The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1904-06-24
LOOKING FORWARD.

Some one ought to write book o
this subject. Edward Rellamy tried
when he wrote Looking Backward.
But he gave a rather too roseate hu
10 the subject. 1t needs a more somhr
coloring.
There would be no lack for subjec
matter; and the novelist who woul'
handle this subject intelligently, con
servatively and conscientiously woult
serve his age and country well.
As Nation we are living all too
much for the present. The age is 81
strenuous and competition so great ant
the habit SO general. that every mar
seems to be looking out solely for him
self and for what is in sight Not in
words but in actions the national
prayer is. s'God bless me and my wife
my son John and his wife; us four
and no more"
II is nothing short of wonderful that
the world moves on as well as it does.
with men grabbing at each others
throats as they do. And it is hardly
less remarkable that the middle. con-
sentative classes do not realize the
danger that confronts them and do
something, or try to do something to
better the condition.
There has always been and doubtless
there always will he more or less of
conflict between Capital and Labor.
But that conflict now has assumed such
acute form that it is menace not only
to the prosperity of the country, and
to the peace of the citizen, but to the
perpetuity OF the very government it
self. And there is so much of wrong on
both sides of this conflict that ones
sympathies cannot 20 ont entirely to
either side. And there is SO much of
Fight On both sides that neither side
can be wholly condemned.
Take the Capital side first, and take
The st. Louis Fair for illustration.
The Worlds Fair is not ready because
Labor has not done its part has not
kept its contracts; has taken mean
advantage of the situation to lay down
tie tools and loaf half day or day
whenever it felt disposed to do 80, or
70 demand unreasonably high com
pensation for its services. In the Fine
Arts building, Labor took the contract
TO decorate the walls and hang the, pic
lures at given price and at given
time. And Labor violated that con-
tract both as to time and as to price.
That was Union Labor too. They fixed
their own price, and contracted to do
the work. Then with insolent sang
froid they quit, and demanded higher
wages and shorter hours. And in
hundred instances Labor. Union
Labor, has violated its contracts and
fooled away time and prevented the
great show from being ready.
Nobody can have any respect or
sympathy for labor like that, whether
It be union or scab.
We heard recently from newspaper
friend in Texas town. He said
"Union labor is lining this town
business is paralized and people are
leaving here every day. And the
testimony comes from Thousand
sources that Union Labor
IL in many, many instances unreason-
BILE in its demands, and Indifferent as
to the performance of it's contracts.
In this: 1t will not admit of con-
leadership. A man must he
ready and willing at all times to take
the side of 1.-THE men, against their
employers, whether his sense of justice ,
and fairness and good judgment tells :
him to or not, or else he is shorn Ct ,
Ms authority and mathematical.
Labor knows how to work but it does
lot know how to manage. In many ,
IT the essential details. Labor is as
gnorant as Capital is cunning. and in
n their differences Labor is as preju- I
Iced and suspicious as Capital is I
,roud and domineering.
But take the side of Labor. They 5
'rganize because they have to. Capital 1
them to. Capital was work
ng them in sweat shops and lily venti- z
ated factories and in the bowels of 8
he earth, IL and IA hours on stretch I
working them like galley slaves and h
aging them not enough to live and
import their families on. Labor saw
ts children growing up in rags and !
ignorance and scant of food. and the
aren't heart rebelled. Not only was Z
,abor being worked and starved to ;
cath, but Capital, with its proud s
sought to crush all hope Z
ut of the heart of the laboring man. ;
70 was treated as a despicable hireling :
nd his wife and children as people =