The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1907-05-25

motto. If he even pretends tr an
ethical code, it Is imperative except
for a few hours on Sunday and high
ly diluted even then. The rule Is to
charge what the traffic will BEAR"
to the exclusion Of all humanitarian
or ethical considerations whatsoever.
All, yes, but when it is proposed to
haul him before the bar Of public opin-
ion and make him give an account of
his methods, he hires his lawyer and
his preacher and his editor to intro
duce moralities and to weave sophisti-
cations sometimes almost inpregnable
Every man for himself and the
devil take the hindmost," Is the slogan
Of the business man as such. and
most immoral slogan it is. It is a.
doctrine which they are willing to fol-
low until the hindmost threaten to
take the foremost. This is consist
ency which they cannot abide.
Confiscation Sounds Harsh.
"COnfiscation' Is a word which
sounds harsh. It Is word we use
when someone proposes to take some
thing from us. When we are taking
something from someone else, we look
for more euphonious word, such as
restitution or compensation" Con
f1scation" implies Injustice There
fore, to use it of a process the justice
or injustice Of which we are attempt
Ing to establish, is like undertaking
learned and highly metaphysical dis
cussion as to whether a brindle COW is
br1ndle. If a thief steals my watch,
1t is confiscation so far as I am con-
cerned. He may regard it differently
He may Justify himself on the ground
that the world owes him a living; the
fact that I am the particular part of
the world which is called upon to
contribute watch, is to him purely
Incidental. He may justify himself
on the doctrine of "every man for
himself and the devil take the hind
most" He may justify himself on the
doctrine Of "charging all the traffic
will bear" But If he justifies himself
| on any of these grounds he must
abide by his own established code.
If a man is going to talk morals he
must come into court with clean hands.
They Crush and Ruin Men.
If 1t is justifable for men with legal
| privileges to crush men without them
why Is 1t not also justifable for men
without privileges to abolish the privil-
eyes Of those that have them? I VEN
ture to say that only corporation
| lawyer could tell us, and then only
! for a retainer. And when he did tell
us he would tell us no more than that
the one is "business" and the other
'confiscation."
And the worst of it Is, that the
business man says this so often and
In so many places and with such
vehemence that he makes us believe
1t. He bluffs US out Of our birth l.
right. This is, he bluffs some Of us
all the time, and all of US some OF
the time. To give the devil his due
1t must also be admitted that he very
often bluffs himself. He actually be-
heves his own sophistries. This is in.
deed most pitiable.
This social struggle on the economic
political and industrial arena may bt
fought out on any lines we may choose
to adopt. but we must be consistent
We cannot change horses in the mid
die of every stream we come to. Tn,
adversaries in this duello must choos,
their weapons and stick to them 1
the weapon Of one breaks, he canno
hope to borrow the weapon Of his op
ponent. Each must prove his abilit,
to maintain his contention whether OF
material or spiritual grounds, by rim
or reason, by force or strategem, b.
love or hate. But each must gran
to the other the right to use tn
weapons which he himself does no
disdain to USE
} ELLIS @. JONES.