Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1912-09-06

ers and suppose that we may as
sumo that the principle is not in the
long run meant to be confined in its
application, to women only. Perhaps
we are justified in assuming that the
third party looks forward to the gen
eral establishment by law Of a mini
mum wage. 1t is very likely. / take
it for granted that il a minimum
wage we're established by law the
great majority Of employers would
take occasion to bring their wage
scale as nearly as might be down to
the level CT that minimum and it
would be very awkward for the work
ing men to resist that process sue
cessfully because it would be danger
GUS TO strike against the authority Of
the federal government.
Moreover, most Of the employers,
at any rate, practically all Of the most
powerful of the employers would be
wards and proteges of that very gov
eminent which is the master of us
all. The government Is to set up
a commission whose duty it will be
not to check or defeat it but merely
to regulate it under rules which 1t is
itself to frame and develop. So that
the chief employers will have this
tremendous authority behind them;
what they do they will have the H.
cense of the federal government to
do, including the right to pay the
wages approved by the government.
Employers and Employees.
"And it is worth the while Of the
working men Of the country to re-
call what the attitude toward organ
lied labor has been of these masters
of consolidated industries, whom the
federal government is to take under
its patronage as we'll as under its
control. They have always been the
stout opponents of organized labor
and they have tried to undermine it
in a great many ways. Some of the
ways they have adopted have worn tn
guise of philanthropy and good will
and have no doubt been used for all
l know, in perfect good faith. Some
of them have set up systems of pro-
tit sharing, of compensation for injur-
les and of bonuses and even pensions
but every one of these. plans has
merely bound their working men
more tightly to themselves. Their
rights under these various arrange
ments are not legal rights. They are
merely privileges which they enjoy
SO long as they remain in the en-
ployment and observe the rules of
the great industries which employ
them. If they refuse to be weaned
away from their independence they
cannot continue to enjoy the bene-
fits extended to them.
when you have thought the whole
thing out, therefore, you will find
that the new party legalizes monop-
olies and Systematically subordinates
working men to them and to plans
made by the government, both with
regard to employment and with re-
gard to wages. BY what means, ex-
eept upon revolt, could we ever
break the crust Of our life again and
become free men, breathing an air
of our own, choosing the living lives
that we wrought out for ourselves.
Perhaps this new and >all-conquering
combination between money and gov.
eminent would be benevolent to us.
perhaps it would carry out the noble
program Of social betterment which
SO many credulously expect of 1t,
out who can assure us of that? Who
will give bond that it will be gener-
GUS and gracious and pitiful and righ-
teous? What man or set of men
can make US secure under it by their
empty promies and assurance that
Il will take care Of us and be good?
1T is like coming out of a close
and sitting air into the open, where
We can breath fully again and see
the free spaces of the heavens above !
us, to turn away from such a pro-
gram, the identical program suggested
to committees Of congress by Mr..
Gary and Mr.. Perkins, to the propos-
ais with which the great Democrat
thinkers Of the coah:ry offset and op-
pose such platform. Democrat lead
ers turn away from any plan to lie,
galize monopoly and give a federal
leave to say how much ct,
1t there should be because they know
exactly what that would mean. What
tney propose is the restoration oil
freedom. What we need is the reeu.