I LI Hl~ N 0 S UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Brittle Books Project, 2009. KB Ii 4 ~ OF THE U N I VLERS IT Y Of I LINO1$ LI.e HTo-N-,. V. POWDEIRLY, G. M. AV. K. oi L. T. LABOR: ITS RIGHTS AND WRONGS. STATEMENTS AND COMMENTS BY THE LEADING MEN OF OUR NATION ON THE LABOR QUESTION OF TO-DAY. WITH PLATFORMS OF THE VARIOUS LABOR ORGANIZATIONS, KNIGHTS OF LABOR, FEDERATION OF TRADES) AGRICULTURAL WHEELS OF THE SOUTH, FARMERS' ALLIANCE, AND 'FULL PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE K. OF L. AT CLEVELAND, MAY 25 TO JUNE 3, 1886. "Interest of one is the concern of all." WITH MUCH VALUABLE INFORMATION FOR ALL CLASSES. "If the men whopossess money enough to buy guns and dynamite would invest it in some well-selected work on Labor, they would put the money to good use." They will never need the gens and dynamite in this country." "If the head, the brain of man, cannot work out the problem now conhand alone will never solve it." fronting fs, his T. V. POWDeRLY, G. M. W. K. of L., Circularof May 8,1886. WASHINGTON, D. C.: THE LABOR PUBLISHINGCOMPANY-. CHARLES S. PRATT New and Old Books, Stationery, Blank Books 161 SIXTH AVE. INear 12thSt:): NEW YORK CATALOGUES FREE WRITE ME FOR ANY BOOK YOU WANT, ICopyright. Txn LAB~OR PUBLISHING COMPANY. PREFACE. THE Labor Movement has a great history It is the hiftory of all mankind to raise thEmD selves into freedom. When the ballot was cm olbained, the greatest step was taken. Now, that secured, the rest can be obtained by peace;ful methods. Uj No more rioting, but a grand movement for- ard toward wise legislation and the elevation w of the toiling masses. The movement i3 recognized, and already thie leaders in thought have given expression to i their opinions. The Labor Movement has also furnished leaders, wise and thoughtful who have given Preface. 4 the sibject of Labor careful thought. These opinions have been carefully gathered and are here presented to the public. The Declarations of the Principles and Platforms of Labor Societies have also been secured, and given a prominent space in these pages. No great movement ever occurs without its principles crystallize in declarations, constitutions and platforms, and as time goes by these become more and more valuable as pointing the way to, the followers. Hence, the value of obtaining them in a practical form for guidance. Many of the articles have been prepared by members of the different labor societies and organizations. Many articles have also been furnished through the kindness and courtesy of the leading periodicals. Thanks are espec- Sially tendered to The North Americar Review and The Forum. This work is therefore issutd with a view Preface. 5 of presenting the most intelligent and'latest views on the subject of Labor. It is hoped it will be found especially valuable for all members of Labor Societies, and particularly valuable to all who desire a correct and intulligent understanding of this great question of to-day-LABOR. LABOR PUBLISHING CO. CONTENTS. Page PIORTRAIT T. V. POWDERLY, G. M. W. K. of L.................. ontispice IIBSTORY OF TRADES UNIONS. How they originated, and the seoret of their strength...................... 13 THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR. How the order was organized...........20 Demand of the National Govornment. New Features. Strikes ............ 2Y Officers of the order................. 2 "I. V. POWDERLY, G. M. W. K. of L. Life. Sketch .................................. 26 KNIGUITS OF LABOR PLATFFORM....... 29 8 Contents. Page A- DAY OF. EIGHT HOURS. A history of the movement for shorter hours ............................. 34 Hon. John A. Logan's Letter ........... 38 OPINIONS OF EMINENT MEN ON THE EIGHT-HOUR QUESTION. Hon. J. 13. Weaver...........42 -Hon. Wi. Mahone.................... 43 Hon. Wmn. D. K'elly.......a0 ,91 ..... 0.e43 J.-M. 4homkr..........4 John Costello ........ ... ......... 44 Thomas A. A45~rn........ Richard Davis......... 45 James Redpath. 46 ... . ............ Hon. Leland Stanford. ................. 47 Rev. Robert Collyer.............. 0000090000a48 Hon. Charles C. C ste.......48 Hon. Frank Lawler................o 49 Hon. Byron M. Cutcheon.. . ........... oWo o50 1Ion.- Thomas Me Bayne...............51 Geo. H. Fox.,.......................o *052 Rev. R. Heber Newton................53 Joseph Gruenhut ........ ............ 05 Miss Kate Field ............... John Swinton ... s...... 0e ........... 0 56 Henry M. Teller............... 58 Samuel Gompers................... 0*0 o58 John J. Jarrett....................0 se* 5 Hon. Henry L. D e.........61 George Gunton ............. 62 Lyman Abbott............ Conl/ents. Page HON. T. V. POWDERLY............ Circular May 3. HENRY GEORGE................ 7 RIOT IN CHICAGO..............7 STRIKES AND ARBITRATION.......81 Hfon. T. VPowderly AN EMPLOYER'S VIEW OF THE LABOR QUESTION..............89 Andrew Garn eg-ie. SELF HELP, STATE HELP AND CHURCH HELP FOR WORKINGMEN......... 106 Revc. Joseph Cook. PROFIT SHARING............. 15 ruE HOURS OF LABOR........... 118 _Edward AtkilISo. )HALL AN EIGIIT-1101R ADOPTED .................. G~eorge (unton. SYSTEM BE 3 I0 Contents. Page HON. JOSEPH R. HAWLEY ON LABOR AND CAPITAL...................... PLATFORMS OF LABOR SOCIETIES. Knights of Labor ...................... 153 Agricultural Wheels .................. 153 Minnesota Farmers' Alliance.............154 Preamble and Platform of American Society to promote Justice................ 159 Central Labor Union ................... 162 The Constitution Club .................. 166 The Social Democratic Party ........... 167 The Anti-monopoly Party...168 THE CLEVELAND CONVENTION OF THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR.................. 171 Women's Christian Temperance Union, and Address....g. .......... 176 Manufacturer's Union .................. 180 Plan of Arbitration and Inter-State Bill... 187 Address of the Trade Union ............ 197 Women's Suffrage Association. Address. 201 The Address by the Knights of Labor in Response ...................... 204 Report of Committee on Legislation ..... 206 Land Question........................206 Election Day.......................... 206 The Blue and Gray Association of the K. of L. Annual Meeting. Election of Officers ............................. 11 Cosdenis. II Page Report of Committee on Boycott and. Strikes ............................. Committee on Special Legislation. Document 77.................216 Document 71 ...... Home Club ...... Knights of Labor Press Associatio ...... The Church Congress. Discussion of . . . . The Workingman's Distrust of the Church : Its Causes and Remedies..... Rev. Dr. Wayland Hoyt's Address....... Hon. Everett P. Wheeler............... Jon. J. Jarrett ....................... Henry George ......................... Rev. William Wilberforce Newton....... PROTECTION 214 220 22T 229 230 230 231 248 252 261 268 AND FREE TRADE. Discussion by John Jarrett and Henry George ............................. 273 Address to the Grangers by the Knights of Labor .............................. 285 General Assembly Adjourned ........... 288 ARBITRATION ON LABOR DISPUTES... 280 Hon. Thos. M. Cooley. BOYCOTT IN AMERICA................... T 1. Pwde /. 1 290 12 Conten/s. pwg REPORT OF LABOR COMMISSIONER CARROLL D. WRIGHT................... 305 LABOR AND CAPITAL ........... T. De Witt Talmadge. 328 LABOR: ITS RIGHTS AND WRONGS. HISTORY OF TRADES UNIONS. HOW THEY ORIINATED AND THE SBORET OF THEIR STRENGTH. TRADES UNIONs are somewhere said to be a natural outgrowth of natural laws. However this may be, all such organizations have been, until a very recent period, like confidence, plants of very slow growth. As long ago as the time of the First Edward, English peasants sought, by united action, to alleviate in some particulars the hardships of their lot, but their efforts, being generally directed to the redress of special grievances, ceased when success, and more frequently, failure, was attained. It was not until the beginning of the eighteenth century that trades unions began to be organized for mutual aid and protection and to be permanent. The Watchmakers' Society in London was one of a few existing in 1703, but they were all equally illegal [18] '4 L1bor: Its Righs and Wroigs. and abhorrent to the sentiment of the ruling classes, thleir members having no power or influence in the state. Hampered by such conditions little good was immediately accomplished, nearly every attempt, no matter in what direction, being a crime. Still these associations increased i) number and importance though the ban of illegality was not removed, the Friendly Society of Iron Founders, as lateas 1810, being obliged to meet in dark nights, on the wastes and moors in the highlands of the midland counties, and to keep their archives buried in the peat. In those days strikes, the only remedies known, were generally accompanied by violence, which law undertook to meet with the harshest enactments, it being an offense punishable with death, in 1812, to destroy a loom. The peace which followed Waterloo, stopping the enormous expenditnres of a great war, brought about the inevitable reaction, and thlrew out. of work thousands of skilled operatives, reducing them to almost hopeless traits. All sorts of agitation for the relief of labor were conducted and remedies proposed. Naturally, trade unions availed themselves of the situation to procure legislation, placing their organization on a legal and more satisfactory footing. The act of 1824 resulted, which declared combinations of workingmen to be legal, but only for " improving wages and reducing the h ours of labor," any combinations under it, " in restraint of trade," being criininal as before. TweCn tv two years later, in 1846, an indictment History of Trades Unzions. 15 fifty-seven yards long was found against a large number of persons for conspiracy in getting up a strike, which rang the changes on all known or imaginable means relied' upon to bring it about, and which resulted in very many convictions. It was decided in 1867 that trade unions having rules relating to strikes could hold no property even for benevolent or charitable purposes. This being unsatisfactory, a royal commission was appointed, shortly after the Sheffield outrages, to examine generally into labor troubles, and among the results of their investigations was the act of 1871, declaring trade unions legal organizations, and, wl"at was all important, that the members: thereof were not liable to indictment for conspiracy. Up to fifteen years ago, therefore, it was a criminal offense in Great Britain for workingmen to unite together for peaceable action in furtheranee of a strike. All legal barriers now being removed a rapid and marvelous increase in the organization, influence and resources of labor began, so that any statistics a few years old are a long way behind existing facts. At the general conference of 1883 there were one hundred and seventy-three delegates from one hundred and thirty-five bodies, representing 561,091 unionists. The five largest unions doubled in the sixteen years previous, and so rapid has been the increase since that the number now in the United Kingdom is supposed to be a million. Their funds, in spite of heavy losses ft'om strikes, are constanitly increasing. The cash balance of the five largest unions-enCgi- 16 Labor.- tls Rigklis andd Wrongs. neers, iron-founders, carpenters, tailors, stone-masons -was, in 1883, £360,000, and their income for the same year was £330,000. The seven largest societies expended in 1881 for sickness, deaths, superannuations, accidents, funerals, etc., £220,095. Labcar organizations in the United States and Canada have had very much the same history for the same period of time as their British brethren, though there never has been the same legal hostility. Such was the construction of the law in several States, however, that it was thought advisable to procure statutes declaring that combinations to encourage strikes were not criminal conspiracies, provided the particular act complained of, if done by one person, was not a crime. Laws of this character were passed in Maryland in 1884, New Jersey in 1883, and New York in 1882. Laws expressly authorizing the organization of trade unions were passed in Maryland in 1884 and in Michigan in 1885. The earliest labor combinations in this country were modeled after those in existence in England. Each trade or craft had its own union and worked independently, not only of the outside world, but of unions of other trades as well. These unions still continue under the name of the Federation of Trades, and a national convention meets every year com-posed of delegates from each union. But it was long ago discovered that the general organization was not strong enough for defensive, even without considering the necessity for offensive operations. In the event of History of Trades Unionzs. 17 any difficulty with employers, it was often found that the union in trouble was left to its own resources without any help from ot'he trades or crafts. The mischief was well understood long before a practical man was found to apply a remedy. The old system was much like that in force under the Articles of Confederation, in which each State heard the suggestions of Congress and then did as it pleased. Evidently a new union was necessary with a central head and well-defined executive powers. Uriah Stephens a Philadelphia tailor, with six others of like occupation, met at his invitation in .1869 and formulated a plan of thorough union of mechanics, laborers, tradesmen, and others of like sympathies in an organization to be known as the Knights of Labor. Originally so quiet a society as to compel its members to keep secret even their membership, it has only been within the last few years that its existence has been admitted, and even now reticence is the rule as to those matters about which the public is most concerned-its strength and pecuniary resources. The organization is simple. Each knight belongs to a local assembly. A certain number of these local bodies varying according to territory and population are included in a district assembly, composed of delegates from each local assembly. Each district assembly sends delegates to a general assembly, which meets as often as oince a year, at a time and place designated by the preceding general assembly. District and local assemblies meet as often as they choose, the former each month or fortnight. The 13 Labor: I/s Rih/s z Jand zgs. Vo general assembly, whlten in session and when not iqI session, an executive committee chosen by it, directs the movements and controls the money of the order. Any local assembly may strike, if it sees fit, but it cannot have the support of the district assembly, unless by a majority vote of such assembly, and the latter body, in turn, will not be supported by the general assembly, except tlirougl its vote or that of its representative, the executive committee. Most of the local assemblies are composed of persons in the same avocation, but there are also mixed assemblies, any persons being eligible to membership except bankers, lawyers and liquor dealers. There are now nearly six thousand local assemblies, but the memberships vary, sonie running as low as fifty and a few going as high as one thousand. Total membership in the United States and Canada in the Knights of Labor is 500,000. So rapid is the increase of membership in the latter that applications are now being hleld up for forty days to prevent, it is said, the order being so filled up with raw recruits as to cripple its efficiency. The extent of its income is not known, but the English figures will enable one to form an idea. The strength of trade unionismn both here and in Great Britain lies in its centralism, in its concentration of executive power. Said Joseph Arch as to his agricultural labor union : " Omr utioti is based on centralization so far as funds and inanagen iit are concerned ; but every officer is elected by the popi- History of Trades Uiozs. 19 lar vote. I do not think we should have held our own as we have, had we not centralized our force." This is the prevailing sentiment of unionists on this side of the water. These organizations are yet comparatively in their infancy. Suppose there is a membership) of 1,000,000 in Great Britain. There are 6,000,000 workingmen and 750,000 agricultural laborers in Eigland and Wales alone. There were in the United States in 1880, in the manufacturing, mechanical and mining industries alone 3,205,124 male persons, and over 5,000,000 laborers of all sorts. The possibilities of increase in both countries are enormous, while possible results of action are yet to a great extent speculativ e. The avowed object of the unions is to shorten the hours while increasing the wages of labor, to get a larger share of the product of labor with a o19nger tihe for recreation and iimplrovement. Strikes as a remedy are discouraged, as, according to trades-union leaders, every year's experience convinces them that arbitration is the best remedy and strikes the worst. Were no persons interested in the labor question save those who are connected with trade tinions, it would still be worth ample consideration. As it is, its present importance can scarcely be magnified. THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR. HOW THE ORDER WAS ORGANIZED. Philadelphia was the birthplace of "The Noble Order of the Knights of Labor," and its founder was Uriah S. Stephens, a tailor, who was born in Cape May County, N. J., on August 3, 1821. In 1869, he collected together the first body of laboring men under the above given title, though the first properly organized local assembly was not created until 1873. It was largely composed of clothing cutters. The order spread rapidly, for as soon as its general objects were made known to wage-earners, their sympathies were inevitably enlisted, and they saw in the plans contemplated by the founders the means of effecting what probably could not be achieved by separate trade organizations. Well enough in their way as they were, they were far behind the scheme of the Knights, which was to knit in one common brotherhood all bodies of wage-earners from the Atlantic to the Pacific, so that, if necessary, the power of the unio could be brought to bear, through indirect influence, with its whole weight upon the capitalist, against whom his employes were struggling, even [20o] The Knzgkhls of Labor 21 were he in the most remote corner of the land. Whether right or wrong, this is the logical result of tile principles of the order. Its present leaders declare that their methods are conservative. They believe that arbitration can settle most disputes between capital and labor, and they permit or order a strike only when negotiations fail. Along with the weapon of the strike goes the boycott; that is, the prohibition of all members of the order from buying the goods manufactured or sold by the person who may be placed under the boycott. The last resort of the order is the extreme form of the boycott; that is, to put under the ban not only the goods of the capitalist originally boycotted, but the goods or business of any firm, company or person (not connected with the Kniglts) using the goods, or helping in any way the business of the object of the original boycott. The Knights say that this measure of coercion is not applied until every other attempt to settle the dispute fails. Its effect was seen when this city, at the word of the executive committee of the car-drivers' organization, was stripped of all means of surface railway communication in order to enforce the surrender of the cross-town railways which had not yielded to the car-drivers' demands when the lines running north and south did so. It is the cause of the blockade on the Southwestern railway system, where the sins of the Texas and Pacific are being visited upon all its connecting lines. From Philadelphia the Order of the Knights of Labor spread to Pittsburg, and then it seized a 22 Labor : Is RigIks and Wrongs. firm hold on the coal and iron regions of Pennsyl- vania. In 1878 a convention was held for the for- ination of a General Assembly of North America, and Mr. Stephens, who had presided over Local Assembly No. 1, was chosen as General Master He served a Workman, the head of the order. From this time on the progress made second term. by tile Knighlts was more rapid probably than that which has ever attended any similar association. The declaration of principles of the order contains many demands which the large body of the people would regard as just and proper. Its aims are stated to be: " First, to make industrial and moral worthl, not wealth, the true standard of individual and National greatness; second, to secure to the workers the full enjoyiment of the wealth they create, sufficient leisure in which to develop their intellectual, moral and social faculties; all of the benefits, recreation and pleasures of association; in a word, to enable them to share in the gains and honors of advancing civilization." In order to secure these results the following demands are made " at the hands of thle State" : The establiihmnent of Bureaus of Labor Statistics ; the reservation of public lands to actual settlers; the abrogation of all laws that do not bear equally upon capital and labor and the improvement of the administration of justice; legislation to protect the health and lives of those engaged in industries and for proper indemnification in ease of injury; the recognition--of unions of laboring men ; the compelling of corporations to pay employes " weekly Te Knz'g/s of Labor. 23 in lawful money, for the labor of the preceding week, and securing to mechanics and laborers a first lien upon the products of their labors to the extent of their full wages" ;ithe total abolition of the contract system; the establishment of compulsory arbitration between employers and employed; the prohibition of the hiring out of contract labor, and "that a graduated imncome tax be levied." DEMAND ON THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. Of Congress, the most important measures demanded, are the adoption of the fiat money system, the wiping out of National banks, the control of railroads, telegraphs and teleplones by the Government, and the creation of postal savings banks. This part of the platform will be found on another page. NEW FEATURES-STRIKES. The insurance department is a new feature of the advancing order. Membership is not compulsory. By the payment of $1.25 any one between the ages of eighteen and fifty may secure to his heirs $500 on his death. The insurance payments are made by assessment upon the members whenever a death occurs. A great deal of secrecy is still kept around the order, but it is far less mysterious than when it was started. Then even the name of the organization was suppressed and the members were forbidden to acknowledge their membership.-New York Tri1hnv. 24 Labor. Its Rzgkis and Wrongs. The order embraces many other than manual laborers. In the membership are merchants, employers of labor in numerous trades and manufactories, architects, clergymen, physicians, newspaper men, and, more than might be expected, Congressional and State legislators and members of State and Municipal governments are Knights of Labor. The only businesses which are debarred from admission are those of the banker, stock-broker, lawyer and liquor dealer. With regard to the last business the exclusion is so wide as to keep out all persons who derive any profit or income from the sale of intoxicating drinks. Many women are members of the organization, and one of its fundamental principles is "equal pay for equal work." Inferentially the right of suffrage is conceded to women, and the Michigan branch of the order recently adopted resolutions specifically favoring the extension of the ballot to femtale citizens. In New York City the quota of Knights furnished by the printers undoubtedly exceeds that supplied by any other class of wage-earners, but the carpet workers are also strongly organized. Before this year is out these proportions will probaly be changed. The telegraph brotherhood is likely to be in the organization, and a strong effort is being made to make the railroad operators unite with their commercial brethren. Active proselyting, moreover, is going on among the brakemen, gatemen, ticket-sellers, station men, and every other employe connected with the railroads. The Knights of Labor. OFFICERS 0 25 OF THE ORDER. The order is composed of local assemblies, which send delegates to the district assemblies, and the latter are represented in a General Assembly, which is the supreme legislative body. The local assemblies are composed, as far as possible, of members of one particular trade. Where this is impracticable a "mixed" assembly is organized. The local assemblies regulate their own initiation fees and annual dues, but each Knight pays twenty-four cents a year to the General Assembly. These contributions form the fund from which are paid the expenses of the officers and organizers, boycotting, maintaining strikes, etc. The General Assembly meets annually. It chooses officers and an Executive Committee that is entrusted with the direction and government of the affairs of the order. The head-quarters of the order are wherever the secretary may live. At present they are at No. 202 Spruce st., Philadelphia, at the honme of Mr. Turner, a perfect type of an oldfashioned three-story Philadelphia dwelling. General Master Workman Powderly receives a salary of $1,500 and the secretary-treasurer gets $1,200. The members of the executive board are paid like mechanics, $3 and expenses for every day of actual work in the cause. Delegates and organizers of new assemblies are the only other members who receive pay and then they get it only when laboring. 2 Lab or 26 HON. T. V. I. roWDER-*, Pig/Is and Wrongs. GENERAL MASTER -i0oN. TERENCE VINCENT POWDERLY, WORKMAN. Chief of the Knighits of Labor, was born in Carbondale, Pa, in 1849, of Irish parenits. Receiving a rudimentary education be was applrenticed to the machinist trade. Being "1 of timie " at 19 he removed to Scranton out and secured einliloymfent in the D. L. & W. R. R,. shops, gaining a reputation as the most skillful miachinist in the iegion. His expertness in this respect was such that, even when holding'the Office of Mayor, difficrult featts that puzzled every one else were easily pefurined by him. It was not uncommon to see him called from his office while Chief Magis'trate of the Coal Metropolis, don his blue picwket, and unr-avel sine wm stery of macliiery that bothered tie. gint w' rks lit abound around Scrantoni. He becamne ear)ly identified with thme labor movement and was no more than 20 when elected President of MKieiinists' and Blacksmnithis' Unioni INo. 2, serving as Secretary of that body for eight )-ears. In the Fall of 1873, when thje panic swept over the country3, Powderly with mnany others was csuspended and weiit to Oil Cit'y where hie resided. but a shiort time whfemi lie was elected Secretary of M1aciniists' and Blac-ksmithis' Uioni, No. 6. The biennil-d convention of the Mi. & R Uion was to be held at Louisville in Septemiber 1874, and at a district convention of thme organization in Oil City, Mealdville, Pittsburg, and Titusville, Powderly was elected delegate to Louisville., While in Oil City hie was also elected Dqepaty President of the Industrial The Knighis of Labor. 27 Brotherhood for the State of Pennsylvania. Not wishing to remove his family to Oil City lie returned to Scranton and obtained a situation in the Dickson Manufacturing Company's shop, where he remained until the dulliess of trade compelled the company to discharge all its old employees. In a speech before the Buffalo Convention of the Irish National Land League, in 1881, lie described himself at this time as follows : Having been chosen second Vice-President of that convention, in rising to acknowledge that honor he said " This badge of honor recalls forcibly to my mind a scene enacted in tiis city seven years ago. The first time I ever visited Buffalo it was as a poor, forlorn, houseless wanderer in search of employment. The various State Legislatures have since then given to such men the dignified title of Tramp. That I was a tramp was no fault of mine. When I caie to Buffalo I did not have money enough to pay for a b. 1 was not hungry, and I purchased a paper with my last few pennies. That night, through the kindness of a night-watlchmnan, I was allowed to sleep in a depot. The benches were divided into spaces, with iron arms, and I could not lie down on them. The floor was damp with in coming feet (it was in Febrnary), so I spread my paper on the floor and lay down upon it. Since then that paper has been with ine ; and to-day in being honored as I have been at your hands, I look back through the vista of years to the night when I made my bed of that paper, that, above all others, is entitled to the credit of awaken- 28 Labor Its Rzgkts and Wrongs. i g the sleeping fires of patriotism in the breasts of the Irish people-a paper that has inspired Irishmen at home and abroad to higher aims and actions-a paper that has led thought out of its slumbers and turned the current of Irish affairs into the proper channel 1 -a paper that I can never think of without wishing it a God-speed on its mission of light. That paper is The Irish World. May God bless it !" Recognizing the contracting of the currency, the growing power of money in our National affairs as the bottom causes of our hard times, scouting the " over production " theory, he set out to organize labor. In 1876 lie formed the first Greenback club in Scranton and as President carried everything before it in Luzerne County in 1877. lie was elected Mayor in 1878. The bare idea of the city being in the hands of a representative of Labor caused a great show of distemper in certain quarters. The labor riots were going on in Pittsburg. His predecessor had gone out of office with tlhe blood of starving men on his head, and the officers of the militia were quick to call out the militia and put the men under arms for tihe "protection of the city." But Mayor Powderly was at the helm and ordered the police to arrest the officers if they did not at once disperse the militia. Understanding that there was to be no nonsense the militia dispersed and Mayor Powderly proved that the lives and properties of the citizens of Scranton could not be in better hands than those of the men who represent the fundamental priinciples of American institutions. Mayor Powderly was re- The Knzgkls of Labor. 29 elected year after year since with almost no opposition till his last term, when he refused to be a candidate and retired back to his machinist's bench in the D. L. & W. R. R. shops. He had met with some bitter losses in his private affairs and was bent on keeping out of public life and retrieving as much as possible. But this could not be. Mayor Powderly is too useful a man in other spheres. Under him the Knights of Labor have grown to their present great strength. Mr. Powderly's predominating characteristic is his good common sense. There is not a better organizer, more careful worker, or abler adjuster of difficulties in the whole labor movement. He is not wealthy, but is content to work for the Order on the modest salary of $1,500 a year which it gives him. He has no children living. He has all his powers under the best control, does not touch liquor or tobacco, and insists on a full share of sleep each day. He has made it impossible for a liquor dealer or one who lives by the traffic to become a Knight, and is planning how to carry this part of the rules of knighthood far enough to shut habitual drinkers out of the body. KNIGHTS OF LABOR PLATFORM.-PREAMBLE LARATION OF PRINCIPLES AND DEC- OF TH E ORDER. The alarming development and aggressiveness of capitalists and corporations, unless checked, will inevitably lead to the pauperization and hopeless degradation of the toiling masses. It is imperative, if we desire to enjoy the full 30 Labor: Its R//hztls and Wron . blessings of life, that a check be placed upoli unjust accumulation, and the power for evil of aggregated wealth. This much desired object can be accomplished only by the united efforts of those who obey the divine injunction, " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." Therefore, we have formed the Order of Knights of Labor, for the purpose of organizing and directing the power of the induistrial masses, not as a political party, for it is more-in it are erystalized sentiments and measures for the whole people, but it shlould be borne in mind, when exercising the right of suffrage, that most of the objects herein set forth can only be obtained throughlegislation, and that it is the duty of all to assist in nominating and supporting with their votes only such candidates as will pledge their support to tlhose measures, regardless of party. But no one shall be compelled to vote with the majority, and calling iponi all who believe in securing " the greatest good to the greatest number," to join and assist us, we declare to the world that our aims are: I. To make industrial and moral worth, not wealth, the true standard of individual and National greatness. II. To secure to the workers tke full enjoyment of the wealth they create, sufficient leisure in whlich to develop their intellectual, mioral and soeitil faculties: all of the benefits, recreation and pleasures of The Kz'ghfs of Labor. 3.1 association; in a word, to enable them to share in tlie gains and honors of advancing civilization. In order to secure these results, we demand at the hands of the State: II. The establishment of Bureaus of Labor Statistics, that we may arrive at a correct knowledge of the educational, moral and financial condition of the laboring masses. IV. That the public lands, the heritage of the people, be reserved for actual settlers; not another acre for railroads or speculators, and that all lands now held for speculative purposes be taxed to their full value. V. The abrogation of all laws that do not bear equally upon capital and labor, and the removal of unjust technicalities, delays and discriminations in the administration of justice. VI. The adoption of measures providing for the health and safety of those engaged in mining, manufacturing and building industries, and for indemnification to those engaged therein for injuries received through lack of necessary safeguards. VII. The recognition, by incorporation of trades unions, orders and such other associations as may be organized by the working masses to improve their condition and protect their rights. VIII. Tihe enactment of laws to compel corporations to pay employes weekly, in lawful money, for the labor of the preceding week, and giving mechanics and laborers a first lion upon the prodUcts of their labor to the extent of their wages. 32 Labor : Its Rights and Wrongs. IX. The abolition of the contract system on National, State and Municipal works. X. The enactment of laws providing for arbitration between employers and employed, and to enforce the decision of the arbitrators. XI. The prohibition by law of the employment of children under 15 years of age in workshops, mines and factories. XII. To prohibit the hiring out of convict labor. XIII. That a graduated income tax be levied. And we demand at the hands of Congress: XIV. The establishment of a National monetary system, in which a circulating medium in necessary quantity shall issue direct to the people, without the intervention of banks; that all the National issue shall be full legal tender in payment of all debts, public and -private; and that the Government shall not guarantee or recognize any private bank, or create any banking corporations. XV. That interest-bearing bonds, bills of credit or notes shall never be issued by the Government, but that, when need arises, the emergencies shall be met by issue of legal tender, non-interest-bearing money. XVI. That the importation of foreign labor under contract be prohibited. XVII. That in connection with the post-office, the Government shall organize financial exchanges, safe deposits and facilities for deposit of the savings of the people in small sums. The Kzights of Labor. 33 XVIII. That the government shall obtain possession, by purchase, under the right of einent domain, of all telegraphs, telephones and railroads, and that hereafter no charter or license be issued to any corporation for construction or operation of any means of transporting intelligence, passengers or freight. And while making the foregoing demands upon the State and National Government, we will endeavor to associate our own labors. XIX. To establish co-operative institutions such as will tend to supersede the wage-system, by the introduction of a co-operative industrial system. XX. To secure for both sexes equal pay for equal work. XXI. To shorten the hours of labor by a general refusal to work for more than eight hours. XXII. To persuade employers to agree to arbitrate all differences which may arise between them and thleir employes, in order that the bonds of sympathy between them may be strengthened and that strikes may be rendered unnecessary. 2* A DAY OF EIGHT HOURS. A HISTORY OF THE MOVEMENT FOR SHORTER HOURS. THE modern struggle for shorter hours is conterminous in Great Britain and the United States, with the enormous development of productive machinery and the organization of labor. It will be found also that the craftsmen most active in the agitation therefor are always those employed in trades the least affected by machinery. Yet it is remark able, in Great Britain, at least, that this agitation has most directly and prominently benefited the factory operatives. A ten-hour factory law has been on English statute books for nearly fifty years. The Saturday half holiday has, by the efforts of organized labor, become established. In the United States there was no agitation for the shortening of the hours of labor until in the oldest communities the new economic conditions induced by the factory system brought about the first preadmonition of that pressure upon industrial life which often reduces the laborer to the condition of a servant to the machine he attends. So it was logical in A Day of Eight Hours. thle ordered sequences of such a movement that New Eigland-the early home of the American system-saw the first agitation for the shortening of the excessive hours of labor. A most interesting account of this mnay be found in Mr. Henry W. Cherouny's " HIistoric Development of the Labor Question" (1885). In remarkable contrast to the present agitation Mr. Cherouny states that the clergymen of AMassaclhsetts refused to recognize the movement and quaintly adds that not one " could be had to ask a The demand was only for ten hours blessing." which even yet has not been granted in all the New En.glaind States. From 1850 until 1856 there was nothing but local "short-hour" movements. The overwhelming nature of the slavery agitation, pro and con, accounts for tliis. When the civil war terminated, the labor agitation resumed its activity. The first national trades congress ever held assembled in Baltimore in the fall of 1866. That body foreshadowed in its platform most of the present demands of organized labor, and was the first to project movements which have in whole or part since become established facts. Among these was the first proposition for a Departnent or Bureau of Labor Investigation. Since that demand fourteen States and the General Government have established such agencies. This body was the first to formulate the demand for an eighlt-hour work day. That demand was repeated at tihe subsequent annual meetings held at Cieicago, Philadelphit and Cincinnati. 36 Labor: Its Rzg/tis and Wrongs. The first legal steps toward the achievement of the eight-hour rule were made by the introduction in the session of Congress of 1867-68 of bills for the establishment of this rule. The original bills were simultaneously introduced into the House of Representatives by George W. Julian, of Indiana, and Andrew Jackson Rogers, of New Jersey. At the next session of Congress, the measure, slightly amended, was re-introduced by N. P. Banks, of Massachusetts, and became a law. Committees representing the Trades Congress, the Government printers and other workmen were active in urging the measure. Among those so prominently engaged were Richard F. Trevelleck, of Michigan, now Chief Organizer of the Knights of Labor; George E. McNeill, of Massachusetts, and Alexander Troup, of Connecticut. The workingmen have complained of a constant attempt of the administration officers of the UniteJ States to evade the simple and plain provisions of this act. In every branch of Government labor, except the Printing Office at Washington, the officers in charge, whethercivil, army or navy,have attempted to execute the law according to their separate views of political economy. The effort has been steadily made to reduce the price of the day's labor by the ten-hour system and measure. President Grant felt compelled to issue a proclamation ordering its enforcement upon the plain interpretation that the regular rate of pay in all trades and occupations should be given for the Government day legally made eight hours. Hundreds of suits have been instituted in the United States Court A Day of Ezoh Hours. 37 of Claims to recover the twenty per cent. deducted by the enforcement ot the ten hour rate from men's wages. Several cases have been decided favorably by the Court of Claims, and have been sustained on appeal by the Supreme Court of the United States. No appropriations have as yet been made to pay these claims, which amount in all to about $5,000,000. The printers and other employes of the Government Printing Office were left undisturbed in their new privilege during President Grant's terms. At the time of the passage of the eight-hour law compositors in the Government Printing Office were receiving $4 a day for ten hours' work. It was decided in their case that they were entitled to the same rate for the shorter day. During the administration of President Hayes, Congress, apparently for the sole purpose of nullifying the eight-hour law, changed the printers' rates from $4 a day to forty cents per hour, thus reducing pay for eight hours to $3.20. The public printer, ever since, except when work is very slack, has compelled his artisan force to labor ten hours a day, and often longer. The object of the eight hour rule is that of dividing employment among a larger body of men. The administrative hostility at the Government Printing Office has completely nullified this object by refusing to allow the use of " subs," or the employment of an extra force for the extra hours required. A bill is pending in the present Congress restoring the old rate of pay and providing for the employment of an increase of 38 Labor: Its Rigihts and Wrouns. force, for all labor requiring longer than eight hlours a day for each person. While the agitation for the Federal eight-hour day was progressing, the movement was actively discussed in New York and Massachusetts. In New York the eiglht-hour measure became a State law. But only applied to State or corporate city work. The leaders of the eight-hour movement in Massachusetts were Ira Stewart, who gave his life to the cause, George E. McNeill and Alexander Troup. The Evening Voice, issued at Boston in 1868, was a brilliant exponent of the eight-hour rule. Generally, however, the eight-hour movement received but little encouragement until the Congress of the Federation of Trades in 1881. At that Congress the federation demanded the enforcement of the eight-hour law and pledged itself to do all that could possibly be done to dssseminate that k owledge among the workingmen of the country so necessary to achieve the eight hour work day for all wvorkingmen of the country. HON. JOHN A. LOGAN. Your esteemed favor of thle 1Oth instant inviting me to be present at your meeting on Monday evening has been received. In reply, permit me to thank you for the compliment extended, and to express my regret that a press of duties so imperative as not to permnit of postponement will deprive me of the pleasure of meeting you upon the occasion indicated. Every thoughtful man must feel a.deep interest in e question now agitating our industrial classes A Day of Eiz-/ Hoirs. 19 embracing witlin this designation both enlloyers and employed. Every true Republican. every sincere patriot, every sagacious lpubli man will perceiTTe at once the importance of a question that underlies our social and political fabric. Professing to be a government of the whole people, it is a prime necessity to the prosperity of ours, as also as of its very existence, that there shall be no class antipathies to divide us; no portion of the people to complain that, in their sphere, they have not the fullest, freest liberty, protection, and guarantee of all just rights and privileges. The wonderful prosperity of the United States, that in the last quarter of a century has increased the nation's population twenty millions, extended its industries, developed its resources, and augmented its wealth to a surprising degree, whereby capital has had enormous opportunities of employiment, labor abundant occupation at better rates than in any other country, a model financial system provided for the benefit of both, and a safely protective policy to guard the interests of all. There should be no antagonism between capital and labor. They are members of the same body, and hostility between them is like a conflict between one's arms and legs; or a war between the mouth and stomach. Capital can seek no expansion or employment except through labor; and labor can only become practical and remunerative through the co-operation of capital. The two are mutually dependent, and bound together by a union as vial as that existincr between the Siamese twins. 1Th . 40 Labor: Is Rzig/is and Wrongs. same blood circulates through the common body of both, one cannot live if the other dies. Capital and labor are more strictly a unit of existence than the twins alluded to, since they are- interchangeable in the person, so to speak-as the laborer of to-day may become the capitalist of to-morrow, and vice versa. Hence, there can be no natural casus belli between them, and if there arise disturbances in the family circle, growing out of internal questions of relations, covering among others the fixing of the unit value of a day's work and a day's pay, during the inevitable fluctuations of values in general, every wise man will perceive the necessity of equitably satisfying the interests of all;, as upon the happiness and prosperity of each member of the body corporate, depends the health and life of the whole system. It becomes the duty df all men, public and private, in such contingencies as now exist, to inquire most carefully into the precise nature and causes of the danger threatening the social system, and to lend his best efforts to promote an adjustment of interests upon a basis of equality, justice and permanence. Further than this it seems to me that your organization should become a great factor in the preservation of peace and harmony to the adjustment of questions between capital and labor. The methods of peace and law should constitute the means used for the settlement of industrial difficulties in this great country. Let this method be adopted in all cases. Let us all agree that arbitration upon a just and equitable A Day of Ez*/t/ hlowers. 41 basis shall become the unvarying rule of the future. Let no blood be shed, nor property destroyed in any case. iNeither one means nor the other constitutes an efficient remedy. Equitable faws, concessions, and good faith, both in the observance of laws and obligations, constitute the infallible panacea for such domestic ills. [The preceding letter was received from Hon. John A. Logan, in Washington, D. C., in April, 1886, in mass meeting of workmen.] OPINIONS OF EMINENT MEN ON EIGHT-HOUR QUESTION. THE HON. J. B. WEAVER. I am a thorough believer in the eight-hour law. I have studied the question closely, and I have come to the conclusion that eight hours a day is as much as an ordinary man ought to work, and that it is the duty of Congress and the Legislatures of the several States to pass laws forbidding employers to require more than that from their men. If a man chooses to spend more time in work, he, of course, ought to have the privilege of doing so, but because one man out of a hundred wants to work ten or twelve hours there is no reason why the other ninety-nine should be compelled to do the same, and those who work extra hours ought to get extra pay. [Mr. Weaver is a Representative in Congress from Iowa, and in 1880 was the candidate for the Presidency on the Greenback LahIor ticket.] [421 O inions of Eminent Men. 43 HON. WILLIAM MAIONE, I am a thorough believer in the eight-h6ur law, and I think it should be enforced by the Government. Whenever it has been enforced under my observation it has been successful, and I do not think that the additional cost of governmental works is enough to take into consideration. The Government ought to set an example to private employers to be fair, and just, and generous with their men, and as long as I have a vote in Congress it shall be cast for the benefit of workingmen. [Gen. Mahone is a Senator of the United States from Virginia.] HON. WILLIAM D. KELLEY. I am old enough to have participated in the struggle of the working people for the establishment of the ten-hour system in Philadelphia, and young enough to remember the denunciations that were p)oured upon the heads of participants in what was called that revolutionary movement for the shortening of the hours of labor. I have long believed that if the eight-hour systemn of labor for both man and machinery prevailed throughlout the industrial world there would be less suffering, a greater average din.ation of life and a highor and more general degree of contentment among tihe wealth-producing comnminunity throughlout the world. 