Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1904-09-10

which seem to have the suicidal policy
Of antagoniZing capital ut I'LL times and
| under all pretcXts and of widening the
breach between capital and labor, with
the result that labor itself is the heav-
lest sufferer through their insane fol-
lies. The most brutal tyrant the south
ern negro knew in antebellum days
was not the white man. but the negro
himself who was made the overseer
of the plantation. In the same way in
many cases the most brutal tyrant the
laboring man has today is not the CAPT
talist. but the walking delegate" or
the mercenary political trickster who,
rs labOring man. manipulates the ex-
ecutive committees which govern the
labor unions for their own ruin. or
course this Indictment Is not universal
in its application. There are many
honest and upright and beneficent
labor organizations. like that of which
the late Mr. Arthur was president
namely. the Brotherhood of Locomo-
tive Engineers. Mr.. Arthur brought
that organization up to such perfec-
ton that 1t not only looked after the
interests of the owners of the different
railroads. but after the interests of
| the engineers themselves. There are
many clear Drained. sagacious and no
BILE minded labor leaders whose object
is not to disorganize the labor market
but to steady 1t. so that employers as
well rs the employed may have their
due. Il do not believe In strikes for
| the laboring man." said Terence v.
Powderly n few months ago. 1T Is
| true we had some when l was at the
head of the Knights of Labor. but we
settled LOO labor disputes without
strikes. Indeed, might say we pre-
vented over 1000 strikes" Yet. strange
to say. where there has been one able
and sagacious leader whose chief OBJ
| ject seemed to have been to make
every man do his honest quota Of work
and get his just pay there have been
many whose chief object has been to
find out how little they can permit II
laborer to do and how much they can
make an employer pay without literal
ly breaking his back. Such men are
an incubus on labor. Like the Old Man
of the Sea. who sat on the neck Of Sind
bad. they sit heavily upon the work
ingman's shoulders. impeding his prog
ress and involving him in endless dis
putes and trouble. The sooner lie ribs
himself of such incumbr.nce TIE better
Like Marie AntOinette.
| Now. my labOring friends. mark you
this. am not claiming that capital is
all right and labor is all wrong.
| think some of the most merclcss men
in the world are to be found in the
ranks OF capitalists. Some of taem W II
squeeze out of a worker his last drop
Of blood. Some of them have no more
sympathy with the hunger and power
| ~ of the worker than Marie An
toinette had with the suffering; of poor
Paris when she heard the cry of the
mobs: Give us bread! We must have
brcad.' Why" said the shallow
Drained French queen to one Of her
attendants. do they ask for bread:
If they have no bread, why don't they
eat cakei" But. while capital in some
instances may he merciless. 1t is quite
certain that II the labor unions will
stop their petty chickering's ami their
unjustifiable tyrannies and unitcdly de-
mand what is right capital will be COM
PEELED to yield to all of labor's just de-
mands. So long as labor persists in
making absurd claims Just so long
will labor not only be refused such de-
mands. but labor will lose much of
what she justly and rightfully ought
i LIB
and says. Capitalist. you must hire
the men send to you and no Others"
then the capitalist, stung by such tyr
amy. replies: .'Rather than have you
dictate to me what shnll do I will
| fight your organization to the last dol
lar. My fOrefathers died on Bunker
Hill and ut Valley Forge for liberty.
Free was born. free l shall live. and
free / shall die" 1t Is flint against
steel and is the inevitable result of
such course of action. This Is the
spirit with which capital is today fight
ing labor when labor makes absurd and
unjust demands.
But l would speak also in reference
| to another great aflliction from which
labor today is suffering. l allude not
to the competition of American labor
with the foreign hordcs. but to that
unnatural and ever increasing COM
petition between our American boys
and their American sisters in the Ia
Dor market. Brothers struggle for
bread In competition with sisters: IA
Tiers compete with their own daugh-
tiers. Now. know the few words that
l am going to speak will not be pO2u-
lar with some. but what have to say
hope may be heard patiently and
with profit.
Tie world. by every law of justice.
owes every man. woman and child a
living. If they are ready to work for
Il. But God never intended some peo-
pie to work for n living In certain
ways any more than he intended colt
six months old to do the work of
well developed draft horse. lie never
intended young boys and girls to leave
school before their time. or wives and
daughters to labor as farm hands In
the fields. when there are sturdy IA