The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1909-09-06
Continued from page one.

ftcent presentce an excellent and
powerful voice and his manner upon
the platform is OF that character that
holds the closest attention OF his
hearers. He made a great impression
today upon the large audience and his
eloquent Grafton on organized labor
was a masterpiece. His address fol-
lows in full below:
Mr.. Chairman, Ladies and Gentle
men: In accepting the invitation OF
your committee to speak upon this
occasion / am not fnsensible to the
high honor which has been done me.
This immense throng fills my soul
with Joy which is lessened when /
realize now incapable am of doing
justice to the subject this day sug-
gests. The importance Of this occa-
sion can not be over estimated. The
legislature Of our state responded to
designated this day as a legal holt
day.
All progress means war. It Is a
struggle in which those best fitted to
survive live. The animal and the
vegetable kingdoms are alike affected
by this principle, and indeed, 1t per-
meates our entire Industrial system.
It may be cruel, but In it lies the sal
walton OF humanity from drudgery,
and through 1t man sees the millen-
MUM. With the great sweep forward
to things higher and better, living or
gans and organizations, and all prob
lens associated herewith, become
more and more complex, and strange
as 1t may seem, at the first glance,
more and more in harmony with every
pulse beat in nature. or the thousands
of probes there is none more funda-
mental and complex than the relation
of the wage Garner to the capitalist.
1t is not struggle OF antagonistic
forces, for they are so correlated and
interdependent one upon the other,
that so long as you have the one you
must have the other. The result OF
mental and physical labor is capital,
and at present that capital is directed
and controlled by individuals. The
collective ownership and distribution
Of capital is another question but that
subject 1t not for discussion here. The
labor question has to do with the
present system.
Product Of Industrial System.
Labor unions are a product Of our
Industrial system. They do not exist
in the earlier history Of our race
when man roamed the forests I'm hunt
of game for he was unto himself mas
ter and servant, lord and slave. While
the PASTORAL stage, in which man
drove flocks from field to field and
fsAx,x fte.k~ a.,
sustenance for a larger number. it
was not until the agricultural stage
that great wealth really existed. So
long as master and servant worked
side by side in the earlier occupations
there was no need of organization
among the laborers. But within the
advent of the factory system when
spinning for the market could no
longer be done at home on account
of the introduction of improved ma
chinery and steam, thousand left the
country districts allured on by the
mystic call Of the steam driven wheel,
where 1t seemed a living was possible
and to here the labor question had it's
beginning. Specialization Of labor at
once commenced. The factory owner
could no longer know his thousands of
employees; the personal relationship
became impossible and the sympa-
tnetic relationship between the en-
ployer and employee became reduced.
During the latter part of the eigh-
teenth century the crop failures in
England drove hundreds OF thousands
to the city, and this unchecked, I'M
restrained labor supply flooded the
markets and wages dropped to the
starving point. The factory owners
made individual contracts and the
man without an aged father or mother
or family to support could labor
cheaper than a man who had par
ent dependent upon him or a wife or
little one crying for food and he was
nired. 1t was a cruel war; a war
not for leisure, but for work; war
for bread; a war in which men Of
fered their lifes blood in order that
sick or starving child might be
given a wormy crust. Human beings
were crowded into the worst slums OF
the city, in cellars, in attics anywhere
and inmany cases 1t was months
before the sunlight SHOWN upon a lit
+le baby's face. Despair was written
upon the foreheads OF many OF these
people Those with stronger hearts
prayed while others cursed and said
there was no God, and kissing between
their teeth challenged hell. The un-
sanitary conditions. alike destructive
to morals and health, bred numerous
diseases and epidemics were frequent
The hours Of labor In the factory were
Increased to fifteen and sixteen and In
some cases longer. The length OF the
day was determined by physical en-
durance and when the men and wo-
men tainted at their posts they were
carried out The fear of being re-
placed was a stimulus stronger than
any drug for it meant starvation
These conditions greatly Increased
drunkenness. insanity increased ait an
alarming rate. and the criminal class
was made seven fold larger.
Sought an Improvement.
While in the factory conditions wer,
almost beyond description. they con
stituted paradise when compared
with the conditions in the mines. Her
the miners breathed poisonous gas
and lived for months in the depth
OF the earth with their families. TIL
| little children came into darkness; to-
weak to cry 1T was hardly possibl
/ to tell whether or not there was lif
| in the tiny human form. as 1t cos
money to take the little child to the sur
face of he earth. 1t was probably LET
until IL was several years OF age the
lit knew not of sunlight or of fires
air: these things to the little child, tn
same as to its father and mother COS
money. Then up there where Their