The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1908-04-19
e. Is 1t Possible Necessary? Study
0ONE0fkStll of Some Social Problems.
BY NORMAN q. DRESSER.

Will solve the problem of poverty and
raise the workingman into a position
OF prosperity. Mr.. Carnegie is engaged
IN the laudabie enterprise of distribut-
ing libraries throughout the country
and endowing technical schools. Other
organizations and individuals are do
ing likewise, so as to bring industrial
education within easy reach of all who
desire it. The Y. M. c. A. of Salt Lake
and other cities is doing a good work
in this direction, and will doubtless be
the means of placing many young men
in positions where they can earn in
creased salaries. Now this is to be
commended, but it does not lessen ma
terially the number of men out of
work; it does not decrease the 1900, 900
paupers that Robert Hunter tells us
there are in this country. 1t is not the
final solution of the labor problem. We
are told that there is always room at
the top. But it is only because so few
get to the top. Any considerable num-
Der added to the ranks of skilled labor
would inevitably reduce wages in those
departments of labor The higher
wages the skilled workman receives is
not due to the superior value of his
services, but rather to the comparative
scarcity of those able to 90 this work
Skill, education and knowledge are of
superior advantage as productive pow
ers only when they are not universal.
The work of the section hand is just as
necessary as that of the locomotive en-
Sineer and if locomotive engineers were
as plentiful as section men, and sec
ton men were as scare as locomotive
engineers their wages would be re-
versed. How quickly a high-salaried
trade which can be readily and mex
pensively learned attracts workers to
| 1t and reduces wages is shown by the
automobile industry This industry
grew so rapidly that there was a great
demand for chauffeurs. This demand
was so readily met by technical schools
and private instruction that wages be-
gan TO, fall and trade paper recently
stated that the profession was in dan
ger of being OvercrOWded. 1t is quite
conceivable that wages of chauffeurs
may finally drop to that of a good
coachman, or to that of any other trade
no more difficult to learn. Labor unions
recognize this fact by attempting to
restrict the number of apprentices that
shall be employed in the trades they
control. They know that any consider
able addition TO the number of work.
ers in trade will inevitably reduce
wages in that trade to the average
wages in other trades not so restricted.
1t is a selfish motive, but selfshness
and greed are the natural results Of
our present industrial system.
Effect of Labor Unions.
A great many believe that labor
unions will solve the problem. Now, in
a good many trades, especially those of
the more skilled workers, labor unions
have been of immense value in reduc-
ing the hours of labor, in improving
the conditions of work, and forcing
wages up or preventing them from be-
ing lowered. The strike and the boy
colt are the only weapons of such or
CARNATIONS. These more often fail
than succeed, and the recent decisions
| of the supreme court will probably
render them still less effective in the
future. In good times a strike may
sometimes be successful, but in times
of industrial depression is generally a
failure. Too many men are out of en-
ployment. and they will accept any
wage rather than starve. They would
rather be live scabS than dead heroes.
| Only about Il per cent of the workers
are members of unions, and the hope
that all of them will ever be organized
| is visionary in the extreme. The In
dustrial Workers of the World hope to
form such a complete and International
organization of all workers in one body
that a universal strike can some day
/ be called which will force capital to
| accept whatever terms the workers
offer. 1t is hopeless task, and if such
a universal union of labor were posi-
| BILE, it would result in an equally COM
plete organization of capital which
would be able to defeat the strikers,
| for Ncapital can live longer without
profits than labor can without wages
I 41,o l.,
| open warfare or an armed truce with
capital. its hopes of securing it's rights
are small indeed. Such plan is i'm
possible of realization; but there is a
better way, peaceful and natural
way.
Trusts Here to Stay.
President Roosevelt and many others
| believe that the trusts are the great
national menace, and should be dis
solved. But the trusts are here to
stay. They are natural evolution of
our industrial system. These combina-
tons of capital arise from the unnat-
ural competition which also forces la
| Dor to combine, and it is no more pos
sible to dissolve them back into SEN
arate corporations than it is to dissolve
/ labor organizations, or prevent the use
Of labor-saving machinery, or restrain
| the gradual merging of the railways
into one huge system. The trust is a
| labOr-saVing device and results in econ
omy of production, and while nearly
| all the benefits of this lessened cost go
to the trust rather than the consumer.
the unreasonable profits they appro-
pirate come from certain privileges
they enjoy rather than from their great
aggregation of capital To deprive
them of their unjust profits and give
the public the advantages of the econ
omy of production which trusts effect
| it is not necessary to dissolve them or
for the people to own the trusts 1t is