The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1904-05-22
The Two Sides.
Why Labor Problem Cannot Be Settled
Out of Hand.

Why Labor Problem Cannot Be Settled
Out of Hand.
The general conference of the
Methodist Episcopal Church, now
meeting in Los Angeles, is likely to
bring forward much interesting mat
ter when it comes to consider that
portion of the report OF the com
mittee on international and industrial
peace which deals with the labor
problem.
AS it now reads, it is an extra
ordinary statement of the case to
present to a religious body, the
function of which is to indicate the
ethical right and wrong of situa-
ton without taking sides on any of
the particular phases of the situa-
ton. The paragraph on corporations
is as follows:
In the industrial world gigantic corporations,
with impCrsOnal relation 10 their employees have
largely mODOpOliZpd industrial pursuits They
have superseded the old personal, often tender.
relation in home contact and life Of the master
and the apprentice. Most Of these corporations
%
dends Under the spur Of greed and cOmpeu-
tion they demand Of their employees maximum
labor az minimum wages. The stricken toiler
turns upon the oppressor- He organizes, strikes,
boyCotts, and calls Of his banded union broth
ers from their respective empoyments lie
shuts the door Of the factories, and in the stress
Of want and despair often resorts 70 acts OF viO
lCuCe in the destruction Of property and life
while the employer sits incased in Indifference.
The grasping monopolist and the walking dele
gates are representatives of these forces Ia the
main public sympathy is generally and right
! fully with the toiler.
A good many years ago, long be-
fore the struggle between capital and
labor reached its present acute stage,
some wise person made the discov-
/ cry that there were two sides to
every question. While one should
/ sympathize with oppressed labor of
every kind and sort, that need not
prevent him from sympathizing also
with oppressed capital Human ma
/ ture is the same in both capitalist
] and laborer, and sound observation
would indicate that neither is en-
tirely right nor entirely wrong.
Like every great problem in human
affairs, this labor problem is dis
/ tinctly specific, and consequently the
problem as a whole will never be
settled except as each specific case
Of inharmOny is settled on it's merits.
1t should be noted that the great
/ principle of right and justice offers
/ a correct settlement for every case.
and that this DriDciple is not nor
sonaL 1t does not recognize sides nor
even individuals Nor is it changed
by human conditions or human vio-
! lations.
Carroll D. Wright has we'll said
that religion alone can end this great
controversy. By that, as we under
stand it, he did not mean creed nor
doctrine, but the exemplification in
the daily life of every individual man
of the universal law of square deal
ing.
u Selfshness is at the bottom of the
labor controversy. The attempt to
I get something for nothing is the
fundamental cause OF the conflict be-
tween labor and capital To declare
that the laborer is less selfish than
the capitalist or that the capitalist is
less selfish than the laboreT is mere
ly 10 beg the question, to expose ones
/ ignorance of the conditions, and ones
i consequent inability to cope with
\ them.