The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1921-03-25


picnic party wants to conside
the problems before the country
1t isn't probable that all of then
will be solved in years to come
but we have to make a begin
ming. The worst problem il
many ways is the adjustment o.
so-called capital and labor. The
Miami Herald has a sensible
editorial on the subject which we
are copying as it puts much Of
the trouble in a nut shell, which
isn't saying that it can be settled
in short order:
1t is too bad that in their appeal
to President Harding to use his good
offices with the packers with the
view of compelling them to live up
to their agreement with the govern
ment and to resist a return to con-
ditions which existed in the meat
industry previous to 1917, that the
meat workers should have coupled a
threat to strike unless their request
is complied with.
1t is true that previous conditions
of labor in the meat industry were
! bad and it should not be permitted
to revert to those conditions, but it
is equally true that other conditions
have arisen in 1921 which necessitate
a readjustment of labor in all its
departments.
Short hours of labor, reduced eff
cheney and corresponding increase in
the selling price of all foodstuffs and
fabrics made the cost of living to
all classes in America, with the
possible exception of the very rich,
problem which they found most hard
to solve during the past two years.
That a readjustment along all in
dustrial lines is imperative is &C
knowledged by most students of ex-
isting conditions, but it is absolute
ly essential that such readjustment
be performed in perfect fairness to
the rights and merits of labor.
At the same time, labor leaders
make serious mistake in threaten
ing to invoke the rigors of strikes un-
less their demands are complied with. !
Strikes, under the most favorable
circumstances, seldom have benefit |
ted labor, most benefits having been |
gained by conference and compro-
mise, while strike at this time
would entail great hardships upon
the people in general and might |
prove suicidal to organized labor.
That labor is entitled to organize,
that this right is as valid as is that |
possessed by capital, goes without
saying, but it is equally true that
there is body of citizens-by far
the largest one-whose rights are as
vital as are those of labor and capital.
Abraham Lincoln once said that |
labor was superior to capital, that it
preceded capital, and was entitled to
first consideration. But it is a
question as to whether one is more
important than the other and as to
which one comes first. We are all |
laborers-that is, all who work by
brain or brawn-and many of us, I'M
known to ourselves, are capitalists.
Only in restricted sense is the
word capitalist applicable to the one
who has amassed or controls large
sums of money. Any one, laborer or
farmer, who saves his implements of
toll or seeds from year to year is a
capitalist.
Capital is not only money; ware
houses, tools, raw materials and seed
capital in as true a sense
as do stocks, bonds, silver and gold.
Anyone who saves from his earnings
is a capitalist, and there is no valid
reason why all men, in this land of
equal opportunities, should not be
capitalists.
No one, except those deprived of
the privilege to labor, should be UNI
Not necessarily engaged
in manual labor, but employed in
some useful occupation. 1t is the
general opinion that lawyers, teach
ers, clergymen and writer's are not
-aborers. They are looked upon as
that intellectual class
that SOW not, neither do they spin,"
out eat of the bread which is created :
by the labor Of others. No belief
Vas ever mole fallacious, as a man is
4 laborer no matter with what tools
he laboIs; it matters not whether a
aborer works with his brain or with
lis muscle. If he labors, then is he '
/ laborer in the true sense of the !
word.
Not until there is a general con- ;
.eption of the true meaning of labor {
md capital, not until there is a
blending of the two by Incorporating '
10Th the worker and the saver in the !
me person, can come about that en- {
ightened public opinion which will {
complete cooperation (
'etween employer and employe. This |
lone can insure peace and happiness
n the industrial world. {
The Germans are said to be in :
lifferent to the occupation of a c
,art of their territory by the e
lilies. 1t is truly an extreme 9
ase when Indifference sets in !
nd the end is not far off when /
'eople does not care what hap 5
,ens to them. The Chancellor \
5 fussing about the insult to the /
Iation and the injustice of the p
laims but the people themselves. l
S far as can be observed, don't =
i've a whoop who comes or who r
T.