The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1903-05-16

surplus laborers7 who found tl1eln1se ives
elsewhere during the strike, otherwise
they would have remained a. hindrance
to the rest in the belief that they were
destined to exc out a living where they
were. While such is the conclusion
from a. purely economic point: of view,
we. cannot expect the artisan losing his
job through some invention. to regard
it With complaceney Of the student, who
has in mind the welfare of the whole
rather than the interest. Of particular
individuals. You. cannot convince him
that industrial harmony and the larger
, interest of his class demand that the
superhuous workmen in a trade find
work where their labor is needed, where
they can be Of better service to them
selves and society by an understanding
of economic laws will help to modify
the severity of this situation by pre-
pairing the workers to meet it: The
eight hour work day is advocated as
means of curtai1ing production rather
than as the normal working time made
possible by machinery. Such a plea is
an argument against machinery and
is based upon the false and absurd no
ton that an abundance of wealth is an
evil. There may be too much Of a par
ticular article. but there can be no limit
to the variety Of useful things needed,
to the resources to be developed, to the
new fields of enterprise awaiting cult
walton. The one essential condition is,
as I have said, that the purchasing
power of the average person be suffi-
Gent to consume the bulk Of the things
produced.
The workman as a consumer is very
important factor in production, as, the
present industrial order is so constituted
that it's well-being is determined by the
status Of the working class.
The insufficient share of the laborer
IN its fruits of industry is responsible
for glutted markets, the bane of mod
ern enterprise, and it is FASTENED by
machinery. In order to overcome the
predicament foreign markets have been
relied upon as an outlet for the surplus
goods. During the early part of the
factory system in England when
wealth was vastly multiplied, foreign
markets became her chief dependence,
because Of her impoverished condition
OF her working class, and it was even
held by the economists of that period
that it was unavoidable that the work.
ers be reduced to bare subsistence. so
as to enable England to sell goods
abroad. In that case cheapness was
obtained by sacrificing the worker, and
machinery was used to. subdue him.
0f
apparent in time by the dreadful con-
sequences. That accounts, in mea-
sure, for the laborer's fear Of machin-
cry. Under the conditions described
anything that intensified the struggle
between them was rightly regarded as
an evil. Whatever advantages they de-
rived from it as consumers by obtain
ing cheaper products could not CON-
ensate for their plight. The foreign
markets were always inadequate as a
distributing factor, because of the small
purchasing power of semi or partly
civilized people. In our case it is esti-
mated that only five per cent of our
products are exported. Sound economy,
without considering the humane side,
demands that the people of a. country
be capable of consuming what it pro-
sduces, save@wl1ere- things can be made.
to- better advantage in one. and Icoun-
try and sold in another. which is simp-
ly a method Of specializing effort, and
is equivalent to a mutual exchange.
Here I touch very closely on the tariff
question, but I hope my hearers will
not be alarmed. I won't drift into
that subject; I simply want to empha-
size that the economic advantage de-
rived by the division of labor and spec
ialized effort should be applied inter-
nationally as we'll as locally; that a
country which by reason of it's climate,
soil, lotation and its aptitudes of it's
people, can produce certain things best
should be permitted to do so and ex-
change them with the products Of other
countries similarly situated.
To summarize: Where the laborer
con offer no resistance and the so-called
iron law Of wages operates to keep him
down to the life line, machinery adds
uncertainty to his other woes He is.
as it were, cut out of civilization.
Wherever he presses onward and Sc
cures larger share of an ever enlarg-
ing product, machinery becomes an up
llILlng IOfCe.
The influences that operate in favor
of the latter are education, which in
creases the wants of the worker; or
ganization, that enables him to partici-
pate directly in the benefits of machin-
cry, and a better conception of the re-
lations between employer and employed,
that serves to minimize the hardships
of the Industrial strife and tends to
promote fair dealing. With such ten
dency the worker is bound in time to
become reconciled to the machine, and
instead of fighting it as cures will
welcome it as means that makes pos-
sible higher wages with shorter hours
while enchancing atthe same time the
): purchasing value Of money-a three
fold gain-a prospect that makes the
disadvantages of machinery pale in
comparison.
In conclusion: Unless labor cannot
be justified, or anything that limits or