44 Labor: Its Rza/iks azd Wroizos. [Mr. Kelley is a Representative in Congress f :m Pennsylvania, being the senior member in point of continuous service, and is an ex-judge and lawyer.] J. M. SCHOONM KER. Personally I favor the eight-hour work-day. I think that the matter should be settled by each firm and tlheir employes. Men cannot expect the same wages for eight hours as for ten or twelve hours. I think the men need more leisure time. [Col. Schoonmaker is one of the largest coke operators in the Connellsville, Pa., district.] JOHN COSTELLO. The introduction of the labor-saving machinery will necessarily cause a lessening of the hours of workingmeln everywhere. It is really a question of less hlours of labor, whether eight or some other i num nber. [Mr. Costello is President of the Monongahela River and Railroad Miners' Association, and is a prornineont labor leader of Pittsburg.J Ofzinionzs of Eminent Men. 45 THOMAS A. ARMSTRONG. I am most assuredly in favor of an eight-hour w ,ek-day. For a time it will undoubtedly increase the cost of production, but that matter will regulate itself, as it did on the introduction of the ten-hour systevm. The most important reason for the reduction of the hours of labor is in the need of workingmen for greater leisure for intellectual and moral improvement. The condition of the laboring man at the prescnt time is from bad to worse and from worse to bad again. The cause of the present industrial distress may be sumed up as usury of money, usury of co~porations and usury of land. [Mr. Arx;slrong is the editor of the National -Labor Tribune, of Pittsburg, Pa., and a strong champion of the workingmen.] RICHARD DAVIS. I am greatl.y in favor of an eight-hour work-day among miners. The labor performed by miners being of a hazi,-dous nature, working as they frequently do in Nvt and gaseous mines, its effects are seen in the stifftened forms and sallow countenances of those who lia-e followed mining for any considerable length of time. Eight hours of labor under ground is consideeed by old miners as sufficient labor either to support themselves respectably or to be 46 i Ils Labor: d viS V conducive to good health. The plan of reducing the hours of labor in the nines has been tried in Great 13ritain, and it works admirably. Eight or nine hours a day is tIhe rule in large mining districts in England and Scotland, and Inore wages are earned than when under longer hours. If the eight-hour work-day is established it will have a marked effect for good socially, intellectuall y and othervIse among the thjousands of miners in this country, [Mr. Davis is Secretary of the Pennsylvania Miners' Amalgaiiiated Association and a man who has been actively engaged in the settlement of the numerous strikes-which have occurred of ate years: among miners, not only in Pennsylvania, but also in Ohlio.] JAMES REDPATH. I favor the eight-hour work-day. Whether or not it will increa'-sec c1 cost of production, I don't know and I don't care. The cost of production of groods is of infinitely less importance to a democratic civliatonthan the more equitable -distribution of wealtlh, leisure and intellectual advantages. Petter dear goods than chieap men. The most important lroducts of a republic are not. its manufactures, but its citizens. Long hours make shoddy Americans. [Mr. Red path is the managing editor of the Nortk Amerieun, Review.] Opinionzs of Em zzin Men. it 47 HON. LELAND STANFORD. I have always believed ini paying for labor by the hour. I tlink it is the fairer way, and is more just to thfe men employed and to the men who pay for their etployment. In soime labor eight hours is as long as a man should be engaged, but in other kinds of labor mien can work ten and twelve hours without detriment to themselves. We find it on our road, the Central Pacific, more satisfactory to us and to the men to pay by the hour and permit the men to work as long as they choose. I find that the greater part of them usually prefer to work ten hours. These men have labor to sell, anld thie amount they sell of it we leavc to their own judgment. I tlhink it would be bette if this rule should prevail everywhere. Labor is commodity ; its value depends upon the demand fo it and its power of production, and cannot be regulated by legislation. If one minan can produce as much in eight hours as another man can produce in ten ht ought to be paid as much, not by the length of time he is employed, but by the amount that lie produces. Tc pay men by the day is often a premium upon idleness and an idle, worthless man will naturally shrink whei he knows that he is going to receive as much compen sation as the industrious mnan who is next to him There always ought to be a community of interes: between the employer and the employed. The work. man ought to know and keep uppermost in his mind the fact that the prosperit7 of his einployer means his, Own pepprity, and the emnployer ought to know- 48 Labor: Its Rzoi/fs and Wrongs. and keep in mind the fact that the prosperity of his workman is necessary to his success. There is no advantage to an employer that pays a man less than his labor is worth. ie will be a loser in the end if he does it. ,We employ 10,000 men, and we have never had a strike except once, and that was a gang of Chinamen, who stood out for one day only under a misunderstanding. We have prevented strikesby treating our men fairly, by paying them all their labor was worth, and we have never had a difference that could not be arranged satisfactorily when the circumstances were understood on both sides. [Mr. Stanford is a Senator from the United States from California, and is very largely interested in railroads.] REV. ROBERT COLLYER. I favor the eight-hour work-day. HON. CHARLES C. COMSTOOK. I believe that all laborers who wish to earn their living and thrive desire to work at least ten hours a day and get full pay for it. When employers are so scarce that it is necessary to reduce the hours of labor so that all can find work, it is like paIceling out short rations. The importation of laborers and the financial legislation of the last . Opinions of Em-inenit Men. 49 twenty years are at the bottom of all our labor troubles. The prices of labor and its products must go up and down together, they are inseparable. No employer can pay more per hour for eight hours a day than he can for ten, and if there is any profit in his business, not so much. The time has gone by when employers can reasonably expect large profits ,by giving employment to laborers in this country, unless they hold a monopoly on their product. As a manufacturer, I do not object to the running of our machinery only eight hours a day if our help can afford it. [Mr. Comstock is the Representative in ongress from the Michigan district, at one time Mayor of Grand Rapids, farmer, lumberman and manufacturer, and is closely identified with the industries of Northern Michigan.] ION. FRANK LAWLER. If the eight-hour system were in practical operation in the United States, it would be the means of putting to work the million and a half unemployed men. It would give the country a better educated class of workingmen and make the country more prosperous in every respect. The best argument that can be used in favor of the eight-hour work-day is found in the fact that those who work the fewest number of hours are always the best paid. 8 50 Labor. Its Rigsand an 'rongs. [Mr. Lawler is a member of Congress from Chicago, member of the House Labor Committee, and ex-president of the Ship Carpenters' and Ship Caulkers' Association.] HON. BYRON M. CUTCHEON. I believe, as a general statement, in shortening the hours of labor, and yet I do not believe that any absolute and universal rule can be laid down. The difficulty in regard to the question of labor at present is that the supply of labor is in excess With existing hours of labor, of the demand. there is not work enough for the workers. But in our efforts to give employment to our large industrial population, we have produced in excess of our capacity for consumption. This congestion of labor and production can be remedied in two ways, first, to diminish production by shortening the hours of labor, and second, by increasing the demand, by providing new outlets for our production. The remedy most immediately available is the shortening of the hours of labor. There may be employments-as farming-in which it would not be practicable to reduce the hours of work to eight, or even ten hours. I think that ten hours should be the limit of time that men should be required to work, except Congressmen; they are expected to work about fourteen hours, aid if they do what their constituents expect from them, they will clearly not get through with less. There Oinions of Eminent ien. 5 5I are many light employments in which one might work ten hours a day without detriment, and many would desire to work the longer day for the sake of the greater earnings through which to supply the needs of their families. But in heavy and exhausting employment, in mines, other shops, mills, furnaces, factories, etc., I think that a man ought to be able to earn a living by working eight hours of actual labor in twenty-four hours. I think that our manufacturers are making a great mistake in running the works so many hours a day as they do. They are depressing the price of their commodities- and producing a glut in the market, and making no gain commensuratewith or compensatory for the evil. Yet I think .we must eventually recognize the truth'--hours and price of labor must be controlled mainly by the law of supply and demand, which is superior to all Congressional or State enactments. [Mr. Cutcheon is a Representative in Congress, from Michigan, and a lawyer by profession.] HON. THOMAS M. BAYNE. When I was a boy, which is not ery many years ago,-::twelve hours were the minimum of: a days labor inIalmost every departmenti.ofindustry, and as many as fourteen and fifteen hours were not unusmix"We didn't prosper as well in those days as we 52 Labor: Its Rigzts and Wrongs. do in these, and yet ten hours are now the usual and general allotment of time devoted to labor. In view of the tremendous results aiieved by machinery in almost every branch of work, I apprehend that we could now get on well with eight hours of labor. The reduction of the hours of labor will, in my opinion, be highly beneficial to the masses of the working people. Some will doubtless abuse the opportunity thus afforded, but these will be a small minority. The application of improved machinery has so largely reduced the cost of production that more, by far, can be accomplished now in eight hours than could be, a few years ago, in twelve. This is clearly shown by the present comparatively low prices, especially of manufactured products. I therefore think that although a general, abrupt reduction to feight hours would work some disturbance, it would be but temporary, and as soon as the readjustment had been fairly accomplished we should prosper just as well as if we continue with ten hours. [Mr. Bayne is the member of Congress from Allegheny, Pa., and is a lawyer by profession.] GEORGE H. FOX. The eight-hour system is one that'will have to be settled by demonstration instead of by argument. The association has accepted the eight-hour rule. Opiniozs of Eminzent Men. 53 Now it remains to be seen what the effect of this action will be. It can be seen at once that it will reqnire an increase of 20 per cent., either of the numbers employed or of length of time in which to erect a building. Neither of these would serve to add materially to the cost of construction, but there will be an increase in that direction by an increase in the wages of the attendant laborers, such as hodcarriers, mortar-mixers, etc. Heretofore, their wages averaged seventeen and a half cents per hour. Two hours less work for them would be a greater reduction than they could stand, so it will be agreed that the wages will be advanced under the eight-hour system to twenty cents per hour. The will then earn fifteen cents per day less than they do under the ten-hour system. This increase in the cost of construction will seem at first very slight, but it will aggregate into a very respectable item, both in the cost to the builder and the amount earned by the laborer. [Mr. Fox is President of the Association of Master Masons, Chicago.] REV. R. HEBER NEWTON. The real question for the present hour, as it seems to me, is whether the public opinion of the country is ripe for such -legislation in favor of shorter hours now. For one, I do not believe that it is. The 54 Labor . Is R,i.ts a zd Wrongs. evidence of this is that it is found desirable to call out such an expression of opinion as is now being laid before the people in this symposium. That evidence lies in the utter contrariety of opinion that exists to-day. Labor is by no means a unit on this point, and capital, it is needless to say, is very far from being converted to this theory. If the grounds on which its friends advocate-this measure are solid, enough men will be brought to take their stand upon this position to win the day-after the agitation is continued for a few years. Too hasty action would tlhr6w the movement back. The thing to be done now, it seems to me, is to secure the widest possible discussion of the subject-to make workingmen know the empoyer's views of the matter and think it over carefully, and to make capitalists understand the workingman's view of the subject and to think it over carefully. Thle mass of our thoughtful people prepared to favor all reasonable measures for the welfare of labor need to be convinced that this particular measure is practicable and wise. If they are convinced of this there will be a force back of the movement which will insure its success. If they fail of being convinced, it will be because the evidence does not sustain the case-in which event a verdict for labor woul 1 be set aside by a higher court than the United States Congress. Even an apparently successful strike, if premature, might prove a boomerang. [Rev. Dr. Newton, it may be stated, does not believe that diminished hours of work mean dimin- Opiznions of Eminent AeMe. . 55 ished production; that there will be less profit for manufacturers in shorter hours; that with diminution of hours will come diminution of wages, or that the laboring men will, as a class, abuse their additional leisure.] JOSEPH GRUENHUT. The working people, after thirty years of agitation, have decided through their authorized national conventions, that on and after May 1st, 1886, eight hours shall constitute a day's work, and this decree will be enforced by all means which a sovereign people has at his command. Trades unions regulate wages for average workers, manufacturers and mine owners regulate production and prices, and the nation will establish by law Boards of Arbitration to govern both in the interests of society. We are all equal at the ballot box, before the law and in church ; this equality must be respected in our industrial relations, which afford a living to all individuals ranging in earning capacity from twenty-five cents to many thousands of dollars for a working day. [Mr. Gruenhut has been a labor reformer for years; is the author of "Communism or Anarchismu," is the Socialistic leader of Chicago and at present is Recorder of Statistics in the Health Department of that city.] 56 Labor: Its Rzkig s and Wroigs. MISS KATE FIELD. On general principles I favor the eight-hour work day, but there are possibilities to be considered. With present wages and unrestricted immigration will not the labor market be even more overstocked than now ? Eight hours of severe mental or bodily labor are all that can well be given out of twentyfour. Nevertheless, where is the man or woman of great achievement that has not for long periods given many more ? Emphatically workmen need greater leisure for self-improvement, but the absence of desire will remain a lamentable fact in the majority. If fewer hours of labor mean more hours of loafing and dissipation the change will be fraught with evil. JOHN SWINTON. Out of the thousand arguments that buttress the demand for a short work-day here are three. First, it is a moral elevator. When the hours of labor in England were the longest the degradation of the laborer was the lowest. Just as the working day has been shortened time and again, so have the working masses risen out of the slough. We all know their debased condition between 1820 and 1850 under a fourteen-hour system; we all know of the change that is being wrought since one-third of the time has been taken off. OpZ0iions of Eizznzett Men. 57 Secondly, the shorter day is an economical elevator. There has been a great deal of sarcasm flung at the old coupletThe longer the hours the shorter the pay, Whether you work by the piece or work by the day. But it is a fact sustained by all statistics. Wages were at their minimum in England under the fourteen-hour day. They rose when twelve hours were established. They rose again under the ten-hour system, and yet again they rose wlien the Saturday half holiday shortened the week's work to fifty-six hours. Hie who denies these facts does it in the face of volumes of official data full of the details. In the next place, there is the argument from meclianism. The greater part of the work of the world is now done, not in the old fashion of handicraft, but by machinery, throngl whilch new industrial forces have been let loose upon mankind. The working people must find some means of dealing with these transforming and revolutionary forces. I hold that they must yet become the possessors and controllers of these new forces which they hlave brought into play; and that the time miust come to an end in which they are to be of advantage mainly to a capitalist class. One of the first steps toward the realization of this will grow out of the universal adoption of the eight-hour system of labor, which has bearings of a sweeping kind not yet foreseen. 3* 58 Labor.* Its Righis and Wrongs. RENRY M. TELLER. I believe in the eight-hour law, and while I was Secretary of the Interior I enforced it on the new Pension Office, which was then under construction. It worked well, and, as far as I know, as much work was done as if the men had been kept employed for the ten hours daily. In my own State of Colorado the great masses of the laborers only work eight hours, and it is the case there, as far as my observation has gone, that they are benefited by the systemn of short hours. I think that, taking the average of all classes of labor, an employer can get as much value out of eiglit hours' work as he can for a longer time, and there is no question that an additional two hours of rest, recreation and study is to the advancement of the laborer. [Mr.-- Teller was formerly Secretary of the Interior, and is now a Senator of the United States from Colorado.] SAMUEL GOMPERS. The man who works eight hours a day places a higher estimate on his home, his family relations and his duty to his fellow man and to the State. He is a safer citizen, a better husband, a more devoted father. His is not the vote that is purchased at election times. His aspirations for and belief in citizenship are of far greater importance to him. Ofinions of Eminent Men. 59 His habits improve, his ideas are more expansive, the exercises of his privileges are more sacred in his eyes. [Mr. Gomper claims that the productivity of labor does not decrease correspondingly with the reduction of the hours of labor, or that the latter means an increase in the cost of production.] JOHN J. JARRETT. The agitation for reduced hours of labor and higher wages, now going on in the industrial world, is in the right direction, and in harmony with the social and moral progress and advancement of man. But it is well to ask, can we adopt the eight-hour working day in this country under existing conditions ? I reply, no! Still, however, the difficulties in the way can be easily removed, if we have the will to do so. In the first place, we must have a leveling up of the condition of the working people of our country. There must be a system adopted of making wages more uniform than they now are, also a system to have wages paid according to the value of the products, the same wages to be paid to women as are paid to men, on the basis of price of product. Second, the movement must be national; a sectional enforcement would be suicidal, for the employers of labor in one State cannot compete with those of 6o Labor I/s RziL/ts and Wrongs. other States, if longer hours of labor are allowed. And again, if competition between the States under unequal conditions would be dangerous, then foreign competition in our markets, if permitted, would be as dangerous and nmore so. The object being to elevate labor in this country, it is well to remember that to do so we must place restrictions against foreign elements interfering with us. The restrictions of course would be unnecessary if foreign labor is paid the same wages as ours, and also wo k the same number of hours. The eight-hour work day should be in operation in all the Government Departments at as eary a date as possible. There is nothing to hinder it being done at once, there being no question of competition to be provided against, nor is there any necessity as to an arrangement of prices, as it does not include the question of profit to the employer, in the sense that profit and loss is applied to trade and commerce. [Mr. Jarrett is ex-president of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers, the strongest single labor organization in the United States, and secretary of the American Tinned Plate Association. He is one of the ablest writers on the tariff and is reported to have combined with Andrew Carnegie to inaugurate an immense system of dis. tributive co-operation.] Opinions of Emzinent Men. 6 HON. RENRY L. DAWES. If it can once be established in the general administrative policy that all the labor to be performed for this country shall be performed here and by our own laborers, there will be no lack of employment, and there ought to be no lack of disposition to make the lot and tle reward of such laborer such as to insure him competence as well as respect and influence in a country whose welfare is the interest of all. Let the laborer in this country have all the work there is to be done for himself and his fellow-countrymen and he will be independent, commanding his own rates and his own hours of labor. All the leis~ure which it is possible for him to obtain will make him a better workman, more useful to himself and to his employer. He will cease to find grievances, and the disposition to force his employer to terms will disappear because the best possible terms will be for the interests of both. [Mr. Dawes is a Senator of the United States from Massachusetts. He voted for and has always supported the eight-hour law, and favors a permanent board of arbitration-appointed by the Legislatures for State matters and by the Federal Govern, ment for inter-State troubles.] 62 Labor. Its Rzights and Wrongs. GEORGE GUNTON. Propositions to improve the laborer's condition by the arbitrary abolition of rent, interest, profit, etc., are not only politically impracticable, but also economically unsound. They are based upon the erroneous assumption that if rent, interest, etc., were reduced, wages would thereby be correspondingly increased, which is a fundamental and fatal mistake. If interest, profit and rent were all abolished tomorrow, there is no economic force by which that wealth, for that reason, would go to wages. This error arises from an entire misconception of the economic law of wages. It assumes that wages are determined by rent and interest and profit, whereas the reverse is true, viz., that rent and interest and profit are ultimately determined by wages--i.e., by the economic ability of the masses to consume wealth, without which neither rent, profit nor interest would be possible. The proposition to reduce the hours of labor is open to none of these objectionls. It is economically sound, politically possible and socially indispensable. [Mr. Gunton is the author of an article entitled "Shall the Eight-Hour System be Accepted f? in the April Forum.] Oinions o LYMAN Lzne;zent MeAh. 63 ABBOTT, Editor Christian Union. A gentleman who declares that he represents the Wesleyan Methodists, a small sect with a large name, which the secular reader must not confound with the Methodist Church, appears in the newspapers with a congratulatory letter to Mr. Gould, and stigmatizes the Knights of Labor as " banditti." An ex-Judge Burke appears in like manner in another 'letter, and advises all the railroads to discharge all the Knights of Labor, for the purpose of thus crippling and eventually breaking up the order. Apparently Mr. Hoxie in the Southwest has taken advantage of aan indefensible strike to disorganize and, if possible, destroy the order which alone made the strike possible. It appears also to have been the aim of the Third Avenue Railroad management in New York, by the gradual: substitution of non-union men, to supplant the union men altogether, and so get rid of a troublesome labor organization. These letters and& these acts indicate the way some men in America are looking for a solution of the labor problem. They hope to solve it by disrupting all labor organizations, making all laborers servants, treating them all as individuals, and so suppressing their dangerous discontent by destroying their power. This is both impossible and dangerous. Labor has been organized for three centuries. The organization has been growing more comipact and more inclusive. Organization is in the air. Organized 64 Labor. Its Rzkh/ts and Wrongs. labor cannot be disorganized. Society cannot be made to go backward. This or that order may be broken up, but only to be replaced by other and stronger orders. England, with wealth and political power concentrated in far fewer hands than in America, has attempted to stigmatize labor organization as a conspiracy, and to destroy it. She has abandoned the effort. It is not worth while for us to repeat the experiment-and the failure. A gentleman who has had large experience, and always with success, in dealing with the labor problem, fell into: conversation with me the other day. " The Knights of Labor," said he, " have organized in our town, and I have told my foreman to join the Assembly. I-e can guide the order; we cannot and do not want to fight it." - This is policy of wisdom and of justice. Labor organization is a lion; generally peaceable; let us hope always to be peaceable. True, it has claws and teeth. If injustice should drive it to use them, it might become dangerous. If the capitalists of the country will follow the lead of some of its would-be leaders, if they will unite to destroy labor organization, if they will cover it with opprobrium, if they will agree to discharge every workingman connected with a " union," if they press through the legislature laws to make such unions illegal, if they will continue to have men arrested for peaceably counseling other men not to work, if they will treat individual workingmen with disdain, and alternately fight with and truckle to workingmen's organizations, they can easily solidify the now Opinfions of Eminent Men. loosely organized labor, can make the allegiance of its members to its leaders more absolute and unquestioning, can drive it into more secret methods, and can fire it with a dangerous passion. But they cannot by such a dangerous process weaken a muscle, or dull a tooth, or extract a claw of a lion. On the other hand, if the capitalists of the country will instinctively make a common cause; if they will treat with their employes with uniform consideration-as men, not as hands; if they will study the formulated demands of the Knights of Labor, without panic and without prejudice, and consider what therein is just and reasonable; if in every labor question they will grant everything that justice asks and interpose a resolute and united denial to every demand of unjust threatening; if they will ally themselves to pacific labor organization, because organization involves both morality and intelligence; if, in brief, they will attempt to guide the laborer in his upward progress, not to keep him down, they can do much to make of the labor organizations a means of promoting peace and order and of bringing out of the present conflict between capital and labor harmonious, because just and equal, relations. 66 Labor . Its Rig/ is and Wrongs. T. Y. POWDERLY, G. M. W. K. OF L. NOBLE ORDER OF THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR OF AMERICA, PHILADELPHIA, May 3, 1886. To the Order Everywhere, Greeting: The response to the secret circular issued on March 13 has been generous, and the indorsement of the sentitments contained in it has been so unanimous that I feel encouraged and strengthened in the work. Nearly 4,000 assemblies have pledged themselves to act on the advice contained in the little circular of the 13th ult. I feel that it only requires the coming to the front of the real men of our order to set us right before the world. We have been losing ground so far as public opinion is concerned for some time. One of the causes is that we have allowed things to be done under the name of the Knights of Labor for which thle organization was in no way responsible. I ask of our members to keep a jealous eye upon the doings of the labor men who never labor, and when they charge anything to our order in your locality set the seal of your condemnation upon it at once by denying it. If a paper criticizes the Knights of Labor or its officers, do not boycott it, and if you have any such boycotts on, remove theinm. A journal not long since made some uncominplimentary allusions to the General Mauster Workman of the Knights of Labor and at the next meeting of the nearest assembly a motion was cast to boycott tlhe paper; not that alone, but every person who advertised in the columns of the paper. I wrote to the Ozinzzions of Emzineizt AMen. 67 assembly asking that they remove the boycott, and it was done. We must bear in mind that the General Master Workman is only a nd not above criticism. We demand for ourselves "the right of free speech." We cannot consistently deny it to others. We must tolerate fair, open criticism. If a reply is necessary, make it in a dignified, gentlemanly manner. If we are criticised or abused by a blackguard sheet treat it as you would the blackguard himselfin silence. That our aims and objects are good is no reason why our members should be regarded as beings of superior build or material. We are no more the salt of the earth than the millions of unknown toilers who do the work of the world. In our dealings with laborers and capitalists we must deal justly and fairly by them. If we would have equity done to us, we, in turn, must do equity to others. This is the aim of the Knights of Labor, and must not be lost sight of in future. Let me direct your attention to a few little abuses. I find that wherever strikes occur appeals for aid are scattered broadcast among the assemblies. Do not pay one cent for such purposes in future unless the appeal comes from your own district assembly or the General Assembly. If boycott notices are sent to you, burn them. I have in mny possession 400 boycott notices which were sent to assemblies with requests that they be acted upon. Let me mention some of them: A memnber is editing a paper; he fears a rival, and proceeds toge into an altercation with him, boycotts him, and then asks 68 Labor: Is Rzig- s audd Wrongs. the order to carry it out. A certain paper is influential in one or the other of the political parties. Members of the opposing party conceive the idea of getting rid of the paper, and they invoke the aid of the Knights of Labor, first taking the precaution to have the paper in question say something uncomplimentary of the Knights of Labor. In fact, our order has been used as a tail for a hundred different kites, and in future it must soar aloft free from all I was of them. I hate the word "boycott." ago, and could not get work at boycotted ten years my trade for months. It is a bad practice; it has been handed to us by the capitalists. I have no use for it only when everything else fails. Appeals for aid, circulars, petitions, advertisements of everykind are scattered everywhere through the order. I copy a letter which comes to me on the subject: "A large part of our time has been spent in reading boycott notices and appeals for aid, keeping us until 12 o'clock. We were led to believe the Knights of Labor to be an educational institution, but this kind of education is not productive of good. We have no time for instruction. What do you advise usto do?" I advised them to either burn or table these matters and now ask of the secretary of each assembly to do the same. If your journal were not boycotted by our members it could be made the medium of communication between the general officers and the order, but the journal is not read in one quarter of the assemblies. Some assemblies send out documents in envelopes addressed to " Secretary of Assembly Ofpinions of Eminent Men. 69 No. -. " In Inany places the secretaries have been discharged because of this practice. No member has the right to address another in that way, and if it is ever practiced again the offender will be punished. In future the General Executive Board must not be interfered with in the performance of its duty. If you have confidence in them sustain them and obey them ; if not, ask for their resignations. While the board was endeavoring to settle the Southwestern troubles, assemblies in some places, with the best intentions no doubt, were passing and publishing resolutions condemning Jay Gould. These things did no good; on the contrary, they were injurious. In the settlement of troubles it becomes the duty of the Executive Board to meet everybody and go everywhere. While they are doing this they must not be hampered by the actions of those who do not know what their task is. Keep quiet; let your officers do their best, and if you cannot find a way to help them do not retard their progress. Resolutions do not prevent land stealing, stock watering, or gambling in the necessaries of life. If I had my mind made up to rob a bank at midnight a string of resolutions as long as: the moral law protesting against my contemplated action would not influence me a particle, but if some interested party would take the trouble to study up the question and would inform himself as to my right to rob the bank, and would stand guard at the door of the vaulti I would not rob it at midnight if he did his duty. What we want fruom our members is not gush or windy 70 Labor: I Rigis and Wrongs. is resolutions about our rights. We know we have rights without passing resolutions. Men who think and study and act are required. The General Assembly will meet in special session on the 25th of May in the city of Cleveland. From the receipt of this letter. you must not address any communication to me, nor need.you expect an answer if you do. I have thousands.of letters piled up around me now, and they never can be read, much less answered,, by one man. During and since my illness the mail delivered at my house has exceeded 400 letters a day. They come from everybody and everywhere. I must play the part of wheelhorse instead of leader of a great movement, and our own members are responsible for it. If I had 50 assistants it would do no good, for it takes my whole time to read one-half of the letters, and in the middle of my work I am waited on by some conmmittee who generally misrepresent me after they leave ine, for every member of the committee wiii tell a different story. From now until the General Assembly meets I will receive no committees, answer no letters. I must formulate a plan for the future, and will not be interfered with. Let me repeat, I will receive no committees, answer no letters, nor will I go --anywhere at .the request of members qf assemblies. .This is imperative. I- must .have a, chance to do something for the benefit of .the ordemr, and I cannot do it if I am to sit for .l-8 hours -a day reading, letters- which- have beer answered and reanswered in the Journal and constitution. What Oinions of Eminent Men. 71 I will say to the General Assembly will be said to the entire order, and you must give me time to prepare it. We have had some trouble from drinking members and from men who talk about buying guns and dynamite. If the men who possess money enough to buy guns and dynamite would invest it in some well selected work on labor they would put the money to good use. They will never need the guns or dynamite in this country. It is my opinion that the man who does not study the politics of the Natim and the wants of the people would make but little use of a rifle. The man who cannot vote intelligently, and who will not watch the man he votes for after he is elected, cannot be depended on to use either gun or dynamite. If the head, the brain, of man cannot work out the problem now confronting us, his hand alone will never solve it. If I kill my enemy I silence him, it is true, but I do not convince him. I would make a convert rather than a corpse of my enemy. Msen who own capital are not our enemies. If that theory held good the workmnan of to-day would be the enemy of his fellow toiler on the morrow, for, after all, it is how to acquire capital and how to use it properly that we are endeavcring to learn. No, the man of capital is not neceasarily the enemy of labor. ..On the contrary, thoy must -,be brought closer together. I ,am well aware that some extremnists will say that I am advocatipg a weak plan, and will say that the bloodshed and destrtuction of property alone will solv-e the problem. 72 Labor.- Its Rzgghts and Wrongs. If a man speaks such sentiments in an assembly, read for him the charge which the Master Workman repeats to the newly initiated who join our "army of peace." If he repeats his nonsense, put him out. In the hands of men entirely great the pen is mightier than the sword. To this I add: In the hands of men entirely mouth the gun is harmless as his word. To our drinking members I extend the hand of kindness. I hate the uses to which rum has been put, but it is my duty to reach down and lift up the man who has fallen a victim to the use of liquor. If there is such a man within the sound of the secretary's voice when the paper is read, I ask him to stand erect on the floor of his assembly, raise his hand to Heaven, and repeat with me these words: "I am a Knight of Labor, I believe that every man should be free from that curse of slavery, whether the slavery appears in the shape of monopoly, usury, or intemperance. The firmest link in the chain of oppression is the one I forge when I drown manhood and reason in drink. No man can rob me of the brain my God has given me unless I am a party to the theft. If I drink to drown grief I bring grief to wife, child, and sorrowing friends. I add not one iota to the sum of human happiness when I invite oblivion over the rim of a glass. If one momeat's forgetfulness or inattention to duty while drunk brings defeat to the least of labor's plans, a lifetime of attention to duty alone can repair the loss. I promise never again to put myself in such a position." Oinions of Eminent Men. 73 If every member of the Knights of Labor would only pass a resolution to boycott strong drink so far as he is concerned for five years and would pledge his word to study the labor question from its differ, ent standpoints, we would then have an invincible host arrayed on the side of justice. We have, through some unfortunate misunderstanding, incurred the enmity of several trades unions. While I can find no excuse for the unmanly attack made upon us by some of these people at a time when we stood face to face with a most perplexing question, neither can I see any good reason why there should be any cause for a quarrel. We must have no clashing between the men of labor's army. If I am the cause of the trouble, I stand ready at a moment's notice to make way for any one of my rivals whom the General Assembly may select. When I joined the Knights of Labor I left the trades union. I believe the aims and objects of our order come first; I believe in combining all the scattered battahlions of labor's mighty host in one grand whole labor-saving invention : steam and electricity have forever broken the power of one trade or division of labor to stand and legislate for itself alone, and with the craft that selfishly legislates for itselrf alone I have no sympathy. Well may we say of the men who are fighting us: " Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do." Break the power of the Knights of Labor and you hand labor, bound hand and foot, over to its enemies. Years ago I extended an invitation to men of all trades to become a part and parcel of the 4 74 Labor: Its Rigts and Wrongs. Knights of Labor. To-day I stand ready to make every honorable concession, to do everything in honor, to bring about a better feeling between trades unions and the Knights of Labor. At the special session of the General Assembly the entire trouble can and must be settled. If mistakes have been made they must be rectified; if wrongs have been inflicted they must be righted. But there is one thing that will not be done while I stand at the head of this organization-it will not be used to further the schemes of individuals, cliques, or parties, and it will be subordinate to no other organization on earth. HENRY GEORGE. The movement for the reduction of the working day to eight hours deserves earnest support. It is a step toward securing to the masses something of the benefits which advancing civilization ought to bring and making human life fuller and brighter. That a creature so wonderfully endowed as man, placed in a world so well stored with all the material his needs require, should spend the greater part of his life in the effort to maintain existence is a thing so monstrous that only long habit blinds us to its folly and wrong. The highest qualities of humanity can only develop when the material wants are satisfied; the most precious flower in existence can only bloom in leisure; and yet, to the great majority of Opinions of Eminzenizt Men. 75 men in our highest civilization, real leisure is a thing unknown. For the few hours of the working day which remain to the man whose faculties have been on the strain for ten or twelve hours are not leisure, nor yet is there leisure in the days and weeks and months of involuntary idleness which the vicissitudes of our industrial organizations force upon hundreds of thousands-idleness accompanied by wearing uncertainty and racking anxiety more exhausting than toil. For true leisure the faculties must be fresh and care must be absent. The proposition to reduce the working hours is a proposition to secure to the masses more leisure, and is thus a proposition for the increase of popular intelligence-that faculty which is alone competent to remedy the glaring injustices which now attend the distribution of wealth, and from which increased power in the production of wealth must preceed. Its effect will be not only to enlarge, in a better manner, work and leisure, but to increase the efficiency of work and thus make more leisure possible. The reduction of the working day to eight hours involves no reduction of wages. Under the conditions that exist, wherever land has been made private property, and men who have nothing but the power to labor are consequently found in a cutthroat competition to sell their labor power to some other human creature who can give themn" leave to toil," the general rule is-wages must be governed by what the laboring masses mnust b.e content to live on. If the working day wero increased to sixteen 76 Labor f1s Rigk/s and Wrongs. hours wages would not rise. If it were reduced to six hours they would not fall. But the longer the working day, the less the ability of the workers to discover and remedy the wrongs of which all are conscious. The shorter the working day, the-greater the power. In the attempt to limit the working day to eight hours the labor associations are taking the most hopeful step they. have yet attempted. But may it not well be asked why the inauguration of this beneficent reform should be left to the efforts of voluntary associations:? If the State may wisely prohibit labor for more that six days in the week, why may it not prohibit labor of the same kind for more than eight hours of the day? There is nothing that can be urged against a compulsory eight-hour law that could not as wellbe urged against our compulsory "Sunday law." Yet no matter to what undue length Sabbatarianism may have sometimes been carried, the "day of rest" has been the most precious of boons that Christianity has given to western civilization. B-ut for this compulsory law, promulgated centuries ago, in the Sinaitic wilderness, workingmen would, under the conditions that now exist, be toiling seven days instead of six, for no more pay than they get now, and would find it even harder to reduce working hours. THE RIOT IN CHICAGO. The Washington Evening Star, May 5, 1886, says of the riot in Chicago: The tragedy in Chicago marks a turning-point in the progress of the labor troubles in that city. As long as the crowds in the streets were recognized as American workingmen striking for shorter hours or higher pay, a good many imprudent acts of theirs could be treated with a measure of patience and chlarged to the account of excitement and quick temper. When, however, in response to a commiiand from the police to disperse, a mob suddenily hurls from the midst of it a volley of dynamite bombs, the situation takes on another aspect. The dynamite bomb is not the weapon of the American workingin an. No man in America will feel more hearty regret for what has occurred in Chicago than the honest, intelligent wage-worker who, whether wisely or unwisely, has quitted his late employer's service in the The glory of hope of bettering his condition. American citizenship, to such a man, resides in the [77] 78 Labor Its Rr/i/s azd Wrongs. fact that le is free to go and come, to combine with other wage-workers for purposes of mutual protection, to hold meetings, public or secret--to do anything in short, which does not abridge his neighbor's right of life, liberty or property. It has always been the boast of our people that the safety of the state ay in the liberty of the citizen, and that that liberty was in no danger of abuse. Other people have looked askance at our experiment, and some have predicted its failure, but we have kept right on, in hearty confidence that we knew what was for our own welfare better than anyone could fell us. The knownoth ing omovement, which originated in a spirit of excessive Americanism, was put down by American votes as a sign that a majority of our people were willing to trust the immigant to defend the freedom he has acquired by making his home on our shores. When, therefore, the refugee from tyranny in the Old World takes advantage of his privileges here to aim a blow at the government which offers him its succor; when the most fiendish missile known to science is employed to destroy the official guardians of the peace, every foreign-born citizen and every workingman in this broad land suffers an irreparable injury. The measure of it is not determined by the immediate results. Its worst effects are so subtle that they can be traced only by the keenest observation, but tlhey are iievitable. They may be summed Hundreds of thousands up in the word "distrust." political influence cannot of citizens whose social and be discounted become filled with an indefinable fear. The Riot in ChGicago. 79 Tlhey mean to be just, and to discriminate fairly betweeni the real workingman asserting what he believes to be his rights, and tle slam workingman whose soul thirsts for pillage, and whose blouse is worn merely to give the color of respectability to his conspiracies; they aim to distinguish between the foreign victim of oppression, who comes under the folds of our flag because he loves liberty, and the foreign adventurer who waves aloft the stars and stripes only till lie can get a chance to run up his red banner of license above them. But, try as they may, they cannot make their discrimination complete while such events as the Chicago riot occasionally occur. There lurks somewhere within them the ghost of a notion that, because a tongue speaks a foreign language more fluently than English, the law had better put a bridle on it. Little by little this feeling will be reflected in legislative restrictions. There will be a reaction, slow and scarcely perceptible in its degrees, from the liberty which has been steadily broadening since the establishment of The precaudemocratic government in America. tions for public safety will be marked withl sharper lines. The bayonet will follow closer and quicker behind the billy for the suppression of disorder. The springs of sympathy, which have been so prornipt to flow in response to the appeal of the overworked and poorly-paid laborer, or to the cry of distress from the Old World revolutionist, will be 1ried up. There will creep into the mind of every man who, by industry or inhleritance, has acquired a 8o Labor Its Rigots and WTrongs. little property whieh he prizes, a suspicion that perhaps the conservative philosophers of Europe are right, and we have too much liberty over here. If it be true that our free institutions are on trial, and that the present test will decide whether they are a success or a failure, let the test be made as thorough on the one side as on the other. We must show that the American people are as ready to put down lawlessness as to fight for liberty. STRIKES AND ARBITRATION. BY T. V. POWDERLY, G. W. M. K. OF L. THE prospect for the future of the laboring man in America is brighter to-day than it ever was, notwitlistanding the seemingly " strained relations" at present existing between employer and employe. That we are passing through an epidemic of strikes, lockouts and boycotts is true, but the fact must not be lost sight of, that were it not for the growing power of organization we should have a great many more strikes to contend with than we have had for.the first three months of the present year. The growth of organization for the past ten years has been steady and healthy. It is only where organization is in its infancy that serious troubles such as strikes and lockouts exist. The causes from which strikes and lockouts spring are to be found in all parts of the country, but the methods of dealing with the troubles as they arise are different. In places where no organizations of labor exist, or where the seeds of organization have just been planted, disputing parties are apt to become involved in strikes. The reasons advanced in support of that , [81] 82 Labor: Is R z'/is a,zd Wrozns. proposition are as follows until recently very few workingmen dared to express their opinion in publie on the subject of labor, for the reason that they were almost certain of an immediate dismissal from the service of the m an or company they worked for, if it became known that they in any way favored the association of workingmen for mutual protection. ,With such a sentiment existing in the breasts of workingmen they could not be expected to feel very kindly toward the employer who so jealously watched their every movement, and who, by his actions, made them feel that they were regarded rather as serfs than freemen. While the real bone and sinew of the land remained in enforced silence, except where it could be heard through the medium of the press amid rostrum through chosen leaders, another class of men who seldom worked would insist on " representing labor," and, in making glowing speeches on the rights and wrongs of man, would urge the " abolition of property," or the equal division of wealth;" such speakers very often suggesting that a good thingto do would be to"' hang capitalists to lamp posts." The employer of labor who listened to such speeches felt that in suppressing organization among his workmen he was performing a laudable act. Yet lie was by that means proving himself to be the most powerful ally the anarchist could wish for. Hie caused his employes to feel that he took no interest in them other than to get as many hours of toil out of them for as few shillings as possible. The consequence was that the emnployer, who was Strikes and Arbitration. 