The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-04-15

people.
ent of the power OF the state ii does not
regard itself as bound TO observe the four
teenth amendment of the Constitution of
the United States which declares that no
State shall attempt 10 abridge the privi-
leges or right of life, liberty and property
of any citizen.
WRONGS CRY TO HEAVEN"
'It has not hesitated to resort to vio-
lence and the destruction of property TO
compel the acceptance of its demands. Its
history is stained with blood and ruin.
Many a man whose only fault was that he
stood upon his rights has been made to
suffer outrage and even DEATH and many
an employer has been brought face to face
with financial ruin. These wrongs cry unto
heaven, and yet an unaroused public senti-
ment too often permits them to go an
needed and unpublished.
1T now demands of the public and or
Congress the privilege to violate the laws
forbidding violence and property destruc-
ton that IL may continue to maintain Its
power through terrorism.
1T extends its tactics of coercion and
intimidation over all classes, debating TO
ling independence. of thought and American
manhood.
1T denies to those outside its ranks the
individual right to dispose of their labor
as they see fit-a right that is one of the
most sacred and fundamental of American
liberty.
1T holds bludgeon over the head of the
employer, laying down the terms upon
which he shall be permitted to do business.
1t says to him that he must deal direct
with the union; that, while he shall pay
the men who work in his factory, they shall
be beholden more to the union than to him
for their positions; that he cannot employ
or discharge men without the Endorsement
and consent of the union, and that he must
without regard to their individual worth
or the economic ability of the employer to
pay;
being his own judge as to the length of
time he shall work and as to how much he
shall do within the time prescribed. 1t
takes no account of the varying degree of
natural aptitude and powers of endurance
displayed by individuals and seeks to place
all men in each particular trade on the
same dead level as respects his daily output
and his daily wage. Thus a premium is
placed upon Incidence and incompetency
and there Is a restriction of human effort,
reducing the aggregate production and in
poncy amounts to not only a tax upon the
consumer, the majority of whom do not be-
long TO organized labor. but it reduces the
demand OF the trade at home and lessons
the chances of successful competition by
our manufacturers in foreign markets The
eight-hour law, which II demands, is merely
the extension to wider field of the prin-
ciples 1t enforces in trades under its DOM
ination.
POLICY OF INTIMIDATION"
1t drives unwilling men into its ranks by
Its policy Of intimidation. Thousands of its
members are such to-day, not because they
sympathize with its purposes, but because
they fear the consequences of not yielding
to its tyranny. These men are, as a class.
the more thrifty and capable of it's men,
bers. They are men who secretly rebel
against the system which places them upon
the level with the incompetent and idle,
and would gladly have free conditions es-
tablished, that might prove their superior
worth, and thus gain advancement in life.
But they dare not openly express their
views, for they feel that their employment
and peace depend upon their submissive
acqu1escence to the principles of the union.
While 1t seeks to compel men already
employed In the trades to enlist under its
banner. 1t at the same time seeks to prevent
outsiders from entering the trades. 1t foists
upon employers rules limiting the number
or apprentices, some unions going SO far as
to say there shall be no apprentices. The
boys from the farm now come to the cities
and find the doors of the trades shut
against them. While lawyers, doctors and
men in other unorganiZed vocations are
glad to teach young men their knowledge,
the trades unionist refuses to do So and
employers now forced to endow tech
meal schools. in the hope of obtaining that
supply of new blood for their workshops
which is essential to the prevention of dry
rot.
"Organized labor is an organization of
manual labor, trained and unframed, of
men who do as they are told and who de-
pend upon the brains OF others for guild
ance. That wide field of labor in which
mental capacity is a greater or less reQui-
site on the part of the workers is not repre-
scented by it, and cannot be for the obvious
impossibility of organizing brains. The
rule that organized labor seeks to establish
he ha of ho 1ooc int
gent portion of labor. A comprehension OF
this fact explains why its leaders are found
to be agitators and demagogues. men who
appeal to prejudice and envy, who are con-
stantly instilling a hatred of wealth and
ability, and who, In incendiary speeches
attempt to stir up men to seize by physical
force that which their merit cannot obtain
Composed, as it is, of men of muscle
rather than the men of intelligence, and
commanded by leaders who are at hear,
disciples of revolution, 1t is not strange
that organized labor stands for principles
that are in direct conflict with the natural
laws of economies. Its first great principle
is that an arbitrary division of the pro-
duction would be better than the division
| regulated by natural law, provided how
ever, that it can dictate what this division
shall be. 1t says to capital and to mental
and unorganized labor: We shall take this
proportion Of the products of human indus
| try and you may have the balance. If you
| do not agree to this arrangement you are
unfair" you are enemies of the poor
workingman," you are ''oppressors." and II
| you do not peacefully submit to our terms
We will compel you to do so by force
IAN ABSURD PROPOSITION"
1.-The fixing of arbitrary wage scales by
| force would result in no benefit to any class
| of labor If all classes adopted the idea
| Suppose that clerks. bookkeepers, lawyers
| doctors, managers, business men, and, In
| fact, all workers outside of pure manual
| labor should organize and should say tina,
| they must have such and such wages or sc
stay there. 1t is within the range of posi-
| bility that their demands might be accedeG
| to. Increased wages and profits would thus
| be accorded to every one. according to the
| theory of organized labor, and poverty
would be unknown on the earth. What ar
| absurd proposition. Arbitrary enactment.
| and all the resoluting and demagogy In the
| world can never create an atom of wealth
Wealth is created by labor, capital and
| ability, working together, and there is ne
other way of creating it. There being
| limit to the possible amount of wealth tha
| can be created, and the needs and desire:
| of men being practically unlimited, there
| follows a natural conflict as to the relative
| proportion of this wealth going to eacf
| factor in production. When one class OF
| men get q bigger share than they formerly
received. then thel rs less for the remain
| ing classes of men. 1t is ridiculous to as
| sert, then, that a universal application OF
| the arbitrary wage scale scheme would
| bring about anything but an advance In
| nominal wages, or, in other words, a de
| crease in the purchasing power of the dol
| lar Real wages would remain PRACTICAL.
| the same.
/ hot nv do ,lax