Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1913-06-26

| the organization of labor IS but a war
measure. 1ney 10 Ihlmgs that hurt
themselves, sometimes, Violence in
labor disputes is an unpleasant thing,
but it is impossible to prevent, entire
ly, for when thousands of men are
fighting in an industrial battle you
cannot restrain them always from VIC
lence-ou either side.N
But the Labor Unions, imp erfect as
they are, have been probably the
greatest force for the improvement OF
the conditions of the working people.
The idea is to control the supply of
the labor they have to sell. That is
what is done on the side of their en-
ployers. The unions have found out
that no matter how much they raise
wages, they cannot keep pace with
the man who has the power to raise
the prices of the things that they must
BUY to live. 1t is because he controls
all the supply of things to sell, while
labor only controls part-only 2,000,-
900 wage workers are organized in
the United States. OF course, if you
got them all together, the thing would
be easy, because they you could fix
whatever price you chose upon the
article that you have to sell-your
labor power.
That is one OF the lessons that
Labor has to leam-getting more and
more workers together. And they
must learn to fight together, in an in
dustry, instead of in separate craft or
CARNATIONS. For one thing, the work.
ers must get rid of their superstuti--
tions- the superstition of vested
nights for instance. There is no
such thing as a vested right. All the
things that the owners call their
vested rights today are things of
which the rightful owners have been
Invested. Land, for instance, stolen
in the first place, or taken by right
of might, and then handed down by
deeds from the dead. We are govern
ed by the dead today. The dead make
the laws for US. But then they have
about as much brains as the living, so
it doesn't really matter much.
This is not as it should be. We
have no business. living for those who
went before or for those who are to
come after. Each generation should
own the earth while it Lives. 1t is not
SO now. Twelve thousand people work
tor Marshall Field, in the Loop Dis
trict of Chicago, although Marshal
Field has been dead for years. And
this is just the value of the land
alone. It is the working population of
city the size of Wheeling and they
are working for dead man. Mar
shall Field is dead, but his soul goes
marching on So, too, with ], p Nor
gan. He died, but the institutions
that he built are still with us and still
making the people work for Morgan.
And this In spite of the fact that he
died in sanctity and gave his soul to
the lord-and his wine to his son. Ano
at that / believe the Lord got the
worst of it, for would rather have his
wine than his soul.
you see some few get control of
the things the many need to live, and
then they charge for them what they
please. There is Standard Oil and
United States Steel, for instance.
They take an industry that is not
worth more than $500, 000.0UO at the
most, and they capitalize it for 81 ,5O0,-
100000 and they make the people pay
dividends on that wateFed stock five
dollars out of every dollar.
''They have learned that there is
nothing in working. Those who work
| the most have the least; those who
work the least have the most. The
man whose time is worth anything
cannot afford to waste amy of it by
working. Most work, least money, is
Itrue in all the walks of life even
lamong the workingmen. The highly
lskilled trades make the highest wages
and work the feWest hours. A labor