Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1903-11-06
TRUSTS AND STRIKES.


clond overshadowing the prosperity OF
the country, They are in their present
attitude TO each other and to the country
at large a dangerous menace to the
future development of our varied indus
tries, aud the perpetuity of our boosted
American institutions. The highest
order of our envied civilization will he
undermined and overwhelmed unless IN
the near future there snail be found a
solution of the mixed and complicated
problem. No contention has arisen since
the DAYS of Southern slavery, which
means SO much for veal or woe to our
republic, as this gigantic struggle be-
tween capital and labor The rights OF
individuals and the security of the home
are threatened by the passionate tides
which so often gain the mastery over
reason and good judgment. The great
mass of the people who are not directly
connected with either of the conflicting
organizations are as it were between the
upper aud lower milestone. Their rights
are subject to be encroached upon;
their entreaties and their threats avail
nothing to lessen the storm. The cap
italist and the labor leader present the
picture in Imagination of two railway
trains travelling in opposite directions on
one track at the same time. OCCASION
ally there is lull in the storm, as some
court of arbitration attempts to unravel
the knotted skein and from chaos pro-
duce order but the natural enmity be-
tween the over rich and the rest of the
world rests but for a very brief period
before the tempestuous renewal OF the
strife. If one side is foolish and neal
sighted, the other is decidedly most sci
fshly blind. Our sympathies may moi
be fully with either side; they SHOULD
not be, for both sides are eternally more
or less in the wrong. Selfish interests
never fail to carry one beyond the happ,
medium line at which all rights ar
equal, and all greetings those of hu
man brotherhood. Yet we pity the toll
ing millions, for in the end they mus
suffer the greater sacrifices unless cnnd
tions reach the awful point where law
cast aside and brute force fights for tn
mastery. God grant such time may nc
come to this fair land of ours.
If the American policy of high pre-
tective tariff has favored condition
naturally productive of great fortunes
and their combination into trusts for tn
purpose of an absolute control of TIL
price both of labor and commodity, an
in such relation as to augment beyon
all reason their financial and politics
influence; and if this rising to almo
unlimited power of money has legit
mately compelled labor to organize fl
self protection and the rights of Il
many, then may it not be the part of
broad craftsmanship to see the eau
that has produced evil effects, and
find as far as possible remedy to app
at the very roots?
Why is it that labor, the exercise
the physical energy of that class of mt
who are ranked the poor-who 10y reas'
of our broad guaged compulsory educ
tional system are year by year rising
a higher common level of intelligence
why is it that for self defence they fe
compelled to resort to secure measur
of organized unionism Is it not |
cause the money power has proven its'
truly soulless, with no thought or ca
for anything save the opportunities
double over and over again its accumu
ton, and that if need be at the expen
of the comfort and happiness and rigt
of the masses of the people Not t
the day of millionaire and multi-millio
aire; not till the day of combination
capital for the purpose of crushing o
the small manufacturers of our rural d
tricts not until the inhuman greed
riches reached the point where its oy
ends were paramount at any cost; n
until it was all too evident that t
money of the rich could buy legislator
and bride executive officers; not I'M
its wish became the law of the land Il
until the great struggling laboring e
ment saw the giant octopus compelli
every material element of life payi
tribute to its selfish demands not un
then did we see the powerful uprising
organized labor taking earnest and o
times severe measures to protect itself
the comfort of its homes and the hap
ness of its children. Money in combil
ton has been more than any other thi
the direct cause of the great strik
which have resulted in much of dsord
and suffering. If there were none
the extremely rich there would be
more of the extremely poor, but ma
more OF the happy and contented, fail
well to do. Great riches in the hands
the few ever has been and ever will
an obstacleto the common sympathet
fellowship Of mankind. Our laws shou
be such as To aid all In mining the co