Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1914-05-14

strike Is the attitude OF some OF the
big" newspaper men Of the country
and some Of the renowned sociologistf
uf America. They are not all agreed
it Is true, but almost without excep
ton, SO far as my observation has
extended, they admit that with cap
ital cooperating almost as a unit
labor is forced to meet these vested
interests with a counter organization,
l have in mind what Norman Hap
good, the editor of Harper's Weekly.
said at Denver the other day. 1T is
absurd" declared the we'll known ed
itor, "for anyone to claim that labor,
ing men. as individuals, can deal sue
c~essfully with corporations. 1t is per.
fectly illogical for such to be the case
when capital in the past few years
has ceased entirely to be individual.
A corporation is an artificial creation.
1t is something which enables money
to work in large units. 1t is based
on the principle that it serves the in
terests of your money and my money
and Jones' money to combine our
moneys and act as a great unit. La
Dor has tried to do the same thing
with individuals, trying to combine
individual forces to serve their mu-
tual interests in a large unit. They
have found this combination neces'
sary for efficient action under mod
ern conditions. When a corporation
says it will not recognize labor as an
organization but as individuals it is
talking perfect nonsense"
| also have in mind what some OF
the great daily newspapers are say
ing. There is a String" of such pa
pers under one editorial management,
These papers include the Rocky Noun
tain News and the Denver Times, the
Chicago Evening Post, the Indianap-
oils Star, and several other papers.
rWhat labor wants in Colorado"
declares this authority, "and what
labor wants the world over is repre-
%sentation, expression, an opportunity
to tell its own needs and to speak
it's own mind; in the words of a
great man, it wants to be more a head
and less a hand. Many middle class
people and most of the rich resent
this claim of labor. A century ago
when manhood suffrage was being
fought out another middle class and
another group Of rich people resented
the extension Of the ballot to the
working people. The comfortable
people of the day felt that they were
best able to decide all political at
fairs, even the affairs of their poor
neighbors, and they fought bitterly
the demand of the p~ropertyless citi,
zen."
Young John D. Rockefeller is max
ing a serious mistake if he thinks
that public sentiment will sustain
his course in refusing to treat with
organized labor. 1t is not a question
of recognition alone. There is q
broader aspect in the situation. The
public will not be content to die OF
cold because Mr.. Rockefeller denies
the right Of organized labor to de.
mand that it be placed upon the same
footing with capital in the matter Of
recognition. The coal lands in Colo
RADIO, in many cases, are the property
Of the state of Colorado, Mr.. Rookie
Teller and his associates having mere
ly leased the lands for the purpose OF
mining the fuel. AS the same author
ity last named expresses it, Mr.. Rock
efeller's company and other com.
panies contribute money for tools and
machinery; the workmen contribute
the labor and the skill. Who should
control the management OF the mine:
Should the tools and the machinery
have the entire voice or should the
men who do the work say something
The land belongs to the people Of the
state, not especially to the rich, not
especially to the poor, especially to
all"
AS / have hitherto suggested, this
may be verging "awfully' close to
socialism IN some form or other, but
it is a sentiment that is voiced by
men and women who would fout the
idea that they are lending encourage
ment to socialistic tendencies.
In this conflict we are reminded 81
the great contest between the pie
bians and the citizens Of Rome. The
"citizens' represented an artistocracy
OF wealth; the splebes' conformed
somewhat to u laboring classes oi
today. The latter finally triumphed
at the end of three centuries Of strug
gle. But the sequel was written II
blood, as every high school boy vel
knows II he has been sufficiently in
structed an ancient and modern his