The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1904-10-29
TON |1IS
o.. ON LABOR QUESTION.
Why Does ne nv hos Prod ces:
the Most Of Wealth Get
=. the Least Of t? q ! = =.
Holds That Producer Does Not
Get His Share. Of That
Which He Produces.

To my mind thte most glorious and
indispensab BILE triumphs that are ever
won upon this. earth are those. of the
Grand Army of Labor, :marshalled and
marching under the white banners Of
peace. .
No men on earth have a. right to
3uster pride than those in that army:
In every pulse beat of commerce there
Is the presence Of their vital strngth.
The capitalist dreams of millions ac-
cumulating by the hundreds, but the
basis of his dreams is labor. Finan-
clers may scheme, Presidents and
Cabinets may plan, and the great
Panama Canal may be, laid down
across the maps with blue pencils un-
til We can caluculate every dollar Of
I the cost; but until the labor with his
pick and shovel shall actually meet
the forces of nature in all their
strength and win the victory over
natural obstacles in swamp and noun
tain and plain, the plans of Cabinets
and the schemes Of financiers are
worth less than the paper upon which
they are drawn.
What. is the labor question:? In
plain English it is this: The work
man in every field of Industry asks
why it is that the men who prduce the
most Of this wealth should enjoy the
least of it, while the men whose toll
produces the least of it should by
subtle contrivances of law and Of bus
mess enjoy the most of it. In other
words, the man, who makes 1t all
thinks that he ought to have fair
snare OF that which he makes. As
general proposition, the few who mo-
nopolize our wealth to-day never pro-
duced dollar of it,
What is capital and what is labor?
Originally they were the same in that
cause and effect are the same. There
was time when there was no capital
There never was a time when there
was no labor. Capital is simply the
child of labor, the accumulated result
of labor, the effect of labor. Once
| upon time every dollar of the wealth
OF the richest man in America lay I'M
coined in the muscles Of labor The
national wealth of this country is sup
| posed to be about eighty billions Of
dollars; yet when Captain John Smith
landed at jamestown there was none
| OF it here, excepting the land. Where
was it? It lay in the muscles of labor
ers yet unborn; in the brains Of think
ers yet to be.
| No man denies either one of these
propositions. Yet we have this sing
ular situation: Everybody wants pro-
lection for the labor of yesterday,
which has become capital, and most
people laugh you to scorn when you
seek to protect the labor of to-day,
.Whic h he s.. not yet become capital. ! I'll
The natural reward aof ia bor. is that
which It oduces e the workman
gathers rushes and makes a basket nc
man will dispute that the laborer is
entitled to that basket If labor
gathers palmetto and weaves hat
the hat surely belongs to labor. It is
only when we advance to a stage
where material may be furnished by
one person and the labor by another
that difficulties in dividing between
them arise. AS general proposition
labor should get all that It produces
after due allowance is made for the
material and the use of the capital
which were employed in the work. II
| is safe proposition to say that the
producer does not now receive a fair
proportion of that which he produces
! -ThOmaS r. Watson