The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1906-04-21
.HUBBARD'S L|BELS ON
UNIONS ARE ANSWERED
Prince of "Fakirs" Gets Off
the Track In Publishing Ii
bel Against Unions.
Elimination of Output, He
Says, lis One of the Crimes
Against Union Labor.

Ebert Hubbard. editor and publish
or of the Philisune, leader Of what
his devotees are pleased to term
school Of thought" that casts aside as
rubbish" many Of the most generally
accepted conventionalities Of our CIV
ilization, and who has considerable
vogue as a lecturer has looked upon
the institution Of labor unionism-
and found it wanting.
Labor unionism is not the only in
stitution of our civilization which the
Father Of the Philistines" has found
wanting, and the criticism which he
makes against the labor unions would
be worthy of slight attention were 1t
not for the fact that very many thou
sands Of people is this country accept
the expressed opinions Of Hubbard as
gospel and being faddists Of an ex-
IRENE type-1f not fanaucs-they are
quite likely to give Hubbard's criticism
of labor uni0nism greater calculation
than would result were the same sent
iments to be expressed by a man
probably better known to the people
generally. but who does not occupy
the peculiar relation in which Hubbard
stands toward small, but active Sec
ton of the populace.
Again. the literary bureaus" of the
Citizens Alliance Of this country and
the anti-labor unionists Of the press
have been quoting Hubbard quite ex-
tensively-consequen his utterances,
extravangant though they be, merit
attention.
Hubbard's attack on labor unionism
&C. ~foir@ tv, To- hay
Of The Philistine. TIE introduces his
subject In this fashion:
I'm 1899 an engineer on fast pas
senger train, on railroad that need
not be here advertised, became vio-
lently insane. The time on his lun
has been cut down to fifty miles an
hour. it was very rapid running all
the time and it told severely on the
mans nerves. Suddenly, while u the
throttle, reason gave way, and the en-
gineer started to make a record run.
He imagined there was another fast
train just behind; his life was at stake,
and safety for himself and mis- train
demanded that he should make humid
red miles an hour.
"He had nearly attained his pace
and was flying past station where
he should have stopped for orders,
when the fireman, realizing the situa-
ton, laid the mad engineer low with
a link pin and the train was slowed
down just in time to escape wreck.
There is natural law we'll de-
fined and recognized by men who
think, called the Law of Diminishing
Returns, sometimes referred to as the
law Of Pivotal Points.
"A man starts in to take systematic
exercise. and he finds that his strength
increa ses. He takes more exercise and
keeps on until he gets "stale"-that
Is, he becomes sore and lame. He has
Diminishing Return.
I'm running a railroad engine a GER
tain amount Of coal is required to pull
a train Of given weight a mile say at
the rate of fifty miles an hours. You
double the amount Of coal and simple
folks might say you double your speed,
but railroad men know better. The
double amount of coal will give you
only about sixty miles instead of fifty
with heavy train. Increase your coal
and from this on you get a Diminish
ing Return. If you insist on eigh "
miles an hour you get your speed at
terrific cost and terrible risk"
Other illustrations along these lines
are given and then Hubbard contin-
ues
1.-THE law Of Diminishing Returns
was what Oliver Wendell Holmes had
in mind when he said: Because I like
pinch Of salt in my soup is no reason
that l wish to be immersed to brine.'
"Churches, preachers and religious
denominations are good things in their
time and place and up to certain
point. Whether for you the church has
passed the pivotal point is for yourself
to decide. But remember this, because
thing is good up to a certain point,
or has been good, is no reason why it
should be perpetuated. The Law of