The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1904-10-15

expressed, will bear republication:
Invention has filled the world with
competitors, not only Of laborers, but
of mechanics Of highest skill. Today
the ordinary laborer is, for the most
part, peg in the wheel He works
with the tireless-he feeds the insat-
liable. When the monster stops the
man Is out Of employment-out OF
bread. He has not saved anything.
The machine that he fed was not feed
Ing him-the invention was not for his
benefit
The other day I heard man say
that it was almost impossible for
thousands Of good mechanics to get
employment, and that in his judgment
the government ought to furnish work
for the people. A few minutes later
heard another say that he was SELL
ing a patent for cutting out CLOTH that
one of the mechanics could do the work
Of twenty tailors, and that only the
week before he had sold two to a great
house In New York and that over forty
cutters had been discharged.
On every side men are being dis
charged and machines are invented to
take their places. When the great
factory shuts down, the workers who
inhabited it and gave it life, as
thoughts to the brain, 60 away and it
stands there like an empty sskull. A
few workmen by the force Of habit
gather about the closed doors and
broken windows and talk about dis
tress, the price Of food the coming win
ter. They are convinced that they
have not had their shares of what
their labor created. They feel certain
that the mechanics inside were not
their friends. They look at the man.
stons of the employer, but have moth
ing themselves. The employer seems
to have enough. Even the employers
fail; when they become bankrupt they
are better off than the laborers ever
were. Their worst is better than the
toiler's best.
this specific. He tells the working
man that he must be economical. and
yet under the present system economy
would only lessen wages. Nnder the
great law of supply and demand every
saving, frugal, self-denying workman
is uncOnsciously doing what little he
can to reduce the composition Of him.
self and his fellows. The slave who
did not wish to run away helped fas-
ten chains on those who did. So the
saving mechanic is a certificate that
wages are high enough. Does the
great law demand that every worker
should live on the least possible amount
Of bread: Is it his fate to work an
other? Is that to be his only hope,
that and death?
Capital has always claimed and still
claims, the right 10 combine Manu-
facturers meet and, determine prices
even irl spite of the great law Of sup
ply and demand. Have the laborers
the same right to combine? The rich
meet in the bank, CLUB house, Or par
lor. Worlzmen when they combine
gather in the street. All the organized
forces of society are against them.
Capital has the army and navy the
legislature, the judicial and executive
departments. When the rich combine
1t is for the purpose Of Exchanging
IDEAS" When the poor combine it is
'conspiracy." If they act in con-
cert, If they really do something, it is
is treason" How is the rich control
the departments of government? In
this country the political power Is
equally divided among men. There
are certainly more poor than rich. Why
should the rich control: Why should
not the laborers combine for the pur-
pose Of controlling the executive, the
Legislature and the judicial depart
ments? Will they ever find how pow
erful they are? A cry comes from the
oppressed, from the hungry, from the
down trodden. from the unfortunate,
from the despised, from men who des-
pair, and from women who weep.
There are times when mendicants be-
come OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES a rag be-
comes a banner, under which the mob
lest ard bravest battle for right.
How are we to settle the unequal
contest between into partnership with
the laborer? Can these forces Of ma
ture be controlled for the benefit OF
her suffering children? Will extrava-
gance keep pace with ingenuity? Will
the workmen become Intelligent enough
ana strong enough to become owners
of machines? Will these giants, these
Titans, shorten the hours of labor? Will
they make leisure for the industrious,
or will they make the rich richer and
the poor poorer? Is man involved in
the general scheme" of things? Is
there no pity, no mercy? Can man
become intelligent enough to be gen.
erous, to be just. or does the same law
! Of facts control him as controls the
animal or vegetable world?
The great oak steals the sunlight
from the smaller trees. The strong
animals devour the weak-everything
; at mercy Of beak and claw, and hoof
and tooth, of hand and club and brain
and greed-ineauality, injustice every
where. The poor horse standing in the
street with his dray, overworked, over
whipped, and underfed, when he sees
other horses groomed to mirror, glis-
tering with gold and silver, scoring
with proud feet the very earth, prob
ably INDUCES In the usual socialistic
reflections; and this same horse, worn
out and old, deserted by his master,
turned into the dusty roads, leans his