The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-24

ours aggregate production, and you must always remember that the consumption is regulated by the amount produced. You cannot divide more than you have to di- vide. and any one with a thimbleful of brains can see that cutting down the pro- duction is not the way to make the peo- pie rich. In times like this 1t Is the mass as who suffer most. The capitalist can shut down his business and still have enough for his personal wants. The la- borer has only his work. and he who is poorest suffers most and longest"
 But you do not deny labor the right to strike do your"
 No, do not. They have that right as individuals or collectively, but they have no right to interfere with the business of their employers or with the men hired to take their places. Many of the demands for strikes are so unreasonable that they cannot be granted and the business go on. The labor organizations do not consider that They act as though labor had no Interest whatever in the business, and if opposed they try to attack their em- ployer through the consumers of his goods, and by boycott dog him from one end of the country to the other. They prevent others from doing the work they will not do themselves. and if they suc- ceed in destroying him, as they some times do chorus of glee goes up from the labor agitators and their followers throughout the whole country. They think they have won a great victory, when they have actually killed the goose which has been laying their golden eggs. They remind me of the man who tried to improve his personal appearance by cut ting off his nose"
 Against the Eight-Hour Day.
 How about the working day, Mir. Par ry? Can the United States be run on an eight-hour basis?"
 T think not. The majority of men work ten hours, and that is an indlca- ton that 1t requires a ten-hour day to produce enough to satisfy the needs of humanity. If you cut the working day to eight hours, you cut off one-flfth of the total production, and this means that the people will have to be satisfied with four hfths of the commodities that they now get. Organized labor does not look upon it in that way. It insists upon more of the necessities and comforts of life for its own peculiar class, and therefore de- mands that 1t shall have ten hours pay for eight hours work This is practically a 25 per cent increase of wages, and if granted 1t must come out of the consuun- CTS. So, you see. organized labor is bound to have good bargain even if that bar gain is rather hard on the rest of the population"
 But, Mir. Parry. John Mitchell and Samuel Gompers say that a man can do as much in eight hours as he can in ten"
 Yes. I know that; but upon the same logic he can do as much in six hours as he can in eight, and as much in four as he can in six. Indeed. you might go and prove that a man can do as much by not working at all as he can by working ten hours, which Is ridiculous. I am espe- cially opposed to granting the eight-hour day as to government work. I see no reason why the government should give ten hours pay for eight hours labor any more than an individual should be com pelled to do so. and think that those who favor the law are in favor of robbing the public treasury"
 Labor as Capitals Partner.
 But, MT. Parry, speaking of wages, is not labor capitals partner? And If so. does it get its share of the proflts?"
 Tt gets a big share" replied MT Par ", and far more prOportionatelx than