83 himself responsible for the smothering of the honest expression of opinion on the part of labor, became possessed of the idea that the raw head and bloody Iones curbstone orator was the real representative of labor, and determined to exercise more vigilance and precaution than ever in keeping his " help" out of the labor society. The speaker who hinted at or advocated the destruction of property or the hanging of capitalists to lamp-posts, was shrewd enough to speak very kindly, and in a knowing manner, of labor associations, giving out the impression that he held membership in one or more of them. Workingmen who were denied the right to organize, very frequently went to hear Mr. Scientific lecture on the best means of handling dynamite. And when the speaker portrayed the wrongs of labor, the thoughtful workman could readily trace a resemblance between the employer painted by the lecturer and the man he himself wqrked for. Workmen employed by those who frowned on labor organizations became sullen and morose; they saw in every action of the superintendent another innovation on their rights, and they finally determined to throw off the yoke of oppression, orlganize and assert their manhood. The actions of the superintendent, or boss, very oftei tended to widen the breach between employer and employee. When the organization did come it found a very bitter feeling existing on both sides, and before studying the laws of the society they joined, or becoming conversant with its rules or regulations regarding the settlement of disputes or 84 Labor. Its Rzghis and Wrongs. grievances, the workmen determined to wipe out of existence the whole system of petty tyrannies that had been practiced on them for years. ,Not being drilled in organization, and feeling that the employer would not treat with them, the only remedy suggesting itself was the strike. And, on the other hand, the employer, who felt that every move of his workmen in organization would be directed against his interests, determined to take time by the forlock and turn them all out on the street. Thus we find the organization in its infancy face to face with a strike or lockout. This condition of affairs existed in a great many places throughout the United States in the beginning of the present year. Absorbed in the task of getting large dividends, the employer seldom inquired of his superintendent how he managed the business intrusted to his keeping, or how he treated the emiployes. In thousands of places throughout the United States, as many superintendents, foremen, or petty bosses are interested in stores, corner groceries or saloons. In many places the employe is told plainly that he must deal at the store, or get his liquor from the saloon in which his boss has an interest ; in others hlie is given to understand that he must deal in these stores or saloons, or forfeit his situation. Laws have been passed in some States against the keeping of company stores, but the stores are kept nevertheless, and workmen are made to feel that they must patronize them. In many cases the owners of mills, factories or Strikes and Arbitration. 85 mines are not aware of the existence of such institutionis as the " pluck me "-the name applied to the company store-but they stand so far away from their employes that they cannot hear the murmur of complaint, and if a whisper of it ever does reach their ears it comes through the boss who is not only interested in the store, but in keeping its existence a secret from his employer. The keeping of such stores is another source of injustice to workmen, for their existence tends to widen the breach between employer and employe. It may seem that I am dealing with insignificant things in this paper, but when the statement is made, that seven out of every ten superintendents or bosses are interested in the management and derive profits from the operation of stores which employes are forced to patronize, I make an assertion which can be proved. In a country where every man, no matter how humble, is taught from his infancy that he stands the equal of all other men, it is but natural for a citizen who is given to understand that he must patronize a certain store, or that he cannot join a certain society, to feel restive, and where so much is promised and so little obtained, men are apt to lose faith in a lawmaking system which obliges the workman himself to become complainant and prosecutor in cases whlere the laws are violated to his detriment. If he prosecutes he is discharged. If he does not prosecute for infractions of law but simply complains, he is told to invoke the majesty of the law in his own behalf. 86 Labor Its Riz/os and Wrongs. In this way law is disregarded; it becomes a dead letter; men lose hope in law and law-makers. The constant itching and irritation caused by the indifference of the employer to their welfare, and the injustices practiced on them by petty bosses, go on until the men feel that the only remedy is through the strike. In this way men who belong to no organization are launched into strikes. Workingmen are not, as a rule, educated men. When the strike does come, while they feel that they have been wronged, yet they are lacking in the command of language necessary to state their case properly to the world, and, hence, set forth their claims in such a way as to arouse prejudices or create false impressions. The other side having the advantage of education, either personally or by right of purchase, can and does mold public opinion in a great many cases. I have pointed out one or two of the little things which cause a great deal of uneasiness and vexation to workingmen; others have pointed out the root of the evil. The workinginman of the United States will soon realize that he possesses the power which kings once held--that hlie has a right to manage his own affairs. The power of the king has passed away. The power of wealth is passing away. The evening shadows are closing in upon the day when immense private fortunes can be acquired. The new power dawning upon the world is that of the workingman to rule his own destinies. That power can no longer be kept from him. How will he wield it? Strikes and Arbi/ralion. This question is of great concern not only to the workingmen but to every citizen of the Republic, and the hand of every citizen who loves his country should be extended to assist the new ruler. I have no fears because of the present apparently disturbed condition of the labor world, on the contrary the signs are very hopeful. Wendell Phillips once said, "Never look for an age when the people can be quiet and safe. At such times Despotism like a shrouding mist steals over the mirror of Free om." The people are not quiet to-day, but they are safe. It is the power of monopoly that is not safe. The men who pile up large fortunes must oompensate for that privilege in the payment of a graduated income tax. The blessings which they derive from wealth must be shared by the nation from which they extract that wealth. The hours of labor must be reduced throughout the nation, so that.the toilers may have more time in which to learn the science of self government. Labor-saving machinery instead of making a slave of man must become his servant. How will the workingman wield his power? Organized labor says the power will be wisely handled, but we must have the The co-operation of the vast middle classes. employer and employed must no longer stand apart. The barriers of pride, caste, greed, hatred, .and bitterness must be torn down. The workingman and his employer must meet face to face, they must discuss every detail in the management of the concerns they are jointly operating. No sacrifice of principle 88 Labor: Its Rig is and TVrongs. on the one hand or of nachood on the other need attend such a transaction. In the management of great or small concerns each grievance, each tronble or difference, whether in relation to discipline or wages, should be talked over in a conciliatory spirit and arbitrated. Joint boards of arbitration should be formed between manufacturer and workmen all over the country. Each party should devote considerable time to the perfecting of the plans best suited to their interests or surroundings, for rules governing one case or locality might not work well in another. Having, after careful deliberation, agreed upon the rules, each party should sign the articles of agreemnent, binding itself to abide by them until changed by consent of both. Agreements of this kind will be the means of settling differences as they arise, and with their inauguration, strikes, lockouts, and boycotts will not be entered upon so readily, and if ever called into play, then only as the very last resort. -From North American Reviewfor May, 1886. AN EMPLOYER'S VIEW OF QUESTION. THE LABOR ANDREW CARNEGIE. THE struggle in which labor has been engaged during the past three hundred years, first against authority and then against capital, has been a triumphal march. Victory after victory has been achieved. Even so late as in Shakespeare's time remains of villeinage or serfdom still existed in England. Before that not only the labor but the person of the laborer belonged to the chief. The workers were -either slaves or serfs; men and women were sold with the estate upon which they worked, and became the property of the new lord, just as did the timber which grew on the land purchased. In these days we hear nothing of strikes or of trades unions, or differences of opinion between employer and employed. The fact is, labor had then no right which the chief, or employer, was bound to respect. Even as late as the beginning of this century the position of the laborer in some departments was such as can scarcely be credited, What do our laboring friends think of this, that down to 17.79 the miners of Britian were in a state of serfdom. They " were [89] 90 Labor. Its Righks and Wrongs. compelled by law to remain in the pits as long as the owner chose to keep them at work there, and were actually sold as part of the capital invested in the works. If they accepted an engagement elsewhere, their master could always have them fetched back and flogged as thieves for having attempted to rob him of their labor. This law was modified in 1779, but was not repealed till after the Acts passed in 1797 and 1799." (" The Trades Unions of England," p. 119.) This was only ninety-seven years ago. Men are still living who were living tlen. Again, in France as late as 1806, every workman had to procure a license; and in Russia, down to our own days, agricultural laborers were sold with the soil they tilled. Consider the change, nay, the revolution! Now the poorest laborer in America or in England, or indeed throughout the-civilized world, who can handle a pick or shovel, stands upon equal terms witli the puircliaser of his labor. Hle sells or withholds it as may seemn best to him. Ile negotiates and thus rises to the dignity of an independent contractor. When lie has performed the work lie bargained to do, he owes hIis employer nothing, and is not under any obligation to hini. Not only has tlhe laborer conquered his political and personal freedom; he has achieved industrial freedom as well, as far as the law can give it, and he now fronts his master, proclaiming himself his equal under the law. But, notwithstanding this complete revolution, it is evident that labor and capital have not yet evolved An Employer's View. z 91. their, permanent relations to each other. The present adjustment does not work without friction, and changes must be made before we can have industrial peace. To-day we find collisions between these for. ces, capital and labor, when there should be combination. The mill-hands of an industrial village in France have just risen against their employers, attacked the manager's home and killed him. The streets of another French village are barricaded against the expected forces of order. The shipbuilders of Sunderland, in England, are at the verge of starvation, owing to a quarrel with their employers; and Leicester has just been the scene of industrial riots. In our country labor disputes and strikes were never so numerous as now. East and West, North and South, everywhere, there is unrest, showing that an equilibrium has not yet been reached between emiployers and employed. A strike or lockout is, in itself, a ridiculous affah'. Whlether a failure or a success, it gives no direct proof of its justice or injustice. In this it resenibles war between two nations. It is simply a question of strength and endurance between the contestants. The gauge of battle or the duel is nriot more senseless as a means of establishing what is just and fair than an industrial strike or lockout. It would be folly to conclude that we have reached any permanent adjustment between capital and labor until strikes and lockouts are as much things of the past as the gauge of battle or the duel have become in the most ad. vanced communities. 92 Labor. Its Rigis and TVrongs. Taking for granted, then, that some further modifications must be made between capital and labor, I propose to consider the various plans that have been suggested by which labor can advance another stage in its development in relation to capital. And, as a preliminary, let it be noted that it is only labor and capital in theit greatest masses which it is necessary to consider. It is only in large establishments that the industrial unrest of which I have spoken ominously manifests itself. The farmer who hires a man to assist him, or the gentleman who engages a groom or a butler, is not affected by strikes. The innumerable cases in which a few men only are directly concerned, which comprise in the aggregate the most of labor, present upon the whole a tolerably satisfactory condition of affairs. This clears the ground of much, and leaves us to deal only with the immense mining and manufacturing concerns of recent growth, in which capital and labor often array themselves in alarming antagonism. Amnong the expedients suggested for their better reconciliation, the first place must be assigned to the idea of co-opertion, or the plan by which the workers are to become part owners in enterprises, and share their fortunes. There is no doubt that if this could be effected it would have the same beneficial effect upon the workman which the ownership of land hlas upon the man who has hitherto tilled the land for another. The sense of ownership would make of him more of a man as regards himself, and hence more of a citizen as regards the commonwealth. An Employer's View. 93 But we are here met by a difficulty which I confess I have not yet been able to overcome, and which renders me less sanguine than I should like to be in regard to co-operation. The difficulty is this, and it seems to me to be inherent to all gigantic manufacturing, mining and commercial operations. Two men or two combinations of men will erect blast furnaces, ironmills, cotton-mills or piano manufactories adjoining each other, or engage in shipping or commercial business. They will start with equal capital and credit; and to those only superficially acquainted with the personnel of these concerns, success will seem as likely to attend the one as the other. Nevertheless one will fail after dragging along a lifeless existence, and pass into the hands of its creditors ; while the neighboring mill or business will make a fortune for its owners. Now, the successful manufacturer, dividing every month or every year a proportion of his profits among his workmen, either as a bonus or as dividends upon shares owned by them, will not only have a happy and contented body of operatives, but he will inevitably attract from his rival the very best workmen in every department. His rival, having no profits to divide among his workmen, and paying them only a small assured minimum, to enable them to live, finds himself despoiled of forman and of workmen necessary to carry on his business successfully. His workmen are discontented and, in their own opinion, defrauded of the proper fruits of their skill, through incapacity or inattention of their employers. Thus unequal bus- 94 .I Labor: s Rzigkts and Wrongs. iness capacity in the management produces unequal results. It will be precisely the same if one of these manufactories belongs to the workmen themselves but in this case, in the present stage of development of the workmen, the chances of failure will be enormously increased. It is indeed greatly to be doubted whether any body of workingmen in the world could to day organize and successfully carry on a mining or manufacturing or commercial business in competition with concerns owned by men trained to affairs. If any such co-operative organization succeeds, it may be taken for granted that it is principally owing to the exceptional business ability of one of the managers, and only in a very small degree to the efforts of the mars of workmen owners. This business ability is excessively rare, as is proved by the incredibly large proportion of those who enter upon the stormy sea of business only to fail. I should say that twenty co-operative concerns would fail to every one that would succeed. There are of course a few successful establishments, notably two in France and one in England, which are organized upon the co-operative p)lan, in which the workmen participate directly in the profits. But these were all created by the present owners, who now generously share the profits with their workmen, and who are making the success of their manufactories upon the co-operative plan the proud work of their lives. What these concerns will become when the genius for affairs is no longer with themii to guide, is a m atter of grave doubt and, to me, of foreboding. I cain, of course, An Employer's View. 95 picture in my mind a state of civilization in which the most talented business men shall find their most cherished work in carrying on immense concerns, not primarily for their own personal aggrandizement, but for the good of the masses of workers engaged therein, and their families; but this is only a foreshadowing of a dim and distant future. When a class of such men has been evolved, the problem of capital and labor will be permanently solved to the entire satisfaction of both. But as this manifestly belongs to a future generation, I cannot consider co-operation, or common ownership, as the next immediate step in advance which it is possible for labor to make in its path "ipward. The next suggestion is, that peaceful settlement of differences should be reached through arbitration. Here we are upon firmer ground. 1 would lay it down as a maxim that there is no excuse for a strike or a lockout until arbitration of differences has been offered by one party and refused by the other. No doubt serious trouble attends even arbitration at present, from the difficulty of procuring suitable men to judge intelligently between the disputants. There is a natural disinclination among business men to expose their business to men in whom they have not entire confidence. We lack so far in America a retired class of men of affairs. Our vile practice is to keep on accumulating mo-e dollars until we die. If it were the custom here, as it is in England, for mnen to withdraw from active business after acquiring a fortune, this class would furnish the proper arbitra- 96 Labor. Its Rzg-is and Wrongs tors. Oin the other hand, the ex-presidents of trades unions, such as Mr. Jarrett or Mr. Wihle, after they have retired from active control, would commend themselves to the manufaeturers and to the men as possessed of the necessary technical knowledge, and educated to a point where commercial reasons would not be without their proper weight upon them. I consider that of all the agencies immediately available to prevent wasteful and embittering contests between capital and labor, arbitration is the most powerful and most beneficial. The influence of trades-unions upon:the relations between the employer and employed has been much Some establishments in America have discussed. refused to recognize the right of the men to form themselves into these unions; although I am not aware that any concern in England would dare to take that position. This policy, however, may be regarded as only a temporary phase of the situation. The right of the workingmen to combine and to form trades unions is no less sacred than the right of the manufacturer to enter into associations and conferences with his fellows, and it must be sooner or later conceded. Indeed, it gives one but a poor opinion of the American workman if he permits himself to be deprived of a right whidh his fellow in England has conquered for himself long since. My,experience has been that trades unions upon the whole are beneficial both to labor and to capital. They certainly educate the workingmen, and give themni a truer conception of the relations of capital and labor than they could An Employer's View. 97, otherwise form. The ablest and best workmen eventually come to the front in these organizations; and it may be laid down as a rule that the more intelligent the workman the fewer the contests with employers. It is not the intelligent workman, who knows that labor without his brother capital is helpless, but the blatant ignorant man, who regards capital as the natural enemy of labor, who does so much to embitter the relations between employer and employed; and the power of this ignorant demagogue arises chiefly from the lack of proper organization among the men through which their real voice can be expressed. The voice will always be found in favor of the judicious and intelligent representative. Of course, as men become intelligent more deference must be paid to them personally and to their rights, and even to their opinions and prejudices; and upon the whole a greater share of profits must be paid in the day of prosperity to the intelligent than to the ignorant workman. He cannot be imposed upon so readily. On the other hand, he will be found much readier to accept reduced compensation when business is depressed; and it is better in the long run for capital to be served by the highest intelligence, and to be made well aware of the fact that it is dealing with men who know what is due to them, both as to treatment and compensation. One great source of the trouble between employers and employed arises from the fact that the immense establishments of to-day, in which alone we 5 98 Labor: Its Rzgkts and Wrongs. find serious conflicts between capital and labor, are not managed by their owners, but by salaried officers, who cannot possibly have any permanent interest in the welfare of the workingmen. These officials are chiefly anxious to present a satisfactory balance-sheet at the end of the year, that their hundreds of shareholders may receive the usual dividends, and that they may therefore be secure in their positions, and be allowed to manage the business without unpleasant interference either by directors or share holders. It is notable that bitter strikes seldom occur in small establishments where the owner comes into direct contact with his men, and knows their qualities, It is the their struggles, and their aspirations. chairman, situated hundreds of miles away from his men, who only pays a flying visit to the works and perhaps finds time to walk through the mill or mine once or twice a year, that is chiefly responsible for the. disputes which break out at intervals. I have noticed that the m.anager who confers oftenest with a committee of his leading men has the least trouble with his workmen. Although it may be impracticable for the presidents of these large corporations to know the workingmen personally, the manager at the mills, having a committee of his best men to present their suggestions and wishes from time to time, can do much to maintain and strengthen amicable relations if not interfered with from head-quarters. I, therefore, recognize in trades unions, or, better still, in organizations of the men of each establishment, who select representatives to speak An Employer's View., 99 for them, a means not of further embittering the relations between employer and employed, but bf improving them. It is astonishing how small a sacrifice upon the part of the employer will sometimies greatly benefit the men. I remember that at one of our meetings with a committee, it was incidentally remarked by one speaker that the necessity for obtaining credit at the stores in the neighborhood was a grave tax upon the men. An ordinary workman, lie said, could not afford to maintain himself and fanily for a month, and, as he only received his pay monthly, he was compelled to obtain credit and to pay exorbitantly for everything ; whereas, if he had the cash, he could buy at twenty-five per cent. less. " Well," I said, " why cannot we overcome that by paying every two weeks ?" The reply was: "We did not like to ask it, because we have always understood that it would cause much trouble; but if you do that, it will be worth an advance of five per cent. in our wages." We have paid semi-monthly since. Another speaker happened to say that although they were in the midst of coal, the price charged for small lots delivered at their houses was a certain sum per bushel. The price named was double what our best coal was costing us. How easy for us to deliver to our men such coal as they required, and charge them cost! This was done without a cent's loss to us, but with much gain to the men. Several othler points similar to these have arisen, by which their labors mighit be lightened or products increased, 100 Labor: Its Rights and Wrongs. and others suggesting changes in machinery or facilities, which, but for the conferences referred to, would have been unthought of by the employer and probably never asked for by the men. For these and other reasons I attribute the greatest importance to an organization of the men, through whose duly elected representatives the managers may be kept informed, fromi time to time, of their grievances and suggestions. No matter how able the manager, the clever workman can often show him how beneficial changes can be made in the special branch in which that workman labors. Unless the relations between manager and workmen are not only amicable but friendly, the owners miss much; nor is any man a first-class manager, who has not the confidence and respect, and even the admiration, of his workmen. No man is a true gentlemah who does not inspire the affection and devotion of his servants. The danger is that such committees may ask conferences too often; three or four meetings per year should be regarded as sufficient. I come now to the greatest cause of the friction which prevails between capital and labor in the largest establishment, the real essence of the trouble, and the remedy I have to propose. The trouble is that the men are not paid at any time the compensation proper to that time. All large concerns necessarily keep filled with orders, say for six months in advance, and these orders are taken, of course, at prices prevailing when they are booked. This year's operations furnish perhaps the An Emnloyer's View. , Il ,best illustration of the difficulty. Steel rails at the end of last year for delivery this year were $29 per ton at the works. Of course the mills entered orders freely at this price, and kept on entering them until the demand growing unexpectedly great carried prices up to $35 per ton. Now the various mills in America are compelled for the next six months or more to run upon orders which do not average $31 per ton, at the seaboard and Pittsburgh, and say $34 at Chicago. Transportation, iron-stone, and prices of all kinds have advanced upon them in the meantime, and they must therefore run for the bulk of the year upon very small margins of profit. But the men, noticing in the papers the" great boom in steel rails," very naturally demand their share of the advance, and under our existing faulty arrangements between capital and labor they have secured it. The employers, therefore, have grudgingly given what they know under proper arrangements they should not have been required to give; and there has been friction and still is dissatisfaction upon the part of the employers. Reverse this picture. The steel-rail market falls again. The mills have still six months' work at prices above the prevailing market, and can afford to pay men higher wages than the then existing state of the market would apparently justify. But having just been amerced in extra payments for labor which they should not have paid, they naturally attempt to reduce wages as the market price of rails goes down, and there arises discontent among the men, and we have a repetition of the 102 Labor:. Is Rig/is and Wrongs. negotiations and strikes which have characterized the beginning of this year. In other words, when the employer is going down the employe insists on going up, and vice versa. What we must seek is a plan by which the men will receive high wages when their employers are receiving high prices for the product, and hence are making large profits; and per contra, when the employers are receiving low prices for product, and therefore small if any profits, the men will receive low wages. If this plan can be found, employers and employed will be "in the same boat," rejoicing together in their prosperity, and calling into play their fortitude together in adversity. There will be no room for quarrels, and instead of a feeling of antagonism there will be a feeling of partnership between employers and employed. There is a simple means of producing this result, and to its general introduction both employers and employed should steadily bend their energies. Wages should be based upon a sliding scale, in proportion to the net prices received for product month by month. And I here gladly pay Mr. Potter, president of the North Chicago Rolling Mill Co., the great compliment to say that he has already taken a step in this direction, for to-day he is working his principal mill upon this plan. The result is that he has had no stoppage whatever this year, nor any dissatisfaction. All has gone smoothly along, and this in itself is worth at least as much to the manufacturer and to the men as the difference in SEmployer's Vziew. 103 wages one way or another which can arise from the new system. The celebrated Crescent Steel Works of Pittsburgh, manufacturers of the highest grades of tool steel, pay their skilled workmen by a sliding-scale, .based upon prices received for product-an important factor in the eminent success of that firm. The '"Scale" adopted by the iron manufacturers and workmen is only an approach to the true slidingscale; nevertheless it is a decided gain both to capital and labor, as it is adopted from year to year, and hence eliminates strikes on account of wages during the year, and liinits these interruptions from that cause to the yearly negotiation as to the justice or injustice of the scale. As this scale, however, is not based upon the prices actually received for product, but upon the published list of prices, which should be received in theory, there is not complete mutuality between the parties. In depressed timnes, such as the iron industry has been passing through in recent years, enormous concessions u1pon the published card prices have been necess.ry to effect sales, and in these the workmen have not shared with their employers. If, however, there was added to the scale, even in its present form, a stipulation that all causes of difference which could not be postponed till the end of the .year, and then considered with the scale, should be referred to arbitration, and that in case of failure of the owners and worklnll to agree at the yearly conference, arbitration should also be resorted to, strikes and lockouts would be 104 Labor.- Its Rzo/ts and Wrongs. entirely eliminated from the iron business; and if the award of the arbitrators took effect from the date of reference, the works could run without a day's interruption. Dismissing, therefore, for the present, all consideration of co-operation as not being within measurable distance, I believe that the next steps in the advance toward permanent, peaceful relations between capital and labor areFirst : That compensation be paid the men based upon a sliding scale in proportion to the prices received for product. Second: A proper organization of the men of every works to be made, by which the natural leaders, the best men, will eventually come to the front and confer freely with the employers. Third: Peaceful arbitration to be in all cases resorted to for the settlement of differences which the owners and the mill coimminittee cannot themselves adjust in friendly conference. Fourth: No interruption ever to occur to the operations of the establishment, since the decision of the arbitrators shall be made to take effect from the date of reference. If these measures were adopted by an establishment, several important advantages would be gained. First: The employer and employed would simultaneously share their prosperity or adversity with each other. The scale once settled, the feeling of antagonism would be gone, and a feeling of mutuality A Employer's View. .05 would ensue. Capital and labor would be shoulder to shoulder supporting each other. Second: There couid be neither strike nor lockout, since both parties had agreed to abide by a forthcoming decision of disputed points. Knowing that in the last resort strangers were to be called in to decide what should be a family affair, the cases would, indeed, be few which would not be amicably adjusted by the original parties, without calling in others to judge between them. Whatever the future may have in store for labor, the evolutionist, who sees nothing but certain and steady progrees for the race, will never attempt to set bounds to its triumphs, even to its final form of complete and universal industrial co-operation, which I hope is soime day to be reached. But I am persuaded that the next step forward is to be in the direction I have here ventured to point out; and as one who is now most anxious to contribute his part toward helping forward the day of amicable relations between the two forces of capital and labor, which are not enemies, but are really auxiliaries who stand or fall together, I ask at the hands of both capital and labor a careful consideration of these views. SELF-HELP, STATE-IHELP, AND CHURCHtHELP FOR WORKINGMEN. LABOR is ascending the throne of politics. The age of the workingmnan has dawned for the wlole English-speaking world. Universal suffrage gives even Lazarus a ballot. He is not likely to rest contentedly at the gate of Dives, without attempting to employ his political power for the amelioration of his condition. Face to face with the London riots, with vast national and international societies of workingmen, and with a breadth of suffrage which is at once the glory and the peril of modern civilization, it is hazardous to commit one's self to definite public positions on the topics of capital and labor; and yet it becomes every year more imperatively the duty of thoughtful citizens to have clear and sound opinions on these vexed themes. For one Ihold the following industrial creed, some years ago given here in extended form, and not yet abandoned in a single syllable. (See Boston Monday lectures on " Labor" and " Socialism.") 1. A fair day's wages for a fair day's work dught [106] Help for Workingmen. 107 to be at least twice what the laborer must pay for his food, and more, according to his skill and th, demand for it. 2. Fair wages, thus defined, tend to increase rather than to diminish fair profits. For 3. The chief mischief in- the industrial world is not overproduction, but under-consumption. Fair wages broaden the market; starvation wages pinch it. 4. The most effective church-help or state-help for workingmen is that which leads to self-help. 5. Neither capital nor labor, neither Church nor State, has a right to impair freedom of contract 6. When rich and poor, under republican institutions, easily change places from generation to generation, the cause of the poor man is every man's cause, and the cause of the rich man is every man's cause. In another generation, if you are a rich man in this, your children may be poor; or, if you are a poor man in this, your children may be rich ; so that I claim here a right to utter the whole truth in support of the just demands of both wealth and labor. The extension of the suffrage,. and of republican institutions in modern times, the abolition of privileged classes, the overturn of the right of primogeniture, the opening of careers to talent, has made society mobile; men go up and down; and when property is widely diffused and distributed in a different way from generation to generation, it is very difficult to maintain class prejudices from period to Io8 Labor. Its Rzigks and Wrongs. period, making them hereditary feuds. It is to be hoped that our Republic never will have permanent classes, either wealthy or poor. Millionaires inultiply in Congress and elsewhere, but there sons rarely succeed to their fathers' places. A great and prosperous Republic naturally produces great capitalists, but, thank, Heaven, not a h ereditary plutocracy nor a hereditary proletariat. The mobility of American society, and of all society governed under Republican fashiolns, is the best ground of hope that justice will be done both to Dives and to Lazarus. Under Ricardo and Malthus, and even as late as the time of Jolhn Stuart Mill, the central word in political economy was wealth; to-day it is man. Bismarck, as is well known, is now inclined to defend highly philanthropic positions on the topic of the relations of labor and capital. He has gone far over to what is called professorial socialism. The leaders in the discussion of political economy in the German Universities are more and more uniting politica economy with social economy. The greatest good of the greatest number, and not the largest accumulation of wealth, is comining to be regarded as the supreme object to be sought in a rigid industrial arrangement of society. Political economy, except in the Manchester school, has given up the see-saw theory of wages, or the idea that industrial funds must be divided between labor and capital, and that, therefore, as wages increase, profits must diminish. All this you now find discredited by leaders in political economy, and Hel6 for Workingmen. lo 9 by no one more than by Professor Walker, of Yale, or Professor Roscher, of Leipzig, or Professor Wagner, of Berlin. Fair profits are the surplus after capital has paid interest on mnoney invested in an enterprise, insurance, wages, and the cost of superintendence. The margin depends on a number of circumstances, and not on the sinigle fact of the amount of wages. The margin is broad or narrow according to the rate of interest on capital, according to what you must pay for insurance and for superintendence, as well as upon what you mnst pay for wages ; and it is ridiculous to maintain that there must be forever a war between capital and labor because the wage fund must be divided into two portions. The old theory of Ricardo and Malthus has been given up in the progress of discussion on political economy, and we have now come to the conclusion that fair wages and fair profits may both rise together. They have done so repeatedly in the steady trades. In the fluctuating trades, there occurs, of course, every now and then, a period of depression. There will be times when the interests of capital and labor seem to conflict, and it is in connection with thlis most difficult portion of the subject that it is important to adopt correct views as to the duties of class to class, and of each class to itself. . . As to state-help, it has been my fortune to dissuade workingmen from following Carl Marx and Lasalle, and to recommend to them such institutions as those founded by Schulze Delitzsch. The former SI o Labor: Its Rig/is and Wrongs. made state-help almost everything; the latter believed in no state help tlhat did not lead to self-help for workingmen. He was born in -Delitzsch, in Saxony, in 1801. He died in 1883. He was the founder of the famous People's Bank in Germany, and these are institutions depending not on the state, but on the self-help of the laboring class. Co-operative credit is what workingmen want; for credit lies at the basis of co-operative consutnption and co-operative production. If laborers are to conipete with capitalists, if the employed in the fearful rivalries of modern industrial life are to stand erect in conflict with organizations of employers, workingmen must have money. Labor reformers may profitably study these institutions called the Peoples' Banks in Germany; for they are so successful that they are able to borrow millions and to hold industrial enterprises together without the slightest assistance from the state. Let workingmen lay firmly the corner-stone of co-operative credit in peoples' banlks, and on that they may place co-operative consumnption, like the Rochdale stores, and on that co operative production. If American workmen mix themselves too nuch with socialists of the European pattern, the certainty is that they will lose the confidence of the sounder portion of the working class in the United States. Property is too widely diffused here for property to be abolished. You cannot here make the socialistic spark fire the powder of the workingman's discontent. We have too much at stake. The middle Hejfor Working men. II I class, which, as John Stuart Mill says, makes up the whole American population, owns the land, substantially; owns the middle portion of property everywhere. And socialism here.will certainly go to the wall as soon as it takes off its mask. Therefore, I ask workingmen to beware of the followers of Lasalle ind Carl Marx, but to welcome the followers of Schulze Delitzsch. For one, I do not care to have you go quite as far as Bismarck himself goes. This leader said not long ago in the Reichstag in Germany: "If you will give the laborer the right to labor as long as he is in health secure to him care when he is .sick, and his support when he is old, the social Democrats will blow their whistles in vain," When Eugene Richter called Bismarck to account for propounding this novel and startling doctrine that workingmen should have labor furnished to them when they cannot find it themselves, and be supported in sickness and old age, by the State, Bismarek replied: " I recognize the right to labor without qualification, and shall maintain it as long as I am in this place. In this I do not stand on the ground of socialism, but on that of the municipal law of Prussia." Germany is not under universal suffrage. Germany has such political arrangements that Bismtarek may possibly feel that Christian principles justify positions like these. He defends them in the name of Christian solicitude for the poor. But let workingmen here generally ask to have work provided for them by the state, when they cannot find it for them- I 2 Labor Its Rgkhis and Wrongs. selves; let workingmen here ask to be supported by the state when they are sick, and in their ol-dage, and very soon they will be called paupers. Very soon public sentiment at large will be turned against them. You must not put yourself into Bistarck's attitude, if you wish to make your workingmen's party a success in a country that believes in self-help. The air here supports self-help. It does not support drones and paupers, and still less does it support anarchists and atrocities in the industrial field. This Republic must set fashions ultimately for the world, because the world is drifting into republican institutions, and if we here solve the problem of the right relations of labor and capital, we shall solve a problem that has importance in all advanced populations. In the field of self-help let workingmen study Industrial Partnership which is so successful in Germany. Savings banks in this country are, of course, to some extent, a substitute for the German people's banks; but I would rather that you would follow the lead of Edmund Quincy, and found banks of your own, than depend exclusively on savings banks. Let us recommend building societies, such as have been so successful in Philadelphia. Let us have Trades Unions, but let them not attempt to tyranize over non-Union men. It was thought that a slave was always worth twice his maintenance. A family earning less than twice what its food costs sinks little by litle in the social scale, and in time it is found that wages lower Help for Workingmen. 113 than this will not reproduce the population. The dwingling of the supply of laborers becomes the ghastly response to this starvation scale of prices. We must support industrial populations in such a way that they will not dwindle either in numbers or efficiency, by death or disability; and less pay than what I have called natural wages does end in such a dwelling of the industrial population all over the world. Let workingmen avoid strikes and support every scheme for arbitration. A question has been handed to me, which I will answer in this connection, as to the bill now before the Massachusetts Legislature for the establishment of State Boards of arbitration. I beg leave to give these seven reasons why that bill should become a law. 1. It has the approval of the Chief of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2. It has the full indorsement of the Knights of Labor. 3. It omits provisions giving the force of law to the decisions of the arbitrators. 4. It creates a board much like the Board of Railway Commissioners, which is practically a state Board of Arbitration between railroads and their patrons, and which has worked well. The decisions of the railway commissioners have in practice had the force of court decrees. 5. It seems likely to prevent many strikes before they begin. 6. It seems well adapted to settle strikes speedily II4 Labor: Its Rig/zts and Wrongs. and justly, and so save workingmen and employers from the losses occasioned by interruptions of labor. 7. Many similar boards in England have worked well for a qxuarter of a century. My interest in the top)ic of the relations of labor and capital comes from the fact that I am a man, and believe that the sky is the roof of but one family. -Extract from Rev. Joseph Cook, Boston, Monday Lectures. PROFIT-SHARING. A FIRM of shoe manufacturers in Auburn, Me., have submitted to their 750 employes a plan by which the net profits of the business shall be divided among the workmen. The men are first to receive as high wages as are paid by competing firms, and afterward are to share in the net profits in proportion to the labor contributed by each. In connection with this a very instructive review of similar efforts in Great Britain and in this country appears in the new annual report of the Massachusetts Labor Bureau. The report first briefly describes co-operation and profit sharing methods which have been tested abroad. It then sets forth the plan of profitsharing for a long time followed in the Massachusetts fisheries. Several important manufacturing establishments in which the system has been tested for a number of years are mentioned; the establishment of Cameron & Co., in this city, which divided profits for eight years until Mr. Cameron's death; the establishment of Brewster & Co., which continued to divide profits for two years until the men dissolved the agreement by a strike; and the Peace Dale Woolen manufactory, which has divided profits since 1878. Perhaps the most important of the illustrations given, however, is that of the Pillsbury [115] 116 Labor: I1s Rz'ols and Wrongs. Flour Mills at Minnlellpolis, though for more than ten years there have been in operation in Massachusetts from seven to ten corporations formed uhder the 1lassachusetts law. The experience in this country thus far, has been, on the whole, favorable to this form of adjustment. It does not altogether prevent unreasonable strikes; thus, the workmen of Brewster & Co. struck for eight hours a day, though they had it in their own power through their board of governors to make eight hours a working day, and by striking they forfeited a dividend of $11,000 which would have been due a month later, besides losing $8,000 in wages, and at the end of two weeks went back to work on the old plan of simple wages. But there are very few cases in which workers have shown so little intelligence in regard to their own interests. In the vast majority of instances, the harmony of interests between employers and employed has clearly prevented controversies and increased the prosperity of the enterprise. The amount of dividends paid, in addition to regiiar wages, has been very variable. In the Peace Dale establishment, no dividends were paid the first year, 5 per cent. the second, 5 per cent. in the third, and 3 per cent. in the fourth and in the fifth year, but after the fifth year the adoption of ten instead of eleven hours for the day's work reduced profits so that no dividends were declared. The Pillsbury establishment has paid three dividends of $25,000, $26,000 and $35,000, liut all the men are Proflt-Sharing. I17 not included in the arrangement; dividends are paid to those who have continuously remained in service for five years, and the number of these is of course increasing; and dividends are also paid to men in certain positions of responsibility without regard to their length of service. It is still a question to be determined by experience whether it is wiser to distribute the entire dividend in cash, or to reserve a part for the benefit of the workers, as is done in many establishments abroad; whether it is better to pay a dividend after a dividend has been made to capital, or before or at the same time with such a dividend; and in what mode, if at all, the power of the employers to discharge negligent or incompetent hands shall be limited. The Massachusetts report clearly indicates the opinion that, where profit-sharing is attempted, it is necessary for the protection of the men that the power of the employer to get rid of those who are not efficient shall be unrestricted, and it is pointed out that in other countries, where the men themselves have associated for manufacturing purposes, agreeing to divide profits, it has been found necessary that the association should exercise for the protection of faithful workers the same unrestrained power to discharge those who are negligent or inefcient that is claimed by individual employers as essential to the success of their enterprise. If capital takes all the risks, whether it be furnished by the men themselves or not, it must in any case retain a power of self-protection. N. Y. Tribune, April 8, 1886. THE HOURS OF LABOR. EDWARD ATKINSON. THERE have been many efforts to shorten the hours of labor by statute regulations. So far as these laws kave been necessary for the protection of children, these statutes have had a most beneficial influence. In other respects their effect has been very slight. They can be applied effectually only to factories, in which large numbers of persons are congregated. When the factory system was first introduced, especially in the manufacture of textiles, the hours of labor were fourteen per day, the work was arduous and continuous, the mills low-studded and illventilated. In 1840, the average factory operative, man, woman, or child, in a cotton mill in New England earned $175 per year for thirteen or fourteen hours' work per day; the opportunity to attain even such wages was eagerly grasped by the farmers' daughters of New England. Since that date great improvements have been effected in machinery, etc. It has become possible to supply the textile fabrics necessary for consumption in ten to eleven hours per day ; the farmers' daughters have gone up into higher employ [118] The Hours of Labor. 