Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-09-25

business of your employer; be as much
concerned about It's prosperity as 10 II
were your own. And are not your EN-
ployer's affairs In a measure yours For
your wages come from the profits OF the
concern. and the more you contribute to
Its success the better can he AFFORD to
compensate you for your services He
viii be impelled by an enlightened self
interest as well as by sense of Justice
to requite you for your services with a
generous hand.
Experience has shown that strikes are
a drastic and at best a very questionable
remedy for the redress of the ,abnrer's
grievances. They paralyze industry they
OFTEN foment fierce passions and lead 10
the destruction of property. and above
all. they result in infiicting Erievous In
jury on the labCrer himself by keeping
him in enforced idleness. durinl: which
time his mind l.; clouded by discomfort
while brooding over his situation and his
FAMILY not infrequently suffers from
want of the neceSsaries of life rhe loss
inflicted by strikes on the employers IL
not much more than half as great as
that which Is sustained by the employed
who can much less afford to bear IT.
IL would be a vast stride in the inter
ests or peace and of the laborinS classes
IT the policy Of arbitration which Is now
gaming FAVOR for the settlement OF inter
national quarrela. were also awaited of
Tor the adjustment of disputes .,rtween
capital and labor. Many blessings would
result from the adoption Of this Method
Tor while strikes. the name implies
are aggressive and destructive. arhitra-
ton is conctliatory and constructive The
result in the former case is determined
by the weight OF the purse. I'm the latter
by the weight Of the argument.
NO friend OF HIS race can contemplate
without painful emotions these heartess
monopolists. Their sole aim Is To
realize large dividends without regard to the
paramount claims OF justice and Christian
charity. These trusts and nlonopoiies ike
the car OF Juggernaut. crush every obsta-
10 In. fhnsr
deavor-not always. II is alleged without
success-to corrupt our national and state
legislatures and municipal councils They
are so intolerant of honest rivalry as TO
use unlawful means in driving from the
market all competing Industries. They COM
pei their operatives to work for starving
wages, especially in mining districts and
factories where protests have but a feeble
echo. and easily stifed by intimidation
In many places the corporations are sa:
to have the monopoly of stores OF supp,y
where exorbitant prices charged for
the necessaries of life, bills are contracted
which the workmen are unable to pay from
their Scanty wages, and their forced insol-
venCy places them at the mercy of their
taskmasters. The supreme law Of the land
should be indicated and enforced and am
pie protection should be afforded to legitl-
mate competing corporations. as we'll as
the laboring classes, against INSCRIPTIONS
monopoies.
The expulsion from membership in the
unions Of any men who have been guilty
of outrages of one kind or another against
the peace of the community or the rights
OF their fellow citizens would secure for
the unions the respect and sympathy OF
the community and would greatly further
the best interests of organized labor
| am persuaded that the system OF boy
cotting, by which members of labor unions
are instructed not to patroniZe certain OBJ
noxious business houses. Is not only dis
approved by an impartial public sentiment.
but that Ii does not commend itself to the
more thoughtful and conservative portion
OF the guilds themselves. Every man Is
free indeed to select the establishm mt with
which he wishes to deal, and i'm purchasing
from one in preference to another he is
not violating Justice. But the case is al.
tered when, by a mandate of the society.
he is debarred from buying from par
ticu!ar firm. Such a proposition assai's the
liberty of the purchaser and the rights Of
the seller, and is an unwarrantable invasion
of the commercial privileges guaranteed by
the government to business concerns IL
such a social ostracism was generally In
vogue, a process of retaliation would nat
urally follow. the current of mercantile In.
tercourse would be checked. every center
of population would be divided into hostile
camps, and the good feelings which ought to
prevail in every community would be seri-
ously impaired Live and iet live Is
wise maxim dictated alike by the law Of
trade and by Christian charity