The Washington herald., 1913-12-25
Labor as a Commodity.

The president of the American
Boiler Manufacturers Association in
an address before the National Found
ers' Association is reported to have
said:
Stripped of all sentimentality, it is
a fact beyond dispute that labor is a
commodity, and should only command
in the market a fair price. That men
themselves are not a commodity every
body knows and agrees, but what they
have to sell-their labor of their
PRODUCES as much of commodity
as anything else used in our process
of manufacture, cannot be gainsaid.
Any movement that seeks to destroy
the relations that exist between supply
and demand for a commodity is un-
economical, and in the end must fail.
Legislation or concerted action can no
more make so cents worth of labor
worth a dollar than it can make so
cents, worth of silver worth a dollar.
There must ultimately be value re-
ceived in all commodities to make per-
manent and successful business
The position taken in this passage is
one commonly taken by the manufac-
turerS. 1t is in some of its aspects a
survival from the period of unlimited
competition which existed in the first
part OF the nineteenth century. 1t re-
CARDS the laborer, as well as the man.
ufacturer. as merely an individual who
can enter into any contract regardless
of the effect of that contract upon the
social conditions of the community.
At the present time more attention is
being given to the interest, not of the
individuals as class, but of the class
itself. The point of view of the labor
union is that it is necessary for all
laborers TO cooperate in order to ele-
vate and establish higher standard of
living for all
The position taken by the manufac-
tuIN III tlllS iidllSl Is uOI WITHOUT
support in the decisions of our courts.
The famous Danbury hat case, which
has been in the United States courts
for over ten years, entered upon an
other stage last week. The United
States Circuit Court of Appeals for
the Southern District of New York
affirmed the judgment of the Federal
District Court of Connecticut, which
awarded D. E. Loewe & Co. $252,I3o
in damages against the United States
HatterS of North America. These
damages were awarded under the
Sherman antitrust act on the ground
that the union had restrained trade by
boycotting the products of the manu-
tacturer. Judge Coke said. in part:
No one disputes that labor unions
are lawful. All admit that they are
not only lawful, but highly beneficial
when legally and fairly conducted; but,
like all other combinations, irrespective
of their objects and purposes, they
Gnust obey the law. The United Hat
tiers of America, through their connec-
ton with the American Federation of
Labor and its various affiliated asso-
Citations, exercise vast influence.
throughout the country, and by the use
of the boycott have it in their power
to cripple, if not destroy, any manu-
facturer who refused to discharge
servants at their behest"
1t is very questionable whether labor
should be regarded as a commodity.
Those who produce in Our factories
are the very basis upon which modern
civilization rests. Any improvement
that may come to them will ultimately
benefit the entire society, and every
movement which tends either to in
crease wages or shorten hours or i'm
prove the general condition of the
laboring classes will, of course, in
crease the cost of production in the
industries affected, but, ultimately, after
readjustment has taken place, the
burden will be borne, not by the man.