1I9 inents; their places have been filled mainly by foreign laborers who now earn in the same factories more than double the wages per hour, and nearly double the wages per year as compared to 1840, and under vastly better conditions. In certain factories of which the writer has positive knowledge the wages are on the average $285 to $290 per year for ten and a half hours per day, against $175 to $180 in 1840 for thirteen to fourteen hours. This change has been effected with little regard to statutes, a very large number of the most intelligent employers in factories having long since reached the conclusion that there was no profit to themselves in excessive hours of work and no benefit to working people in the long run, even if a little higher wages be earned in long hours as compared to short. Many of the most intelligent employers work their machinery only ten hours by their own choice. It has been said that statutes have been applied, if applied at all, only to those who work in factories, with perhaps a very few others engaged in special employments. Hence the statutes respecting hours of labor could, in the nature of things, affect a very small proportion of the population of the United States in depriving them of actual freedom of contract in the distribution of their own time. If we conclude under the head of Collective Factory Labor all the operatives in the textile factories, in the machine shops and iron works, in the mines and other departments of such work, and add thereto all the tailors and tailoresses, all the seam- 120 Labor: Its Rights and Wrongs. stresses, all the boot and shoe makers, and all others who are engaged in occupations in which the tendency is toward the collective factory work, but of whom a large proportion are outside the factories, we shall find in the list of occupations of the census of 1880 less than one hundred in each one thousand of all who were engaged in any kind of gainful occupation in that year in this class. It is significant that most of the strikes have occurred in the specific branches of industry in which the attempt has been made to deprive the working people of the control of their own time by legal restrictions upon the hours of labor. Next to the factory operatives, the largest single body of working people aside from those engaged in agriculture, consists of railroad employes. They may be said to stand midway between the collective factory work and the individual mechanic or farmer who does his work where the work is to be done, wherever it may be. In this class of railway employes some important strikes have lately occurred, the full import of which does not yet appear. The true remedy for strikes and for obnoxious meddlesome interference by statute with the liberty of contract on the part of adults, will probably be found in the special organizations of labor, which have lately become so prominent. Until quite a recent period the so-called labor reformers, who have been apt to promote strikes, have not been men of sufficient capacity to become true leaders; they have, as a rule, been mere agitators. Their influence has The Hours of Labor. I2 I been felt only by isolated bodies of workmen here and there, but has been of no general importance. 1M\ore recent occurrences have brought an abler body of men to the front. This is the natural outgrowth of the attempt to widen the organization of laborers, and to cover a broader field. Such an undertaking calls for ability and energy as well as character and integrity ; aiid in this natural order sucl men have appeared, who are now endeavoring to direct and control by general organization all the special organization of working people. They are, of course, making grave errors; but being men of ability, none will find out sooner than tliemselves the errors in their work, and they may then become most useful and true leaders. For instance, what is it that stops enterprise, prevents the extension of useful arts, and keeps capital in a sort of enforced idleness or disuse at the present moment ? Just one thing; and that is thi very attempt to take away from the working man the liberty to make his own bargain in his own way, and to subject him to the restrictions imposed by the by-laws of an organization which he has only entered with the expectation of improving his condition. There is but one thing which we all have in common, rich and poor alike; and that is time. The man who controls his own time, who disposes of it in his own way, is the man who will succeed. The man who combines with others in the attempt to control and regulate the work of other men who 122 Labor. I-s RzgAhs and Wrongs. do not belong to their association, and to dictate how they shal make Use of their titic can only influence industry for a very short periOd.'Themost intelligenit amiong thfose wo10 jiiw away with any in.-tera either aSltet b ference withl personal liber-ty, or quit the union to which they hve attached themselves. Skillful workmen l who ar-e masters of their art will soon1see that any other course would reduce tle most i ntligent and industrious w'orkman to the level of the least skillful and the least competelt in the trade. The true object of asociation isthat each man may find'out by contact or correspondence with his fellows how he may develophis own individuality, his on capcity- find, out what his own work is realy woth, and how to obtain is fullvalue withou. reducing hiinself to the level of any shiftles or t idlO person who MAY have joined'thie association with, the expectation Of. being sttfined in his orkme-n. t incapacity At the -cos of his fellow W Thd evil "of uindertaking to control And regulate the, time "and labor of the workinig people of this outyhaIs aleady spen-t its force.,Theworkn to perceive that they are-'the me aebeinig one to; uffdr mosdt from sneih krestritions When is production'or distributi on laimpeded by them tui l'eferen-e hs been ii ade to the sotting of thea o61c1pft atioiofth e peo, CIby whom the *otk 'is done This 'is one of the mos8t useful add most trusto'rthy -cla'ssificaitions of the census. Each man .thle Hours of Labor. 12 12-3 or woman who worked foi'gain 'was called uponby the enumerator to state thje occupation ly Which he or she earned money. The to tal nuber of all who were engaged in workingil for gain was a fraction tnder 1',400,000; probably at the present tilnc tlhere ;ar-e': aibount '19,000,000 thus cn. Edor'about one in thre of t16' populaition.' Abont 1,100,000 under the ensus of 1880, or not: vrTseven per cent. of thewholeforce by W1l0o11 the whole work of the country was carried on, could be'classified' jild get 6ffas being' anong the employers oflabor, or as being engaged in the mentaland .admiinistrative, ,ork of the country, oi- in positions which gave them any power to direct or to super vise the work of the retainder. All the rest were in the position of small farmers Who0must work Iharder th1an any of their hired mnen, or of wagfeearners, operatives, emnploycs or recipients of-small salaries not above the general average of thlos'ewho work f or wag es;,an d as I have previously stated, of this latter force of working people in the narrowest sense, taken by itself, not exceeding ten per cent. were engaged in any kind of occu pation which could be classified under the general head of -collective factory work. In other words, the 17,400,000 'Could be classified in a broad and ge.neral 'way about asfollows: 124 Labor: Its Rzi1ts and Wrongs. Engaged in mental or administrative work as employers rather than employed, or other independent personal occupation, about....... 1,100,000 In collective factory work in which large numbers of operatives are gathered in single buildings, at the outside.... ..................... 1,700,000 Occupied on railways, including laborers, not 600,000 exceeding............................ Farmers, mechanics, artisans, clerks, servants, draymen and other occupations of a substantially individual character.................... 14,000,000 Total........................... 17,400,000 As to the latter class the law may define what number of hours shall constitute a day's work, but cannot force the workman to limit his labor to that Hence no interference with the specific term. liberty of contract by legislation can be applied to the great majority of the working people of the country. Neither can the arduous and continuous work of the household be reached either by the statute law, or by the by-law of the labor organization. A certain amount of work must be done in order to attain the present standard of general subsistence, hence in just the measure that the few may be restricted in the disposal of their time must the many add to their hours of work.* The general hours of labor of this great force, taken as a whole, so far as they can be ascertained or * Experience proves this theory to be absolutely erroneous. The reverse is notoriously the true result. Editor. The Hours of Labor. • 5 12 are reported upon, seem to be 'ten or eleven hours per day. That number of hours of labor appears to be necessary at the present time in the production of the food, fuel, clothing, and materials for shelter, of which the working classes themselves, in the narrowest sense, consume more than ninety per cent. Hence it follows that if there is any material interruption in the progress of the work, the working people themselves are subject to at least ninety per cent. of the loss of product which must ensue. For instance, there has been a great strike on the south-western system of railroads. It has been alleged that this strike would extend throughout the country. Suppose this should happen. Who would be struck the hardest, and who would pay the cost ? Would it be the capitalists who own the railroads? There were only 300,000 of them in 1880, perhaps a few more now. Few of them depend wholly upon their railroad property, and they can wait. Who then will suffer ? The work of the railroads in the year 1885, aside from the movement of passengers, consisted in the movement of upwards of 400,000,000 tons of merchandise, each ton of which was moved on the average one hundred and ten miles. This merchandise consisted of about one-half of food material ; the greater part of the remainder consisted of fuel and materials for shelter, the weight of fibers and of clothing being insignificant as compared to food and fuel. This enormous work represented a movement of seven tons for each and every man, woman, and child in the United States, which 126 Labor: Is Rzghls and Wrongs. seven tons was iwas one hundred and ten miles at moved an average cliarge of $8.75, or a little over one cent per ton per mile. It is sometimes alleged that labor does all the work, and is therefore entitled to all the pay. Each and every laborer is entirely free to move the seven tons assigned to him and to each of his family one hundred and ten miles, i. e., to do all the work, and to receive all the pay, if he chooses to do it. If it is not done he and his family suffer most. On all the railroads of the United States there are about 625,000 men and boys employed, at wages considerably higher than the average wages of those whom they supply by their distribution. At the standard of payments on the New York Central RTailroad their earnings were a fraction under $550 a year each. They are not paid out of the capital of the railroads. They are paid out of the current receipts received by the railroad corporations; and these currect receipts are paid to the corporations on the part of every man, woman, and child in the United States, at the rate of $8.75 each, in compensation for the movement of seven tons of food, fuel, shelter and clothing, a distance of one hundred and ten miles on thle average. Who, then, is strtuck, if this movement is interrupted, and whlo loses by the stroke ? Is it not all who are engaged in every kind of occupation aside from the railroad ? Suppose they strike back, being pinched with the hardships ensuing from the strike on the railroads, and being deprived for the time of The Hours of Labor. I27 their supplies. Then what happens? A further cessation not only of distribution but of production. Who, then, is struck the hardest ? Is it not the nineteen hard-working people out of every twenty who consume at least nine-tenths of the entire product, it being fairly well proved that the absolute or actual addition to the capital of any one year does not exceed five per cent. of each year's product, or ten per cent. at the utmost? In this article I only attempt general averages or a close approximation of the facts. The organization of clubs and associations among the laborers under the lead of able men will soon become the common schools of social science, order and industry; and these hard facts of life will soon become as well known or as apparent to them as they now are to the few students who deal with facts rather than with theories. It may then be hoped that the way to prosperity will be found in freedom of contrast and in personal liberty, giving each man or woman ithe full control of the one thing which all have in common, rich and poor and alike-their own time, which is their oppor tunity. There are other minor grievances alleged on the part of workmen as against capitalists. It is alleged that corporations have no souls, and the workmen are made to feel themselves serfs rather than freemen. Let anyone examine the facts, and it will become apparent that so far as due consideration of good sanitary conditions , and due care for the wel- 128 Labor. Is Rgktzls and Wrongs. fare of the operatives are concerned, factory corporations have, as a rule, been far in advance of individual manufacturers. There have been conspicuous and very noble exceptions on the part of individual manufacturers; but as a rule the welfare of factory operatives, according to the observation of the writer, has been more fully considered by the corporations than by individuals. It is true that there are objections to corporate management; namely, the want of intelligent knowledge of each other on the part of the workmen and of the managers, principals, or owners; but this is more often due rather to the magnitude of the undertakings than to any want of good-will on either side. Another alleged grievance is in the establishment of company stores with which employes are said to be forced to deal, and in which they are said to be charged excessive prices, taking away from them the opportunity for saving. That there has been in the remote past a considerable abuse of this sort may not be denied; but in this section of the country, at least, a complete change has occurred. The " truck system," so called, has substantially disappeared. The special occupation of the writer has perhaps given him a better opportunity to know the facts as to all the great factories and works of New England and the Middle States than would happen with respect to other students of this question, and can bear testimony to the fact that the company stores which are maintained in connection with these establishments are almost invariably maintained in the interest of The Hours of Labor. 2 I29 the workigngmen, arid in order to supply them with the best materials for their subsistence at as small an advance on the cost as would be consistent with maintaining the store on a commercial basis. During the Civil War, when it became necessary to resort to short time, the writer himself found that the workingmen, in establishments which were under his control, were sufferiiig.because the shop-keepers, fearing that the operators would be unable to pay on short-time wages, restricted their credit and advanced prices. He therefore established a company store in which the goods were sold f1r cash or for orders from the paymaster of the factory ; he furnished it with the best materials carefully purchased, and sold them to the operatives at ten per cent. advance on the cost, which barely served to net interest and expenses. The shop was maintained for many months. As soon as the mill started on full time it would have been given up, but the operatives themselves begged to have it continued, upon the ground that the advantage to them had been so great that their wages for four days' work had been nearly equal in their purchasing power, at this company's store, to six days' work in the shops where they had previously dealt. It was, therefore, continued for some time as a private enterprise under substantially the same rules and under the auditing supervision of the corporation until a more wholesome competition on aspecie basis made it unnecessary. When the true lesson is learned by way of these 6* 130 Labor:. Is R"O/zis a.d Wrongs. common schools of associated workingmen, it will become apparent to them that there is but one method of improving the condition of all. The capitalist must adopt every improvement in nachinery, even if it makes it necessary, as it sometimes has, to break up and sell for old metal new machines bought within a few months; while the hours of labor for the whole working force can only be diminished by doing better and more productive work in less time than is now required-the present product, whatever number of hours of labor it may require, being only sufficient to meet the present average standard of subsistence, whatever that may be.* The great disparity in condition is not the disparity between laborers and capitalists; it is rather the disparity among those who themselves do the work upon which they depend for their daily bread. The tools fall to him who can use them best. It is the best workman who does the greatest amount of work in the least number of hours with the least effort to himself. It is by such workmen that goods of all kinds are produced at the lowest cost. These facts will become the more apparent, the more speedily the attempt is made to combine all workmen upon a general average, under rules imposed by a central authority which has no power to enforce * How happens it then that such unexampled wealth reaches the hands of a portion of the people ? Would not an equitable distribution make a radical reduction of workhours possible ? If not, what benefit is the wonderfully improved means of production? Compiler. The Hours of Labor. 3' them. These rules cannot be enforced because they would impair the personal liberty of every member and deprive the people of this country of that personal liberty which is the very central idea of their existence. SHALL AN EIGHT-HOUR SYSTEM BE ADOPTED ? GEORGE GUNTER. THIS question is one of the live issues connected with the problem of social economics that calls for more than a merely sympathetic answer. Industrial relations cannot be adjusted by feelings or sentiments. However strong the desire for an ideal social state, the industrial interests cannot to-day be conducted on any other than a profit-and-loss basis; and any proposition relating to the economic conditions of society must be judged, not by the spirit in which it is proposed, but by the letter of its industrial and social effects. The laboring classes will not support, nor ought they to be expected to support any proposition which will not tend either to lessen their labor or increase their wages; nor can the manufacturing and mercantile classes be expected to favor any change which will not tend to promote a healthy business prosperity. Therefore, the question, should an eight-hour system be adopted ? practically resolves itself into two: (1) What would be its effect upon [132] Shall Ez'h Houzrs. be Adohled? I133 wages and prosperity? (2) How can it be most suecessfully inaugurated ? First, then, what would be its effect npon wages and general prosperity ? Let us see. According to the United States census of 1880, the total population was 50,155,883. Of this number, 36,761,607 were over ten years of age, and 17,392,099, or nearly one-half of those over ten years of age, were employed in the various occupations. Out of these 17,392,099, 1,017,034 are engaged in the various professions, as lawyers, doctors, clergymen, teachers, actors, journalists, etc.; 4,479,631 are manufacturers, merchants, bankers, traders, clerks, etc.; leaving 14,895,431 who properly come under the head of laborers. Of this number, however, 4,347,617 are farmers and others engaged in agriculture, who work for themselves; hence we do not class them as wage-laborers, although a large pei,centage of this number work for wages a considerable part of the time. The remaining 10,547,814 are exclusively wage-receivers; but if we exclude the 1,075,655 domestic servants, there are still 9,472,159 actually employed in productive industries The general who work exclusively for wages. eight-hour system would properly adoption of an include the whole 14,895,431, but we will, in this paper, consider its economic effect upon the community if applied only to the 9,472,159 who are exclusively wage-laborers. The average nominal length of the day's work in this country, outside of Massachusetts, is eleven 134 Labor. Ils Rz~/i/s and Wrongs. hrouvrs and a half, and it is reatestinthoseindustries where the largest number of women And children are employed; but taking eleven hours to be the average length of the working day, if an eight-hour system were adopted thiere would be a uniform reduction of three hours' labor a day, the effect of business interestsof Which unnd the community must'be; obvious. The firstand immediate effect of such a measure would be to.reduce the average ,daily prodluction over one-fourh. In other words, the Product of.28,416,477 hours'labbr a day 'would be withdrawn from the market without discharging a single laborer vacuum thus prodneed, would, in its effectupon laborr and business, be equal to increasing the present demand over one-fourth'; that is-to say, without increasing our bome .or foreign market, but sinply -to supply the-present normal consumption, it would create employment for, 3,500,000 laborers. To meet this demand, about one-sixthb more factories and, workshops would be needed, besides setting our present mnachier in operation.; andafute demand for labor would be created in the mnirfnes, forges, furnaces, iron.-works, and the various. industries -that contribute to the building:.and equipmen t of the requisitenew factories and workshops. This in all.would create employment for about four-million laborers, whichi would mqre thjan Absorball the unemployed labor both in this ,country and in England to-day. INoristhis,.all.. The,,new demand for lbx thus .eroated would necessarily Incemse th Shall Eight Hours be Adopted? 135 number -of consumers, and thereby still further enlarge the demand for commodities; and, according to the popular doctrine of supply and demand, the increased demand for labor, by reducing competition among laborers, must tend to increase wages. We shall, doubtless, be told by " wages-fund" economists, that although the immediate result of this measure would be to give employment to an increased number of laborers, yet, as the increased employment was only in proportion to the hours reduced, the aggregate production and consumption would be essentially the same. If no more wealth is produced, no more can be distributed ; hence, in proportion as the number employed is increased, must the amount given to each be reduced; and, they will add, should the product of each day's work be reduced, it will follow that either wages must fall or prices must rise in the same ratio, and consequently, that no real and permianent advantage can ensue. If this were the only effect that would be produced by an eight-hour law, there woald be Isome force to such an objection. But a further examination into the operations of this law will reveal other and greater effects to follow in its application, the influence of which, though more gradual, will be far more extended and permanent. What Adam Smith calls " the extent of the market" finally determines business prosperity and industrial progress-in short, all economic movement. The extent of the market is governed by the normal consumption of wealth by the masses, and the consumption of wealth in any 136 Labor : Its Rightis and Wrongs. community is determined by the general standard of living in that community; and the standard of living is ultimately determined by the habitual desires, tastes, and wants that have become necessities-i. e., the habits and customs or character of the people. Therefore, whatever tends to increase the wants, improve the habits and raise the standard of living of the masses, must necessarily tend to permanently increase the consumption and production of wealth, and thereby conduce to industrial and social advancement. And this is precisely what, from the natural operation of economic forces, must result from the adoption of an eight-hour system. In addition to, and along with the ini nediate effects referred to, the mass of laborers throughout the country, having three hours a day extra time for leisure and opportunity, and being less exhausted, mentally and physically, will be forced into more varied social relations -a new environment, the unconscious influence of which will naturally awaken and develop new desires and tastes that will slowly and surely crystallize into urgent wants and fixed habits, making a higher standard of living inevitable. As Prof. Hearn truly observe :* "It depends upon the education, in the widest sense of the term, of each individual, and upon his character as * " Plutology," pp. 19, 20. See also Bastiat's "Harmonics," pp. 51, 52 ; Banfield's " Organization of Industry," pp. 11, l-12 ; MeCulloch's " Prin. Pol. Econ.," pp. 181, 182. Shall Ezigt Hours be Adopted? 137 mainly resulting from that education, how many and what kind of objects, and with what persistency he desires. We know that the desires of educated men are more varied and more extended than those of persons without education. We know that wages of educated men are higher, and consequently the means of gratifying tleir desires greater than those of the uneducated. . . Those nations and those classes of a nation who stand highest in the scale of civilization are those whose wants, as experience shows, are the most numerous." To raise the standard of living of the masses, is to increase the general consumption of wealth. This increased consumption necessarily implies a corresponding increase in production, and consequently an increased demand for labor and higher wages. Nor does a rise of wages thus naturally produced imply a rise of prices. "The larger the market, the lower the price," is one of the best established principles in political economy, as all experience testifies. In fact, the successful use of improved n)achinery, which is the only means of permanently reducing price, can become possible only through increased consumption. That whatever tends to increase the permanent demand for commodities, tends to reduce the cost of production and lower prices, is a fact that is demonstrated in the history of every manufacturing industry in the world. It is therefore manifest that the general and permanent economic effect of an eight-hour system would be to naturally increase the aggregate consumption and production of wealth. When the masses have learned, through habit, to use wealth sufficiently to appreciate the refinements of 138 Labor. Its Rights and Wrongs. life, tenement hovels will give place to civilized homes, the reading-room will supplant the rum-shop, and churches, schools, libraries, lectures, art galleries and museums will become educators of the millions, instead of remaining the luxury of the few. When the masses have opportunity, natural law becomes the great educator; for, as Emerson truly says, "We educate not by lessons, but by going about our ovn business." Even Mill admitted that "No remedies for low wages have the smallest chance of being efficacious which do not operate on and throlgh the minds and habits of the people." Is the proposition for an eight-hour system feasible ? becomes the next question. Fortunately, the answer of experience is ample and conclusive on this point. The regulation of the hours of labor by the State is not an untried experiment. A ten-hour law has been in operation on a small scale both in England an Massachusetts; and although it was adopted in bothl instances for humaitarian rather than economic reasons, after nearly forty years' trial in England and eleven years in Massachusetts, its beneficial influence upon the material and social condition of the masses is a fact well attested in the public documents of both countries. This is the only legislation on the subject of labor that has stood the test of experience. All efforts to deal with this question by schemes of a socialistic nature, such as co-operation and colonization, as well as legislation upon land, profit, interest, currency and taxation, have failed to appreciably affect the situation. BLut not so with Skall Ezigh Hours be Adopted? 39 this legislation. Wherever it has been adopted its success has more than sustained the claims of its most sanguine friends. England was the cradle of the factory system. It was there where the spinning-jenny, the power-loom, and the steam-engine ~rame into existence; it was there that the division of labor and the use of machinery in productive industries were first generally adopted; and it was very naturally there that the evils growing out of the system of congregated industry and long hours of labor, under the pressure of severe competition and speed of machinery, first forced itself upon the attention of statesmen. Legislation upon this question began to be asked for early in the present century; and I may add that the history of this legislation is the history of the progress and prosperity of the English working classes, Before the hours of labor were reduced, and half-. time schools for working children were establishled (which was part of the same legislation), the condition of the northern laborers was very little better than that of the agricultural laborer of the south of England, of whom the Bishop of Manchester said in his report as one of the Agricultural Commission: "They huddle together in mud-cabins, frequently under conditions which comtpel the eating and sleeping, births and deaths of large families to take place in tlhe same room." And Earl Skaftesbury, in an address before the British Social Science Association, said : "Dirt and despair, such as ordinary folks can form no notion of, darkness that may be felt, odors 40o Labor. Is Rzghls and Wrongs. that may be handled, and faintness that can hardly be resisted, hold despotic sway in these dens of despair."* Not more than one in fifteen, and in many places one in twenty, could read or write. Women, and children only seven years of age, worked in coal and iron mines fourteen hours a day. Poorlaw authorities sold pauper children to distant factory masters, and the truck system so prevailed that the mass of laborers seldom received any money, having to take their wages in store orders. The first law relating to the hours of labor was adopted in England in 1802, but applied only to apprentices, and was never enforced. In 1819 a law was passed applying to cotton mills only, prohibiting the employment of children under nine years of age, and reducing the working hours for women, and children under sixteen years of age, from -fourteen to twelve a day. The beneficial results of this legislation became so immediately apparent, that in 1825, six years later, another law was passed reducing the hours of labor of cotton operatives from twelve to eleven and a half per day, and increasing the penalty for its violation. The improvement to the laborers and the absence of injury to the capitalists was so marked under these new conditions, that this legislation grew in public favor. In 1831 another bill was passed still further reducing the working hours of factory operatives. This law reduced the hours of labor from eleven and a half to * See also Rogers, "Work and Wages," p. 511 ; Walker, "Wages Question," pp. 22, 23, 61. Shall EigAt Hours be Ado led?- 1 41 eleven per day, and included women, and all minors under eighteen, instead of sixteen years of age, and prohibited night work for all under twenty-one years of age. In 1833, only two years later, a measure was adopted reducing the working time of children under thirteen years of age to eight hours a day, and requiring two hours a day of schooling. This law also provided that all previous legislation which had only affected cotton mills should, together with this act, be applied to silk, woolen, and flax mills also. The effect of this measure upon the condition of the working classes was such that it rapidly gained in popularity, and in 1844 a law was passed reducing the working time of children under fourteen years of age to half-time, and compelling attendance at school the other half. It is from the passage of this measure that the educational progress of the English working classes really dates. The gradual and permanent improvement resulting from the limited experiments in this legislation during the previous twenty years had so established it in public favor that in 1847, only three years later, and against the united opposition of the free-trade Mandhester school, the ten-hour law was adopted by a handsome majority. Such was the unexpected result of this measure, both upon the social condition of the people and the business prosperity of the community, that Sir Robert Peel, Earl Grey, Sir James Graham, Arthur Roebuck, and other leading statesmen who had spoken against the bill, rose in their places in 142 ,La1o .,f/ RL /isi and Wrongs. the House of Commons and openly apologized for asure. And, since: then the their opposition to o even John Bright has admitted his "mistake in After this law had been in opposing this bill." operation for twenty-seven years, its rigid enforcemnent being provided for by the appointment of factory inspectors, and after amendments had been adopted making it more effective and extended in its application to all. the commercial, mechanical anc miining as well as the manufacturing industries of the country, its influence upon the progress of the people was such that in 1874..another law was passed:, still further red:ucing the working hours to nine and a half. -Our free-trade friends will, doubtless, be ready to ascribe all of England's progress during that period to their free-trade policy. But those who take that position will be called on to explain how it is that, while England's free-trade policy applied to her whole people, it is only in those portions of the country where short-hour legislation has had effedt that this progress is to be found. They must explain how it is that the laboring classes in those sections of the country not affected by this legislation have made very little more progress during that period than the laboring classes in other European countries, while in the districts that have been under the influence of this legislation the industrial classes have made more progress during the last forty years than those of any other country. They will have to explain how it is that during the same period wages SUA 7-ight Hours be Adop1cd i 43 in th horth of Engahd, where this legislation has prevailed, have been nearly trebled, while the wages of agricultural laborers have only been slightly increased. The wages of agricultural labor- ers to-day are from ten to fourtee shillings a week while those of thle northern laborer range from twenty -to forty shillings a week. And they will also have to explain how it is that the ms of English agricultiral laborers at present are very little better than those of the Irish and German peasantry, while those of the Lancashire and Yorkshire operatives are fully fifty per cent. better than those of the aboring classes in any other country outside of America. Nor is this all; the good results of this legislation are not only to be seen in the improved material condition of the masses, but in their intellctual aid mioral condition as well. Public opinion aid legislation on the side of freedom and human rights have beeni ioulded and directed by its effects. eVery important ref6r that has occupied the publie mhind if England during the last quarter of iadentury has originated among ad received its main support from the people who have been most directly pader the infltence of this legislation. The great Reform League, which reaited a public opinion that fbrced Lord Derby, in 1861, though he had declared that his "*ission in taking office was to stem the tide of democracy," to inroduce a meastre granting the working men the ight to vote; the abolition of Church rates in England; the disestablishmafcit of 144 Labor .Its Rig/its and Wrongs. the Episcopal Church in Ireland; the popular demand for unsectarian and compulsory education, all emanated from the people in those portions of the country where the influence of short-hour legislation, half-time schools, and the consequent free readingrooms and libraries have prevailed. Not one of these important reforms has either originated with or received any appreciable support in or out of Parliament from the agricultural districts where this legislation has not been adopted. Nor has the influence of this legislation upon progress been limited to England. We in America owe more to the moral results of these measures than we have yet learned to recognize. During the dark days of the rebellion, when the success of the Union arms was very doubtful, and the English Government stood ready, as we then feared and still believe, to give aid and comfort to the enemy, the one bright spot above the horizon was the public opinion created by the workingmen in the manufacturing districts in the north of England. Although the cotton industry was prostrated there for years, and thousands of operatives were out of employment, many of whom were on the verge of starvation as the result of our war, they not only bore it without a murmur, but they turned England into a hot-bed of agitation by monster open-air meetings from 100,000 to 500,000 strong, unanimously declaring for the freedom of the slave and the success of the Union, and instructing their representatives in Parliament to oppose every effort of the Govern- .Skall Eight Hours be Adopted? 145 ment to recognize or assist the rebellion. In the face of this popular force the ministry did not dare do more than wink at the building of the "Alabama." I repeat, it was not from the agricultural districts that this declaration against slavery came. Not a single meeting was ever held nor a voice heard, in or out of Parliament, from those parts of the country, on this question. No! it was from Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, Oldham, Bolton, Stockport, Rochdale, and the manufacturing districts of the great north, that, as the first fruits of the seeds of progress that had been planted by the ten-hour law and half-time schools, there arose a popular power which, at an opportune moment, stayed the hand of the British Government, and helped us to save the Republic. The effect of similar legislation in Massachusetts is equally encouraging. The results there are not so pronounced as in England, because the ten-hour law has only been in operation a few years, and it affects a much smaller proportion of the population. Put, notwithstanding this fact, its elevating influence upon the masses is so apparent that it has become very popular among all classes in the community; so much so, that many of those who strongly opposed its adoption would now, with equal force, object to its repeal. In 1880, six years after the passage of the ten-hour law in that State, as the result of an argument made before the legislative labor committee by a prominent free-trade advocate, Edward 7 146 Labor: Its Rights and Wrongs. Atkinson-who has always been an active opponent of the law, on the ground "that its operation was injurious to the workingmen, as they had to work for one-eleventh less than similar laborers in other States "-the legislature ordered the Labor Burean to investigate the hours of labor, and the wages paid in Massachusetts and in the other New England States, and also in New York. This was done, and the result, which appeared in the Bureau report for 1881, was as follows: In Maine, average hours, 66Y; average wages, $7.04 per week. " . II., -Conn., R. I., " N. Y., SMass., " " " " " " 661 65Y 66 " " 65 " " 60 7.44 ' " " " 4 " " " " 8.32 " i" ' 8.61 " " " 7.57 " " 7.81 " 46 It will be seen from this investigation, which was instituted by the enemies of the law, that in the States of Maine, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York, the average working time is sixty-five and a half hours per week, and the average wages of labor $7.67 per week; while in Massachusetts, with only sixty hours a week, the average wages are $8.32 per week, or sixty-three cents a week more for five and a half hours a week less labor. That is to say, the laborers in Massachusetts work twenty-two hours, or over two full days less, and receive $2.52 per month more wages than similar laborers in the other States referred to. Thlere never was any legisiatiodn adopted in any Shall Ezigk Hours be Adofed_ 147 country in the world that has yielded such good economic fruit! It operates alike under a monarchy in Europe and a republic in America. In fact, it is the one species of industrial legislation that has never failed, and its results have only been limited by the extent of its application. For an eight hour law to be economically and morally effectual, however, it must be national; international would be even better. There is nothing that is susceptible to governmental influence, with which local or State legislation is so inadequate to deal, as economic or moral interests. Under our present system of industry, with the division of labor and the extensive use of machinery, production has to be conducted on such a large scale that no industry of any importance can be sustained by the consumption of its own locality. Indeed, it is too well known to need stating, that there is no important industry in the country that does not depend for its success mainly upon the consumption of many and distant localities. New York and California, South Carolina and New England, Pennsylvania and Texas, and all inseparable parts of the same industrial confederacy, and, therefore, any legislation upon this subject, to be effectual, must be general. Some good result will follow the local adoption of this measure, as in Massachusetts; but its advantage will be proportionately greater in each locality, according as the area of its application is extended. Accordingly, we find that the economic and moral influence of the eight-hour law, as applied to the 148 Labor.: Its Rzkhs and Wrongs. isolated navy-yards, is almost imperceptible; while that of the ten-hour law, when applied to a whole State, as in Massachusetts, is very marked and general; and in England, where it has been applied to a whole country, the results are still more striking and permanent. Thus, while the good influence of the general adoption of an eight hour system upon the prosperty of the community is a scientific certainty, its local or partial adoption would not produce the same proportional benefits. The question, therefore, is, how can its general adoption be most effectually accomplished ? There are two methlods by which the eight-hour system may be brought about. (1) By the united refusal of the laborers to work more than eight hours a: day,-i,. e., -by strikes. (2) By legislative enactment. The first is the most difficult, the most costly, and the least feasible. In order for this method to be successful it is necessary to have the laborers in all industries throughout the country not only thoroughly united upon this issue, but also ready to assume all the risks and hardships of a general strike for its enforcement, which is almost impossible. And if they were sufficiently organized and determined for such a struggle (which they are not), it would be a costly undertaking, such as no labor organization that ever existed could sustain. Again, even admitting that it were possible to .inaugurate an eight.hour system by a general strike, it would be,equally necessary to maintain intact the Shall EzIgt Hours be Adopted? '49 same complete organization and unanimity of purpose and willingness to strike among the laborers, ii order to enforce it and prevent the employers from returning to the old system, which a certain portion of them will always be trying to do. It is unnecessary to say that this would be practically impossible. Legislative enactment is open to none of these objections, and is more feasible in many other respects than the efforts of trades unions. Under the legislative method a bare majority can adopt it for the whole State or nation; and the effort does not involve any of the risk and hardship inseparably connected with an industrial war. Again, when it is once established by law it is removed from the domain of controversy to that of authority, sustained by the moral and legal influence of the whole community. In a word, it has become "respectable," and its violaters, instead of posing as injured innocents endeavoring to resist the cruel encroachments of the workingmen, will figure as common law-breakers and enemies to society. Thus, all the power of government can be evoked to enforce it-a policy far more certain than the doubtful experiment of strikes. It is therefore manifest that the most feasible method of establishing a general uniform eight-hour system is the adoption of a national eight-hour law. The necessity for such a law has already begun to be recognized, not only by the laborers, but by intelligent manufacturers and statesmen; and the first step toward its adoption has already been taken. 150 Labor.: Its Rzgkts and Wrongs. Last winter a proposition was introduced into Congress by representative Davis, of Massachusetts, to amend the Constitution so as to enable Congress to regulate the hours of labor throughout the country. This proposition will be up for consideration during the present session. In view of the fact that a general reduction of the hours of labor has become an economic necessity, demanded alike by the industrial prosperity of the country and the moral and social well-being of the laboring classes, it becomes the duty of every American citizen not only to ask for but to urge the adoption of this amendment, that a national eight-hour system may be speedily inaugurated.-From The Forum for April, 1886. GENERAL HAWLEY ON LABOR AND CAPITAL. THIE DANGER FROM ANARCHISM LESS THAN IT SEEMS. SENATOR HAWLEY, in his Memorial Day oration at Spring Grove Cemetery, spoke of the labor problem in these words: "' Men are not lacking even in our own land who fear and doubt concerning the future of our institutions. They would gladly feel otherwise. They ,distrust the outcome of universal suffrage, they imagine that they see America divided into fiercely hostile camps; labor, sore and bitter, making war upon capital ; capital, sullen and selfish, withdrawing to its castles of defense and holding itself aloof from friendly co-operation and counsel with labor, its indispensible alley. They have visions of the spread of an imported disease sometimes disguised as peaceful socialism, but revealing itself at times in wild anarchy, dashing savagely at all institutions, human and divine. They dread the influences of an unrestricted foreign immigration of all races, religious, irr'eligious, sometimnes enimies of all religions and governments, the scorioe, the slag of the fierce fires 152 Labor: Its Rights and Wrongs. of despotic government, ignorant of the peaceful reliefs and remedies that a free government offers for all political sorrows and wrongs. While some cry on in alarm that peace and property are to be destroyed, I have heard others say: 'What has this Government done for laboring men ' It is the best protector and friend of labor and the best conservator of the accumulation of labor known as labor. It is a government of, by and for the average man. Nine-tentlhs of the people-yes, perhaps, ninety-nine one hundredths-in some form or other, labor for a living. The broadest doctrines of liberty, absolute, universal liberty, not license, are laid down as the foundation stone of all our constitutions, all our bodies of State laws. There is no wrong without a remedy. There is no uneasy fit that cannot be easily adjusted. There is no aspiration of the people that may not freely utter itself and spring organized into, the arena, in the endeavor to make itself known in the speech of the orator, the resolution of the convention, and after due .discussion and buffeting and struggle, perhaps, become crystallized in law and constitution. Let us have no fear of serious or lasting disturbance. In the struggle of labor for better days I distrust the efficiency of statutory devices involving a problem that can only be settled by the free citizen. The capitalist and the laborer must become neighbors and meet as friends. They may change places to-morrow. They can stand side by side today." PLATFORMS OF LABOR SOCIETIES. KNIGHTS OF LABOR. THE Platform of the Knights of Labor is printed in full with the history of the order, on p. 170 of this book. AGRICULTURAL WHEELS. 1. We hold to the great principle asserted .by Jefferson, that all men are endowed with certain inalienable rights, such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and that these rights are the common inheritance of mankind. 2. We further believe that any power or influence that tends to restrict any class of our citizens in the free exercise of these God given rights, to be detrimental to the best interest of a free people. 