Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1905-08-03
Labor Saving Inventions.
CLIO, ARK, July %, 1905.

Ed. Register Twenty-Five or
thirty years ago, when the binder
first came out, Notwithstanding the
fact that they were great labor
saving devices, they were very
much opposed by a certain class
who followed the harvest as labor
ers, and whose labor commanded
good wages. Many machines
were destroyed by the class whose
employment was affected by them,
but now all opposition has ceased,
because the old fellows who I used
to hear denounce the machines
have passed away. And I sup
pose that all labor saving devices
were opposed at the time when
put into use, by the people rend-
cred jobless by them. A perfectly
natural result; for who will see his
means of livelihood taken away
without a feeling of resentment?
But suppose for an instant that
these people, standing in the way
of progress, had been able to
stem the tide and put an end to
that which, while it materially
benefited the world, injured them
as individuals, what would have
been the result?
Every labor-saving device l be-
lieve Injuries some one, and some
injure large numbers of people;
but society finds compensation in
the general benefit derived there
from. But the time is coming, in
fact is here, when society is no
longer able to assimilate, as it
were, those rendered idle by the
constant increase of labor-saving
inventions. And as result many
people are now idle a part of the
time, in fact the number runs into
the millions. AS result ten mill
lion people in this country are
underfed, underclad and UNDER
housed. Ten thousand children in
the city of New York alone go to
school every morning hungry.
While according to Census Bulle-
tin No. 150, labor creates on an
average, in round numbers, S250O
worth of wealth, it receives as
compensation therefor an average
of $500 per annum. The capitalist
unable to consume the amount
that falls to his share, nor yet find
a market for it, piles it up until we
have ''overproduction," stagna-
ton and suffering, because we have
too much food, too much clothing,
and in fact too much of every
thing.
The latest labor-saving device is
the so-called trust. 1t affects per-
haps the greatest number of peo-
pie, and is therefore oppose by
more people than were ever op-
posed to any other labor-saving
device or machine. Will these
opponents of the trust succeed in
smashing it, or will their efforts be
as futile as those of the men who
twenty-five years ago burned the
binders? Let John P. Altgeld
answer this question in his own
inimitable style:
''Lists have been published Civ
ing the names of several hundred
great trusts and combinations that
arbitrarily fix prices, control out
put and regulate wages. Especial
ly has competition gone in those
lines in which the public is served
directly. For instance, in the
matter of gas, electric lighting and
street railway service. In nearly
all of the large American cities
consultations have gone on until
there is absolutely no competition.
Take Chicago as an example
Years ago gas was selling in the
central part of the city at a dollar
a thousand; then the trust was
formed by which all of the gas
companies in the city were put
under one control, and gas was
marked up to a dollar and a quar-
ter, and no competition has ex-
listed since that time. In the street
railway service there is absolutely
no competition possible now, and
as the elevated roads are passing
into the control Of the same people
who own the surface roads there
can be no compensation from that
source. Everywhere there are
signs that indicate that the era ot
competition, which has existed fol
several centuries, is drawing to a
close; that we are entering upon
new conditions. We may deplore
the tendency, but cannot stop it.
The forces of concentration, of con-
solidation and enlargement, are sc