The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1921-11-17


ments into the channels Of prosperity
and peace Jlst as we were reach
ing this glorious end Of wars the re-
luctance Of one nation, our nation,
prevented IL. And now preparations
for the next war. are going on as
never before-poison gas, torpedoes
in sea and air, submarines, barb
wire entanglements. But II the hu.
man race survives the next war, there
will be another great effort TO ex-
tend the reign Of justice to the ma.
tons,
Till the better sense Of most shall
hold fretful few In awe,
And the mighty world reposes, Tapped
in universal law
Who Shall Work, and Who Shall
Have?
Our next vision In Of n battlefield
more terrible than this because more
unknown. IL is the battlefield be-
tween capital and labor, on which APP
pear new engines Of warfare whose
destructive power we cannot measure.
This is new turn Of the age-long
struggle over the production and the
distribution Of wealth--the making
and the sharing Of the food, clothes,
jewelry. books, music and candy, that
can be gotten out Of earth and sea,
and shaped up for human use by
human toll. Who is TO do the work,
and who is TO have the things1
There were labor troubles In Egypt
in Sparta, but ours are on far
larger scale. The conflict here has
been delayed because we bad so much
free land. But now orr free land 10
exhausted Moreover. the conditions
Of modern production are so compli-
Gated that IL Is hard for the most
fair and unprecedented mind TO find
out what really is just.
We do not intend TO allow one man
to take the life Of another, but as
Shylock says, "You take the life
when you do take the means where
by one lives" The corporation i, q
modern monster. mighty for good or
evil. A company starts out 10 manu-.
facture something which we all need
on so large scale as TO make II
possible TO reduce the price. When
the price is reduced more people buy,
and the corporation prospers. Then
it buys up all the water-power, and
buys out all rival companies, and be-
comes monopoly. Then 1t can
raise the price, for there is no other
source Of supply. II can pay its Of.
fcers greater salaries than the Of
ficers Of the government. and make
its stockholders richer than Croesus
or Nero. And IL can give or with.
hold employment. That may mean
life or death TO its workmen. They
are at its mercy; and II has no
mercy. The directors Of the COM
pany cannot know its employees per-
seem only part Of
the machinery. IL is a fateful say
mo Corporations have no souls"
Naturally the workmen combine on
their side, and labor organization
has no soul. II will pillage the en-
ployer IL it can. So these two soul.
less monsters, the corporation and
the labor union, rush against each
other, with no staying hand except
selfshness. Each knows
that to annihilate the other would be
destruction to itself.
There is something Of reason on
both sides, and thousands Of most
estimable people on both sides. &
Many laborers by their thrift and
energy climb up to the position Of
capitalists. Many capitalists use their
wealth generously-in fact, all Of
them must invest il in some form of
production II they are to have an in
come. But it still remains true that
the labor union holds knife that
could cut all our threats, and that
two percent Of the people Of America
hold over fifty percent OF the wealth
II America. This condition is Of
ong standing, but 1t cannot stand
much longer. Study your economies,
sociology, ethics, and especially your
Bibles, for you will soon be called up
on to vote and act in crisis as great
as any America has ever known.
or course, our hope lies IN the fact
that under our government reforms
IAN be carried out by ballots instead
Of bullets, and red revolution avoided.
The income tax and the inheritance
tax and the police force show this
power Of the state to regulate both
wealth and strikers. But we may be
sure there will be no industrial peace