The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1904-09-08

Il
ization of labor before Barre people he
brought forth no new subject to them,
and in this connection he oongratu-
lated them upon belonging to one of
the best towns in the country from an
organized labor stand point. The
| speaker said that there were certain
necessities of life which laboring
man must have, such as clothes to
wear and houses to live in, and that
there were some employers who could
not see that we'll kept men were the
kind they could best afford to employ.
The fact that the employer cannot see
this makes the problem Of labor more
difficult and broad; as the laboring
man sees that his employer is not
even capable of judging of his actual
necessities of life, much less i'll he
place reliance in his employers sbili-
ty to consider his interests in other
things. The primary object of organ
ization of labor is to get wages, the
bi-product of our struggle. In this
organization we first learn to be bus
mess men.
The solution of the labor question
today, said the speaker. must be
brought about by thinking. We must
! consider the matters as they come be-
fore us. That the question is not set
tied is not due to the fact that we
are unable TO solve it, but because we
are not willing to try. IL all the ed
ucated people of the land would sit
down and think, and say, We want
| the real solution of the lauor question
and will see the thing through, it
would be solved in q short time.
There is one quality which we all
have to greater or less degree, and
which prevents a settlement. 1t j
selfishness. People will not solve
the problem on that account. The
working people can settle it, but they
will not.
The speaker then pointed out some
of the objects of the union, compar-
ing it with the accomplishments of
| the Christian church. He said that
he could remember the time when
there were street fights in which the
English, Welsh, and Polanders. would
argue, aud on one side would be the
! Catholics andsthe other the Protest
ants. But times have changed since
then, and nominally the majority of
the people have come to belief, grad
ully melting into unity-founded on
| the principle of fatherhood of God and
Brotherhood of man. This principle
| must begin with the brotherhood of
man, as you could not hit your broth
er and begin to teach the fatherhood
| of God. This is the principle of the
| union. in the labor question. The
| union stimulates the idea of charity
through it's accident, sickness aud
| death benefits.
1t has systematic method of
giving out aid 10 be counted more
than the handing out of charity.
Charity meets thing as it occurs,
but organization prepares for the
emergency. What we need is the
education of people to help themselves
rather than to beg for charity.
1t is necessary to keep in the mind
of the working man that he is man
| of like aspirations and needs with
other classes of men. Why should
you men who build mansions be salts
fed to live in anything but good
houses?" The working people do
not recognize that they are as good as
those for whom they work. You
have got to raise the laboring mans
estimation of the value of himself and
the settlement of the question is a
matter of intelligence. He gave an
example OF what could be done in the
anthracite coal business. He said
that there was one region where the
coal could be mined If we could
urge everyone in the region to COM
bine, and keep them together, the
miner would get what belongs to him
for the employer would have to come
to terms of justice to the miners. We
could not demand more than fair
wages, for In that case the employer
could not continue business. We can
get what belongs to as, but no more
So the labor question is AN intellect.
ual problem. Some are satisfied with
$1.50 day, others want 50, while
others cannot be contented with less
than So or 81. Thus we must raise
the standard of estimation of the in
dividual himself.
He took up the question of work,
saying that the laboring man should
consider his body and ask whether he
was abusing it by hard work, for he
ought not to give away his life to the
employer. He should 20 day S work
but should not strain himself to his
utmost capacity each day for this will
bring premature inability to work
The laboring men must expect opposi-
tion from the employer, as the en-