Daily Kennebec journal., 1919-10-17
THE GREAT PEACE
J0B--C0-0PERATI0N
(By Cosmo Hamilton)

Iapor worl1 Is que Leltuer entNeiS ~
the high cost Of living nor to the mol
>idual tense Of injustice on the part d
the laborer. but also to the desire OF ths
paid professional agitator to take ao
vantage Of the state Of unrest into
which civilization has been plunged BY
the derlorable aftermath Of war. The
axes which these men are grinding are
precisely the same az they always have
been. They are not working for the
ameliorat:on Of labor or for the better
ment of the conditions Of the working
man. They are. as usual. working en-
tirely for themselves and labor 10 the
goat-as labor always is.
The age-long fght between capital
and labor will never be brought to an
end SO long as the agitator can infiame
a class which does not know precisely
how it stands in relation to the inevi-
table scheme Of life. There will always
be, as there have always been. men.
who. being themselves unable to become
capitalists. spend their time in setting
labor against capital. backed by labor
unions AMI by gid-gloved socialists
those curious creatures who suffer from
brain anemia and the incapability Of
believing that the millennium is impossi-
BILE OF achievement. The professiona!
strike-makers have a very easy time.
They are the ghouls of civilization. the
gargoyles which deface the buildings of
the world. Their mouths are full OF
cunning poison and not until they are
met with supreme courage. both by the
general public and by the capitalists
will their day be over. Legislation can
not yet touch them, but education can,
and it is only by the education of the
laborer. whose mind is at present con-
fused by semi-truths. that We shall
be able reconstruct with anything
like sanity. or hope to look upon the
future with anything like assurance.
The past is the present entered
through another gate and the swing o.
the pendulum is relentless and inevi-
table. The lessons of history teach US
that without capital there can be No
labor, and that Heaven is as far away
from earth today as ever was and ever
it will be. Nothing that can be said OF
written by idealists and cranks. or by
the tub.thumper who is ready at any
at one end Of the city and black is white
at the other end OF it. can alter fact7
or unbalance the law of supply and de.
mand, Of give and take.
Strikes may come and strikes may 60
but capitalists must 60 on forever
They are the men who supply the
ira ms and the sinews, whatever may
be said to the contrary by the fanau1
or the strike-maker. Labor is merely
the instrument and the machine. II
capital were to strike labor would die,
and if. at any time. the purchaser. OF
the middle-man who stands between
them both. were to strike, capital would
dwindle and labor would be at an end.
All three. capital, labor and the man
who employs them both, must pull to-
gether in fairness and there is no gold
en- wand which can transform an i'm
perfect world into a state Of absolute
perfection. In short. as history will
teach - If we choose to read its pages,
and as coramon sense. the guiding post
which 50 .ew Of US ever condescend to
notice. plainly demonstrates. the millen-
ium is unattainable.
I
for which we may hope. and this will
never be achieved without universal
cooperation and rigid sanity of thought,
deed and act. In time like the pres.
ent, when the world is still staggering
insanity means something worse than
war and the only way in which read
jus ment is possible is by the quiet and
persistent education as to the inevitable
laws Of lfe of that great class which
is so easily swayed by the false elo-
quence of agitatcrs.
We have been suffering from the
ecstasy Of seif-preservation. BY the
loss Of blood and money We have come
out Of the war with very little else than
seIf-respect. A spirit Of self-sacrihee
has enabled US to conquer the monster
Of aggression which desired to become
master Of the world and lay down laws
which are not unlike those dearest to
the heart of the so-caled socialist. who.
having ruthlessly pulled everything
down. does not know how to put any.
thing Up a-ain-and seemingly does no.
desire to do SO.
There is not man alive today In any
part Of the world who does not bear
uron his shoulders his share Of respon-
sbility in the universal reconstruction
Salf-sacrifice is still demanded Of him
and labor cannot be exempted from any
part of the burden and can no more be-
come the spoilt child Of civilizat ton
than can the capitalists or the pur-
chaser. 1t must be share and share
alike. not If wealth. but Of responsible
ty. and work is the golden word which
hangs from the sky for all to read
D1rins our universal convalescence.
TIE iron tonic Of truth is the one AMI
cnlv medicine rat will put US once asair
on our feet and 1t behooves all who
write and all who have the future Of
the world at heart to band together a,
tbs most dangerous moment to prov
to Labor that it Is no more important
than either canifo1 nv <bo r,,.aL