The Wheeling intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1903-1961, 1914-03-09
Tw~ENTY-FIFTH INSTALLMENT
SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL. JUSTICE

vor<.rs hsd .ver seen. for in.tane. N.
they seen Rim many o. ,bs,, Sc.ia -,
hase spoken 20 him. for tens OF thous-
Anos OF the mine workers we're went
languages which he spoh. and who snoIs
s1Ase which he could not under
Again. a few generation. .so ., Am.
erican Workman could 49, N
money. gone West and taken up a home
stead Nov the free lands we're roa..
pick and shovel mirh, have eons ,n
WI mine That outlet too wa. now
closet a. regards the immense major
and nifty thcasand mins xe Sne nos esT,a
1. .Ipire e enter the small circle Of
men Nno held IN their grasp the great
the men who earned wage. in the coal
INDUSTRY. N they wished TO progress A,
We're compelled TO progress not by
proving the conditions under which ali
the ~aSe-oArners In all the Industries
.. the country lived and worked. as
individual efficiency.
inequality IN DarGainiHs for Labor.
Another change which had come about
as a result OF the foregoing WAS q eras-
,neausiity I'm the bargaining relation be-
employe standing alone. The great coal
MINING and coal carrying Companies.
Nnieh employed their tens OF thousands.
could easily dispense with the reryices
OF any particular miner. The miner ON
me other hand. however, expert. could
10y dispense with the companies. He
would starve AZ he did NOT set one
Mhat the miner had to sell-hi. labor
" p~srisssol. commodity: the labor
forever. Moreover. his labor Was moi
IKE most commodities mere thfnr.
y was part OF a living. breathing human
1ena dhe saw. and all citi-
matter saw. that the labor problem wa.
NOT only an economic. but also = moral
m,narI problem. Individually the
% enter a wage contract with the great
companies: they could make fair terms
saiigy oS uniting into trade unions to bar
20 cooperate to secure not only their
economic but their simple human lights
81 = IKE other workmen. were compell-
"a oy the very conditions under which
.ney nNcd TO unite In unions of the in
Sustry or trade. and these unions were
Dounn 10 grow In size. In strength. and
IN power for good and evil as the indus
tries In which the men were empIoyed
grew larger and larger.
a, a democracy can be such in fact only
enere Is some rough approximation To
similarity in stature among the men
a.. One of us can deaI a.
~. private lives with the grocer or the
outcher or the carpenter or the chicken
ralser. or. ~ we are the grocer or car
pentor or butcher or farmer We can
ueaI Win our customers. because we are
al OF ABOUT the same size. Therefore a
SIMPLE and poor society can exist as N
democracy on a basis OF sheer indiyidu-
susnh. But n rich and complex indus
trlal society cannot so exist; for some
INDIVIDUALS, and especially those artifi-
ciai individuals called corporations he
Spms so very big that the ordinary in
ana cannot deal with them on term 90
equaIlty. II therefore becomes neces-
10y Tor these ordinary individuals TO
combine In their turn. first in order 10
act In their collective capacity throusb
mat biggest OF all combinations called
me sonernment and second. TO act. also
IN their own self-defense. through pri-
Nate combinations. such as farmers as
sociations and trade unions.
property Rights and Human Iirnss.
This the great coal operators aid not
erty rights. which they 40 stou,IIp rSSp p
lended; were OF the same texture as
We're the human rights, which they so
see that the power which they Exercised
OF representing their stockholders was
~ 'he same texture as the power which
the union leaders demanded OF repre-
senting the ~workmen, who had demo
cratlcally elected them. They ala no,
see that the right TO use ones property
as one Will can be main tanned oniy so
long as A. il consistent with the nam
tenance OF certain Fundamental human
rights. OF the. rights to life, liberty. and
~ haAIIAIlttE. or. AS We ma "
restate them in these later days. OF the
rights or h worker TO n living wage,
20 reasonable hours OF labor. to decent
Working and living conditions. to free
dom OF thought and speech and Indus
trial representation. in short. to n mea-
sure OF Industrial democracy and. in
return for his arduous toll. TO a worthy
and decent life according 10 American
s~tandards stu another thing these
great business leaders did not see. They
did not see that both their Interests and
the interests OF the workers must be ac-
c~ommodated. and II need be. subordinat-
ed. to the fundamental permanent In
terests OF the whole community. No
man and no group or men may so ex-
erclse their rights as TO deprive the ma
tlon OF the things which are necessary
and vital 20 the common life. a strike
which ties up the coal supplies OF a
whole section is a strike invested with n
public interest.
The Intervention That Never Happened.
tho coal strike Of 1909. so deeply and
strongly did I feel the wave OF indiKna-
ton which swept over the whole coun-
Try. That had I not succeeded in my eff
forts TO induce the operators TO listen
10 reason. ! should have taken "a step
winch would have brought down upon
my head the eNecrations Of many Of the
captains OF industry" a. wen as OF
sundry respectable newspapers VINO
dutifully take their cue from them. As
a man should be Judged by his inten-
give here the story OF IN Intervention
that never happened.
While the coal operators were eNult-
ing over the fact hat they had turned
down the miners and the president.
there arose IN all parts OF the country
an Outburst Of wrath so universal that
even 30 naturally conservative n man as
grover Cleveland wrote TO me express
following. his Indignation az the con