The morning journal-courier., 1907-12-18
Wednesday, December IS, 1oo7.
! usEruL cLrAR1NG HorsE.

I'd the hopeful judgment of Mark Hanna, to whom more than anyone else is due the credit of having fire seen the usefulness of bringing toge'h CT men of opposite views in order that | from counsel and conference might | come better sense. It has not achieved | his hope of everlasting peace between capital and labor, but it has made war more difficult by disclosing the vi w. point of the contestants in argument Perhaps some day it will do so wh n capital and labor will vie with eaet other in raising memorial to MT Hanna's fame
 Two of the speakers at the eighth annual banquet of the federation in New York city the other evening were John Mitchell, the leader of the coal miners, and Andrew Carnegie, the iron master and philanthropist. Each madc Q distinct contribution to the sum and total of human intelligence with refer- ence to matters which are uppermpst in mems minds. Mir, Mitchell 914 among other things: q do not kn2w the people of New York realized that two years ago they might have had t. undergo the terrible times of the coal
 
 strike of 1902. But that is true That would have happened had not ten men got together and talked, operators and workers, as mem to men" It is interesting in a way to know that such a meeting was held and that a pitiful war between capital and labor was avoided but it is important to be told by Mir Mitchell, who among the labor leaders of tho country ranks with the ablest and sanest, that person. al contact between the opposing men as men is capable of averting disaster -lat the mornes1< when disaster seems inevitable It Illustrates the truth of what we have insisted upon in all our writings upon the labor question that more harm has resulted from the ig- norance on the part of one contestant of the standpoint of the other than from any other cause. The hot old days of the master and the man were kept
 
 in constant irritation because of the distance of the one rom the other. Mutual understanding was impossi- ble. If the day ever arrives when all differences of opinion are disposed of as MT Mitchell says the difference in opinion two years ago in the coal trade was disposed of, it will be not because men have changed and advancing civilization has revolutlonlzed human nature, but that the common sense of the country has compelled those re. sponsible for the conduct of the men under them to confer before they strike the blow that is to cause misery to all concerned
 The second speaker at the banquet, who had something to say worth say ing, was Mir. Carnegie and he spoke without illusions The trouble with most of our self-appointed leaders is that they are chock full of illusions as to their ability to do single-handed what society as whole has found impossible Had there been fewer il- lusions on the part of some of our public men during the past ten o1 twelve years there would have been less trouble. We might not have, and of course would not have escaped the consequences of our folly but we would have been better able to cope with the situation when it came in its own good time. As Mir. Carnegie says, Let us dismiss from our minds the idea that there is any cure possible for financial troubles and pancs These have their root in human nature and are as certain as the tides or t4le storms, the warm, stimulating sun shine of summer, succeeded by the icy frozen winter, and are just as essentia for the regulation, clearance and puri- tication of business as the weather changes are for the general health ot human life No system of currency will enable us to escape seasons of depres sion, failures and losses. Prosperity is bound to stretch the lines beyond tn, breaking point, and dull times are needed to restore them; and just il proportion as the percentage of the to- tai of legitimate business grows small Ter to that of speculation and gambling upon margins, financial disasters vii increase in number and severity" Witt as many bills before Congress to re form and regulate the currency ai there are members with time to draw them, or with the price to pay fo them, it was time somc one stood ul in the market place and let out a lit ], tie of the gospel of common sense. Flu man nature insists, as at present con stituted, upon having its own way il playing the game of life. It is possibl 
 to make it inereaangy difficult b1 . increasing artifcially the stal.es to b. played for but as Mir. Carnegie says