3. While it is an established fact that the laboring classes of mankind are the real producers of wealth, we find that they are gradually becoming oppressed by combinations of capital, and the fruits of their toil absorbed by a class who propose not only [153 ] 154 Labor Its Rzights and Wrongs. to live on the labor of others but to speedily amass fortunes at their expense. 4. We further hold to the principle that all monopolies are dangerous to the best interests of our country, tending to subvert and overthrow the great principles of self government. 5. We hold to the principle that every man is entitled to the proceeds of his own labor, allowing a reasonable amount for the support of the government, while the object of the order is to unite all, fraternally, acceptable white male citizens. To give all possible moral and material aid in its power, and by assisting each other in obtaining employment and to ameliorate the condition of laborers in every possible manner. These are the main principles of our order. While it is known as the Agricultural Wheel, yet no one is excluded from membership who is of good moral character, unless hlie be, directly or indirectly, engaged in banking, merchandizing, or practicing law. [The " Agricultural Wheel" is a new order, confined to the Southern States, and growing rapidly in numbers and influence.] THE MINNESOTA FARMERS ALLIANCE. Those resolutions which are general in character, and bearing upon National questions of Labor and Finance, a re given : P/a/forms of Labor Socielies. I55 Resolved, That it is with pride we call the attention of the farmers of this State to the fact that the only remedial legislation which the people have obtained during the past twelve years, is due to the existence and labors of the farmers' alliance and the public opinion which it has helped to create. Resolved, That the alliance, while not a partisan association, is political in the sense that it seeks to correct the evils of misgovernment through the ballot box ; that its existence has been rendered necessary by the failure of both of the great political parties of our State to maintain the rights of the people against corporate aggression. Resolved, That the Republican party having had complete control of our State government through all the years during which the evils of which we complain have arisen, must justly be held responsible for its tailure to abate or abolish them ; while on the other hand, many of the so-called leaders of the Democratic party have been among the most servile tools of the railroads and rings. While recognizing, therefore, the honesty of the rank and file of both parties, we declare our intention not to support one man for office simply because he is a Democrat or a Republican, or is the nominee of any ring-packed caucus or convention, but* to give our suffrages without regard to party affiliations, only to those who have proved by their past acts their fidelity to our interests. Resolved, That there are really but two parties in this State to-day-the people and their plunderers. 156 Labor: uIs Rz khs and Wrongs. The only issue is: Shall the people keep the fruits of their own industry or shall the thieves carry them away. The clamor of the contending political parties are too often like the bands and banners of a circus possession which absorb the attention of the populace and draw them to the windows, while the thieves, who accompany the show, are robbing the houses from the rear. Resolved, That the interests of all producers are identical. The millions who work on the farm find their chief market and natural allies among the millions who toil in shop and factory. The degradation and impoverishment of eitlher class is a direct blow at the prosperity of the other. The natural enemies of both are the men who fasten themselves upon the producers, to get something for nothing, and who, not satisfied, like the horse leech, to quietly suck a modest living, demand the lion's share and tear and insult while they prey. Resolved, That the sympathies of the farmers of Minnesota go out to the workingmen of America in all legitimate efforts to improve their condition and maintain their standing as American freemen against the influences which would trample them down into Asiatic wretchedness. A free government is the rule of the majority of the people and it cannot endure unless that majority is educated, enlightened, virtuous, prosperous and contented. Resolved, That all attempts to belittle free institutions by,first corrupting and then ridiculing our legislators and thereupon abolishing the services of Platforms of Labor Societies. 157 our legislature are parts of a general movement in this country inaugurated by those who live upon the people and who would be glad to reduce us to the Russian system, where no legislature ever assembles. The true remedy for bad legislation is to be found in purer hearts, higher motives and greater interest in politics among the people. The first duty of a man in a free country is to be thoroughly a politician in the highest sense of the word. Whiereas, The farmers of Minnesota do not, as a class, make 1 per cent. per annum on the value of their land and " plant " after deducting all taxes and expenses and reasonable compensation for their own time and labor, and,Wkereas, They produce the greater part of the real wealth of the State and bear the major part of the burdens of the government, therefore, Resolved, That we demand that the legislature shall exercise the powers which the supreme court of the United States has time, and again affirmed it is possessed of, to regulate freights and charges upon the railroads of the State, so as to give those who have settled in this region of the country a fair chance for an honest living. Resolved, That while our farmers are toiling in a severe climate for a bare subsistence, we are opposed to railroad coporations drawing from them by excessive charges vasts sums of money, wherewith First-To pay princely salaries to officials-salaries nearly as high as that of the president of the United States. 158 Labor." Its Righits and W7rongs. Second-To corrupt our legislature so as to deny us remedial legislation. Third-To buy up newspapers to befog and mislead the people. Fourth-To pay interest on vast quantities of bonds and watered stocks which do not represent one dollar of actual capital paid in, but are simply coagulated stealage. These exactions constitute a huge mortgage on the people of this State, not on their own lands alone but on their labor and their lives, and the labor and lives of their children, and which, like the exactions of the Irish landlords, will increase in due proportion to any increase in the industry and economy of the people so that the people cannot work so hard or live so poor that their extortions will not follow them down into the depths of their poverty. Resolved, That silver coin constitutes one-half the real money of the world; that it has been recognized as money since the time of Abraham; that it is named in the constitution of the United States as legal tender money; that to abolish it now throughout the world would be to reduce the volume of metallic money one-half, tl ereby doubling the purchasing power of gold and decreasing in like ratio the value of all forms of property, including labor. Resolved, That we denounce any such attempt as the result of a vast European conspiracy against human nature, a scheme to double the mortgage and halve the farm; to increase the national bond and decrease the power of the people to pay it; to Platforms of Labor Societies. 159 intensify the struggle for food and life among the swarming millions, that a few thousands may riot in wasteful abundance: in short, to build up the mheanest and the cruelest of all aristocracies, a moneyed aristocracy, at the expense of the farmer reduced to a peasant and the workman reduced to a slave. We would call the attention of the conspirators to the fact that it was the aggressions of slavery that caused its overthrow, and that the "Horrors of San Domingo " were not produced by the liberation of the negroes, but by the attempt to return them to servitude after they had once tasted the sweets of freedom. [The alliance platforms of other States are similar to that of Minnesota.] PREAMBLE AND PLATFORM OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY TO PROMOTE JUSTICE. Recogniziig an unsettled condition of the productive and distributing forces of our country as evidenced by the constant agitation in all channels of industry, the American Society to Promote Justice was organized, by men whlo are recognized as faithful advocates of reform, for the purpose of general education on econohic questions. The scope of the society is far greater than the mere pnblishing of a newspaper. We contemplate the organization into an intelligent body of the best workers in our land. We have organized a lecture i6o Labor. fts Rzglss and Wrongs. bureau which will greatly aid in bringing hitherto misunderstood questions within the comprehension of the masses. In publishing Our Country it has been our aim to show that we comprehend where the realm of natural rights end and that of law begins; to show that we realize the evils which beset us under our present monetary system and that we offer an intelligent remedy for it ; to make plain the injustice of confining our public service to the slow methods of stage coaches and steam railways to transport intel. ligence while the more modern inventions of electricity are left to individual and corporate monopoly; to discuss fully the injury to our internal commerce by the negligence of our lawmaking powers to control the avenues of transportation in the interest of the people; to oppose the further granting of land or subsidies to railhoad corporations, and the reclaiming of all unearned lands as a heritage for the people; in general, our aim has been to review all questions which stand in the way of a higher civilization. We, therefore, declare the columns of Our Country open for the discutssion of the following: 1. The issue of full legal tender paper money in sufficient quantity to maintain fair prices and enable the people to exchange property and services quickly and cheaply. 2. The recovery of the lands for settlement, that all who wish may have homes on the soil, and a legal limit to future acquirements of land. 3. The homes of the people to be inalienable and Platforms of Labor Societiles. exempt from forced sale for debt, except for purchase money of the same. 4. Direct loans to the people to enable them to settle on the public lands, to build up homes, and to relieve themselves from the bondage of debt, according to the principles of the bill introduced into Congress by the late Hendrick B. Wright of Pennsylvania. 5. The ownership or control by the Government of all railroads, telegraphs and other public means of transportation and communication, to the end that they may serve the people impartially, and at cost, as the Post-Office system now does. 6. The creation of a new Department of the Government to take precedence over all others whose duty it shall be to protect the interests of useful labor and institute means to increase its rewards, intelligence and dignity, and remove the unjust disabilities from which it now suffers. 7. Direct election of all officers by the people as far as possible. 8. Proportional representation in all legislative and corporate bodies. 9. Equal suffrage for all without regard to sex, and a secret and uniform ballot, free from fraud or violence secured to all citizens as a sacred right. 10. Submission of all general laws to a direct popular vote. 11. Arbitration as a policy instead of war, and as a step toward Universal Peace, the gradual abolition of the standing Army and Navy and the sub- 162 Labor: Its Rzigts and Wrongs. stitution of a National Militia and Commercial Marine. 12. That the Indians should be made self-supporting and tax-paying citizens, instead of tax-eating dependents. 13. Voluntary co-operation between consumers and producers, and between capitalists and laborers to the end that strikes and the war of classes may cease and justice and fraternity prevail in the performance of work and the distribution of its products. 14. A convention to revise the Federal Constitution, and bring it to the standard of modern civilization. We invite correspondence on these questions, so that the readers of Our Cointry may note the general opinion as to the solution of these problems. Principal office in New York City. THE CENTRAL LABOR UNION. The regular meeting of this central body shall be held every Sunday, unless otherwise determined. This organization shall be known as the Central Labor Union of New York and Vicinity, and shall be composed of delegates elected as provided: Whereas, It has been fully demonstrated by experience that organization and unity of action among working people are imperative and essential, Platforms of Labor Societies. 163 in order to combat the ever-growing encroachments of organized and consolidated capital, and as there are many questions affecting the interests of the working classes, cannot be acted upon in special and separate trade or labor unions, and as a unity of action can be best effected by a central labor organization, through which all branches of labor may prove allies to any particular one that may be oppressed, so that all may form one brotherhood for the defense of the rights and protection of the laboring masses ; therefore, be it Resolved, That we, the delegates of the various trade and labor unions here represented, do hereby form the Central Labor Union of New York and Vicinity for the purpose of organizing and concentrating the working classes for their mutual protection, education and social advancement, and to that end we adopt the following Declarationof Principles. We hold that the soil of every country is the social and common inheritance of the people in that country, and hence all slhould have free and equal access to the soil, without trouble to landlords or monopolists. We further hold that labor produces all wealth, and therefore, the laborer is in justice entitled to a full shlare of the wealth hlie labors to produce. But when wealth-producers live in poverty and idlers roll in luxury, it is very evident that the social and industrial system which causes such conditions must 164 Labor Its*Rights and Wrongs. be wrong and immoral, and requires a thorough change. As the power of capital combines and increases, the political freedom of the toiling masses becomes more and more a delusive farce. There can be no harmony between capital and labor under the present industrial system, for the simple reason that capital, in its modern character, consists very largely of rent, interest and profits wrongfully extorted from the producer, who possesses neither the land nor the means of production, and is, therefore, compelled to sell his arms, brains, or both, to the possessor of the land and means of production, and at such prices as an uncertain and speculative market may allow. Organization of trade and labor unions is one of the most effective means to check the evil outgrowth of the prevailing system, and they contain in them the seed for a new and better system. But they must keep pace with the progress of the age, and with the march of advanced ideas. While trade and labor unions hitherto have struggled for higher wages or shorter hours of labor, they have partially protected themselves as producers, but not as consumers and citizens. The ruling moneyed classes have meanwhile obtained legal sanction to wring from the workers all the benefits that strikes and resistance gained, and this they have done by high rents, costly transportation, gigantic corners in grain and provisions, and by monopolizing the issue of money. They have used the police, militia, and P/at/forms of Labor Socielies. 165 even the Federal troops against the workers whenever they felt their capitalistic interests in danger. And yet 'trades and labor unions went so far as to prohibit the discussion of such topics in their meetings, and on election day their members voted in favor of a representive of the very class that oppres-0 sed them all the year round. The emancipation of the working classes must be achieved by the working classes themselves, as no other class has any interest in improving their condition. The combined wages-working class represents the great majority of the people. In their hands rests the future of our free institutions, and it is their destiny to replace the present iniquitous social systemn by one based upon equity, morality, and the nobility of all useful labor. We regard it as the sacred duty of every honorable laboring man to sever his affiliations with all political parties of the- capitalists, and to devote his energy and attention to the organization of his trade or labor union, and the concentration of all unions into one solid body for the purpose of assisting each other in allstiruggles-political or industrial-to resist every attempt of the ruling classes directed against our liberties, and to extend our fraternal hand to the workers of our land and to all nations of the globe that struggle for the same independence. .66 Labor.- Its Righis and Wrongs. THE CONSTITUTION CLUB. THE CHIEF FEATURES OF THE CONSTITUTION AND BY- LAWS. This Association shall be known as the Constitution Club. The objects of the Club shall be: To oppose monopoly in the sense of supporting the rights of all as against privileges for the few; to maintain just and honest government ; to obtain wise and pure legislation, by securing the nomination and election of able and honest legislators ; to secure justice, alike for labor and capital; to collect, preserve and circulate information slhowing the rights and duties of American citizens; to promote intercourse and action among the independent citizens who seek the abovementioned ends. MEMBERSHIP. Section 1.-Loyalty to these objects is the chief condition of membership, and only such citizens as will subordinate partisanship to patriotism are eligible. Section 2.-No holder of political office or political position, under the National, State or municipal government, and no candidate for such office, shall be elected a member. Any member of the club accepting an office, whether upon the nomination of the Club or otherwise, ceases to bean active member during the term of such office. Platforms of Labor Societies. 167 Section 3.-The annual dues of a member are hereby fixed at $10. THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY. Labor being the creator of all wealth and civilization, it rightfully follows that those who labor and create all wealth should enjoy the full results of their toil. 'Therefore we declare: That a just and equitable distribution of the fruits of labor is utterly impossible under the present system of society. This fact is abundantly illustrated by the deplorable condition of the working classes, which are in a state of destitution and degrading dependence in the midst of their own productions. While the hardest and most disagreeable work brings to the worker only the bare necessaries of life, others, who labor not, riot in labor's production. We furthermore declare: That the present industrial system of competition, based on rent, profit-taking and interest, causes and intensifies this inequality, concentrating into the hands of a few all means of production, distribution and the results of labor, thus creating gigantic monopolies dangerous to the people's liberties; and we further declare: That these monster monopolies and these consequent extremes of wealth and poverty, supported by class legislation, are subversive of all democracy, 168 Labor: Its Rzghts and Wrongs. injurious to the national interests and destructive of truth and morality. This state of affairs, continued and upheld by the ruling political parties, is against the welfare of the people. To abolish this system, with a view to establish co-operative production and to secure equitable distribution, we demand that the resources of life, namely, land, the means of production, public transportation and exchange, become, as fast as practicable, the property of the whole people. THE ANTI-MONOPOLY PARTY. To the People of the United States : The people are sovereign ; their servants, usurping power, are oppressing them. Let the people see how this is being done. Monopolies created by unjust laws crush the workingmen, the toilers in the mines, in the workshops, on the farms, and in every avocation of life. Legislative bodies are manipulated in their interest, courts are corrupted by favors or money; executive officers bend in humble submission to the dictates of the monopoly magnates. Thus the people are robbed of their just earnings. Political parties declare themselves friends of the people, but obey the mandates of railway, banking, tariff and land monopolies. Congress has abdicated the power conferred on it by the Constitution to regulate interstate commerce in favor of the soulless railway cor- Platforms of Labor Socielies. I69 porations. It has given up its constitutional right to control the currency to heartless money-lenders. It permits transportation lines to levy and collect a tax on the products of the country more than equal to the entire expenditures of the National and State Governments. It legislates for the interests of the few against the rights of the many. The people are powerless because they are not united. We ask you to form yourselves in phalanx for the right. We entreat you to break the chains which bind you as captives to the chariot wheels of monopoly-chains which become more galling with each revolution. We ask you to arouse yourselves and force your servants to honesty and economy, and we present to you the platform of the national Anti-Monopoly organization, which we believe, if successful, will break your chains, restore your freedom and give good government to the nation. [The platforms of the Anti-monopoly, and National Greenback Parties are omitted, they being so mearly identical with the Knights of Labor platform. Publ.] THE CLEVELAND CONVENTION OF THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR. CALL FOR THE CONVENTION. SPECIAL SESSION, NOBLE ORDER OF THE KNIGHTS OF LABOR OF AMERICA: SCRANTON, Pa., April 26, 1886. To the Order whereverfound, Greeting': Acting under authority vested in me as general master workman, I do hereby call the general assembly together in special session. The causes leading to the calling of the special session are: 1. The rapidly increasing membership require changes in the laws which the general executive board have no authority to make. 2. The laws in relation to the government of boycotting are wholly inadequate to compel obedience on the part of assemblies that believe in boycotting for every offense, whether great or small. 3. The laws in relation to strikes do not cover the ground necessary to give the general executive board power to interfere in such matters until after a strike has been inaugarated. [170] The Cleveland Convenlion. I7I 4. The order has become involved in difficulties 'with trade societies, and an effort is being made to create a rupture between these societies and the Knights of Labor. These and other matters which will help to perfeet the discipline of the order will require the careful deliberation and cool judgment of the members of the general assembly. I believe that the most critical period of the order's history has been reached, and do not feel that it would be best for the order to allow any more time to elapse before calling the representative men together so that we may devise means whereby the machinery of the order may be improved. The present executive board cannot attend to one-tenth part of the work that pours in upon them, and some means of distributing this work must be thought of and put into practice. The session will be lield in the city of Cleveland, O., Tuesday, Ma7 25, 18S6, and will be called to order at 2 o'clock in the afternoon of that day) in Sloss Hall, No. 356 Ontario street. Special. rates ($2 per day) have been made with the Forest City house, corner Superior street and the park, at which the officers of the general assembly will locate. The precedent established at the special session held June 6, 1878, in the city of Philadelphia, will allow all representatives who served at the session held last October, in Hamilton, Ont., to sit as representatives in the special session at Cleveland. In case the representative cannot attend, or is not now 172 Labor. Its Rigkis and Wrongs. a delegate :to his district assembly, the alternate elected last year will represent the local or district in the special session. If neither representative nor alternate can attend, then a substitute may be sent; but in no other case shall a new election be held until the representatives to the regular session are chosen. I need the wise counsel and action of the order at large through its representatives. Did I not feel that it was absolutely necessary to call the session, I would not take this step. We must place our order squarely before the world on several issues in such a way that no misunderstandings can possibly arise in the future. The delegates are those who attended the national assembly last August. The order now numbers one hundred and twenty-seven district assemblies, with a total membership of about one million. Last July, when the district delegates were elected, the order had only ninety-four district assemblies, and the delegates froin the district assemblies since formed are not entitled to admission at this conference. Exdelegates may attend the session, but have no voice in the deliberations of the order. The number of delegates who attended the general assembly last August was one hundred and sixty, and no more than that number are entitled, to participate in the convention which begins at 2 P.M., Tuesday, in Sloss hall on Ontario street. T. V. POWDERLY, G. M. W. K. of L. FREDERICK TURNER, Sec'y. The Cleveland Convention. 173 On May 25th, 1886, in the City of Cleveland, about 170 delegates were in the hall when the gavel of the grand master workman, calling the General Assembly to order, fell upon the desk. Among the delegates were the following representative men from their several localities: T. S. Killgallon, Butte City, M. T. ; Samuel D. Leffingwell, Indianapolis, Ind.; T. V. Powderly, Scranton, Pa. ; Frederick Turner, Philadelphia; John W. Hayes, New Brunswick, N. J.; R. Griffiths, Chicago; Harry Skeffington, Philadelphia; John Morrison, New York; Andrew D. Best, Brooklyn, N. Y.; James Cunningbarn, New York; James Bilson, Troy, N. Y.; L. W. Patterson, Washington, D. C.; William F. Hobbs, Washington, D. C.; Edward Winter, Philadelphia; John Lewis, Philadelphia; Ed E. Davis, Philadelphia; Joseph E. Evinnous, Pittsburg; Homer L. McGaw, Pittsburg; F. B. McGuire, New York; Joseph Hogan, New Mexico; E. F. McKeon, St. Louis; J. F. McDonald, Springfield, O. ; E. M. Connely, Springfield, O.; W. D. O'Brien, Springfield, O.; David P. Boyer, Columbus, O.; Samuel Gompers, New York; F. Haller, New York; John S. Kirshmer, Philadelphia; F. S. Lewis, Omaha; Louis Arlington, Michigan City, Ind.; J. P. McGoughrey, Minneapolis, Minn.; J. A. May, Lincoln, Neb.; J. R. Buchannan, Columbus, O.; Ed Haran, New Albany, Ind.; O. B. Mead, Kent, O.; F. I. Cummins, Amsterdam, N. Y.; J. R. Mension, Troy, N. Y. ; James J. Franklin, Albany, N. Y.; D. W. Dalry, Syracuse, N. Y.; Charles B. Spahr, New 174 Labor:. Ils Rzkh/s and Wrongs. York; W. J. Casseri v, Rorne, N. Y.; Thomas H. Kehoes, New 131itaiin, Conn.; J. T. McKechnie, New York; P. E. Owenis, Poughkeepsie, N. Y.; J. C. Bariton, Hartford, Conn.; John G. Caville, Brooklyn, N. Y. ; Reuben E. Puine., New York; R. Robb, Brooklyn, N. Y.-; Charles A. Merrillt Br1ooklyni, N. Y. ; Theodore-F.-Rockwell, New York; E. J. Sliilds, Brooklyn, N. Y.; W. J. Phil;(3. W.Brown,1IroNounlips, JamiestoNwV1, N.. ta, Mich.; David R. Gibson, hamilton, Out.; J. C. Frazier, Vassar, Mich. ; A. M. Dewey, Detroit; A. G. Burnian, Manistee, Mich.i;H. U. BridgewAater, Cheboygani, Mich. ; Richard Creick, London, Ot. ; F. W. flidleson, Downs, Ka. ; A. Il. Law, Duke Center, Pa.; John F. McCulough, Albany, N. .; IR. F. Treveliek, Detroit, Mich.;-Thomas Green, Pine Bluffs, Ark. ; D. F. Jomson, Arkansas iphis, Tenn. ;P. D. Catranock, J'amies E.- Clary, Mem Troy, N. Y.; C. P. MVCCarty, Auburn, N. Y.; A.* ID. Salisbury,- Midland, Miclh.; S. O'Donnell, Midla nd City,: Mich. ; A. IR. Canfield, Harrison, Mich. CharlesIlune, Fremont, 0.; W. G. Beard, Bay City, Mich..; If. 0.- Askin, Philadelphiia;'Patrick Havey, Pittsburg; A.'G. Denny, Pittsburg'; Thomas Myers, Kansas City, Mo.; W. HI. Bailey, Shawnee,' 0. ; T. B. Barry, East Saginaw,Iich. ; H. Buttenberg, Memphis, Tenn. ; S. S. Patton, New Orleans, La.; Ambrose, Hasting, Newport, Ky. ; Christopher' Evans, New Straitsville, 0.; M. S. -Riley, West Virginia; 'John A. Shell, Jam~estown, N. Y. ;, -D.I The Cleveland Convenlion. Sutherland, Bushnell, Marl'blelhad, Mass. Ill.; Charles II. I75 Sitchen, TWO OF THE DELEGATES WERE LADIES. Miss Mary Ilanifin, of Philadelphia, and Mrs. Shute, of Hlaverhill, Mass. The Philadelphia district that Miss Hanifin represents has also two male delegates. District Assembly No. 47, of this city, is represented by Mr. Owen Kane, whose efforts in building up the organization in Cleveland entitle him to the distinction and honor. Mr. Powderly in opening the convention did so formally, reading no address, and as it is a special session of the General Assembly no reports were called for, and the call contained all that was necessary to enlighten the members as to the work to be accomplished.. A committee on credentials was appointed, ald immediately retired to the ante room. Messrs. l3uclanan, Foster, Otis, O'Donoliough, and Shay were appointed a press committee, and the convention took a recess to listen to the reading of papers by representatives of outside organizalions. At 4 o'clock the assembly took a recess, when Mrs. Ifary A. Woodbridge, of Ravenna, O.. the recording secretary of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, was escorted to the platform and introduced to Mr. Powderly and the conivention. Mrs. Woodbridge said " Mr. Powderily, Grand Master Workman of the Knights of Labor, and members of the organization assembled, I hold in my hand a letter from the general officers of the National Woman's Christian Temperance 176 Labor: I/s Rizzts and Wrongs. Union, which I am kindly permitted to read." The speaker then produced a roll of manuscript and read the following address:MRS. WOODBRIDGE S ADDRESS. HEADQUARTERS NATIONAL W. C. T. U., May 13, 1886. To Mr. Powderly, and the Knights of Labor Honored Brothers: The National Woman's Christian Temperance Union sends one of its highest and most trusted representatives, Mrs. Mary A. Woodbridge, our recording secretary, to present to you the grectings of our society, with congratulations on the teinperance principles of your chief, and the temperance features of your great organization. We earnestly urge upon you the importance of retaining the rule, by which all persons engaged in that nefarious liquor trade, which renders no equivalent for value received, are declared ineligible to membership in a society of honest and hard working men and women, whose labor is the great magician of the world, and makes the wilderness to blossom as the rose. We are glad that your society proposes to defend the rights of women by demanding equal wages for equal work, and we assure you of our hearty sympathy in the heroic efforts of all soberminded toilers to improve their own condition and that of their families, through such reforms as are rendered peaceably possible by co-operation, arbitration, and the ballot-box. That you repudiate the Te Clevelanzd Convezntion. 177 imrethods of those mnisguided and wicked men, whose muster hlall is a saloon, whose aspiration comes from whisky cask and beer barrel, whose weapon is dynamite, whose ensign is the rod flag, we are fully assured. In the great fight for clear brains, steady hands, and happy homes, we believe you have no stronger allies than the temperance people of the nation, who, by declaring him an outlaw, and his business criminal, would make a culprit of the liquor. dealer whom your society has already disfellowshiped. As we have sent our representative to your convention, we invite you to appoint fraternal delegates to our great convention to be held at Minneapolis in October next, where forty or more States and Territories will be represented by delegates from our ten thousand local auxiliaries. In the bonds of that peace and good will proclaimed by HIim who, as the " Carpenter's Son," forever dignified and rendered sacred the interests of every son of toil, we are your sisters and friends, FRANCES E. WILLARD, CAROLINE B. BUELL, L. M. N. STEVENS, ESTHER PUGH. Following the letter Mrs. Woodbridge said : Brothers Intelligent people read with interest the utterances of public leaders, the messages of the President of the United States, the Governors of States-of representative men and women; but rarely has it been their privilege to peruse a docu8* 178 Labor. Its Rzhzks and Wrongs. nient comnparable with the circular of your honorable leader, lately addressed to his constituency. Not more gently could the silver-tongued Frances E. Willard, president of the National W. C. T. U., have urged obedience to the golden rule, "Do unto others as ye would they should do unto you." Not more earnestly would she have pleaded for diligent study of political economy, that no man may be found "who cannot vote intelligently, and who will not watch the man for whom he votes, if elected." Who will not rejoice in the utterance-" They will never need the gun or dynamite in this country : if the head, the brain of man, cannot work out the problem now confronting us, his hand alone will never solve it." Because the National W. C. T. U. commands and advocates such principles, believing intelligence and virtue to be pillars of the American republic"; because we are workers with you for the uplifting of humanity, we extend to you greeting, and thank your leader for his magnificent appeal to drinking men; words worthy of a Gough: " To our drinking memnbers I extend the hand of kindness. I hate the uses to which ruin has been put, but it is my duty to reach down and lift up the man who has fallen a victim to the use of liquor. If there is such a man within the sound of the secretary's voice when this is read, I ask him to stand erect on the floor of his assembly, raise his hand to heaven and repeat with me these words: "I am a Knight of Labor. I believe that every man should be free from the curse of slavery, whether the slavery The Cleveland Convention. 179 appears in thle shape of monopoly, usury, or inteinperance. The firmest link in the chain of oppression is the one I forgo when I drown manhood and reason in drink. No man can rob me of the brain my God has given me unless I am a party to the theft. If I drink to drown grief, I bring grief to wife, child, and sorrowing friends. I add not one iota to the sumn of human happiness when I invite oblivioa over the rim of a glass. If one moment's forgetfulness or inattention to, duty while drunk brings defeat to the least of labor's plans, a life-time of attention to duty alone can repair the loss. I promise never again to put myself in such a posiI pray you, gentlemen, respond to this tion." appeal, and through the resolutions that shall go forth from this assembly, repeat the words of your leader; and may God help you to keep your pledge. A man who utters such a sentiment, an organization that shall embody and personify it, will move the world. No longer will its mnembers be wage-workers only ; no longer "tools used to further the schemes of individuals, cliques, or parties," but men in the image of God, upon wlhoml the nation may depend. Brothers, having the same standard of purity as the sisters by their side; possessed of the true essence of Christianity, the love of country, and the brotherhood of humanity-who, with recognition and fulfillment of individual responsibility, will ever defend the honor of woman and the glory of the cross. We invoke the blessing of God upon your convocation that when you shall have adjourned, the world, whose 80o Labor: Is Rigi/hs azd Wrongs. eyes are upon you, may be able to say, as Lord Chatham to the British Parliament of the First Colonial Congress of America, assembled in 1774, " For solidity of reasoning, force of sagacity, and wisdom of conclusion, no body of men could stand in perference." Tlhus would the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union join hands with the Knights of Labor in placing this " government upon the shoulders of him who is wonderful, counselor, the mighty G-od, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace," and in crowning Christ, our Lord, as the ruler of nations. A MANUFACTURERS UNION. The applause that followed the lady's remarks lasted fully five mninutes, and the lady was escorted from the room as Mr. Edwin Norton, a leading manufacturer of Chicago, entered. Mr. Norton read a paper upon the subject of the formation of an employers' association, to be known as the American Manufacturers' Union, the object being to institute an organization that can treat with labor unions upon all questions arising between employers and employes. It is hoped by this means to arbitrate all grievances, and avoid strikes, boycotts, and other disastrous consequences arising from difficulties between capital and labor. Mr. Norton's paper particularly discussed the eight-hour question, and lihe proposes a plan by which such a change in the length of a day's work can be brought about. His plan is that the manufacturers throughout the coun- The Cleveland Convention. I81 try shall, without reducing the wages of employes, shorten the day one half an hour each succeeding year, until eight hours is reached as a limit. The speaker stated that he had prepared circulars that will be sent to all employers, lucidly explaining the benefits of organization to themselves as well as to their workmen. Mr. Norton read to the convention a rough sketch of a constitution for the proposed organization, which was as follows: Believing that a permanent settlement cf the existing disturbed condition of business in our country can only be reached by a reasonable °understanding between employers and employees, and that a gradual reduction of the present hours of labor, under proper protection and restrictions, will not be detrimental to the best interests of all And that during the gradual scaling down of the working hours, which would mean a corresponding increase of pay, our workmen should be protected by the united action of their employers fromn an influx of labor from foreign lands, also that a premium should be placed upon American citizenship in our workshops as well as in places of trust; And also that a basis shlould be found for ultimately reducing the working day to eight hours without disturbance to our manufacturers, and one which will meet with the co-operation of all labor organizations, and in the belief that this course of action will meet the approval of those who have the best interests of all our people at heart. Therefore, this 182, s Labor.: Its Rz,/~ and Wrongs. union is formed for the perfecting and carrying out of the above purposes in the following manner: Section 1. This organization shall be known as "The American Manufacturers' Union," and all manufacturers of any article throughout the United States shall be eligible to membership by signing the constitution and such by-laws as may be adopted. Sec. 2. The purpose of this organization shall be, first, United action on the part of the manufacturers throughout the United States, looking to a gradual and fixed reductiqn of the present hours of labor until eight hours for a working day (which is now the legal standard of the United States and of several States) has become the recognized rule throughout the country; second, The protection of our workmen from the competition of foreigners, anxious to reap the benefit of their improved condition, by a refusal to employ during this period of change, any persons whlo were not residents of the United States on the 1st day of January, 1887, unless meanwhile we have exhausted the resources of our own country to furnish a supply of labor; and third, A refisal to employ, after January 1, 1887, any persons whatsoever, who, having lived long enough in this country to become citizens, do not willingly take steps to become such. Sec. 3. This organization shall adopt the planherein set forth on the first day of January, A. D. 1887, and it shall remain in force for five years, or until the 31st day of December, A. D. 1891, and as The Cleveland Conven/ion. 1 I83 much longer as a majority of its members may desire. See. 4. All members of this union shall agree that during the year 1887 nine and one-half hours shall constitute a day's work; and that during the year 1888 nine hours shall constitute a day's work; and that during the year 1889 eight and one-half hours shall constitute a day's work, and that during and after the year 1890 the present United States standard of eight hours shall be recognized by all members of this union throughout the country as a legal day's work. See. 5. Members of this union shall exact from all persons in their employment an agreement to accept the conditions herein set forth dur!ug th1 above period of time, and it shall be understood that no corresponding reduction of present wages shall be made on account of the reduced hours of work. See. 6. This action shall not affect farm laborers, but relates to mechanics and skilled laborers of every kind. The addresses presented by Mirs. Woodbridge and Mr. Norton were received and laid on the table until the committee on credentials have reported, when they will be referred to the proper committees. At 6 o'clock the committee on credentials presented their report, but it had not been disposed of at 7.45 o'clock, when the janitress demanded the hall, and 184 Labor . Ps R2izhts and Wrongs. the convention took a recess until 9 o'clock in the morning. The convention was called to order at 9 May 26. . M., THE CONVENTION HALL on either side was lined with tables, at which the delegates sat. At the end of the room facing Ontario street, between two windows, was the chair of the master workman. Secretary Turner had three tables at the side, at one of which he sat, at the next two assistants, and at the third the stenographer. At the opposite end of the hall was the chair of Richard Grifflths, of Chicago, general worthy foreman of the order, and next to Mr. Powderly in office. The first business of the morning session was the acceptance of the report of the committee on credentials. The new delegates were then admitted to the Delegates hall and the obligation administered. were admitted only from such districts as were represented at the convention held last year in Hamilton, Ont., this being a special session of that General Assembly, and districts since instituted not being eligible to membership in the existing body. Mr. Powderly's address was then delivered extemnporaneously. Ile referred the delegates to the call to learn what business was to be brought forward and taking up the five subjects of thie strikes, boycotts, labor troubles, difficulties with trades unions, and the The Cleveland Convenlion. I8.5 increasing membership, one by one he advised most careful thought and full discussion upon all questions. He asked that harmony, prhdence and discretion predominate in all matters, and that the affairs of the convention be nacted pon with consideration and despatch. The best part of the address, treating of matters entirely within the province of the order, cannot be made publi. Mr. Powderly resumed his seat amid prolonged applause, and upon motion appointed standing cominittees upon each of the following subjects: laws, strikes, boycotts, relation of Knights of Labor to other organizations, and upon distribution of documents. A special committee of five was appointed, to whom was referred the addresses of the president and secretary of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union. A. committee of five was also selected to take action upon the matter of the organization of the American Manufacturers' Union, as proposed by Mr. Edwin Norton, in his address of Tuesday. At I o'clock the convention took a recess until 8 o'clock in the morning, so as to give ample time to the committees to do the work laid before them. The General Assembly began its session at 8.30 o'clock May 27th. The committee on laws presented a partial report, embodying a number of propositions, only one of which was taken up. The first proposition was that the executive board be increased from five to eleven members. The great growth of the order since the original executive committee was I86 Labor Its Righis and Wrongs. decided upon demands that the work be distributed among more committeemen. The morning was spent in discussing the proposition. There was a general sentiment in favor of increasing the membership on the board, but the question as to whether it would be proper for a special convention to take action in the matter met with some difference of opinion. A number of delegates favored the plan of having the executive board made up of a reprosentative from each State and Territory, while others favored a large board made up in different ways. Nothing was said concerning remuneration for the services of the members of the board, and it is presumned that they will be paid, as at present, only for actual service performed. After three hours' discussion, pro and con, the matter was re-committed to the coniniitee without any instruction other than the points which might be gathered from the remarks on the proposition. The other propositions in the report were not taken up at the session. A large numl)er of local Granges, and in some States the body of Granges, have gone into the Knights of Labor as district assemblies. The farmers' orders largely assisted the Knights in the late strikes in the Southwest, and to show an appreciation of brotherly aid, the General Assembly appointed a committee to prepare an address to the Granges to be presented at the national convention. The delegate from the Peoria, Ill., district assembly asked for the privilege of presenting a The Cleveland Conventlion. I87 paper to the General Assembly outlining a plan for the solution of the labor problem prepared by Mr. Lawrence Harmon, an attorney at law at Peoria. The request was granted, and the address, which proposed the establishment of a court similar to the Court of Admiralty, to have jurisdiction in all questions in interstate commerce, was read. The paper was a lengthy discussion on the labor question, and a criticism of various plans for its solution already brought forward. A synopsis of it follows " The fact of the stoppage of commerce between the States within the past two months or more, in consequence of differences between the carrier and the workmen; the fact of 200,000 men striking between April 24: and May 12 for shorter hours; the fact that for the whole week ending May 12, 125,000 men were out, indicate that there is something radically wrong in our industrial system, that the workingomnen have realized these wrongs, and that a speedy remedy ought to be found in legislation doing full and impartial justice to the interests of all. When we consider that this unsettled condition of affairs has entailed a direct loss of the wages of 250,000 men, amounting to $3,000,000, and of $2,500,000 to their employers by the interruption of business, $4,000,000 in losses upon deferred and canceled contracts, and $20,400,000 upon building contracts alone, to say nothing of the far greater indirect loss upon a feeling of uncertainty and insecurity prevail- 188 LaborP: Is Rigzlhs azli Wrongs. ing throughout the nation, we are appalled at its magnitude. The entire loss upon strikes that have taken place or were threatened during the first three months aggregate many hundred million dollars. It is true that most of the strikes are ended, and the men returned to work, but the rankling causes of the grievances are not removed. "If Congress has power to pass a bill relating to interstate commerce it can constitute a tribunal to settle disputes, for it is a necessary incident relating to interstate commerce. Congress has given courts of the United States jurisdiction in all admiralty cases, and here are determined the rules which regulate the conduct, the business, and the property of citizenship in maritime matters. Why not add another subject to the jurisdiction of federal courts ? Why not coin another phrase that shall designate and include all persons engaged in interstate coinmmierce ? Why not establish a new branch of federal jurisdiction which mnight be designated as 'interstate commerce laws,' or some shorter significant name? It would be impossible for me now to give the full details which should be embodied in an act of Congress conferring jurisdiction upon the federal courts over this question. These will readily suggest themselves to a legislative mind, and should be of such a character as will conduce to a speedy, equitable, and just determination of the disputed matters, with the settled purpose of doing exact justice to all. The following points should be emnbodied in the act ;- The Cleveland Convention. 