Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1911-10-10
LABoRs DAY OF AToNEMENT.


TO students of the thing called 'economicI
law there has in all crisis been brought com
pellngly to mind conviction that it is of divinel
and not man-made origin-that any infringement
of this law brings with it corresponding and
never differing penalty This wellestablished fact
has apparently escaped the close attention and
consideration of present-day lawmakers and poll
ticians. Within few years and with but slight
basis, in fact, there has been launched by men
in high places idea both insidious and per-
Sstent that the great mass OF corporate business
is being conducted in defiance Of law and that
those responsible for It's conduct should be forth
with imprisoned. Inferentially at least the in
dictment by those in authority has been general );
and with this impression the public at large at
first assumed attitude OF eager anticipation
that ripened gradually into serious conviction
predicted on the avowed intention of properly
authorized officials to to earth the male
factors Of great wealth. Next in order came
actual indictments of a few Of the prom
inent So-called trusts. with rumors galore of
indictments respecting others. all having the
difference between government and private
terprise the federal statute known as the Sherman
antitrust law. Thus was the ntegrity of the
great majority Of corporate interests impeached
without fair trial; and III proportion the law Of
economies began to paralyze the pulse of business.
Prior to l907 the United States had built.
whether wisely not. the greatest commercial
fabric known to man. A perfection in manufac-
tllre obtained that challenged the admiration Of
the world. The best paid labor recorded in the
history of mankind resulted in bank accumula-
tons, happy homes and Well-cIohed, contented
people Railroads and industrial developments
were at high tide. and the future was regarded
only with the eye Of optimism. Then came the
crash. Since that time the decreased earnings
Of corporate entities familiar to every one.
apltal has sacrificed more than ever before. The
holders have been made to bear the brunt
OF battle. Labor alone has passed through this
of ~ wit haV
nag been called upon to make any sacrifice what
ever The old fundamental principle Of property
rights seems to have been absolutely diSregarded
and today we face a condition IN which capital
stands convicted by Inference OF all of the shame
less sins Imaginable In the minds Of those who
are familiar with economic law the question has
alreao.[ arisen to when labor will be called
upon to bear its share of the burden resultant
from this wrong y-created and wrongful impress
sion as to the sins of men in high corporate
places 1t is an elemental fact that when earn
ings are because Of thing or another, re-
duced from maximum to minimum. either of
two things must happen, namely The cost of
production must be decreased or loss will nat.
urally enSue; and in view Of the fact that labor
lndustrally speaking represents the great bulk
OF tie cost Of manufacture, il will be the estab
llshment OF new precedent and in absolute de
fiance of economic law were labor to escape a
very material reduction all along the line Take
any page from the book of commercial expert
cnce, and find that when capital has been
forced to concessions where profits reached the
vanishing point. labor has been called upon auto
matiraly to either work for less money or quit
In its final anal ysis capital can ive whereas la
Dor cannot live unless there is demand for it.
What would be the natural result on the as
sumption that general reduction in the price OF
labor to be brought about by the present
insistent effort of the federal administration tc
dscredit business in general Would it not be
natural to assume that labor having finally real
lied that the prosecution of corporate business
and large individual enterprises was directly re
sponsibe for the reduction in its pay, in con
sequence feel strongly inclined to cry for return
to those conditions which existed prior to 1905
and which found their expression in the best
clothed. the bcsthouscd and best-paid laboring
man that the world ever knew?