The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1903-09-05

By Eugene v. Debs.
Galusha A. Grow, the aged politician
and ex-speaker of congress, is seriously
disturbed about the conflict between
capital and labor" and is giving the
closing days of his life to the solution
of this vexed problem. In his public
service Mr.. Grow is credited with hav-
ing been clean and honorable man,
and it is a fitting climax to such ca
reer that he should devote his last
hours and his last efforts to the cause
| Of industrial peace.
| But the trouble with Mr.. Grow, like
many others of his advanced years,
is that he lives in the past; he deals
with conditions that have long since
ceased to exist, seeming utterly oblivi-
Gus of the industrial revolution which
| has wrought havoc with things as they
were, and as he stiIl sees them, and
which is still in full swing and will not
cease until Industrial peace, the fruit
of industrial freedom has been conquer
ed, and the terms "capitalist' and "la-
borer," as we now understand them,
lose their meaning as they merge in
one and the same person and every
human being is at once capitalist and
worker, employer and employed, as
unit Of the socialist commonwealth.
In his recent article on 1.-THE Short
comings of Arbitration" Mr.. Grow
very properly concludes that there is
little hope for progress in that direc-.
ton. And then, getting mixed in his
terms, he falls into succession Of
errors from which even his idealized
Public Opinion cannot rescue him.
Says he:
"There can be no war or even con-
flict between capital and labor when
their real interests are. rightly under
stood and fully appreciated. They are
mutually dependent on each other, and
neither can accomplish any great re-
suits without the other. OF what use
is labor, beyond the supplying of mere
physical wants by the cultivation of
the soil, without capital to furnish
transportation to market for the pro-
ducts of labor as we'll as for the de-
velopment Of all industries? And Of
what use would capital be without Ia
Dor? In the worlds commerce the
locomotive is Of no use without cars
filled with the products of labor, and
such cars would be of no use without
capital to build the railroad and buy
the locomotive.
1.-THE grievance Of labor in free cleo
tive governments like ours are to be
removed in the same way as other
grievances are removed-by an appeal
to the intelligent judgment Of public
opinion. In free elective governments
with free speech, free press and uni
versal ballot, there can be no excuse
! for lawless violence. No matter what
the grievance complained of may be-
a. resort to lawless violence is an at
tack on the rights of every law-abiding
citizen and upon organized society it.
self, and if successful it would be the
! first step in the road that leads tt
| anarchy and national ruin.'
| Between ''capital and labor" rightly
understood, or wrongly understood, al
all, there never was or never will be
any conflict. Capital, except as to un.
developed natural resources, is the
product Of labor. There is no war be-
tween the worker and the machine. HI
made it and uses it, and now his very
life and freedom depend upon it,, bu
he does not own it, and this is where
! the war begins. He has no quarre
| Will l11C tldCllIIIc OuI uc ID VSlJ OC
! cidedly in "confict'' with the capitals
; who claims ownership Of the machin,
! and pockets what the worker and tn,
! machine produce.
: The conflict, therefore, is not between
! labor and capital, but between labo
: and the capitalists, a class who grow
! rich and defiant through their exploita
! ton of the working class under tn
! wage system.
Workingmen could get along, and
thousand times better than at present
without the brood of capitalists to alb
sorb their product, but the capitalist
. would perish from the earth but TO
- the labor of the working class tina
= sustains them.
+ Will Mr. Grow contend that Willia1
Waldorf Aston is a necessary factor o
I any factor at all. in the production c
wealth?
II Mr.. Astor is highly developed Ca
J pitalist, and it would be interesting
know in what way labor is depender
ri upon him and other parasites tina
J suck their life-blood and yield absc
! lutely nothing in return.
Il Is the leech essential to the life an
! health of the horses? Are they "mutua
! ly dependent upon each other?''
! Does Rockefeller produce a drop
I oil, or Carnegie a pound Of steel, I
! Hill an inch Of transportation? WEI
= they and all their class to resig1
! would the spinal cords Of these gres
! enterprises be severed and shumanit
Z paralyzed? F.. :: %=> j. VA :: n \;
s. =. Mr.. Grow viii have no difficulty d
"a recalling the Il fact tina Il on yI al Sc