8 189 "1. Confer jurisdiction upon the circuit courts of the United States over the subject of labor disputes between interstate carrier and its employes in regard to the number of hours constituting a day's work, or the rates of wages, the court that first entertained jurisdiction to have full power to hear and adjudicate upon the rights of all persons and corporations concerned, where the employes are in several states. " 2. The first proceeding to be a petition setting forth in as short and simple manner as possible the facts regarding the dispute, which should be verified by affidavit of petitioner, or agent or officer of corporation. Any employe or officer not a petitioner may become party to the original petition, or file cross petition where there is any dispute as to hours for work or labor to which lie is a party. " 3. Process of summons to be served, returnablo at a short day in term time or vacation. Printed notices might also be provided for, to be posted up in all depots, shops, and buildings of the interstate carrier, giving notice to all concerned that in such proceedings, any having disputes with such carrier would be heard, to the end that all such questions could be settled in one proceeding. And providing that the service of summonses upon any agent or officer of corporations, should give the court jurisdiction over all persons engaged in the business of that carrier. " 4. Provide for the appointment by such circuit 19o Labor: Its Riz is and Wrongs. court, or judges thereof, of a judicious, discreet person as referee, who should be a citizen of the United States, and take an oath of office, stating therein that he is in no wise related to or connected with in business, or otherwise, any person or corporation interested in the controversy, and that he would fairly and justly investigate and determine all matters in dispute. "5. Provide for the hearing of all persons or corporations interested before the referee, that the referee be empowered to take testimony, and to compel the production of all papers relating to the case, and that he determine from the whole in a spirit of fairness what is equitable and just in the premises, and report his conclusions to the judge in writing, and file the testimony with the clerk of the court. " 6. The parties should be allowed one day to file objections or exceptions to the report and conclusions of the referee, and shortly thereafter the court should pass upon the same, and, if approved, decree accordingly. If the exceptions were wholly or in part sustained, then the finding of the court as to what is right to be embodied in the decree. That the decree thus rendered would be final and binding and obligatory upon all parties over whom the court exercised jurisdictibn. "7 . That the court have power to enforce obedience to such decree by appropriate process running into any state or territory, and in disobedience to such The Cleveland Convenlion. ' I91 decree to fine and imprison such party until obedience was yielded. That pending the court controversy all persons: should be absolutely required to perform their several works and functions in the service of such carrier when not in necessary attendance before the referee or court, under penalty of punishment for contempt by fine or imprisonment. " 8. That such decree should be final and binding upon all parties for one year, and until modified by the court in a subsequent proceeding, which any party could commence in the same court after one year, and then the same proceedings should be had as provided in the first petition, and so on in regard to each successive application. "9. That the Supreme Court of the United States by rules to be made by it determine the forms and modes of procedure to be used, having in view a speedy hearing and determination as far as all parties are concerned. "10. That liberal compensation be provided for the referee, together with the necessary expenses; that the clerk of the court issue all processes, the same to be served by the United States marshal, allowing proper fees and mileages therefor, and for the witnesses. "11. That this act should be liberally construed by the officers and courts for the purpose of effectuating the intentions thereof. "12. That no common carrier should be pre. 192 Labor: Its Rigis and Wrongs. . vented by this act from discharging from his employ for inefficiency or inability to perform his duty, or for neglect of duty, any employe or officer, provided, however, that no such carrier shall be at liberty to discharge any employe or officer because of connection with any organization, or because of a dispute between them as to-the number of hours that shall constitute a day's work, and the compensation therefor. In cases of failure to agree upon such matters the wages and hours shall be determined by the United States court. "13. The referee shall be ineligible in any subsequent case if objected to by any party who was a party in any former proceedings under the act, and such referee need not be an attorney or counselor, and may be selected from any State. "14. If a strike is on hand and the business blocked any shipper or passenger deprived of his right to be carried thereon may in the same manner invoke the power of the court. After a short discussion the address was referred to a standing committee upon Congressional legislaThe tion which was appointed at the session. committee will have charge of all matters that members would like to bring before Congress, and to them the petition of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Land Association will be presented by the president of that organization, together with the bill providing for homesteaders' aid in building up homes in the The Cleveland Convention. 193 West. At 1.30 o'clock a recess was taken until 8 o'clock. The General Assembly of the Knights of Labor held two sessions during the day, May 28th, 1886, business being transacted on the eight-hour plan, from 8 to 12 in the morning, and 2 to 6 o'clock in the afternoon. After the opening preliminaries, the committee on laws presented their report, the first proposition of which was substantially the same as yesterday, that the executive board of the Knights of Labor be increased from. five to eleven members by the election of six assistant members. After an hour's discussion, the proposition was adopted without change. The six new members will be elected by ballot, similarly to the other officers, and the ones elected at the present convention will serve during the unexpired year that ends in October. It was decided to establish permanent headquarters for the executive board in Philadelphia, and if deemed necessary the board may sit throughout the year instead of assembling at the call of the general master workman. A resolution was carried that gave the general master workman the authority to recall the commissions of every organizer in the order. The subject of appointing competent organizers and the means to be taken for their selection was being discussed when thenoon recess occurred. i94 Laor. Its RighIs and Wrongs. The convention re-assembled at 2 o'clock, and continued the discussion on the report of the 'cominittee on laws. Some sections of the report were adopted and others referred to the committee. A committee of three was appointed to revise the constitution of the order and report at the Uichmond convention in October. The following telegram was received from Toledo and referred to a committee of five with instructions to draft a suitable reply : To the General Assembly of the Kn*dhts of Labor :The Ohio Won ii's Suffrage Association inconvention assembled adopted the following resolution, presenlted by O. G. Peters, of Columbus: ]Resolved, That we send greeting, and that we recognize in the General Assembly of the Knights of Labor, now being held in Gleveland, a right effort to lift up a large and the most deserving part of humanity in its wolk, and we earnestly ask your assembly to extend to wvomen workers the privilege of organizing societies under your banner with equal rights with those of the men. Further, that you promulgate to the world that you recognize the ballot for wome.on a3 well s for non the mightiest lever for the upbuilding of humanity. M RY P. SPARGO-FRAzIER, Screaryo Tle Cleveland Convenlion. 195 The executive board presented its report on the matter in controversy between the trades unions and the Knights of Labor, and the rest of the afternoon was spent in hearing statements and arguments in the report. The convention took a recess at 6 o'clock until 8 o'clock next morning with motion to refer the report to the committee on state of the order pending. At the convention May 28th the executive board of the Knights of Labor presented its report embodying the address of the trades unions and the terms on 'which they wish to settle existing troubles. The address is as follows: Trade Union P.esolution. Whereas, It is the conviction of the chief officers of the national and international unions here assembled that, inasmuch as trades unions have an historical basis, and in view of the success that has attended their efforts in the past, we hold that they should strictly perserve their distinct and individual autonomy, and that we do not deem it advisable for any trades union to be controlled, by or to join the Knighlts of Labor in a body, believing that the trades unions are best qualified to regulate their own inter- 196 Labor. Its Rzgkls and Wrongs. nal trade affairs. Nevertheless we recognize the solidarity of all labor interests. Whereas, It has become apparent that it is the avowed purpose of a certain element of the Knights of Labor to destroy the trades unions, and this element continually urges trades unions to disband and join the Knights of Labor, and makes it a point to encroach on the legitimate mission of and prerogatives of trades unions, arousing antagonism and provoking dissensions in the labor movement, to the delight and satisfaction of the capitalists of the whole country. Whereas, Some concerted plan of action now becomes absolutely necessary to prevent the continuance of this destructive policy and to establish harmonious and fraternal relations between all the various branches of organized labor; therefore, be it Resolved, That we, the chief officers of the various -'ades unions here represented, do hereby propose the following termns as a treaty for the consideration and approval of the General Assembly of the Knights of Labor, which meets next Tuesday at Cleveland, O. The Cleveland Convention. 197 ADDRESS OF THE TRADES UNIONS. "(The officers of the National and International Trades Unions desire to make the statement that they have no antagonism toward the Knights of Labor, and believe that as an order it has a legitimate mission in the labor movement of America. Through the development of industry and the aggregation of capital, the tendency is to monopolize the business interests of the country. Hence the various trades have b)een affected by the introduction of machinery, the snbdivision of labor, the use of woman's and child's labor, and the lack of an apprentice system, so that the skilled trades were rapidly sinking to the level of pauper labor. To protect the skilled labor of America from being reduced to beggary, and to sustain the standard of American work anship and skill, the trades unions of America have been established. They are a social necessity, and their past history proves not only have they been a benefit in raising the wages of workmnen and in reducing the burdens of toil, but they have fulfilled the fraternal duty of assisting their members when unemployed, and in sickness, when disabled by accident an d old age, and provided for the widows and orphans of their deceased brothers. Conosequently the trades unions have become a fixed and permanent institution in Amerioa, not antagonistic to the welfare of the country, but calculated to elevate all branches of labor to a higher degree of citizenship, and a larger share of 198 Labor . Its Rzihts and Wrongs. social comfort. For this principle the thoughtful and far-seeing men of various crafts have founded unions of their respective trades, and to maintain their trades unions, the members have sacrificed countless time and money, and where at first many predicted their complete failure, time has proven not only their usefulness, but has demonstrated that tlhey are destined to fulfill a far higher mission, and their progress is in exact proportion to the intellectual development of their members. When they are founded on such grounds there need be no fears of their destruction, nor need there be any antagonism between them and the Knights of Labor. " Of late our greatest fears have not been that the Knights of Labor would destroy trades unions, but that the capitalists of the country would use every opportunity to pit one formn of organization against the other, and in the conflict destroy both. Within the past year the national and international trades unions have grown with giant strides. For example, we will cite a few instances; the International Typographical Union has gained 9,642 members; the Cigar-makers' International Union, 7,101 ; Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners, 13,461; National Bakers' Union, 7,564; International Brickmakers and Masons, 9,578 ; Furniture Workers, 6,633; Amalgamnated Iron and Steel Workers, 8,230; Iron Molders, 12,400; Granite Catters, 3,622; Custom Tailors, 2,541; Coal Miners, 36,000. Out of the twenty-two national and international unions reprosented in the Philadelphia Conference, and the The Cleveland Convention. 199 fourteen additional national and international unions that indorsed its work, only nine of the chief officers are salaried, and their salaries range from $12 to $20 per week, the balance of the officers devoting themselves to their duties without salaries. The trades unions are economically managed, and the most rigid accountability is exacted from their officers in all As officers financial and business transactions. pledged by the most sacred obligations to promote the interests of their respective unions the chief officers felt it was their duty to attend the Philadelphia conference, and the results of that conference are such that for the future there are no doubts that the trades unions of America will not only grow, but become a more fixed institution." The treaty is, itself, of course, the most important part of the work, and is the bone of contention, for if its terms are agreed to by the Knights of Labor it will work radical changes in the management and organization of local assemblies. The treaty is as follows: 1. That in any branch of labor having a national or international organization the Knights of Labor shall not initiate any person or form any assembly of persons following said organized craft or calling without the consent of the nearest national or international union affected. 2. That no person shall be admitted to the Knights of Labor who works for less than the regular scale of wages fixed by the union of his craft, and none shall be admitted to membership in the 200 Labor. Its Rights and Wrongs. Knights of Labor who have ever been convicted of scabbing, ratting, embezzlement, or any other offense against the union of his trade or calling until exonerated by the same. 3. That the charter of any Knights of Labor assembly of any trade having a national or international union shall be revoked, and the members of the same be requested to join a mixed assembly or form a local union nnder the jurisdiction of their respective national or international trades unions. 4. That any organizer of the Knights of Labor who endeavors to induce trades unions to disband, or tampers with their growth or privileges, shall have his commission forthwith revoked. 5. That whenever a strike or lockout of any trades unions is in progress, no assembly or district assembly of the Knights of Labor shall interfere until settled to the satisfaction of the trades union affected. 6. That the Knights of Labor shall not establish nor issue any trade-mark or label in competition with any trade-mark or label now issued, or that may be hereafter issued by any national or international trades unions. The four honrs' session of the General Assembly of the Knights of Labor on the morning of May 29th, was passed in the discussion of the motion made Friday to refer the report of the executive board on the relations of the order to trades unions to the committee on state of the order. After a short T.e Cleveland Convention. 20 discussion yesterday afternoon the whole ,matter was referred to the conmmittee, and a few moments later Mrs. Sarah M. Perkins, of this city, appeared at the door at the ante-room to the convention hall and sent a note to Mr. Powderly saying that she had been delegated by the Ohio Woman's Suffrage Association to present an address to the General Assembly. A recess was taken to admit the lady, and Mrs. Perkins was escorted to the platform and introduced to the convention, She spoke as follows : Honorable Brothers: As a member of the executive committee of the Ohio Suffrage Society, I come before you to ask your honorable body to remember the wrongs of one half of our Father's children, to remember that a married woman in some States has no legal right to her own children, to her own clothing, or to her own earnings; that if she is a teacher she has only one-half or two-thirds the pay that men receive for doing the same work. Yet she must pay the same railroad fares, the same rent for her home, the same price for her clothing, the same taxes that men pay. She must obey laws that she never made or consented to have made. If she commits crime the same prison doors open to her, the same scaffolds are erected for her, and she is classed with the idiots and criminals and has no choice in the lawmakers who frame the statutes that she must obey. Believing that you aim to do 9* 202 Labor. Its Rghits a d W[rongs. rightly by all working men, will you also consider the wrongs of the working women, yea, of all the women of our country. They used to tell ns that 'she that rocks the cradle rules the world.' [Applause.] It is a very pretty saying and I used to believe it. Well, so she could if she could keep the world in the cradle.. But that the mother cannot do. The boy outgrows the cradle, hle kicks over the cradle, and although he loves his mother, he sees plainly that she has no great influence in the outside world, and he is to be a voter by aml by. [Applause.] lie loses respect for that mother because she is so powerless, and he goes with the other boys to the saloon, and is lost to honor, to virtue, and to decency. Exalt the women of our country to be peers and .equals, and even their home teachings will be held in higher esteem, and our ions will reach a loftier moral manhood. As yopu love the mothers who trained you to honor and to goodness, will you please remember all the mothers of our country ? As you love the gentle wives who keep step with you over the roughness of the way, will you please remember all the wives who are so defenseless and so powerless? It is not the will of our Father in heaven that one half the human race should be slaves to the other half. The fathers and the mothers of the home should be the united head. What God hath joined together should not be put asunder at the ballot-box. [Applause.] They should go together to express their opinion about the laws and the law- The Ccvelazd Conzveiion. n03 makers of our country. The mother is shorn of her strength when she cannot do this. Therefore we ask you as our brothers to embody in your resoluntions the need of the ballot in the woman's hands as The a factor in our future highest civilization. workingmen are in the majority, hence their wants will be heeded by the hlighest officials in our land. You belong to the royal knighthood of heaven, for the great Teacher said: "IMy father worketh hitherto and I work." I thank you for this reception. Mrs. Perkins' remarks were well received and generous applause followed the lady as she was escorted from the room by the reception committee of three delegates. The committee on laws second proposition was the recommendation that where practicable unattached locai assemblies should become part of district assemblies and transact business with the General Assembly through them. After a short discussion the proposition was adopted. The secretary read aletter from Galveston, Tex., relating to the hardships of strikers who are confined in the jail of that city for "constructive contempt," and asking the General Assembly to do something to obtain for them privileges given persons similarly charged in other courts of the United States. The following resolution was presented and unanimously adopted: 204 Labor Its Righks and Wrongs. Whereas, The jails at Galveston, Dallas, and elsewhere in Texas are filled with brother knights suffering for " contempt of court," as issued by Judge Pardee, be it Resolved, By this General Assembly that we petition Grover Cleveland, President of the United States, to exercise clemency in their behalf, as the United States judges have ordered a release of all prisoners sentenced during the strikes on the Southwest system, and thus be the means of causing better feelings between employers and employes. A committee of two was appointed to draft suitable documents to be forwarded to the President, asking him to exercise clemency toward the imprisoned members of the order. The committee appointed on Friday to respond to the telegram received from the Toledo convention presented the following address that was unanimously adopted and ordered to be sent to Mrs. Mary P. S. Frazier, the secretary :CLEVELAND, 0., May 29, 1886. To the Ohio Woman's Sufrage Association,: The General Assembly of the Knights of Labor accept the greeting and recognition of the Ohio Woman's Suffrage Association, and return its thanks with fraternal greetings and congratulations. The order of the Knights of Labor guarantees to woman The Cleveland Convenltion. 205 and man equal rights, protection, and opportunities to the full extent of its rightful authority. Its real mission is the complete emancipation and enfranchisement of all those who labor. It is imbued with the lofty spirit of the Declaration of American Independence, which includes the whole American family in the rights claimed by its author for themselves. It would not bury the noble lines and sentences of the fathers out of the sight of the franchised, out of the sight of the more than one half of all the most useful and deserving industrious people whom fashions, infernal, have misled, and whom a false pride has intimidated. It reminds woman that she must cease looking to partisans and courtiers for justice and a revival of that vital spirit which alone can nourish and sustain the Republic; that she must turn to herself ; must respond in the proper spirit to the rightful tender of protection and equality; must earnestly co-operate with the progressive members of the Knights of Labor, who insist upon the guarantee of perfect equality in the full and free exercise and enjoyment of all membership rights; of equal participation in the administration, and that the management of all the governmental affairs of the order shall be practically carried out to the entire satisfaction of justice and in accordance with the Withnoble spirit of fraternity of the order. out woman, the earnest and energetic co-operation of woman, the guarantee of equality, the simple act of justice to woman, as incorporated in 206 -: Labor I/s Rz'gis and Wrongs. the fundanlental law of the order, the maly new departure of the Knights of Labor will be is " sounding brasl tinkling cymbal," and the hope and that forms of human government with civil liberty to all who become permanent and perpetual, my depart from the earth forever. The last business of the day Nvas the adoption of a motion that all committees should be prepared to report in full at 2 o'clock next Wednesday afternoon, and the session took a recess until 8 o'clock Monday morning. Monday, May 31st.-After the General Assembly was called to order, a letter addressed to the annual convention of the Ainalgitmtted Association of Iron and Steel Workeirs was read, adopted, and ordered to be forwarded to the secretary of that order. The letter was one of fraternal greeting, showing and asking co-operation in the cause of labor. A resolation was offered and adopted asking Congress to pass a bill making election day a national holiday. The chairman of the special commnittee on legislation, presented a partial report, the following clauses of which were unanimously adopted Your committee on Legislation beg the liberty of saying that the doctrine that the free and inalieiable right to life and liberty and happiness, includes the equal and inalienable right to the use of'the natural elements from which life must be supported ; and that a system which compels some citizens to The Cleveland Convention. 207 buy from other citizens the right to till the unoccu. pied soil of their common country, and that permits individuals and corporations to appropriate as their own exclusive property, the stores of oil, gas and ,,ineirals which the Creator has stored beneath it for common use, and the value which the growth of population gives to land occupied by cities, is a violation of natural justice, the inevitable result of wh1ich is to enable those who do no work to reap the earnings of those who do, to impoverish the farmer, mechanic, and laborer, while enriching the forestaller and monopolist, and by depriving those who possess only the power of labor of any opportunity to make a living for themselves, to force them into deadly competition with each other for the wages which some-i employer is willing to pay. As preparing the way for the adoption of a better system, we demand measures which shall restore to the people certain rights and privileges hereinafter named. 1. We demnand the creation of a system that shall make future generations more than mere tenants at will so long as there is land idle that is needed by American citizens to live and work upon. 2. We demand the reservation of the public lands for actual settlers only, and that all lands owned by individuals and corporations in excess of 160 acres not under cultivation, shlall be taxed to the full value of cultivated lands of like character. 3. We demand the immediate forfeiture of all lands now under grant to corporations or individuals, 208 Labor: Its Rzgkis and Wrongs. the conditions of which have not been complied with. 4. We demand that all lands now held by individuals or corporations upon which patents have not issued and which are not foriitable shall be patented without delay and taxed to the full value of lands of like character under cultivation. 5. We demand the immediate removal of all fences upon the public domain without authority of law, and that equal protection be secured to all citizens of the United States, in the use of public lands for free commonage. 6. We demand that on and after A. D. 1890 the government shall obtain possession by purchase at an appraised valuation of all lands legally held by non-resident aliens, and from and after A. D. 1886 aliens shall be prohibited from acquiring title to or owning lands within the United States of America, and that all deeds by citizens of the United States to aliens after said last mentioned date shall be null and void, and land so deeded shall revert to the government. 7. We demand the abolition of all property qualifications for voting similiar to those now existing in the State of Rhode Island and the establishment of a graduated income tax. 8. We believe that the labor bureau is one of the most valuable means for the dissemination of needed information, and we demand for it the full appropriation asked for that its efficiency be inot impaired. 9. We recommend the passage of the several The Cleveland ConZvelion. 209 bills indorsed by this body and approved by the Committee on Labor of the House of Representatives. 10. We recommend that this body appoint a committee of three to visit Congress during its present session, to make known to the members of that honorable body the wishes of the Knights of Labor, respecting the matters named by this committee and indorsed by this body. The committees on boycotts and strikes presented their report, the discussion upon which was pending when the noon recess was taken. The resolution in regard to election holidays is as follows: Resolved, That it is the sense of this General Assembly that the occupation of the bribe-giver and the bribe-taker should be destroyed. To do this, it will be necessary to educate those who suffer most through bribery and corruption that it is hurtful to the welfare of the nation to receive a bribe or give one. In order to deal with this question more effectually and intelligently, we should use every means within our power to secure for the toiler the right to protect himself upon that day which of all days is important to the American citizen, election day. That he may have an opportunity to protect his interest on that occasion, we should ask that election day be made a national holiday, on which no employer shall have the right to demand service at the hands of his employe. We furthermore 210 Labor: I/s Rglts anv Wi-oJros. '5 recommoe'nlod thlat the workingmen of the nation declare their intention to make election day " Labor's National Holiday;" and that they devote their entire time on that day to looking after their own interests, that they shall, on that day, keep watch and ward over the destinies of the nation by guarding the polls from the influence of the bribe-taker and bribe-giver; and, while we recognize the right of every man to indulge in the use of liquor to such extent as he may deem necessary for his health and comfort, yet we do recommend that on that day each workman refrain from the use of liquor of all kinds, Eo tlhat lie may exercise, with a clear head, his prerogative as a citizen in selecting proper men to represent the people. During the afternoon session the legislative committees reported a demand that minors be prohibited from working over eight hours per day in mines, manufactories, etc. The following in the same report was also adopted Resolved, That we hold responsible at the ballo;box all members of Congress who neglect or refuse to vote in compliance with these demands. The rest of the afternoon was devoted to a dis(ussion of the report of the committee on strikes and boycotts, recommending that the executive board should have absolute control of all such business. The convention took a recess until this morning with a motion to adopt the report still pending. The Cleveland Convention. 21I TIHE BLUE AND GRAY ASSOCIATION. The encampment of ' the Blue and Gray Asso- ciation of tile Knights of Labor" at the Forest City House May 31st., was well attended, about twenty neubers beiing )resent. The president, Mr. Thomas Green, presidlel, and Mr. S. S. Patten who ws elected secretary pro ten. at the Sunday meeting, acted as scribe. Tihree new nembers were elected. After the reading and approval of the minutes of the Sunday mecting Mr. A. ni Carleton, chairman of the constitutional committee, read a constitution that was adopted. The constitution provides for the election at eaclh annual encampment of a commander, vice commander, adjutant, quartermaster, officer of the day, and officer of the guard. The cornmmander was authorized to appoint necessary aides in different parts of the country to attend to the affairs of the organizations, to receive names, to follow the directions of the commander, and to report to him. The following address to the soldiers of the late war was read by Mr. L.11. Shay:To the Union and Confederate ex-soldiers scattered abroad, greet'ing: The Blue and thle Gray of the K. of L. of America desire to call your attention to the objects and fact of its existence. At a meeting of the Knights of Lalbor at Hamilton, Ont., in the month of October, A. D., 1885, it was discovered that a large nunmber of the delegates had at one time served 212 Labor : Its Rzi s aand Wrongs. in the Union or Confederate armies and it was resolved to organize these ex-soldier delegates into what should be known as the Blue and Gray of the K. of L. It is fraternal in its aims and helpful in its spirit, and kindly in its labors and loyal to humanity. At this time we are in session in the city of Cleveland, 0., and strangely enough on Memorial day, which tends to awaken within us solemn memories of the past when the North and South were engaged in mortal conflict, when we who are now blrothers in the Knights of Labor were ready to destroy each other's lives and property. A quarter of a century has given ample time for reflection and for the removal of prejudice, and has fur. nislied abundant opportunity for the soldier and citizen in all sections of our common country to study the causes, nature, and results of that most unhappy conflict. Gathered as we are from all parts of the land, and representing as we do all that made the war a possibility, and covered by the shield of the noble order of the Knights of Labor, thousands of whom were the brave and honored men of both armies, we feel equipped with the right to say that peace and not war is the hope of earth's toiling mil. lions. This conclusion is driven into the warp and woof of our convictions by the painful evidence that the war gave oie kind of masters for another, and that the wealth once owned by the masters of the South has been transferred to the monopolist of the North and multiplied a hundred-fold in power, and is now enslaving more than the war liberated. The Cleveland Conventlion. 2 213 The monopolist of railroads, the telegraphs, the telephones, the money and the public domain owns more slaves and treats them meaner than the master of any country ever did where slaves were owned as chattels. Surrounded as we are in our several homes by soulless corporations, whose schemes for gain has compelled honest and earnest toilers to waylay, rob, impoverish and imprison themselves in the interest of these masters, we forget the past on account of the importance of the present and its living needs that we may join each other in the promotion of rightful laws and legitimate labors. We therefore urge the men of both armies to shun the politician who seeks to create sectional animosity, and to turn away from all such as the agents ot those who would blind yon to existing evils and make you tenants at will in your native country. We would have all men feel that no treason is greater than the treason that monopolizes the channels of wealth and that holds land idle that is needed by any citizen to live and work upon. Brothers, we would have you keenly alive to the fact that this is the laborer's hour of greatest opportunity in the history of the world for taking action to better his condition; that a life spent in conformity to the highest physical, mental and minoral requirements, obedience to wholesome laws and customs, and the peaceful revolution of bad ones, is an imperative condition of permanent progress; and that the cause of labor cannot be advanced by deeds of blood, by murder, the torch or dynamite so often resorted to and pro- 2I4 Labor. Its Rikhts aud Wrongs. voked by the employers of labor, but only by such intelligent, peaceful, equitable and brotherly conduct as will commend itself to the noblest qualities of men. The following officers were elected to serve until the annual encampment that will be held in Richmnond in October: commander, Mr. Thomas Green, of Pine Bluffs, Ark.; vice-commander, Mr. L. II. Sliay, of Streater, Ill. ; adjutant, Mr. L.11. Patterson, of Washington, D. C.; quartermaster, Mr. Homer McGaw, of Pittsburg, Pa.; officer of the day, Mr. F. J. Riley, of Richmond, Va.; officer of the ghard, Mr. Henry Buttenberge, of Memphis, Tenni. The members indulged in an hour's social converse and then adjourned until October. GENERAL ASSEMBLY. June 1st, 1886.--The first business of the day was the adoption of an amended report from the committee on strikes and boycotts. The committee urged that absolute power be vested in the executive boatrd, and that no strikes or boycotts should take place unless sanctioned or ordered by the board. The amended report was not given to the press, but it was learned that in the future, in cases of extreme necessity, where immediate action is demanded, that a strike may be ordered by the district assembly, but the executive board must be notified and their approval of a continuance gained. The committee %ppointed to respond to the address of the Woman's Christian Temperancc Union in tlhIeir report ackowl- The Cleveland Convention. 2I5 edged the receipt of the address of the union and in response said that women were eligible to membersliip in the general, district, and local assemblies of the Knights of Labor, and had as much voice in the government of the order as men. In regard to the invitation for the conimnittee of the Knights of Labor to attend the annual convention of the Woran's Temperance Union in October, the committee recommerided that no action be taken until the Richmond convention is held, whlen a committee can be aipointed to visit the ladies. In the matter of the plan of arbitration reconmended to the Knights of Labor by Lawrence 1lamuon, a lawyer of Peoria, 1il., the conmmittee on spe(,,ial legislation reported as follows: "As exemplifying the anticipative genius of the legal profession in its own behalf, it is a most remarkable doeument and deserves the consideration of every inember of the order; but as affording relief to the toilers in the present transition state of affairs, it might prove a most dangerous weapon in the hands of those who now control interstate commerce. If the courts in thiis country were prejudiced in favor of the laborer as they now are in favor of the capitalist the adoption of this plan might not prove a dangerous experiment. It is the judgment of this committee that the plan proposed in this document would result in binding the laborer hand and foot, and in that condition handing him over to his etuployer, whose" wealth mnight influence courts to uniijustly cast him inito prison and expense. One of the provisions of this platiu is such that if the laborer 216 Labor: Its Rzghts and Wrongs. went into court to redress wrongs he would be compelled to continue service pending the controversy under penalty of punishment by the court for contempt, BY FINE AND IMPRISONMENT. Another provision of the plan is that the finding of the court shall be binding for the period of one year, and until modified by the court in a subsequent proceeding. In view of these and other reasons your committee recommend that this General Assembly caution all local assemblies against the passage of resolutions favoring any proposed measures of legal arbitration until passed upon by your committee on legislation at Washington and indorsed by the general executive board." The report of the special committee on legislation on the subject of money was next presented, and after a short debate adopted. The report is published in full below. The petition to Congress was adopted at the last convention but was not given to the public. In the report the committee refer to documents No. 77 and 71. Document No. 77 refers to the place in the minutes of the official report of the Hamilton convention occupied by the petition to Congress, and document No. 71 to the place occupied by the proposed bitl in the minutes of the present convention. The report is as follows :- The Cleveland Convention. 217 "In place of document iNo. 77, entitled 'An act fixing the measure of value and further regulating the value of money,' your committee calls attention to the petition passed at the annual session held at Hamilton in October last, embracing the same subject, which petition was known as document No. 77, and is printed on pages 118 and 119 of the record of proceedings of that session, and we urge that said petition be presented to Congress as there recommended, and that it also be given to the press for publication, as we deem this course necessary before further legislation by the General Assembly on the subject." Document No. 77, referred to by the committee, is as follows, and was introduced by Representative A. H. Low, of Pennsylvania. Resolved, That the following petition be presented to Congress:To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled: The petition of the order of the Knights of Labor of America, through their representatives in general assembly, met at the session held at Hamilton, Ontario, commenced October 5, 1885, and attested by their proper officers, respectfully represent - That your petitioners are mostly citizens of the United States, and members of the laboring class of society. That while human labor produces all wealth, those 10 M2.I Labor: i s Rzkhs - and Wrongs. who have performedino honest labor have amassed the most of the wealth, and those who have performed' the; labor: have, least; to enjoy. That we find this: state of:things to be largely due to both vieious; legislation and want of: proper legislation by Congress. That the money of the United States is of uncertain value, differing, widely in different parts of, the country at all times, and: in every part at various times; whereas, being the measure of commercial. value, it- should be fixed and invariable in value. or..example.: at this time in one part of the country money is only worth two per cent. interest per annum; in another, 12 per cent., and in another, 20 per cent., and ranges from 2 to 20 per cent; through6utpthe country, That the uncertainty in the value of money causes distrust and uncertainty in all commercial transactions, insomuch that capital is timid and labor unemployed, and :periodical panics occur in all business, in consequence of which the industrial:- classes are financially ruined and the laborers thrown out of employment, and indescribable want and suffering brought upon the masses .of the vple, and unjust gains are .acquired: by those who manipulate the money. T hat the supply of a large portion of the money: or the coim"try is in. the control of private corpora. tions calledI, national banking ..associations, creatures tivate of., Congressional legislation,: with whom p money to the gain. is the only motive for supplying people. Theo- Clevelantd Gwtvenion. . 21 T-9 That' it isth rough91 the' mani n a corporations and other money-lenders that the peoeb gu ffer manY of the misfortunes'andgiances hereinbere mentioned, and I-anhy others not;mention That the right to issue or coin Money is a high sovereign -p-rerogative w*hi'ch 'on'gh t n-ot .to b-e exercised by any but theigst power in a nation,a vi wiith alarm the' exrcise of such prerogative by private porsons orcorporations; and'as a remedyfor the evls of whih we complai n, ad-forredress of the grievanceswe sufferas hebin setfor We pray, That your honorable body will fulfill the' duties iiidposed on you, by'the Constitution in seetion 8, atile 1, wih provides that Congress shal%', have power "''o coin money and regulaethe value thereof, and of- foreign :1 coin, and fix thestandard of weights and measures." That you"fixthe measure of value by estbin a ajust, unif 'or and M invariable rate of interest for money loaned. That 'in order to maintain such rate of interest as the noral[rate, oure peal all laws autho6rizing-pri. vate persons or corporations to issue money,- and in their s-te'ad.establish public loan offices. throughout the country wherever.needed, at least one in every couniity,'with proper officers to perform the duties of said ofcs That the Nation al" Go v ernmen t,.lend money to the :peopleat..said,'offices "on good'adsf Icin secuirity, anfd at said fixed. -ra'teof'iinterstondmand, anid that -the profits. arising. from'te usiness of 220 Labor: Its Rzhts and Wrongs. lending said money be conveyed into the publie treasury for public uses ; and That said loan offices be also made depositories for the savings of the people, and your petitioners will ever pray. Resolved. That the general master workman shall certify duplicate copies of the foregoing petition to Congress, and that he is requested to select the most suitable member of Congress and United States Senator available, and request that they present the said petition to their respective branches of Congress. Representative Low, of Pennsylvania, then introduced the following document for recommendation to Congress, which was numbered 71, and referred to the Committee on Legislation. An act fixing the measure of value, and further regulating the value of money. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that on and after the. 1st day of January, next after the passage of this act, the rate of interest for money loaned shall be 3 per cent. per annum. Discount shall be included in the meaning of the word interest, as used in this act.. Any person or persons who shall lend money directly or indirectly at any other rate shall forfeit to the borrower, both principal and interest of the amount so loaned, and no action shall lie for the recovery of the same. See. 2. The Secretary of the Treasury shall The Cleveland Convenlion. 221 establisl~ loan offices as he may deem uxpedient, not less than one in each county or parish in the United States and Territories and in the District of Columbia, having a population of two thousand or more, as shown by the latest census. Said offices shall be for issuing, lending and depositing money, as banks of issue and deposit are now used. Whenever, in the opinion of the Secretary of the Treasury and the Postmaster General, it will be expedient, the offices of post-office and loan office may be combined. See. 3. The business of the loan offices respectively shall be performed by a cashier or one or more tellers as the business shall require. The duties of cashier shall be to receive money on deposit, pay out .money withdrawn on check or draft, lead money on good security, make settlements of loans made by him, and keep a proper record of his transactions, and perform such other acts and duties as shall be imposed on him by law and the rules and regulations of the Treasury Department. Ho shall have immediate supervision of the business of the office. The teller shall assist in keeping the accounts and records of the office and perform such other duties as shall be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury. Cashiers and tellers shall be appointed by the Secretary of the Treasury for the term of four years unless sooner removed or suspended according to law. And shall receive such compensation as the Secretary of the Treasury shall deem just, not to exceed $3,000 a year. Cashiers shall receive as a 222 Labor : Is Rghls. and Wrongs. part of their comin ensation, 2 per cent. of the interest ,collected by them respectively. See. 4. Every cashier and teller before entering upon the duties of his office shall give bond with good and approved security, and in such penalty as the Secretary of the Treasury shall deem sufficient, conditioned for the faithful discharge of all duties and trusts imposed on him, either by law or the rules and regulations of the department. Thelawsrelating to bonds of postmasters shall also apply and extend to bonds of cashiers and tellers, so far asthe same may be applicable. In the settlement of the cashier's account he shall be charged with all depositors' balances, moneys out on loan, all funds, blank notes and property entrusted to his care or keeping, and be credited with all moneys, blank notes, and property on hand, and shall, together with his sureties be held accountable and liable for all deficiencies, and for all moneys loaned and unpaid or outstanding. Sec. 5. Any person who shall have money to his or her credit as a depositor at any loan office may withdraw from such office money to the amount of the balance to his or her credit, or any part thereof, on presenting by himself his payee, or indorsee, a proper check, draft, or order in writing, but no such depositor shiall be entitled to withdraw or reclaim the identical money so deposited, or any part thereof. The Secretary of the Treasury shall cause to be prepared and furnished to the cashiers blank checks, Which blanks shall be sold to depositors by the cashiers at cost. The Cleveland Conven/ion. 223 Sec. 6. To meet the demands for money at said ras- of interest -in excess of the amounts Of other their egntrol sibject to loan, the cashiers money iin shall be provided with, and issue in the manendr hereitnafter mentioned, notes of the Utited !Stts in denominations of one, two, five, ten, twenty, fifty, one hundred, five hundred, and one thouisad dollars, according to the demands of commerce. The aid notes shall be printed and furnished by the Comptroller of the Currency under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury. See. 7. The notes as furnished in blank to the cashiers shall express upon their face that they are secured by ample pledges in the possession of the governmeut of the United States, and bear the written or engraved signatures of the Comptroller and Treasurer and the imprint of the seal of the Treasury and the promise of the United States of Amnoirica to pay to bearer in gold coin or it-s equivalent in value in lawful mnoney of the United States on demand; and shall bear such devices and such other statements, and shall be in such formn as the Secretary of the Treasury shall by regulation direct, and before the said notes shall become valid and in force they shall be dated and countersigned by the cashier issuing them. Sec. 8. The notes provided for by this act are hereby declared money, and shall be issued and circulated as such, and shall be receivable by the Government of the United States for everything for which money is by law receivable, and hall b a 224 Labor: Its Rzh/ts and Wrongs. legal tender in payment of all debts and dues public and private contracted after the passage of this act. See. 9. Every cashier shall on request to him, by any person lawfully competent to transact such business, and on the presentation by such person of good and sufficient security for the amount of money for which a loan is asked, receive such security when he shall be satisfied of its sufficiency, and lend money to such person, and for such time as such person may desire, not exceeding one year without renewal, and at the rate of 3 per cent. interest per annum, which said interest shall be payable, at the end of every three months of the time, unless the principal shall be payable before the end of any such three months, in which case the principal amd interest shall be payable at the same time. Sec. 10. The Secretary of the Treasury shall prepare and issue rules and regulations for the conduct of the business of loan offices, which rules when not in conflict with law shall be obligatory upon the officers of the several loan offices. Sec. 11. If any person shall, by means of any false or fraudulent pretense, or by the use of any spurious or worthless security, knowing the same to be spurious or worthless, or by any secret or private collusion with any officer of any loan office, obtain any money from any loan office, he shall be deemed guilty of felony, and on conviction shall pay a fine of double the amount so fraudulently obtained, or be'imprisoned at hard labor not exceeding twenty years, or both such fine and imprisonment, and shall The Cleveland Convenlion. 