The San Francisco call., 1904-10-10
LABOR AND CAPITAL.
National Board to Arbitrate Their
Disputes Favored.

1t is today more apparent than II ever was
before that combined capital has deliberately
come to the conclusion that union labor must
be crushed. The verv spirit now actuates the
Pullman Car Company. the harvester trust
companies and similar considerations OF cap
ital. which moved the British Parliament cen
turies ago when II punished combination OF
workmen as crime. Not only did the capt
talism Of that day deny laborers the right to
form unions. but low scale OF wages was
work at the stated price punishable by
law as a criminal. Having thus enacted legis-
lation which created poverty there only
one more step to take, and they took it
they made poverty a crime. The mOneyiess
man who could not pay his debts rotted in
prison. The hungry man who begged for
something to eat was hanged. During the reign
of Henry VIII two thousand Englishmen were
put to death each year for the high crime OF
being persistently poor that they repeated
the offense of begging three times. 1t
penal TO beg at all; It was death to do IL
three times The English King unaer whom
these horrors occurred was at the head OF the
church OF Christ, was the official Defender
tendance upon divine service as the Baers
Pullmans. Rockefsllers and the Armours OF our
written book against Luther had reveIed
with Francis I on the Field Of the Cloth OF
Cardinals of the church Of God In other
words, he conformed to all the outward forms
. Of Christianity and ranked as equal among the
sgreat men Of his own time yet he put to
death average OF two thousand paupers
every year of his reign for other crime than
peculiarly atrocious feature OF which barbarity
being that the law had produced much OF the
poverty which IL had punished.
In our own land there many indications
that capitalism is being instigated by the
same spirit as thar which lived in the ancient
code. II labor unions be crushed by cap
italism which has formed its trust liberty
VIII be gone. not only from the individual
long to the trust obey it, will be abso-
lutely the only possible outcome II the en-
croachments Of these rapacious monsters are
allowed to go on unrestricted. In every VIII
lage. every town. every city, every State the
and robbed and oppressed by the hundreds OF
monopolies and trusts that the individual citi-
zen is reduced to a state OF indignant but
remedyless impotence.
From Republican nominee one does not ex-
pect great deal upon the labor question. and
would be disappointed II he did expect It.
But from a Democratic nominee one natIr-
ally hopes for a deliverance Judge Parker's
formal letter does not recognize that such a
thing the labor question exists He ofrsrs
no solution OF the trouble and upon the calm
tide of his smooth rhetoric there Is no suEEes-
tion that civil war smolders In many a region
OF our Christian republic. where capital and
labor have taken each other by the throat IL
Is true that Judge Parker thinks tariff reform
would benefit the wage-e Garner So II would
II 1t were of the right sort But Cleveland
tariff reform. and after one dsfsst "a vss o
elected to do the work. Arthur German was
the master builder who framed the measure
which was TO lessen the burdens Of the op-
pressed. and when Arthur German Kot through
with the Job the burdens OF the oppressed
had merely been shifted from one shoulder to
the other. The, great warm hearted Senator
from Missouri. George G. Vest wanted Goa:
put upon the free list in order that cheaper
fuel could be had by the people Arthur Cor
man opposed the measure stubbornly IN the
Senate. When the sugar trust wanted a betfsr
rate than the Dingey bill was about To give
them Steve Elkins brought Havsmeyer and
German together in personal conference and
the trust got what Havemeyer came for
And Arthur German Is Parker's manager
The "tarin reform OF the Democrats nom
to the Parker letter OF acceptance should be
attached the German tariff act Of 1894
Wheeler against that measure Exhibit
II I were President would recognize that
capital and labor have reached a danSsrous
antagonism. Its utmost influence would be
used to establish National Bureau OF Ar
bitration- 1 would ask combined capital tn
other and 1 would myself. as chief magis-
trate choose a third. such board OF arbi-
tration should have Jurisdiction over labor
That something must be done. and done
soon. should be clear TO all A few more
Colorado situations would precipitate the rule
or the soldier. paid by the corporation, OF BY
the taxpayers whose State officials are owned
by corporations.
The Peoples party advocates the initiative
by means OF which the people can pass such
laws they desire: the referendum. by means
or which they can veto such legislation az
they disapprove. and the right to cancel the
commission Of such public officials as have
giVen dissatisfaction.
One Of the evils of the present system is
that the people not consulted when laws
are TO be made they only hear OF the legis-
latsve acts after they published. Even
fleet footed lawyers find II difficult to keep
pace with the changes constantly being made
the initiative and referendum would correct
most of that and the imperative mandate and
right OF recall would do a great deal toward
cancel the commission Of the public servant
who has been recresnt to duty Is mild enough
s-o1tfnuod m, pa1. r-,a.,--.,. q