East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1909-07-26

just as kind q heart as any man lV
Ing and | want to do what is right
Il Is not that / am changed; conditi
X ons have changed. / am just al
Q thousands of others, but victim o
: circumstances. / resort to the meth
8 DDS you accuse me Of, not because
= hate or am Indifferent to the welfare
> OF others. l do but as any other SANE
Q man would under similar circumstan.
s ces-respect that first law of old ma
8 ture, self preservation. The system
Of today gives us choice of either
working the workers or being one OF
the workers and getting worked our
! selves.
, Brother, do you remember of me
syeaking of Manley Goodwin and
what brute he is? well, he is my
: most feared rival. He is operating a
shoe factory in the state of New Jer-
sey He has striven in every way pos
sible to bankrupt me. Competition
has been very keen between us. II
has been a case Of the best man win
as the business world views It, or
case Of the survival of the fittest. The
very fact that / was the kind of a man
you thought l would be-kind and
considerate to my fellow man-nearly
proved me unfit. Being kind of heart
and wishing to be just. I gave my en-
ployees concessions both In shorter
hours and what / considered a fair
living wage, as well as allowed them
to organize a union in our factory. In
doing so l overlooked Manley Good
win, my rival. He acted Just oppo-
site to what | did In his dealings
with his employees he would give them
absolutely nothing, nor would he per-
NIT them to organize in his factory.
The fact that / gave my employees
concessions permitted Goodwin to
manufacture and place his finished
product upon the market far cheaper
than |. / realized when it was nearly |
too late the mistake l had made in |
being too generous and acting as my |
conscience dictated. IL seemed that |
even fate was against me for one OF !
Manley's employees in his sewing de- |
partment invented a machine that with |
one mans labor could do as much
sewing in ten hours as 1t formerly
took twenty men to do by hand. AS
Manley had this machine patented ana
protected, | could not place such a ma
chine in my works. For the present
1t enabled Manley and his cheaper
labor his brutal methods and the ad-
nitinngl nj ,l,f
duce a far better shoe than |, and to
put the same on the market from fif-
teen to twenty per cent cheaper.
What could / do? What would you
or any other sane man do under sim
liar circumstances? II either meant
acknowledge myself a business failure
and bankruptcy, or resort to some
dishonest methods to save myself. 1
puzzled my brain for some honest
means to save our fortune, but to no
avail. The more / thought, the more ,
| was convinced that the system of
today would not allow man to prac-
tice and act as his conscience would ,
lead him. The system says "either ,
work the workers and the people or !
get worked yourself" | chose the les 4,
ser of the two evils. no longer toll a
Grated or encouraged the unions; in =
act did everything in my power to l
iisorganize them. ! do the things You q
accuse me of not that | am brutal. /
saved our fortune, at the time Good .
win thought he had us ruined by put
ing paper soles in the shoes and an h
Inferior grade of leather and adver- 4
ising them as just as good a shoe ;,
Is Goodwln's. | knew l was de- .
rauding the public, but I no longer /,
ared. l hired child labor, yes. for ~
child has no home to keep UP and
With the extra aid they will receive =,
rom their parents can work about h
ne-siXth of what man can. even 4
hough at some jobs they cannot do o
s much.
IL corrupted the legislature along
18th others trying to protect their in {,
arests. We kept labor from getting ~
1to power and from passing sucn o,
lws as in our judgment would place p
$ at the mercy of our competitors :,
other states where they would have 10
o such laws to contend with
$50, brother, now that I have put =,
ne facts before you I leave it to -,
on. ] contend that l have done no .,
lore than you. or any other intelli- =,
ent man would do. We are all but
ctlms of circumstances and envir- .
nment"
But Jim. knowing as you do that
is not right to employ child labor
nd do as you do, why do you not +,
II out and take up some other bus T.,
ess?" ~
Frank, do You not see that If I ~,
II to some other he will only be of
reed to carry on this business the H.,
me as I am, or fail? No I under ON
and the shoe business and If the IN
stem will not permit me to make no
| honest living. as I would rather. l IN,
III respect that first law of all ma 70,
re, self preservation. have as ,,i
uch sympathy for those tots out In,
ere as You have, but am powerless or,
better their condition, as wou are"
well brother, l have never looked mr.,
1t IN just that way before. If what art
Il say is true, what is to be done?" pu
Frank, you are now coming down ity
earth. You say what is to be tin
ne? Listen. Knowing that It is not ne;
2 fault of any one or more individu- an,
+ all either wou or or any one else ear
n do 20 stop these evils is to quit pre-
king at the effect and quit preach
: to people to he good and kind. one
nsidnrntn etc whn,, thn,- n ~ r,,r mn