The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1906-12-29
.PREx OF UNIVERSITY
MAKES RADICAL TALK
President Of Cornell University
Sounds Voice Of Warning
to Capitalists.
Saws There Must Be Reform or
Social Revolution Will Take
Place.

dent of Cornell University, in an adj
dress delivered In Old Trinity, at
tackled the present industrial system
and declared that unless something
was done for the wage Garner by the
big capitalists the end would be So
;cial revolution. The address was
given under the auspices of the Sea-
bury Society. DR.. Schurman's re-
marks created a sensation. He said
In part:
Steam, electricity and consolidate
ed capital are in our own days elm
mating the small produced and the
small trader. The chance of young
men becoming independent producers
and traders, when business is con-
Quoted on the scale of millions, in
stead Of thousands or hundreds Of dol
lars, is vastly less than it was in the
time Of our fathers.
HAS man no power to protect him
self against this supposedly natural
tendency? Assuredly he has. There
are remedies within his reach which
he may use at any time and which
| 1t may be prudent to use for extirpat-
ing the existing evil before it becomes
more malignant and more general.
! I'm the first place, trusts which are
| monopolistic and oppressive may be
deprived Of the advantages which
! they now enjoy as a result Of tariff
| or other legislation.
Il take 1t that the American peo-
pie are committed to the policy of
protection. But no economic or po-
litical program can long be used as
a shelter for injustice or oppression
Of the people, and If any tariff sched-
ule does actually enable a trust to
exploit the people for it's own en-
r1chment that tariff schedule is DOOM
ed. no matter how much talk there
may be. Of the sanctlty Of the tariff
or the solemn duty of standing pat.
| mo doubt government interference
with business Is bad, but worse still
Is it for the government to stand
supinely by while combinations OF in
d1viduals use the name Of business
| to Cypress the public.
/ "Mr. Hughes Investigations demon
strated in the high places Of business
q shameless disregard of morality
honor and fidelity to sacred obliga-
lions and trusts. At the same time
the legal officials and the judicial tri-
bunals Of the states and of the nation
have been furnishing similar present
ments Of the immoral practices OF
other largo companies and corpora
tions notably the public service corpo-
rat1ons and the corporations dealing
In the necessaries Of life.
T. The wage Garner, feeling himself
and his children doomed to poverty
| rises in rebellion against the econom-
&c system which makes such things
possible. He protests that capital
gets too large a share of the product
| which laboring men create. His rem
cay when he has remedy, is con-
nscatlon of private capital in the pub
Tic interests and the establishment OF
a socialistic state, in which all shall
work and all receive compensation in
proportion to their deserts.
The masses of wage earners are
peheVe' IN angry revolt against the
vast inequalities which the present
economic system produces. Shall the
end be socialism, revolution, or what
For remember that these discontinued
masses may easily constitute the ma
;1orlty of our voters, and that in this
republic policies are determined bv
the vote of the majority.
"somehow-1 know not how, hut
somehow-the organizers and sinan-
ciers and managers Of our most mod
ern establishments of production and
transportation must devise a method
Whereby the men whose labor builds
them up shall become shareholders In
the enterprises. The present discon-
tent and ranking sense Of Injustice
must be got rid of If our economic
and industrial system Is to survive u
| .JlBrun Sr an0u1 NOT ar, ..x,. 80