The Elk Mountain pilot., 1919-12-18
WHAT IS "A FAIR s..ARE,"

|
Justice Stafford of the District OF
Columbia supreme court, very learn
ed man. voiced this statement at the
10th anniversary celebration of Dart
mouth college:
I'VE now stand face to face with 4
new riddle of the Sphinx The ques-
lion 1t propounds Is one that we must
answer if free government is to sur
kvivc. That question is, how are the
misses of men and women who labor
With their hands to be secured. out
II the products OF their toll, what
he will feel to be. and will be in
fac. fair return? Until we can an
Twor that question we shall have no
p'ace. and If we fail to answer it, we
shall have revolution"
Justice Stafford is beirg charged
with the preaching of dangerous doc
trines. in thus declaring that there
will be revolution unless ways are
found to bring about more equal
distribution Of the products of labor
But he did not overstate the situa-
tion. The masses of the people have
the physical power to force a solution
of this problem. and there Is every
reason to believe that they are going
to do it-by votes If not by violence.
If our law-makers. public officials,
big business men and others in au-
thority do not tackle this question
and conscientfously dispose of it. then
1t is true that the workers themselves
will take the power from them and
adept their own remedies.
But, while it is easv to say. as a
theory. that every worker should enjoy
his due share of what his labor pro-
duces. it is very different matter to
say what constitutes such a share.
No group or class of workers can
claim special privileges or be allowed
to exercise monopoly OF the fruits
of industry. for that would involve
injustice and TYRANNY.
The miners for example, when they
struck. argued that since coal was the
basis of all industry, they who mined
this ccal ought to receive wages cor
responding to the Importance of the
product. This. however. is not the
true principle. On that doctrine the
man who made the ink with which
deed was written might claim title to
the property which was conveyed by
the deed. Or the man who put the
roof on a house might levy wages
equal to the full value of tho house,
on the idea that the house would be
worthless If it had no roof. In the
same way the men in an auto factory
who put the carburetors into the cars
might argue that they should be es-
peciaily we'll paid. because the cars
would never run without carburetor.
So the pilot who steered ship might
assert his right to the whole cargo
on the plea that the ship would not
reach port without his services.
This notion that one industry is
more essential than others and that
I the workers should therefore be paid
, more than other workers will not
stand the test of reason. Coal is no
more essential to industry than many
other things. A locomotive will run
no farther without oil than without
coal; in fact oil can be made to take
the place of coal for firing. but coal
can't take the place of oil for lubri-
eating. Germany during the war suf-
fered far more from lack OF lubricat-
ing oil than Of coal.
WHar opx, r,or <.otc 49, -.
that he won he war. we know what
we all think of him. No man won
the war and no man was essential to
victory. 1t was the combined power
of millions of human beings. all over
the world. which brought the war to
successful finish
The soldiers who fired the guns on
the firing line could not claim the
credit for winning the wa. Ihev
would have had no guns. no ammun-
all--if 1t had not been for the great
numbers of others who were working
night and day to produce these neces-
stiles and get the supplies to them.
1t is figured that 1t took from 80 to
80 men to maintain one man on the
firing line. and these men who were
back of the line were as essential as
the man in the trenches was.
In chain. one link is just as i'm
portant as any other; II one link
gives way, the whole thing goes. and
1t would be the height of egotism for
the first link to claim that it held
superior position. Industry Is one
vast chain. and this chain must be
maintained unbroken If operations