Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-01-02
OUR GREAT PROBLEM
The Growth of Trades Unions
and Trusts.
LABOR AND CAPITAL
FIRST OF A SERIES OF IMPORT
ANT ARTICLES.
Interview With Representative Men on
Both Sides-The Industrial
Outlook.
LABOR AND CAPITAL

Written for The Evening Star.
/ have been asked to make an interview
investigation of some of the great bread
end-butter questions which are now agi-
tating the minds of most of the men and
women of the United States. These Ques-
lions are those relating to the new condi-
lions of capital and labor: the question of
the big dealer swallowing the little one, of
high wages and high prices, of long or
short hours of union and non-union, and
especially whether the consumer Is to be
ground between the upper and neither mill
stones of employer and employe. These are
problems which affect every mans pocket
book, his chance to work for whom he
pleases. his wages II he is a laborer and his
profits If he is a capitalist. and in fact, the
comfort and success or failure of every one
in the country.
The interviews will be with representative
men of all classes. ! shall have talks with
come of our chief capitalists including now
and then a millionaire or trust magnate,
who will give US the benefits of organized
capital; and shall have expressions Of opin-
Ion from the leaders OF the trade unions,
who in their mighty hands WELD the mil
Hons OF organized labor. The non-union
mass will be represented by other thinkers,
as Will also the unorganized and long-suf-
fering public which pays all the bills and
forms the very foundation of the existence
OF laborer and capitalist.
wish to say at the start that these In
ferviews are not the expression of my
opinion or that of this paper. In them the
man who talks may say what he pleases,
and the more forcibly the better. Ny only
aim is to give fair show to all sides with
out fear or favor. II labor is denounced
this week, capital may have it's denuncia-
ton next. The unionist and non-unionist
Is here on an equal footing. and the indi-
Vidual establishment and the great trust
stand side by side. AS for me / am only
he
interviewed and my readers-a mere re-
ceiver ana transmitter-my chief ambition
being to distinctly convey the sound.
The present letter gives some idea of
the situation and the parties at issue. The
interviews will begin publication next Sat-
urday.
A Land of Golden Giants.
In the past the United States has been
great through it's individual citizen. 1t
has been the land of all others where the
single man could stand alone and fight his
way up through any sphere to fame and
fortune. This condition is rapidly chang
ing. We are doing things in the large.
MeH work in bands, and dollars in millions.
The land is one of golden giants. of mighty
masses of organized capital and herculean
armies of organized labor.
First look at our combinations CT capital.
They surpass in their accommodations the
widest dreams Of a CroeSus an Aladdin
or Monte Cristo. 1t is not long since the
millionares of the United States could be
counted on your fingers and toes. Now
they are numbered by thousands, and we
have individuals worth more than the ag-
grcgate wealth of some of the smaller Eu-
ropean states.
Take Carnegie, No one knows Just what
he has, but his three hundred million dol
lars of steel securities bring him in an
income of more than fifteen million dollars
a year. or more than forty-one thousand
dollars for every day of the week. including
hn1 ma G,1n
scoops in something like two thousand
dollars an hour all the year through from
his stocks. real estate and mines and the
Vr~ ierbilts, Astors and Goulds have pro-
POI ,lonately large incomes. There are to-
day number Of men in the United States
worth fifty million dollars and upward, and
the organizations of capital whose stock
runs into eight or more figures are legion.
Fifteen Billions in Trusts.
We now have in addition to the billion
dollar steel trust. which, by the way, is
little shrunken at the waist. and in add
ton to the gigantic Pennsylvania railroad,
about eight hundred and fifty industrial
combinations, which command, all told,
fifteen thousand millions of dollars. We
have two hundred and thirteen industrial
trusts capitalized at seven thousand mil
lions. and more than five thousand other
corporations. These trusts are swallowing
their smaller competitors. They are branch
ing out to include all businesses of profit,
and in many cases are binding the hands
of industry with trade regulations Indeed
fast becoming a nation of pool-mak-
ers, rate-fixers and profit-sharers, and new
questions of enormous Importance stare US
in the face.
The Hercules of Organized Labor.
At the same time our working men are
organizing on gigantic scale. The trades
unions are growing as never before, and
they are combining into associations of
enormous proportions. We have moro than
twenty thousand unions in one federation
and these unions cover every trade and
hope to control every wage Garner John
Mitchell estimates that there are from two
and one-half to three million workingmen in
the various unions; and Samuel Gompers
tells me there are more than two millions
associated together in the American FEEDER
alton of Labor. This federation has ma
uonal, International, central. state and local
unions. which 1t hopes to WELD as one man
on all great labor questions.
some of the unions are very strong and
some are piling up funds in their treasures
10 use In the strikes and struggles which
may arise between capital and labor The
United Mine Workers for instance has
10000 workers. and 1t has one million dol
lars saved up. The Cigar Makers Union
has 10000 members and 1t annually han
dies, all told. more than million dollars
giving death benefits and out of-Work nav
ments to its unfortunate members. There
are many other unions of large size but
these will show mere or less what all are
doing and the power they may WELD in the
future
Twenty -Four Thousand Trades Unions.
These trades unions do not by any means
include the majority of our working men.
1t is doubtful if they have more than Is
per cent of them. Nevertheless they are
banded together under leaders and a we'll
commanded army is stronger than ten times
as many individuals
| have said there "a 600 unions To
show their variety give you some of those
which of a national or international
character. taking them from list which
have from the American Federation OF
Labor.
There are national associations of bakers
BARRIERS. bill posters and blacksmiths. There
are associations of blast furnacemen, Doll-
makers. bookbinders boot and shoe
workers. broom makers and those who
labor IN breweries.
There are brotherhoods of carpenters ard
joiners, of wagon workers and wood cary.
ers, car workers and chain makers and
also of clerks and cigar makers coopere
and commercial telegraphers.
There are unions of electrical worker.