New-York tribune., 1920-01-03
All One Body
The Truth Which Can Solue
the Labor Problems
To the Editor Of The Tribune.

10 the Editor Of The Tribune.
Sir: AS side light on the labor prob
lem would call attention to the
words Of one universally estimated as
among the worlds greatest thinkers:
"For the body is not one member, but
many. If the foot shall say, Because
am not the hand, I am not of the
body is it, therefore, not of the body :?
And if the ear shall say, Because
am not the eye, am not Of the body
Is 1t, therefore, not Of the body? If
the whole body were an eye, where
were the hearing? If the whole were
hearing, where were the smelling? But
now hath God set the members every
one of them in the body, as it hath
pleased Him. And if they were all one
member, where were the body? But
now are they many members, yet but
one body. And the eye cannot say
unto the hand, 4 have no need of
thee; nor again the head to the feet,
I have no need Of YOU That
there should be no schism in the body,
but that the members should have the
same care one for another. And
whether one member suffer, all the
members suffer with it; or the men,
Der is honoured, all the members re.
joice with it,"
Here is a concise but clear state
ment Of the relationship which exists
between capital and labor, between all
sorts and conditions Of men, between
all classes Of whatever description.
For all belong to the body polite, and
all are dependent upon and bound up
in the life Of each other. No one of
them can prosper at the expense Of
the others. If any one Of them suffers
all the others are in pain.
The recent coal strike is an example.
Many millions will suffer cold, loss
Of employment and even death, while
the miners and the operators are
doing their best to beat each other
The sufferers in many cases have no
may live many hundreds of miles
from the scene Of conflict, but their
suffering will be none the less real
Certain members Of the body polite
are at war; all the body in conse-
quence is suffering.
Take larger example. China seems
long way removed from the recent
conflict in Europe, and yet as a con-
sequence Of the war it costs from
5000 to $3.50 per annum to support a
missionary in China, whereas before
the war the cost was $375. This In
crease in the living expense Of
millions Of poor Chinese means much
suffering.
Again. America Is several thousand
miles from France. The war wasn't
our war. We had no direct interest
in it. But could we stay out of it?
Certainly not, unless at the loss of
self-respect, manhood and every con-
sideration Of justice. To-day our
country is torn, distracted, suffering,
because Of Ills directly traceable to
the war, or which have boen intensi-
fed and made crucial by the war. We
suffer because they fought. The whole
world, the whole body polite, is In
pain because some Of the members re-
sorted to war.
If this truth could become rooted
and grounded in the public conscious
ness, it would mean long advance
toward the solution Of the labor prob
lem. For the mightiest force in
remedial legislation is tho power Of
public opinion, and no class can
stand opposed to it. When it be-
comes clearly understood by the man
on the street. by tho farmer thou
sand miles distant, by all sorts and
conditions Of men, thst strike, for
whatever cause, between worker and
employer may mean a matter Of life
and death, not only TO the parties di-
rectly interested. but 10 others far