The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-01-28
SLEEP ON THEIR ARMS
LABOR AND CAPITAL VIEW
 EACH OTHER AS ENEMIES.
Judge Peter Grosscup Speaks on Next Great Step in Ponttcs, the Repeopleiziug of Our
 Industries.

to-day was juuGe Eetet S. 1ruSbSups Vt the United States Circuit Court ut Chi cago. Judge arosscup spoke on the subject. "The Next Great Step In American Pol itics. tho Repeopieiztng of our lndus- tries"
 After expressing, his confidence in the continuance of prosperity. and his friend liness to honest corporations as "civil- ! nations way of welding large masses of capital;" and his friendliness to law abiding labor unions as the "embody- ment in organization of the natural law of self preservation" the speaker sketched the present conditions and com plaints of employer employe. and the general public; and upon the relations of employers and employees, said: Tt has come. to pass that instead of peace. the standing relation between them is that of war They look upon each other. not as neighbors or copartners, but as belligerents. When they sleep. 1t is upon their arms"
 Turning to the relation of the public at large, to this situation and it's conse- quences, the speaker proceeded; Tn war between nations. the victor lays indem- nity for his losses upon, the vanquished But in wars between employer and em- ploye the losses fall neither on victor
 
 comes and indemnity is laid, 1t falls. not on the belligerents. but on the outside public-the great neutral who up to that time supposed it had only a moral inter est in the conflict" "The employer deals in this day. not with men. but with republics of men; not with individuals, but with governments. self constituted governments in side tho greater government called the state. Elm. ployment of labor is no longer a matter of bargain and contract; 1t Is a matter for treaty, for diplomacy, or for war;.
 The speaker then addressed himself to the causes of present conditions. Our early industrial lite. when everything was made at home, and when men of all occu- pations commingled as neighbors, was de- scribod; then the growth of the factory system. Of corporations. and of labor ! unions; after which, the feeling of sepa- ration and arrangement that such conji- tons naturally produce between the sew erai interests was brought out.
 We have a common system of eduen ton said the speaker, but our children | no longer sit in the same schools We l have s common religion, but we worship ! In separate church buildings. We have patriotism in common, and d flag, but the occasions that call it out come only at | long intervals. No distance proven sc great, SIS the distance between men Iiv- ing in the same city but interested m | different occupations and moving in dIl- | Ierent circles.
 l The inditerence of Iaboring men to the
 owning ot property, even their homes,
 was then referred to. and the underlying
 causes for this change. chief of which Is the drift toward paternalsm inspired by | labor unions. Calling attention to what
 he called ''the most recent phenomena
 in industrial evolution" the rapid with
 drawal of the great middle body of our | citizenship from ownership in the indus trial properties of the country, the speaker IsaA: During the last twenty-three years the capital deposited in the banks of the lcountry has increased nearly ten billions of dollars. This capital largely has come from men in the ordinary circumstances of life. 1t measures the capital detacned Iduring this period by this class of our citizenship from active proprietorship in the industries of the country. 1t marks a tremendous shift in the personnel of ac- tive proprietorship-a shift as significant as if in that short period nearly one-half the farmers of the whole country had sold out their lands and goods to few men. loaning bacK 10 these, with which to carry on their enterprises. the larger part l of the purchase money. The shift due to
 
 the ownership of corporate property, as corporations. under existing state poi cies are now permitted to be organized" The organization of some of these was described as being like charts in geology At the bottom" said tho speaker lis a stratum of bonds; on top of that more stocks; then moro bonds; then preferred stock; and at the end of all common stock; until all reasonable expectation is tfoit it.os7 z 1t were common coin. Corporations like these succeed only in successful times They are like the cigar one smokes; the farthest end first falls into ashes; with q little hardening of times the ashes creep down; and when the times are actually hard the whole is ashes and scattered to the winds. This is not true of many, per- haps large majority of incorporated en- Iterprises. but unhcApily, 1t is true of so many conspicuous examples, that the mere fact that an enterprise, otherwise trustworthy, is incorporated, creates at once suspicion and doubt"
 When We recall" he continued, "that outside of the country and city real es- tate more than one-half of the property of tho country is now corporated proper ty the ultimate effect of the existing State policies respecting the organixa- tion of corporations-the free for all, go- as-you- please policy-upon acive pro- prtetorship by the people at large is clearly discernabie. Here, then, is the other paternalism-a paternalism more dangerous to republican institutions than labor uions-the paternaIism that, mar rowing active ownership to the few who by acutenesD or experience can fa.hom tie intricacies of corporate organization. | leaves to the ordinary run of people no choice respecting their savings. other than to spend them as they are gathered. or to loan them to the masters of the cor porate machinery.
 T have no fault to find," said the speaker, with the corporation legisla- ton of the last Congress. To the ex.ent that it will get together the data on which to buid future national policy respecting corporations. it Is construc- tive legislation. But if 1t stop at that, or what is more likely, if it turn it's whole thought to what is known as pub lIcity--to the turning inside out of the affairs of present incorporated enter prIses. and those that shall come after them-!eaving 1t to the five and forty States to organize as corporations are now orga nizAd these that do come afters the leg'sIation will have wholly missed the mark. The main oDJHct 70 ba aInneS at is not Reneral and promiscnous prh'icitv. It would not ba good buslre=s sense. 1t would not be fair to co-rpnlsorilv hang up every incor- norstnd hvsiress. great or smell. where every mischief msker could hawk at and every competitor copy 1t. The main ob feet to he aimd at is a repeopl -izing of the ind,s+rt4s of the coV~trv a-5 'his . n policy under which a corno-ation dis ,tsr.1 sRf