt:
4 90 II one man :Wilfuny; commits IA: q
wrong. against. another: or by unlaw-
full acts cause that other to sustain
losses, or un1awfully causes the dis
tribution of the property or injury tc
the person of that other, there can be
no question but that the law should
Iprovide remedy and protection. The
law CON not, however, provide rem.
edy for all injuries or. losses which
are Indecent to the commission Of law
full acts. A corporation establishes
an industry at a certain place. 1t sells
i building lots to its employees and en-.
courages them to build homes there
on. After few years, and after many
such homes have grown up around the
industry, the company sells out to {
Trust and the Trust closes up the
works. With the works idle there is
no inducement for the employees to re
main there In fact, they can not d.
So, for the demands of daily susten
, ance drive them to daily toll. Thei1
savings have all been invested in thu
homes which the closing. Of the works
has rendered practically va1ueless, AM
they. are obliged to sell those home:
; for song, or, perhaps, abandon then
altogether, and go forth in search o
employment. A financial lost
them a heavy one-has been impose,
upon them by the closing of tn
, works. The law properly permits tn
owners of the property to operate i
or to permit it to lie idle as the.
choose, and no one would claim tina
the corporation, was legally liable t.
it's former employees for the financia
losses which they had sustained. W.
might feel that a. moral obligation
had. not been met and discharged b.
the owners but legally they would b.
held free from liability.
Now, suppose that, on the othe
hand, the employees of that corpora
ton see fit. to retire from its emplo.
; rather than to continue therein unde
conditions and terms which the EN-
p1oyer refuses to change. Certainly n
one will claim that those employees ar
legally liable for the losses which ma!
come to the corporation because It
works remain idle.
It is, therefore, we'll for every on
of us to study with impartial an,