225 be -disfranchised and disqualified from maintaining any of the rights of citizenship under the government of the United States. Sec. 12. Any person who shall embezzle or appropriate to his own use any money, blank notes, or property of the United States, or of any other person or persons who shall have entrusted the same to the custody or keeping of the United States, at any loan office or depository of the United States, and shall be convicted thereof, such person as convicted shall be deemed guilty of felony, and shall for eachi such offense be fined not exceeding double the amount so embezzled or appropriated, and be imprisoned not exceeding twenty years, or both such fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court. Sec. 13. The Secretary of the Treasury may at his discretion designate any of said loan offices as depositories of public moneys, and when so designated the cashier of any such office shall be the depository, and may be requested to furnish additional security for the safe keeping of Athe moneys and the faithful performance of the trusts so confided to him. The moneys so deposited may be loanied by the cashier as other moneys in his control, or held as reserves for the redemption of United States notes or subject to the order of the Secretary of the Treasury as to the Secretary of the Treasury shall seem advisable. Sec. 14. Accumulating gold and silver coins of the United States with intent to sell the same for 10* 226 Labor: Its Rz'htls and Wrongs. any other form or kind of currency authorized by the laws of the United States is hereby prohibited. Offering for sale as aforesaid any gold or silver coins shall be taken as prima fcie evidence of such accumulation and intent. Provided, however, that this section shall not apply to the sale of such coins of ancient date and sold for keepsakes. Any person who shall violate the provisions of this section and shall be convicted thereof, shall be deemed guilty of felony and shall forfeit his entire estate, goods, money and property, and pay a fine, or be imprisoned at hard labor for a term not exceeding fifty years, or both such fine and imprisonment at the discretion of the court, and shall forever forfeit his citizenship or right to become a citizen. Sec. 15. For the purposes of carrying this act into effect, the sum of $50,000,000 is hereby appropriated out of any moneys in the treasury not otherwise appropriated. Sec. 16. All laws authorizing any persons or corporations to issue their notes to be used as money, and all acts or parts of acts in conflict with the provisions of this act are hereby repealed. The committee on state of the order read its report immediately before the recess for dinner, and the discussion was postponed until the afternoon. THE TRADES UNION TROUBLES. The entire afternoon was taken up in discussing the report of the committee on the state of the .The Cleveland Convention. orer to ho trades unions . 27 227 ere referred thetroubles with t 'HOME CLUB" Mr. Powderly, on June 2, gav the following statement to the press, the last clause of wich isin rlcation to the inwterie concerning his onnection wi-th: the " 1Home Club:""I Iknow- nothing about the 'Home Club,' nor do I know anything concerning its aims or Methods. I have heard thatits, purpose was to create A fand to build a home for aged members-of o Not being a member of it, I cannor inspired- any opposition to me. That I have been opposed asgeneral master workman. by tlosc who are said to.bbe embers of- it, is true, but that was years ago, and their opposition was not-a secret to ne. They told me plainly and emphatically that they would opposIe ine. If such. an institution exist.ed it- must have been exposed by a, member of the club.- If* it was oath bound to secrecy the man whio exposed it is a'pejurep. It is-not -exeting an influence in tlis convention, and: the columins of- trash that h-avelbeenl published conceni,.ng it are false. I was not opposed by,;any mnemnberclique, ring. or, club when 1. was elected general imaster workman for:time seventh time.. The. same. men whio werein atn ance at-Hamiflton are in attend-ane at, this spec,ialI sessionm. If they were-.aimting-, at Powderly 's- defeat, why did they not Attempt. it thereI I believe this' u. -hole thing is an attempt on' the part of mthle:3eemies, 228 Labor: Its Rights and Wrongs. of the labor movement to create distrust and discord. In that attempt the movers will fail. We will leave this city after closing one of the most successful meetings ever held, and all the money that the enemies of the Knights of Labor can spend in an effort to break us up will be spent in vain. The events with which the Home Club is charged with dealing transpired years ago. If they conspired against me then, it seems to me that that was the time to expose its workings, that I might guard myself against them. To bring it up now seems like holding a post-mortem examination on a four-year-old corpse, and, as in a corpse of such an age, the exposers will find only dust. In all ages the informer has been despised, even by those who profited by his treachery. The first question asked has always been, what was the price paid the traitor? Men who will leave their homes and come here to lobby the General Assembly for such a disreputable purpose deserve the censure of every true Knight of Labor. The Knights of Labor ask no man's birthplace nor the altar at which he kneels. My religion is my own, and I will allow no man to meddle with it. Nor will I interfere with any religion. Members of the order everywhere know that I am a Cathlolic, and I consider it beneath my dignity to consider this matter further. I have no political aspirations, nor would I accept the nomination for Governor of my State if it were tendered me unanimously. If I were a candidate, however, I would stand upon merits as a citizen and not upon my connection with the labor movement or my The Cleveland Convention. 229 religion. The workingmen of this day and generation are too intelligent to be deceived or prejudiced by any such silly trash." On June 2, 1886, the ballots for the three associate members of the executive board resulted as follows: First ballot-James E. Quinn, of New York, 65 ; A. A. Carleton, of Boston, 64. Second ballot-W. 1. Mullen, of Richmond, 79; George Murray, of New York, 49. Third ballot-Hugh Cavanagh, of Cincinnati, 77; J. B. Buchanan, of Denver, 52. The afternoon session of the convention did not convene until after 4 o'clock. Three hours were spent in discussing the report of the committee on state of the order, but no action had been taken when the convention adjourned for the day. At the meeting of the Knights of Labor Press Association, held in the New Johnson House yesterday, Mr. J. B. Buchanan, of Denver, presented the following resolution, which was adopted : Resoloed, That the purposes of the Knights of Labor Press Association are for mutual improvement and to advance the power of the labor press of the country. Mr. J. B. Buchanan was elected vice president, and the president, vice president, and secretary were elected an executive comunmittee, and ordered to prepare a constitution and by-laws, and report at the Richmond convention in October. It was decided that each paper should furnish every other paper in 230 Labor. fts Rig its and Wrongs. the association proof of its local labor news. meeting adjourned to meet in Richmond. The THE CHURCH CONGRESS convened in Cleveland and on Wednesday evening, May 26th, discussed " The Workingman's Distrust of the Church; its Causes and Remedies." In the afternoon the council of the congress held a meeting and resolved to extend an invitation to T. V. Powderly and the Knights of Labor Assembly to be present. Mr. Powderly was asked to speak on the subject. Before evening arrived Mr. Powderly sent an answer to the effect that he would speak, and, if possible, arrange for the attendance of the committees of the assembly. This caused a considerable number of the Knights of Labor in the city to be present. A public announcement of Mr. Powderly's appearance before the congress could not be made, or Music Hall would not hav2 been able to hold the audience that would have gathered to hear him, but early in the evening the General Master Workman found that new assembly duties demanded his close attention, and he was unable to be present. As it was, the group of men on the stage who were to enter the discussion was a remarkable one. They were Henry George, the well-known political economist and lecturer. John Jarrett, lately the president of the Amalgamated Association, of Iron and Steel workers; Hon. Everett P. Wheeler, well known in the civil service reform movement; and Rev. Dr. Wayland Hoyt, a TRe Cleveland Convenlion. 231 prominent Philadelphia clergyman, greatly interested in the labor questions of the day. A little after 7.30 o'clock, the session was opened by the united singing of a hymn. Rev. Dr. Currier, of Oberlin then delivered a prayer. General Drake announced the subject of discussion, and intr(duced tIev. Dr. Ioyt, whose appearance was the signal for applause. He has a strong voice and a clear delivery, and was listened to with the closest attention. Applause occasionally broke in upon him, but he continued to read rapidly, in order to make the best use of the time allotted. He retired amid continued and hearty clapping of hands, and he had to bow his acknowledgments. Dr. Hoyt's paper is as follows:Is there such distrust? Looking immediately about myself, I should say no. In the congregation to which it is my privilpge to minister, I am most glad and thankful to be able to declare that a large company of the wage-workers of both sexe§s are constant worshipers. If I extend mny view in certain directions I should still say no. Looking right upon the subject of this paper, I asked, not long since, a question of one of the heads of one of the largest and most widely-known manufacturing establishments in the entire country,-" Why do wordiinmen distrust the church ?" "Do you not beg the question when you ask such a question? I am confident a very large majority of tlhe men at work in our shops are steady attendants upon the 232 Labor . .Its Rights and Wrongs. churches "-was his reply. And this reply I found abundantly corroborated by information gathered in the shops themselves. " How about the men whom you employ and whom you know of in your line of work, do they distrust the church ?" I asked of a head carpenter some time since: "My men and the men in that line of work, I know," he answered, "are as a usual thing, even elthusiastic supporters of the churches." I turn to the testimony of Mr. John Jarrett, at that time the president of the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers of the United States, given in 1885, before the Congressional Comuaittee on the relations between capital and labor. The lion. Henry W. Blair, of New lamnplhire, the c'airman of the committee, asks Mr. Jarrett this question: Q. I would lik to know to what extent what we call evangelical bible influences dominate or obtain in the rituals of trades unions and in the moral lessons and principles which they inculcate. Are they antagonistic to the drift of evangelical doctrines generally ?This is Mr. Jarret's answer: A. As iar as our organization is concerned they are in perfeet accord. We had a convention in Philadelphia a few weeks ago, and I would venture to assert that seven-eighths of those who were present in that convention were men who were connected with Christian churches. Q. How much of a convention was that?, A. I believe the number of delegates was 186. Q. Were these delegates from a large extent of The Cleveland Convention. 233 territory? A. Yes, sir; from Portland, Me., down as far as St Louis. Q. Do you inean that those delegates represent practically the whole country from the Atlantic to the Mississippi ? A. Yes, sir. Far out in the utterly untamed wilds of the Northwest I was chased once by a great black dog, .which, under the circumstances, I had every reason for believing a grizzly bear. Supposing the creature to be a bear, I ran from him until I discovered that he was a very noble and faithful dog. Subjectively I know what it is to be chased by a bear. Objectively my bear was the grandest specimen of a helper and protector for that region. Is it not possible that in the universal agitations concerning labor questions, mistakes and exaggerations equally unwise and untrue may be fallen into? Is it not possible that the unqualified statement of the question which has been assigned me-with the statement of which I had nothing to do-is itself, a quite evident instance of such mistake and exaggeration ? I am sure it is not true that all workingmen distrust the church, as the topic assigned me seems to imply. Some workingmen's distrust of the church would be a statement far closer to the facts. By no means yet are labor and religion altogether in declared divorce. They never will be. But, on the other hand, it must be said that on the part of a large number of workingmen-as in these days, in a fashion most unfortunate and in exact clash with the real spirit of our institutions, we are getting to 234 Labor: Is Rig/ts and Wrongs. designate a certain class of workers-there is a widespread distrust of the church. In a communication addressed to the Ilomiletic Montldy, published in the August number for 1881, Mr. John Swinton says : "I do not think that one-tenth of the wageearning classes in New York believe in Christianity at all.' I cannot help thinking that statement a gross exaggeration. But let it go for what it may be worth. In the examinations on the relations between labor and capital by the Congressional committee, which I have before mentioned, occur these questions and answers. Mr. Edward King, of New York, who is a type founder, and who declares himself very largely connected with labor associations, is asked by the Hon. Mr. Blair :Q. What proportion of the people in New York city, in your judgment, attend religions services on the Sabbath ? A I have not the slightest idea. Q. Of the working people what proportion? A. I have not the slightest idea. The working people that are active in the labor movement may be fairly charged, I think, with being very bad church attendants. During th asame examination Mr. P. H. McLogan, a printer of Chicago, is asked by the Hon. James Z. George, of Mississippi: Q. What church accommodations are there in Chicago for the working people? A. The accom-.. modations in Chicago, so far as the working people are concerned-well, in fact, the laboring men, judging from my personal observation, do not go to Tze Cleveland Conzvenlion. 235 any church in Chicago, except the Catholic church. I have attended quite a number, the Congregational, the Unitarian, and other hurches, and from my 'observation qf the ,people in attendance ,ther, and their dress and general appearance, I should judge that there were no laboring men among them at:all I think that the American mnechanies do not ttend at all, at least inthe city of Chicago. Mr. McLogan goes on to.say: Take the Bohemians, the German elemnt, the Poles-who are a very large parcentage in Chicago-and you will find that they hav'e geerally drifted into free thinking and atheism, and a great many into Socialism, and have very little faith in the power of the church to cureany of the evils under which people may suffer, either in this world or in the world to come." The editor of a very influential magazine published in New York city-- anson's _iMonthly-quotes this from a member of the working classes in that city, that ' not one in fifty of his associates attend church that church, religion, God, Christianity stand to the laborers for everything that is mean, hateful, and tyrannical." And this editor further says, that in response to questions personally put by himself "nearly a score of representative business and lay professional men, whose opportunities for observation were especially good, with great unanimity, over their own names, testified that a radical change has taken place during the last few decades; that the mass of mechanics and laboring' people have lost faith in the cchurch and turned their backs upon it; 236 Labor:. Its RighIs and Wrongs. that the present methods of church work do not reach or in any degree affect them; and that a feeling of bitterness and hostility toward the church in growing up among them." While there may be some exaggeration in these representative statements here safely adduced, it is certain that it cannot be denied that there is a very large and solemn and shadowing element of truth in them. I have read of a certain painter, who having painted his picture discovered that the rocks in the landscape he had endeavored to portray were not at all in his picture as they were in the landscape. Therefore instead of changing his picture he would seek to change the rocks. -So with spade and crowbar, and strain, and matchless tug he vainly seeks to wrench the rocks into conformity with his picture. We may not in the egotistic glow of a too enthusiastic religious optimism seek to do likewise. The rocks are there, and they will not conform to the picture we would like to paint. There in on the part of a large army of workingmen a very real distrust of the church. And now for the causes of this distrust. There is among, I know not how large, but certainly among a certain section of workingmen, a cause doctrinal. Such stand against everything the church stands for. It is both natural and inevitable therefore, that on their part toward the church there be distrust. In a late pamphlet by Professor Richard T. Ely, of the Johns Hopkins University, entitled "Recent American Socialism," is to be found the result of a most fair-minded and clear seeing scholar's investigations. The Cleveland Convenlion. , 237 Professor Ely tells us that there are in this country two parties of the Socialists-the one, the "Socialistic Labor Party," and the other the "International Workingmen's Association," or another name to designate the same thing, " the International Working People's Association." The first, the more moderate wing of the Socialists, is dubbed frequently the "blues ;" it is composed of better educated and more refined men, who do not advise violent methods. The second are the Anarchists, they exult in the waving of the red flag, their implement is dynamite, their evangel is the most chaotic and immediate destruction. Says Professor Ely: " Both parties are materialists, though the materialism of the Socialistic Labor Party is less gross than that of the Internationalists. Having abandoned the hope of a happy hereafter, they imagine this earth ought to be a paradise. They talk of its beauties and of the soul-satisfying delights of life, from all of which they are debarred by a conspiracy of the rich, or, at least by existing economic conditions. They accept the designation "godless," and claim that the visible universe is the only god which they know, falling thus into a kind of materialistic pantheism." Says Professor Ely of the Anarchic wing of the Socialistic movement, and which he esteems by far the more numerous and controlling-these are their ideals: "Common property; Socialistic production and distribution; the grossest materialism, for their God is their belly; free love; in all social arrange- a3S& Labor-, I/s Rzgt and Wrongs. ment, perfect invidnalism,o otherwo anarchy. Negat ively; expressed: away with:private property'! away -witlh all authority!Iaway with the Ste! aayitht fami! away with religion ! Now- it. goesi; withiout saying; thatiasfarvas wbrkingmen have, beconme infected with-ideasmtiastic, sensual, Godless,: like these-whether they clss themnselves with the wing of the:Socialistic party ess violent, or more vtioleiit; there- must;beontfheir part toward the---church distrust. For the church is againsiitl them utterly, andm: u st b n em Though it may oppose them-kindly, t must:firmly. Here, as between the church and them, there'are, in no -wise, two sides-, to- the shield. They are different shield s1. Another cause upon which I have come in my investigations: concerning thesubject of tis-paper is the:true cause. Let me detail a conversation I' had not:-: long 'since with a man who.was. proud to, call himself a workiugman, one of the best possible types of:workiu'gmen our Americanintitutosfoster, a man- rarely intelligent, and deeply thoughtfutl, no sloven, no garrulous grum-lbler, a Godfe0aringe earnest chutrch ineiber and: Sabbath school teacher, a man whoise- acquaintance tfor any one 18 but a- privilege and an honor-and'as I sat with him ini his shop, amid' the- clang of hammers, andA the mllul titudino-us- noises:- of ,a , mighty- indus'try, itws somnewhat -afterthis :.fasion that -- e s'poke-unto me: h "Ai man-who- works at such, toi as 1this:.ten or day,- sixty- hours a week, week' in weoek ot, finds hiimself,' when at last Saturdaynght-has- rolled The Cleveland Convention. 23.9 around, excessively wearied. Besides, during all the week, various odds and ends have been accumulating in the family which must be attended to on Saturday niglit. Shoes and clothing must be gotten for the children;, the, man, and his wife must visit the markets to make the weekly wages go as far aspossible, There are ininumerable. little matters to be looked after. It is a, rare thing if this tired man gets to bed on Saturday night much before 12 o'cock, Sunday morning. is the only morning on which he is not: compelled ,to rise early. The man is simply too tired to: rise early enough to prepare for morning church. My minister asks me,- 'Why do: yo not come to church on Sunday morning' I want to go to church; I feel the need- of it; to me the public worship is full of all various, help and inspiration, but I have to- tell my minister I am simply too faggedout to go. By afternoon I am enough rested, possibly, to go to Sabbath school and, to the evening service. But I must rest. And' what is true of rume I know to be true of multitudes :of my fellow-workmen. If only the Saturday afternoon closing movement could become universal, I am confident it would be an immense gain. People say tha then workingmen would go, to the grog shops., But I know workingmen well enough to know that no more would go then than do go now. And. because it does not seem to.the workingman-, as though the church were urgent enough in attempting to secure such little lift and, breathing space. frn toil, too often the workingman, at.. least, fears,:,distrustfully 240 Labor. Its Rzgkhts and Wrongs. that the church does not enough look out for him." Such was the tenor of this workingman's talk with me. I could not feel there was no.reason in it. I could not help saying to myself, if for this workingman, so guided by Christian principle, this time cause does thus conduce to at least a semidistrust, must it not be a very efficient cause of distrust of the church among multitudes of workingmen not so grandly girt by religious principles? I cut this from one of our Philadelphia newspapers, entitled a " Car Conductor's Cry :" " Well," the man began, " the great evil of the life is the long hours. Were it not for these, the existence would be a coinparatively pleasant one. On the first road on which I worked, after my apprenticeship as an' extra,' and my promotion to a'regular,' I was on duty thirteen straight days of eighteen and twenty hours each. The company would not allow me a day of rest, and so when this period was completed I recklessly took one and slept my fill, narrowly escaping discharge for this heinous offense. I reported for work about 5.30 in the morning, and got through at about midnight. 'Extras' on this line had a worse time; they reported at 4.45 A. m., and if they caught an early car would get through about 11 or 11:30 P. m. oftener, however, they secured cars which did not finish until 12 or 12.30. "Such labor grinds itself into a man, and I have seen them start from their sleep, jump up in bed, reach for an invisible bell-rope, and shout: ' Change here for so and so.' I have often seen drivers sound The Cleveland Convention. -241 asleep while on duty, and I myself have wandered into Elysian fields while sitting on the dasher. Nature would stand no more. Some day there will be a frightful accident through this cause, and then, perhaps, you of the press and of the public will take up cudgels in behalf of conductors and drivers. And then, again, we often have not more than thirty minutes in which to eat our three meals. That's not conducive to health is it? No wonder that in a few months we have digestive organs hardly worth speaking of." I am glad to say that lately in Philadelphia, there has been a great change for the better. Bat for long years it was as this conductor said. I am frank to say that such oppression, especially if members of such companies were members of the churches, would be apt to cause distrust in almost every direction. Another cause is the expense cause. Some time since one of our prominent religious weeklies offered a prize for the best essay on the relation of the workingman and the church. The prize was won by a workingman's wife. It is thus she writes, detailing possibly her own experience: "The amount of money required to run the modern church is enough to frighten any one of limited means. Take, for example, a man having a family of six to support, his weekly earnings being $10; which is no extraordinary case. He wishes to attend church regularly, and have his family accompany him. Suppose the renting and selling of pews is abolished, is our 11 242 Labor: Ils Rz~Ihs anzd Wrongs. friend better off than before this took place The children must give at least a penny each at the Sunday-school, the same at chui-ch, and the parents cannot allow the basket to pass without putting in something; then every one is supposed to contribute something to the pastor's salary by way of envelopes, card subscriptions, or some other equally effectual way of fund raising, and so it amounts to almost a dollar.out of the precious ten that have so much to do. The week, during which the rent falls due, which is exactly $10 a month, they remain at home, for they will not parade their poverty by going without a contribution ; and there is not a cent in the house. The next week is no better, for the grocer, the butcher, and the milkman must all be met, and their demands are inexorable. They must have enought to eat and something to wear, and their souls can wait for food until some convenient season, when circumstances will permit them to attend church without losing self-respect. But mayhlap the "convenient season " never comesThe family increases, and the income does not; the wardrobe grows shabby and shabbier, until finally the family are recognized as habitual non-church-goers." Surely suclh circumnstances would be apt to miinister first to religious carelessness and then to dislike and positive distrust. This workingman's wife goes o- to say : ' Time indigent and criminal classes are not neglected. Charity is organized to reach these cases in aalmost every particular. It is thework-igmnan and The Cleveland Convenlion. 243 woman whom the church is prone to neglect, or at least, to misunderstand. The writer's own experience has been that if one wishes to retain the respect of fellow-church members, one must contribute to every cause presented, and Spartan-like, hide one's own necessities far out of sight of the brethren and sisters." In a, personal letter to myself from a Christian workingman, a member of the Methodist church, among other causes of non attendance upon church and of distrust of it, which I should like to bring before you, but which my limited time forbids, is mentioned this cause. I quote from the letter :"The class feeling and the distinctions resulting therefrom in many of our congregations." "It will be urged," the letter goes on to say, " that where the objection to class-feeling may apply to many of the churches, it cannot be urged as to the missions con-, nected with the churches. Emphatically it does apply to them also. The workingman reasons thus: I f they do not think inme fit to worship in their church the God who is our father, they do not really believe th ~t he is my father, and I will not attend a church the very entering of which would mark as belonging to an inferior class. They tell me that God is no respecter of persons, and their actions show that they do not believe what they say. Yet they want me to believe in Him." Now I am very sure that in a vast majority of our churches such intention on their part would be even vehemently disowned. I amri sure that the 244 Labor. I/s R g is a:zd Wrongs. iiirches Inean to write, in the largest letters, welcome to all classes, over their doors. But at the same time I am sure from a quite extended investigation that there is a very prevalent feeling among wvorkingmen, such as is expressed by this letter from a Christian workingman, that the churches do not want them, or, if they do, want them in some side and separate mission-and that this feeling on the part of the workinginan is a prime factor in his distrust. Not by any means are these all the causes which I have come on. But they do seem to inme-as I have tried to analyze such as I have come on-the most prominent and inclusive. Of course, also, these causes are like star-fishes, raying out in multitudinous directions. But here for this paper the catalogue must cease. The doctrinal, the time, the expense, the class-feeling causes, minister to distrust of the churches on the part of some workingmen. But a fragment of my time is left for a consideration of the remedies. And first--lowering and muffling of Christ's doctrine can evert b a remedy. No new nebulous theology, in my judgment, can be safely fixed to meet the trouble. For the root of this trouble is the root of all troubles in this sinful world. If mani's heart were chiming with God and not selfishly clashing against him, labor troubles, as well for capital as for labor, and troubles of every other sort would cease. And it is only such definite, stringent, unmasked doctrine as that of the veritably Almighty Christ and the veritably regenerating T.e Cleveland Convenzoiz. 245 energy of the Holy Ghost which can attune anew man's clashing heart. Second. The constant recognition on the part of Christian people of the duty of flushing the cold law of supply and demand with the warm colors of Christ's truth of brotherhood. Thomas Carlyle says: "It is not to die, or even to die of hunger, that makes a man wretched; many men have died; all men must die. Bui it is to live miserable, we know not why; to work sore and yet gain nothing; to be heart-worn, weary, yet isolated, unrelated, girt in with a cold, universal laissezfaire." Professor Ely says: "Lai8sez jaire politics assures us we are not keepers of our brothers, that each one best promotes the general interest by best promoting his own. There are those who tell us in the name of science, that there is no duty which one class owes to another, and that the nations of the earth are mere collections of individuals with no reciprocal rights and duties. It is time for right-thinking persons, and particularly for those who profest Christianity, to protest vigorously, in season and out of season, against such doctrines, wherever found." I do most heartily indorse such noble words. I do not personally believe that our wise law of supply and demand, going gradually on, with nobody doing anything about it, is the last possible word of the science of political economy. I believe a better and nobler word is "co-operation" in some form, and that at least, albeit through pain and struggle, we 2a6 Labor. I/s Ri~cis and Wrongs. shall come to it. Meanwhile, while competition is on tilhe throne, the Christian must remember that brotherhlood is on a throne still higher. 1 know of an instance that occurred this winter of a very respectable girl wlho was employed in what might be considered a respectable house. She had been employed there eiglhteen months, and for two weeks before Cristlnas slie had to work until 12 o'clock at night, and on Ciristinas eve. she received her wages in an envelope with a notice that her services would be no longer required. There was no fault found with her at all, 11but on the Christmas eve. I suppose in order to make the next day more joyous to her she received that note. She was a girl eighteen years of age, and was working for $4 a week. Now, were that girl without a father or mother, or without a homne, what would be her position ? After a few weeks, what alternative would there Ie for her but the public streets? Yet she was turned off in that cruel way by a "Christian" man, one making high pretensions in that line! Such is a bit of evidence given before that Congressional committee of which I have before spoken. That may have been supply-and-demand political economy, but it was not Christianity. Christianity would have, at least, somehow cushioned the blow. Third. A ditlerent style of church building. I speak from a personal experience. I have preached in a church comnparatively small, with a mission adjunct. I have preached in a great building, welcoming by its very shape and size, every part of it furnished, The Cleveland Convenltion. 247 precisely alike, every pew in it commanding equally sight and sound, with broad aisles to do its subtle seating, and I know there is a difference in ease of prosecuting Christian work among all classes and a proportional disarming of distrusts. In the one case the comparative fewness of the pews pushed their tariff way beyond a usual reach. In the next ease a great increase of pews brought the tariff down within easy and self-supporting reach, while an equally large income accrued to the church itself. I have long been convinced that in our great cities at least, we build churches too small, and must have, therefore, pew rents too large. In my judgment and experience in great cities, great churches, with low pew rent, are still far easier places into which to gather people of all classes, and are at the same time the best solution of sure attendance and interest. Fourth. A far larger recognition on the part of Christians of the duty of a personal instead of a proxy evangelization. ' You see the day is past when the church could say, 'Silver and gold have I none,'" said Innocent IV. complacently to St. Thomas of A,jinadu, as he p)iated to the masses of treasure whiil were being carried into the Vatican. " Yes, holy Fathe'," was the saint's reply, " and tlhe day is also p.tst when she could say to the paralytic, 'Take up thy bed and walk.' " It is not simply gathered treasure, whether of gold, or of social position, or of culture, which can make the church able for her duty, disarm distrust of her among all classes, and fill her with power for the compelling of the 248 Labor.: Its Rzgkts and Wrongs. millennium. It is scattered treasures which will do it. It is as each one of her members does and keeps doing his share and hers of the priestly ministry, of personal interest and invitation. Why should you be willing to sit in one corner of your empty pew on Sunday ? Why should you not be restless until even from highways and hedges you have coipelled them to come in-shown by divine deed that God's house is for1all, and at least done your share toward the disarming of any positive distrust. Hon. Everett P. Wheeler was also greeted with applause. His address was an able and exhaustive one, but lack of space prevents the publication of more than thl' following brief synopsis The pre.ent church systern of this country .s mainly the outgrowth of that which our forefathers established in the colonies. Their population was, in the beginning, homogeneous. Diversities in wealth and material condition were inconsiderable compared with those which now exist. Every town and parish had a church, and all the people in the town came, to a certain degree, within the scope of the work of the church, and were recognized as having some connection with it. Emigrants took the same limited parish system westward with them. Great as is the good done by the churches that have sprung from these people, this system has left out of account almost entirely the incalculable change which has taken place in the mental conditions of our people. We have ceased to be a homogeneous people. To a The Cleveland Convenlion. 249 large extent the children of foreigners have become a part of our people, and have, to a large extent, maintained their national customs and peculiarities. The tendency of our public school system has been to train American children for business and professional pursuits. In technical schools the East is beginning to learn something from what Cleveland has done. But how little is done in comparison to what ought to be done in this connection. The result is that the skilled workmen are largely foreigners, and have come to constitute a class by themselves. Five centuries ago the church in Europe included within the scope of its organization the whole people. One of its principal functions was to defend the poor against the oppression 'of power. fnl nobles. The Reformation, with all its blessings divided Christendom into many different churches. It came to pass that men were more aggressive in defense of theological propositions than diligent in practicing the virtues of the doctrine of Christ. The sacrament of the Lord's Supper was even made a political test. The church, thus divided, lost much of its hold upon the common people. The result of all this has been that in all our large cities thlere is a great body of workingmen who are connected with no church. I would not for one minute under rate the work done by the church. But too long have we allowed hundreds of thousands to pass by on the other side. The time has come for an awakening, for upon the discharge of that duty depends the permanence of oar whiolo civilization. The ideal 11* 250 Labor: 1ts z/zls and Wrongs. Christiar commonwealth is that in which every citizen of Uhe State is also a nember of the Christian church in which all are brethren mutually dependent. Speaking as St. Paul did to the Colossians, when the unskilled labor of Rome was slavery, how much more significance his words have to us, and what light they throw on the strife between labor and capital. To the workingman le says : "Do your work to your best ability ; not scamping it ; not trying to do the least work for the most pay, but working in the sight of Him from whom no secrets are hid." And to the capitalist and employer he says : " Do the same things unto them ; knowing that your -Master also is in heaven, and there is no respect of persons with him." True is it that the main hindrance to the use of the Scriptures lies in the notion that you are acquanted with its contents. If the Christian people of America could realize what is meant by the word of God that has been read to them so many years they would realize that the more ignorant the workingmen are the more they need education, and that the church owes them the training of the heart. If we could once realize that it is our part and duty in every relation of life to consider the welfare of all with whom we come in contact, we would soon cease to deplore that the majority of workingmen have no interest in our churches. I concede that the workingmen have often shown a want of sympathy with the interests of their employers, and hlave fafiled to see that their interests are identical; but Tue Cleveland Convenztion. 25I the power of the demagogue is nothing new. Yet we must not fail to acknowledge that the labor organizations have had wise and temperate leaders like Mr. Powderly. For one, I do not object to labor associations. 1 welcome as a happy augury the fact that the Knights of Labor and the congress meet in Cleveland at the same time intent on the solution of the same problem, and I am sure that the sword will never cut this knot. I have seen in a New England town a factory managed to give to the workingmen all possible safety and comfort. No doubt such instances are comparatively few. It is easy to suggest difficulties in the co operation plan, and I cannot answer them all. I admit that the problem of how to effectively interest the working people in their work and the success of their employers is not yet solved. It never will be solved until every man feels it his duty to consider the welfare of his employer or employes as he would his own. This may be Utopian, but have you lost faith in the power of goodness ? The practical ways to begin the work will differ in different localities, but until we realize that we owe these people education, co-operation, and sympathy, we shall absolutely fail as Christians and citizens. Did not our fathers mean, when they united to adopt the Declaration of Independence, that all men, even the weakest, most ignorant, and exasperating, are our brothers After thle singing of a hymn, the discussion was continued by Mr. Jarrett. The ex-president of the Amnalgamatcd Association spoke with all the ring 252 Labor.- Its Rigis and Wrongs. and fervor of a camp-meeting orator, and if any one in the audience failed to closely follow him he must have been a wooden man. Mr. Jarrett spoke as follows :" My Dear Christian Friends: I never in my life before addressed an audience like this. I have spoken time and again on the labor question, but never to treat it as a distinctively religious question. To-night, I promise you, I am not only going to state exactly what I feel on this subject, but what I know are the feelings of my fellow-workingmen. [Applause.] There are many causes of the distrust of the workingmen in the church, and the first of them is that the workingmen-and I am speaking for a large body of them-think that the church is not what it ought to be. When the Prince of Peace canme to this world he had his followers. Who were they? He chose his twelve apostles. What were they? We see that in the second year of his ministry, after John the Baptist had been cast into prison-whether their were doubts in the heart of John or not, we know not,-he sent two of his disciples to Jesus, and they made this inquiry: 'Art Thou he who should come, or do we look for another?' Did the Saviour make immediate answer? He performed some of his miracles in the presence of John's disciples, and then turned around and told them, 'Go tell John the things that ye see; how that the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dead are brought back to life, and the The Cleveland Convention. 253 poor have the gospel preached unto them." The climax of the mission of the [Applause.] Saviour, beyond a question, to my mind and to the minds of the thousands of workingmen that I come in contact with, is that lie came here so that the gospel would be preached to the poor. "In the first place, what are we, as workingmen, to understand by this gospel? I see in this audience to-night many who are members of the noble order known as the Kniglits of Labor; and they say that labor is holy, and they call their order a holy order. And why ? Because God himself ordained from the beginning that man should work. Before sin entered into the world, after the Creator had created man, he placed him in the Garden of Eden to dress it and keep it. He was there to serve his Maker, and in order to serve his Maker he had something to donot something to believe, but something to do. Sin came; man fell. I pass over the history. You are all acquainted with it. Jesus came to this world. One evening I see him in the little town of Capernaum. He looks out towards Mount Hiermon, and he sees the workingmen, and the working-women, for aught I know, coming down from the hillside, heavy laden with the fruits of their toil of that day, and he raises his voice, as only the loving Saviour could raise his voice, and he says: 'Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' "We are told, and I hope that my dear friends of the ministry will not be offended if I say that we are 25 t Labor • s Rzkhts and Wrongs. told principally by them, that the Saviour came here simply that we might have heaven after leaving this world. The workingmen want to get a little of that heaven here, if they can. [Applause.] And Jesus came here to show them how to get it. He said, in speaking of himself as the Good Shepherd: ' I am come that ye mnight receive life, and that ye might receive it more abundantly.' Now, what did the Saviour meani by this? He meant that life lost in Adam-man's lost estate through sin-was to le redeemed by him, and that man was to receive that redemption, receive that salvation, the lost estate, back again in this world. [Applause.] Now, with that statement, you see exactly where we as workinginen stand, and what we are expecting. You have heard several causes of this distrust stated in the excellent paper that has been read. My heart leaped for joy when I heard that dear brother from Philadelphia read, ' We are all brothers in Christ, if we do his will. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples : if ye keep my commandments.' What are the commandments of Jesus ? There is one above all, and it is this :' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbor as thyself.' [Applause.] Now, is that doctrine, pure and simple, preached in the churches? Has it been preached in the churches for many years? I know that there are good messengers of God, good ministers of God 'in the church at the present time. I believe that some of them have The Cleveland Convention. 255 stood on this platform, because I have felt a thrill pass through my heart as I have heard the sweet words from their lips. I believe that there is a time of awakening dawning on the church even at the present time, and in place of your colleges being places of incubation, of turning qut ministers, by and by God will call these people to their work again. It is God's work. Show me a minister that does not succeed, and I will show you a man who is not called by God to the work. If a minister of a poor church, with only hard toiling workingmen around him, who is saving souls, accepts a call from another church simply because there will be added to his salary a thousand or woo thousand dollars and cannot there save souls, the, Lord has deserted him most assuredly. [Applause.] I do not wish to say anything on the subject of salaries. We believe, as workingmen, that there are a large number of men who stand up before us as the children of God and say to us, as the Apostle Paul said to the Corinthians,' Be ye followers of me, as I follow Christ;' and if the church has gotten astray it has gotten astray by following or trying to follow men who have not been following Chist. It may seem hard to say this, but nevertheless it is absolutely true. "An incident came under my personal observation a short time ago. A church was not thriving. Did the minister attend to the poor members? Oh, no. That church was one that paid more attention to the man that had the gold ring and the good raiment than to the poor man. It did not pay much atteif- 256 Labor. Its Rig/zls and Wrongs. tion to the poor man, and the principal reason why it did not, as was thought, at least by the poor man in the church, was because tley had not money enough to contribute toward the ministry and the expenses of the chlurch. I happened to visit these people. I was requested to attend their Sunday School. I did so. I lhave been a Sunday school teacher since I was thirteen years old, and I never intend to desert my post, because I believe that notwithstanding there are evils in existence in the church, God, in his mighlty power, will yet comeand touch us all, as branchles of the true vine, that we may bring forth moire fruit. [Applause.] " This church had dwindled down until there were only four members left. I had known that at one time there were at least three hundred mnembers, and when I visited it, I was very much surprised. I inquired what was the reason that it had dwindled to four members. Well, they had been quarreling among themnselves. What? Quarreling ? Is it a fact that there are schisms in the church-that there are quarrelings? The Apostle Paul says something about that, and so does James, and so do others of God's good men, in the bible and in other good works. Yes, there had been quarrelings and there had been tale-bearing there. There had been a great deal of hurting of feelings in that church, and eventually, as I stated, the church had dwindled down to a membership of four. A young man came there from college, and I am glad to say that all the young men that come from college are The CleadLed Conlvcztionz. 2-57 not bad men. There are some good men that are called by God through the college to his work. This young man came to this place. I happened to meet him on thlis Sunday when I discovered that there were only four members. He talked the matter over with me, and I was surprised when he asked me this ' Brother Jarrett, will you please come question: with me aside and let us pray God that lie will revive I thought it was a very good idea. his church.' Now, We went, and we prayed. I said to him: I don't know that God will answer that prayer nii ss you can pluck up sufficient courage to go out am o ing the members or the people who used to come to this church and invite them back. That is the prayer of faith.' He said, 'I will try and do that. I wish you would stay here a few days and assist me.' 1 did. We went up, and we invited several of the old members to come back, especially the well-to-do people, because we wanted them in to get their money as soon as we possibly could. [Laughter.] On the following Sunday only one fulfilled her promise. She was a very rich lady, and a very good lady, too, I assure you. And this dear young man said to me, 'Well, well, what will I do?' I said, 'I am going to speak here on labor next week. I will take a little interest in going around among these laboring men and see if I cannot get a few of them to come here.' I Want to tell you this, because I was so much interested in the matter. Among the wicked young men in the rolling mill was my own dear brother. He was the first man I approached. I said, 2538 Labor: Is Rzigis and Wrongs. 'Jim, mother is dead; father is dead; you and I promised to be good boys, and here I discover thtt you are a wicked boy yet. Come to clurch, Jim, and be a good boy.' I got him crying a little bit, and he eventually promised me that he would come to church, and I a~m glad to tell you that on the next Sunday morning he was there. [ saw a number of other wicked young men, young men that decent people would hardly notice, and I invited them to Quite a number of girls worked in come to churchl. the factory, and they were invited, and on the following Sunday there were sixty-two of those people that came to that church, and the mighty power of God's grace came and worked in their hearts, and those poor people were made heirs of salvation. [Applause.] This occurred something like nineteen years ago. [Applause.] That church has been taken down twice-not altogether taken down, but it has been doubled in size twice since that. I received a letter from them only a couple of weeks ago, and they osay the congregation is yet too large for the church, or rather, the church is too small for the congregation, and 1 thank God for that. Now, what did this? That young man had learned the secret of preaching-what? Theology? No; he let theology go to the winds. What did he preach ? Christ and him crucified to those poor workingmen. [Applause.] Hlie preached another thing to those workingmen. He told them that the drunkard had no place in heaven. And he told them something else -that the extortioner has no place there either. If The Cleveland Conventzlionz. 259 the chunrclh will arise in its might and power and preach the gospel, and show that the extortioner, the man who oppresses the hireling in his wages, the man who extorts from the workingmen theih earnings and robs them has no place in the kingdom of heaven, you will-find that God will work in our midst in a very short time. [Applause.] "I was talking with a manufacturer, a dear friend of mine, and a good, pious man, only the other day about my coming here, and he turned around and said to me: "Why, look at these large works of mine. Look at the large number of men to whom I have furnished employnent. Am I not a good man for doing that, Mr. Jarrett2?' I said, 'Yes, sir, a good man; but let lme a.k you one question, my dear friend. It will be an easy one. What was your object in doing tlhis ?' 'WWhy,' said he, 'to furnish work to these poor men, that they minght have bread and butter for their wives and children, and get good clothes on their backs, and to build up the community inll general.' 'Was that your object, now, pray tell mne, or was it not-and answer me as before Godto increase your wealth ?' ' Well,' said he, ' I will adinit there was a little bit of that in it.' ' Then,' said I, 'verily, ye hlave received your reward.' Now, my friends, what we need just now is that the pure gospel of Jesus Christ be preached to the poor Let them understand that men of this world. Jesus sympathizes with the workingmen. Let us go away back among the old hills of Galilee, and down 260 Labor: Its Righzs and Wrongs. into the beautiful city of Jerusalem, and away up through Samaria, and let us follow the Saviour in his journey through life, and we will see the poor workingmen, the down-trodden, the oppressed, look. ing for hope somewhere, and Jesus stretches out his beautiful arms to them and says, 'Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.' Jesus is the hope of the workingmen, because Jesus himself came to this world to set us an example how to live. He cursed the Pharisees; he cursed the extortioners in the temple; he cursed every man that did not devote his life, as he said he ought to devote it, to the welfare of others. If Jesus came here and lived for us, it simply means that we are to live for one another. Selfishness must go into the background. Good men must come out. As I said to a gentleman the other day, the solution of the whole matter is this: ' Do unto others as ye would that others should do unto you.' lie turned around and asked me, ' But who is to commence to do that?' Said I, 'The Saviour commenced to do it. Hlie did it for all of us. He not only lived for us and set us an example how to live, but he died for us to show his great and intense love for us; and if we follow Jesus we must learn to live for one another, so that if need be, like the good soldier on the battle-field, we will be ready to die for one another; and then I shall hope to see the time come when employer and employe shall join hands together in a bond of love and unity, and then they can look up to heaven and sing with joy:-- The C/eveland Convention. " Praise Praise Praise Praise 261- God from whom all blessings flow; him all creatures here below; him above, ye heavenly host: Father, Son, and Holy Ghost." Mr. Henry George was then announced, and again the applause arose. Cleveland is familiar with this well-known, le,;turerl, and the audience showed that the acqu intance was a pleasant one. In a clear, ringing voice, and with a manner of intense earnestness, he spoke most eloquently as follows:Mr. Jarrett said that he had addressed a good many audiences in his time, but never such an audience as t!is. I could say that, too ; and thinking what an audience it is, my mind goes back to the time when the secretary of this congress and I were Sunday school boys together in the Protestant Episcopal Church of St. Paul's, in Philadelphia. I do not know precisely what he thought those times, but if I may judge him by myself, we thought that the Protestant Episcopal Church was the true, holy, apostolic church. The Catholics---well, we had some hope that they mnight be saved-some of them. [Laughter.] As to the Methodists-well, to use a commercial expression, they were away below par. [Laughter.] And as to the Universalists, why I remnember hearing that a girl married a Universalist, and it seemed to me then almost as bad as though shle had married a Mohammedan. [Laughlter.] The world is moving, and nothing shows how rapid thlat 262 Labor Its Rzizls and Wrongs. mGvement is better than such a gathering as this, where, in their official capacities as clergymen of denominations that have been estranged, if not hostile, they meet together. It is good-good in all senses. Most of our prejudices and dislikes are founded upon our ignorance. As we meet men of various classes, of various countries, we learn to appreciate the good that is in then. And so it will be with the men of different branches of the Christian church as they come together ; and as they thus come together, and in the process of thought that is now going on, it is my confident hope and belief tlhat the non-essentials will fall off and the true essentials of the Clhristian faith come out brighter and purer, and clearer and stronger. Whlat is the reason of the workingTnan's distrust of the churchh ? The first speaker expressed some doubt as to whether there was any such distrust. I was talking to-day with a member of the Assembly of the Knights of Labor, and hie asked what was the subject to be debated here to-night. I told him. He said : " Distrust of the church! The trouble with workingmen is that they too much trust the church." It may be an open question, as the first speaker put it, whether the workingmen do or do not distrust the church ; but this is certain : thAt the active, ardent spirits among the workingmen, not in this country alone, but all over the world-the men who are stretching forward, and hoping and struggling for some improvement in the material condition of the hard-worked masses-alhnost witlhout exception', The Cleveland Convention. 263 everywhere distrust the church. Any man who mingles with them may hear it day after day. There exists a feeling of utter hopelessness that soon grows to bitter hostility. The church, the first speaker said, is against those extremists, the Socialists, the Anarchists. She is one side of the shield, and they the other. With them she can have nothing in common. Who are these men, the Socialists, the Anarchists, the Nihilists, and what is it they seek? What are they struggling for-crudely and blindly, perhlaps, but still what ? Is it not for a state of greater equality, for a state of more perfect peace, for a condition where no one will want and no one suffer for the material needs of existence? That is the ideal those men have before them, blind and wrong in their methods though they be. And what is that ideal? Is it not the kingdom of God on earth? [Applause.] Wllat was the reason that a doctrine preached by a humble Jewish carpenter, who was crucified between two thieves, propagated by slaves and fugitives meeting in caverns, overran the world and overthrew the mighlt of the legion and the tortures of the amphitheater and dungeon. Was it for theological distinction that Rome, the tolerant Rome, that welcomed all gods to her Pantheon, persecuted the adherents of this new Galileean superstition? No; it was not any belief as to the divinity, any belief as to the origin of things, any belief as to a future state. On those subjects they might have held as they pleased. It was because they sought the kingdom of God on earth. It was becitse they 264 Labor: Is Righs anud Wrongs. hoped to bring it about there and then. It was because that doctrine of the fatherhood of a common Creator and the brotherhood of men struck at the root of tyranny ; struck at the privileges of those who were living in luxury on the toil and the blood and the sweat of the worker. [Applause.] How is it to-day I do not know if ever you have thought of it, but coming once from journeyings through the British Islands, where I have seen the gaunt misery of the Irish peasants and heard the bitter stories of the Scottish crofters, and talked in cities like Edinburg and Glasgow and Belfast and Liverpool and London, with men and women who have gone among the poor and seen their dire, heart-breaking misery, I came to Windsor Castle and there,-perhaps some of you have seen it,-in that gorgeous marble chapel, there is represented, by the hand of the sculptor, the " Passion of Christ"--all the scenes to the last terrible scene when he is nailed to the cross. And for what? To uphold and support the effigy of a prince, the crown and the climax of that infamous system that on those islands to-day is crushing human beings, made in the likeness of God, to a state lower than that of the very beast [applause]-that is bringing about, not merely the death of the body, bitter though that be, but the death of the soul as well. Is it not so everywhere? Is not the Christian church to-day the support and the bulwark of the social conditions that are ? That is what these men believe, and out of that comes this bitter hostility. I believe that it is really the spirit of religion. Religion, to The Cleveland Convention. 265 my mind, has little or nothing whatever to do with what you think of God. What it has to do with is what you do toward your fellow-men. In those parables of the gospel, when the soul comes before the judgment seat, what is it asked? "What did you believe? Did you praise me and glorify me?" No. " What did you do for the poor and oppressed ?" And at the bottom of Socialism and Nihilism, the revolt everywhere against these hard conditions of modern society is really the religious spirit. Where will you find in modern times those who most resemble the early Christians, but in those highbred Russian ladies, and those men who, forsaking rank and fortune and everything else, go, giving everything the adieu, to commit even an act that in itself would be a crime for the elevation of their fellows. I am glad that such a subject as this is discussed before such a meeting as this. As Mazzini said, every political question is at bottom a social question, and every social question is at bottom a religious question, and it is the religious spirit, and the religious spirit alone, that has in it power to renovate the world. Selfishness can accomplish nothing real, and lasting and permanent. It is to the sentiment of duty and the sentiment of love that the appeal must be made; and out of these, and of these, is evoerywhere the spirit of religion. Why do workingmen distrust the church.I Workingmen of the sort I mean distrust the church because its voice is not raised in any efficient way against the condit:ons which condemn great masses 12 266 Labor-. Its Rights and Wrongs. of men to a life for which, in their inmost souls, they feel that an all-powerful and beneficent Creator never possibly could have intended them. The church has much to say of charity and kindness, much denunciation of wrong in a general way, much praise of the good in a general way; but when it comes to specific things, where is the church ? Social questions are now beginning to attract attention among the clergy of all denominations, and it is one of the most hopeful signs. But what is the tenor of the great majority of the sermons that are preached? As I heard a clergyman express it the other night, it is temperance, and such virtues for the poor, and the gospel for the poor and the rich. It is: be kind, be generous, let the workman serve his master diligently, and let the master be generous and kind to the workman. Kindness, generosity, none of those amiable virtues can cure the conditions which condemn great masses of men to hard and miserable lives. Generosity, kindness, none of these amiable virtues can narrow that widening gulf between the rich and the poor. What is needed is something higher, and something that must come first. What is needed is justice. [Applause.] And here, let me say that political economy can teach absolutely nothing that is not taught by morality. No matter how it may be in the smaller affairs of life and when ive only see the relations of individuals, nothing is more certain than thit in the lives of communities that which is right is always that which is wise. And all we have to ask The Cleveland Convention. 267 at any time as to any great social question is, what is right? What is just ? Now, without going into it, here is one great injustice that lies at the foundation of modern society to-day. What is the teaching of religion? That we are all the children of a .common Father; that he created this earth for our tenancy during a brief life, one generation following another; that we are all his children and all equal in his sight. Yet religion, which, as preached too often to-day, promises us an equal share in the kingdom of heaven in a future life, has not one word to say about the denial to thousands and hundreds of thousands and millions of the creatures of our common Father of all share and right on this earth. [Applause.] There, at the very foundation of society, lies a very great wrong, which is competent to produce all the suffering, all the poverty, all the turmoil that we see and that must, with an advancing civilization, unless that wrong is remedied, go on increasing, and as the old animosities and the old theological incrustations of faith fall away. I trust and I believe that that higher, truer religious view of this life will come out. Even now there are voices everywhere, among the clergy of all denominations-single voices. Let me repeat but one toyou, and that from a Catholic bishop, Dr. Nulty, Bishop of Meath, in an address to the .clergy and laity of his diocese, said : '_Now, therefore, the land of ..every .country is the common property of the people of that country, because its real owner, the Creator who 268 Labor: Is Rzghs and Wrongs. made it, bath given it a voluntary gift unto them. The earth hath he given to the children of men, and as every human being is a creature and a child of God, and as all his children are equal in his sight, any settlement of the land, of this or any other country, that will deny to the humblest his equal share of the common heritage is not merely an injustice and a wrong to that man but a blasphemous violation." [Applause.] Christianity of that kind has in it the power to conquer the world again. The first to respond to the call for short addresses was the secretary of the congress, Rev. William Wilberforce Newton, of Pittsfield, Mass., an impetuous and able orator. A synopsis of his remarks is as follows: "I little thought that when we were boys in St. Paul's Church, that the little white-haired lad, Henry George, would go on and do the work he is now engaged in. We now meet on this platform and I take his appearance as a good augury for the church of the future. Admiral Drake, when about to engage in battle with the Dutch, was met by a message from his pilot saying that nothing could be done, owing to the ebb of the tide. The admiral said: ' Are yo,u through with your remonstrance? Well, you've dpne your duty.' Then turning to the sailing master, he ordered:' Lay me alongside that Dutch frigate.' Here, to-night we have done with remonstrance, and the command now is lay us alongside this problem and let us capture it. I don't The Cleveland Convention. 269 know whether the Kniglhts of Labor have captured us or we the knights; but thank God we are beside them. I received a letter fro m a workman the other day. I shall answer it with the aid of what was said here last night. He asked me to tell why a workingman should go to church, As was said last night, yesterday was with him Saturday night, and to-morrow was Monday. He had paid his lodge fees and his insurance. Sunday was a breathing space, and the church would do for the women and children. The average clergyman, he says, knows little of the wants of the workingmen, and he asks,' Why should I go to church ?' I will answer that he should, because the man that tries to save himself is lost, and because the church is the base of all morality. The workingman's distrust of the church-what are its causes? Look at the commercial world and look at the factory world. In old times they stood in different relationship to each other than they now do. Now there is something between them. The manufacturers are now corporations. What stands between them? It is typified in the slave driver of Egypt, the Legree of Harriet Beecher Stowe, and the political boss. Corporations, as individuals, may have souls, but as corporations, never. There is one thing that the people will not submit to in polities, ecclesiasticism and the church, and that one thing is the machine. This is simply because they are the children of forefathers who always stood for libertyand right. This may be one of the causes inquired for in the subject. What shall be done ? The peo- 270 Labor. Its RZihts and Wrongs. ple say there is no help for it, and that they must suffer: on. But as has been said, if this is not righted, then we are not living in God's world, and if the Knights of Labor are trying to right it, God bless them in their work, for it can be done, and it will be done." The last speaker on this important topic was Rev. E S. Lorenz, a prominent young minister of Day ton, O. He is a ftnent and logical orator, and held the attention of the audience thoroughly during the ten minutes allotted him. He spoke in substance as follows : " As the pastor of a distinctively workingmnen's church, I want to say a word on this timely subject. I feel that the whole question of the distrust of the workingmen of the church is thoroughly exaggerated. The New York Evening Post and newspapers of that class sneer at Christianity, create distrust among the workingmen, and magnify these evils. The fact that there is distrust we cannot deny, but let us look at the classes where it is found. It abounds mostly among the foreign element which comes to our shores. They come from foreign countries where the word of the priest is law, and they look with distrust, yes, even with hate, on our free institutions. Look at the Irish and German Catholics, and the German Lutherans, and the same condition is found. I have not a word to say against the Lutheran Church, for it is one of the powers of the country, but I speak of the riff-raff mixed with priest-craft which seeks a home here. They have been taught that the hand of the minister The Clevzeland Convention. 27J can open the way to heaven. When these men come i:hre all their energies are concentrated in a distrust of the church because of the intoxication of a liberty to which they are not accustomed. Another class of imen who distrust the church are those who come to the cities from the villages. They have been brought up in the church and the Sunday school, and are Christian men. The little manufacturing establishments are wrecked by the monopolies, the men are thrown out of employment, and remove to the cities, where they become the serfs of the princes of capital. They feel that they have been robbed of their manhood and their privileges, and distrust is created. They walk into a gorgeous church, and see the minister in his robes, and they say that they do not feel at home there, it is not like the old church at home. They are never greeted with a smile, never given a kind word, much less a cordial press of the hand. They go out, and the next Sunday they come again, but the courteousness of the ushers is icy, and they say, ' I don't care for the church!1' They may go again, but the same chilly atmosphere greets them, and they stop at once and forever. Sunday school superintendents may come to the city, and on account of this chilliness they may backslide, and not only distrust, but hate the church. I speak not from imagination, but from what I have seen. Our religion has too much unreality in it. There is too much unreal in the services, the gestures of the minister are studied, and the ideal of the proper has swallowed up the ideal of religion. There is unreality in the church, unreality 272 Labor.. Its fRzghIs and Wif9ongs. in the office, unreality in the social life. All is hollowness and heartlessness. Unreality is the disease which is now on the church, and it is driving the workingmen into the saloons, into the clubs of the Anarchist, and to follow the red flag on its march of destruction. Mr. Powderly and Ienry George are doing much for the workingmen. Capitalists, you had better beware!" Rev. Lorenz was frequently applauded, and the outburst at the close was almost deafening. PROTECTION AND FREE TRADE. Believers in a protective tariff and apostles of free trade sat in Music Hall and alternately applauded the remarks of Mr. John Jarrett and Mr Henry George. Occasionally some especially brilliant argument would receive the united plaudits of both factions. Certainly both speakers were listened to with calm and dignified attention. No more interesting advocatew of the two great doctrines, over which men have always differed could have been selected. The protectionists have always looked upon Mr. Jarrett as one of their most able champions, while the appeals hitherto made by Mr. George in behalf of free trade have conmmanded wide attention. When the two came on the platGeneral Drake formu there was loud applause. called the meeting to order at 8.10 o'clock, and said that each speaker would have four opportunities to speak. Each would have an opening speech of fifteen minutes and three others of ten minutes each. Mr. Jarrett was first introduced, and when he came to the front of the platform he Neither of the speakers received an ovation. resorted to manuscript during the evening. Mr. 12* [273] 2-74 Labor. Its Rz' kls and Wrozgs. J arrett reached into an inner pocket and everyone looked for a roll of manuscript. Instead Mr. Jarrett pulled out a great Handkerchief, clinched it tightly in his right hand, and launched out at once into the topic of the evening. He began by emphasizing the fact that the most cordial and friendly relations existed between Mr. George and himself. Each, he said, .conscientiously believed in the doctrine advocated. "I am here," said he, "to present the side of protective tariff. I am here as a laboring man, born in a free trade country and living in a country with a tariff, I am opposed to foreign free trade. There now exists in this couhtry free trade between the States-this is not the system we are to discuss to night. I was in New York at a recent convention, and a friend pointed to a sign reading : 'We have free speech; we have a free press; why not have free trade?' That was a subterfuge. It should have read: ' We have free speech and a free press in the United States, why not free trade in the United States?' Then it would have been unobFree trade under existing circumjectionabie. stances cannot possibly exist in this country. I only urge protection upon such articles as are also manufactured in this country. The great secret of industrial supremacy is labor. [Applause.] Labor is the only source of wealth. Unless some restraint is placed upon labor in this country, as compared with the labor of other countries, wages must go down. The highest wages I was ever ptaid at my work in Protection and Free Trade. 2.75 my native country was $1.75 per ton. When I aeiiie to America I received $4 per ton for the same work. [Applause.] The highest wages now paid in Great Britain for this class of work is $1.62 per ton and tne highest wages in America $6 per ton." Mr. Jarrett emphasized the difference in wages between free trade England and protective America until the bell sounded announcing the expiration of his time. Mr. Henry George was then introduced, and the ovation given him fully equalled the one accorded Mr. Jarrett. Mr. George began by reciprocating the feelings of esteem existing between Mr. Jarrett and himself, and said: "I am certain that there are honest free traders in this country for I am one myself. [Laughter.] I am also certain that there are honest protectionists, for I have been one myself. [Renewed laughter.] I became a free trader by listening to the speeches of other protectionists. This question of a tariff sinks into insignificance when compared with the great questions to which it leads. No protectionist would argue, I think, that a tariff that is so very good is only good for one country. If this freedom in speech and press is so good why is it not good in trade. It is almost by an accident that we are a nation at all. Originally we were thirteen free and independent colonies. If these were all separate nations we should have Pennsylvania crying out against the tariff from Ohio, 276 Labor:. Is Rzh'ts and Wrongs. and New York disclaiming against Virginia. If free trade is so good between the States why is it not equally good between the continents? If a man buys anything he buys it for his own good, not to benefit anyone else. I cannot agree with my friend that the secret of industrial supremacy is labor. What we want to do is to get rid of work. [Laughter.] What I have always been looking for is rest. Can anyone tell nme why we should deprive ourselves of the advantages possessed by other countries? If there was some process by which we could get iron for half its present cost ought we not to take it ? The trouble is that this world has not been constructed on protection principles. If the Creator had not intended us to have free trade he would have build a chain of mountains around our harbors or surrounded its with impossible barriers. Just as we have extended trade in the country, so has wealth increased. That is what we all want. No man wants to work for the sake of work. The trouble is that we have allowed men to monopolize that from which alone wealth can be produced. If I believed that protection would increase wages I would be a protectionist. It is not protection that raises wages. How does protection benefit the farmer ?" Just as Mr. George reached that point in his argument he was notified that his time had expired. Mr. Jarrett received another ovation when he came forward for his second speech. He said: "There is a wonderful difference between theory Proteclion and Free Trade. 277 and practice. It is all very well to say that we want leisure, but men must work." Mr. Jarrett then drew a picture of the squalor and misery existing among the workingmen in Turkey, and said that that country camne nearer possessing absolute free trade than any other country on the globe. " In no place," said lie, "islabor so degraded. If, on the other hand, you desire to see labor elevated. If you want to see the laboring an nearest to all that is possible for him to become, I invite you to look at this land of protection, the land of the stars and stripes. [Loud and long applause.] I do not think with my friend that trade is the great central idea of civilization. The possibility of every man earning an honest living is a much higher ideal." Mr. George then occupied ten minutes more. He said that the protection which a protective tariff afforded labor was like the protection a sheep would receive from a wolf. "Foreigners are not going to send their goods here for nothing," said he. " I wish they would, but they won't. I can use as many cigars and as much sugar as Jay Gould. The protectionist would tax us both alike. Now, Jay Gould is worth fifty million times as much as I am. Would it not be more practical to tax him fifty million times as much? [Lauglhter.] Here is where the unjustness of the whole matter rests. A protective tariff was instituted in the first place because the poor are hielpless. It was the way the rich encroached themselves against the poor. If you want to tax the people for the benefit of the laboring man why not 278 Labor . Its R ,ots and Wrongs. levy the tax direct and give the money to the workmngmen. Then it would not go into the pockets of the capitalist with ten chances to one of his keeping it. The rudimentary condition of education and civilization in Turkey explains the condition of her laborers. Here in this free, enlightened land we ouglht to lead the world." Mr. George used the rest of his time in referring to the fact that cotton operatives are earning froin sixty to eighty cents per day. " I like this," said Mr. Jarrett, coming forward. " Now Mr. George is beginning to talk. When he spoke of the cotton operatives only earning eighty cents a day, he referred to about the only product that can be made cheaper in America than elsewhere. This is the great question: Is it not our duty to protect the industrial system of our country and make it the best in the world? If we are the highest class of laborers in the world, ought we not to continue as such? Let me address a few words to the Knights of Labor. Are you not opposed to thp importation of contract labor ? You are. Are you not then also opposed to the free importation of the products of contract labor? [Enthusiastic applause.] The whole scheme of the free trader is trade. That is all there is to it. Here are two families. Each agrees to buy of the other everything needed. That is all there is to free trade." [Laughter.] [Applause.] Mr. George, continuing, said: "If you want the laboring man to have employment you must break down the barriers that keep men out of Protection and Free Trade. 279 employment. We do want-to protect our industrial system, but why confine ourselves to this country? If protection is good for this country, is it not also good for every country on the globe ? To help ourselves, we must help others. The Socialistic idea, for all laborers to unite and overthrow restrictions, is the true one. Protection is part of the policy of, the capitalist to keep men down. No workingman has anything to gain. It entails corruption. Think of the bribes that are given members of Congress to vote for its continuance." Mr. Jarrett then read a table of figures to demonstrate his statement that every time the tariff on iron had been reduced wages had imnediately come down correspondingly. R3ferring to Mr. George's desire for universal free trade, Mi'. Jarrett said: "It would be cruel for me to wish any harm to my mother country, but so long as I am an American I am going to be an American in all my inspirations and aspirations. [Applause.] If a protective tariff benefits the American workingman, why should we concern ourselves of the effect elsewhere ?" Ile read a letter from Edward Trow, general secretary of the Amalgamated Association of England, in which that gentleman referred to the depressed con. dition of the iron industry there as a result of protection to American industries. Mr. George said the fact that men were out of employment in England proved nothing; that men are deprived of their natural rights is not due to the tariff. The only reason that wages are low here is that this country 280 Labor:. Is Rzgkhs and Wrongs. is fenced in. You cannot incidentally increase the cost of one thing without incidentally increasing the cost of others. But for a protective tariff, this would be the leading nation on the earth. Let us fear the competition of no nation on: the globe. A thing so mean, so corrupt as a protective tariff ought to be done away with speedily and effectually. During the debate a nunber of questions had been handed up addressed to each gentleman and some of them were answered like this: "If American laborers are working for just living wages how can English workingmen work for less ?" Mr. Jarrett. I cannot tell. I only know they do. Q. As the value of a manufactured article depends on the amount of labor upon it, why should the article be taxed and not the labor ? Mr. Jarrett. Will the gentleman writing this question kindly say exactly what he mean ? A gentleman arose and said: " I mean why do we tax imported products, why not tax imported labor ?" [Applause.] Mr. Jarrett replied that he was opposed to foreign laborers coming to this country unless they would consent to work for the same wages that are now being paid our workingmen. [Great applause.] Mr. Jarrett expanded this idea, and each one was applauded. Q. Do you regard a protective tariff as a tax ? Mr. George. A purely protective tariff would keep out all foreign products. Our tariff is a cross between a protective tariff and a tariff for revenue only. Proec ion and Free Trade. 2'81 Q. Does a tax of twenty cents a bushel on wheat help the farmer ? Mr. George. Not at all. It does the farmer no good. The State lecturer of the Knights of Labor of Iowa wrote: "Most of our Westerners regard the tariff as a boycott against our 60,000 knights." Mr. George. It is, but it is more of a boycott against our own knights. Q. Will Mr. George please state if a protective tariff has ever been necessary in this country? Mr. George. No; never. Q. Would you advise absolute free trade in America if it did not exist in other countries ? Mr. George. Yes, sir; I would. If there was a protective tariff in every other country in the world I would be in favor of free trade in America. Mr. Powderly was noticed in the crowd, and Mr. Jarrett asked him to come up. The master workman hesitated, but the applause continued so long and loud that he had to step to the stage, where he thanked the audience for their kindness and modestly retired. The last session of the General Assembly, on Thursday, June 3d, 1886, elected, to fill the vacancy of the executive board, Mr. Joseph R. Buchanan, of Denver, Col., and Mr. Ira B. Aylesworth, of Baltimore, Md. At 12 o'clock the convention took its noon recess, re-assembling at 1.30 o'clock. The first busi- 282 Labor: Its Riz/ghs and Wrongs. ness taken up was the report of the committee on the state of the order, and with but little discussion the following address was adopted: AN ADDRESS TO TRADES UNIONISTS. Brothers in the cause of labor: We, the Knights of Labor in general assembly convened, extend our heartiest greetings to all branches of honorable toil, welcoming them to the most friendly alliance in a common work. This organization embraces within its folds all branches of honorable toil and conditions of men without respect to trade, occupation, creed, color, or nationality. We seek to raise the level of wages and reduce the honis of iabor, to protect men and women in their occupations, in their lives and limbs, and in their rights as citizens. We seek also to secure such legislation as shall tend to prevent the unjust accumulation of wealth, to restrict the powers of monopolies and corporations, and to enact such wise and beneficial legislation as shall promote equity iand justice, looking forward to the day whlen co-operation rhall supersede the wage-system, and the castes and classes that now divide men shall be forever abolished. We recognize the service rendered tp humanity and the cause of labor by trades union organizations, but believe the time has come, or is fast approaching, when all who earn their bread by the sweat of their brow shall be enrolled under one general head, as we are controlled by one cornmon law-the law of our necessities; and we will gladly welcome to our ranks, or to protection under Prolection and Free Tradc. 283 banner, any oyganization requesting admission, and to such organizations as believe their craftsmen are better protected under their present form of government we pledge ourselves, as members of the great army of labor, to co-operate with them in every honorable effort to achieve the success which we are unitedly organized to obtain, and to this end we have appointed a special committee to confer with a like committee of any national or international trades union. which shall desire to confer with us on the settlement of any difficulty that may occur between the members of the several organizations. We have received a communication from a committee of the national officers of some of the national and international trades unions requesting certain specific legi-lation at our hands, but as we believe that the object sought and stated in the preamble to the communication above referred- to can best be accomplished by a conference between a committee of this association and a committee of any othler organization, and as the propositions contained therein are inconsistent with our duty to our members, we therefore defer action upon said propositions until a conference of committees can be held. The basis upon which we believe an agreement can be reached would necessarily include the adoption of some plan by which all labor organizations could be protected from unfair men, men expelled, suspended, under fine, or guilty of taking the places of union men or Lnights of Labor while on strike or while locked Sat from work, and that, as far as possible, a uniform 2,94 Labor: Is Rzgts and Wrongs. standard of hours of labor and wages should be adopted, so that men of any trade enrolled in one order and members of trades unions may not come in conflict because of the difference in wages or hours of labor. We also believe that a system of exchanging working cards should be adopted so that members of any craft belonging to different organizations could work in harmony together-the card of any member of this order admitting him to work in any union shop, and the card of any union man admitting him to work in any Knights of Labor shop. We further believe that upon a demand for increase of wages or shorter hours of labor made by either organization, a conference should be held with the organized laborers employed in the establishment. When the demand for increase of wages or reduction of hours is contemplated, action upon a proposed reduction of wages or other difficulty to be agreed upon in like manner, and that in the settlement of any difficulties between employers and employes, the organizations represented in the establishment shall be parties to the terms of settlement. Trusting that the method proposed herein will meet with your approyal, and that organized labor will move forward and onward in harmony of effort, and of interest, we are, yours fraternally. The general master workman was instructed to appoint a standing conference committee of five te, deal with the trades unionists troubles that might Protection and Free Trade. 285 arise before the Richmond convention. In the spirit of good fellowship that prevailed during the closing hours, the following address to the public was adopted by the convention:"The members of the General Assembly, Knights of Labor, desire to inform the public that all newspaper reports of serious dissensions among their number are absolutely finfounded. The General Assembly is practically a unit on all questions that have been brought before it. The reports that the election of the members of the auxiliary executive board is of any significance are also without foundation, as the members were elected without regard to any specific ends or purposes, but according to the desires and predilections of individual representations. All charges of intrigues and machinations against General Master Workman Powderly or any member of the executive board can have originated only with men anxious for personal gain or notoriety. No voice has been raised either in the session or privately against the private character or official action of General Master Workman Powderly or any member of the executive board, and the only reason for the election of an auxiliary executive board was to relieve the members of the old board of the immense amount of labor that had accumulated on their hands owing to the extraordinary increase in the membership of the order. As the auxiliary members have neither voice nor vote in the board proper, but are to be simply assistants, their election 286 Labor-. Its R gkhs and Wrbngs. can by no possibility be construed to indicate a lack of confidence on the part of this General Assembly in the executive board. We take special pleasure in expressing our most unbounded confidence in the integrity, patriotism, and honesty of purpose not only of General Master Workman Powderly, but of every member of the executive board, and ask all papers that have been misled in publishing statements to the contrary, emanating from evil disposed and designing men, not representatives to the General Assembly, and in some cases not members of the order, to publish this correction." AN ADDRESS TO THE GRANGERS. The last official act of the convention was the adoption of the following address to the Grangers Organtization To the Cultivators of the Soil The General Assembly of the Knilghts of Labor sends fraternal greeting to the officers and members of the National Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, anid all kindred organizations of agricultural workers. It respectfully reminds the producers of food that the pick, loom and anvil are the natural allies of the sickle and scythe. That the workers in the mines, shops, mills, etc., are organized -and hlionoraibly pledged to work faithfully ad harmoniously for deliverance from thie tyranny of corrupt rings Kind wrong systems by and through which, wicked men, Protection and Free Trade. 237 in their haste and greed, blinded by selfishness, can and do disregard and violate the rights of the deserving, industrious wealth-producers with impunity. That the Knights of Labor need the help of the food-producing millions of America in its efforts to restore to the public domain all the lands now wrongfully held by alien noi-resident owners and cattle syndicates ; that it needs their help to obtain from Congress an American monetary system wisely devised-one that will dispense blessings equitably to all the people, and " the rest of mankind ;" it needs their help to rescue the toilers from the grasp of the selfish, to destroy the powerful evil of aggregated wealth, to terminate the corrupting reign of the almighty dollar, and to enthrone the good old plan, and so check all vested monsters-land and sea. Therefore, it invites and respectfully urges such national co-operation as will tend to destroy gambling in food product, and relegate the intermediate class, whose interests are in conflict with consumers' and producers' interests as a whole. Such co-operation as will create and perpetuate a willingness in each individual to bear equitably all burdens, and share equally all blessings, and in the most potential vay inspire all with a wholesome hatred for dishonesty and infidelity to these principles. It believes, as Thomas Jefferson did, that dependence begets subservience and venality, suffocates the germ of virtue and prepares fit tools for.- the -designing and the ambitions; and also that corruption-of morals inthe mass of cultivators of the soil -is phenomenon of a 288 Labor. Its Rizghs and Wrongs. which no age or nation has ever furnished an example. The General Assembly of the Knights of Labor indorse the sentiment of the following lines "Too many there be that you daily see, With selfish, hollow pride, Who the plowjnan's lot, in his humble cot, With a scornful look deride. " Yes, we'd rather take, aye, a hearty shake From his hand than to wealth we'd bow, For the friendly grasp of their hands' rough clasp Have stood by the good old plow." HOW TlHE GENERAL ASSEMBLY ADJOURNED. It was a little after 5 o'clock when the motion to adjourn sine die was made. Before putting the question, General Master Workman Powderly congratulated the delegates on the work accomplished during the session. The members had remained steadfast during the long session, and nearly all were present at every roll call. The work accomplished would affect the condition of more men to raise them up than any previous meeting of the assembly has done. The work may not be appreciated at once by the public, but the Knights of Labor would soon be aware of the great steps taken to better the condition At the conclusion of the of the' workingman. speech, the motion to adjourn was put and carried, and the gavel of the general master workman fell for the last time on the deliberations of the assembly. ARBITRATION IN LABOR DISPUTES. THOMAS M. COOLEY. THE country is seriously disturbed at this time by what are called labor controversies. Some of these are labor controversies in a strict sense, arising as they do between employers and laborers, and having regard to the contract of service, while others are labor controversies only in the sense that those who are commonly employers and laborers are on different sides of them. The effect on business and on the peace of the country is serious, and the disputes are so unyielding that many are ready to declare the foundations of industrial society broken up and accepted principles of political economy shown to be unsound. Some teachers of that science come forward to demand effective legislation which shall cure the evils: a very proper demand if they pointed out what the effective legislation should be. This, however, it does not appear that they do, though the duty from their standpoint is obvious. The expert should devise the proper remedy and enlighten the legislative mind in respect to it; and 13 [289] 290 - Labor: Its Rig/is and Wrongs. he should show not merely that it would be effective if we had it, but that it is within the compass of legislative power. In a country also where the people are unused to and will not tolerate "paternal " government, it must be made to appear that the remedy is one which does not require despotic methods for its enforcement; if it does, it is so entirely out of the question that discussion of it is time thrown away, and whoever proposes it by that very fact shows his unfitness to be ' a guide in a crisis. But with no guidance whatever beyond their o6 good Sense, it may be quite woiti While for intitlligent persons to direct attieition to r edies tlre'ady ithini reach. The remedies needed aie such as will prevent instead of inviting, the evils tliey have in view. What e see now is that parties aie taking riedress into their owli hands; that the ieans resorted to are hostile, some of them avowedly destructive, so that a species oIf civil war results, which naturally and alimost necessarily leads to violence and tio the partial oterthiow of the civil atithority. Such a state of things a"sails soineting besides the teachings of political ecbnomyff it put popular government onr trial* aid the qitestion it forcetiupod ihe attention is, whether the American peple posess that degree of self-restraint within the bounds 6f reason, upon which representative iistitutions can depend for permanence. Whoeive beies thiat huniiti society best secdures the general liappifies;: h e. it is peaceabik and orderly, nmust also beliee thi, ae b etteir ieans of A rbitration. 291 redress for wrongs arising in any of its necessary relations than a hostile means above referred to. This must certainly be the case with the controversies now under consideration; for hostile remedies strike at the very foundation of the relation itself and are calculated to destroy its usefulness. This is evident from the very nathre of the relation. 1. The purpose in entering into it is to make it of mutual benefit. This benefit is lost when resort is had to means which break it up. Inevitable losses from even a temporary suspension may be severe to both sides; and when to these are added, as is not unfrequently the case, injdries purposely inflicted, it may well happen that the whole benefit of the relation to 9 the parties will be more than balanced by the loss suffered in an attempt ii a hostile manner to obtain redress for a supposed grievance. -2 The relation is to a large extent one of confidence. In many positions the most implicit confidence is essential, and whatever destroys this or breaks up friendly intercourse renders a dissolution of the relation imperative. In other cases where pi'operty or interests of the employer are intrusted to the fidelity and vigilance of the employe, the want of nimutual confi dence seriously diminishes the value of time relation, and in every case the existence of unfrieidly 'e-fol iogs must be looked upon as unfavorable t6 the best results. But hostile remedies destroy confidence, and they necessarily beget, if they do not flow from, unrfriendly feelings. 3. In any well establislhed business, it is for the interest of both sides that the 292 Labor: Its Rigkts and Wrongs. relation, so far as possible, be .understood to be permanent. The employer may then depend upon it in making calculations for the future, and the laborer, in making permanent home arrangements, may avoid the losses inseparable from frequent changes. But hostile remedies, if they do not immediately break up the relation, can scarcely fail to bring in disturbing elements, and, like a lawsuit in a family, to plant the seeds of ultimate dissolution. The best remedies here, as everywhere else, are preventive in their nature, and have for their purpose to prevent a mere difference becoming an unfriendly controversy. Such a remedy ought commonly to be found in the,mutual pains taken by the parties to establish and preserve such relations of confidence and respect, based on a recognition of mutual interest, as will render the springing up of angry controThis is impossible, unless the versies unlikely. parties mutually recognize an obligation, not limited by strict rules of law, to make the relation accomplish its purpose of mutual benefit; the laborer showing by his actions an interest in and a willing care for the prosperity of the business, and the employer in like manner showing that he has the welfare of the laborer at heart, and that he recognizes the laborer's interest in the business to this extent, at least, that he must be insured the full benefit of all he has contracted for; that advantage is not to be taken of his necessities to profit by them, and that if changes which may be detrimental to his interests are made necessary by circumstances, pains must be Arbitrationz. 293 taken to prevent loss. The evils which now convulso the country are due more to a failure to observe this primary duty than to all other causes combined, and they are now so aggravated that even a general observance of the duty from this time forward would not readily cure them or remove the hostile feelings which have resulted. Who has been most in fault for this is immaterial: more often it has been the fault of thoughtlessness than of intent. How proper sentiments are to be cultivated, is a question addressing itself to the good sense of both classes; but certainly no reasonable means to that end can be considered unimportant, even though the immediate benefit may seem insignificant. If, notwithstanding all that the parties may do to prevent it, a controversy arises which they cannot settle, a resort to outside aid may be necessary. But in considering what the resort shall be, the beneficial purposes of the relation must be constantly had in view. No remedy must be sought which will defeat these. An effectual reinedf must not put an end to friendly feelings when they exist, or destroy confidence, or stop, even temporarily, the business. A suit at law will not answer these requirements, for that, in its nature and manner, is adversary. Moreover, few labor controversies can be made the subject of a lawsuit, because generally they raise questions tions of a change in contract relations, and the courts are powerless to deal with such questions. The remedy that answers these requirements is There is no suggestion of that of arbitration. 294 Labor. Its R /is and Wrongs. unfriendliness in the proposition to avail of it. On the contrary, the natural and reasonable presumption is that the failure of the parties to agree may have come from the natural bias which interest gives to the judgment, and that a fair-minded, disinterested and intelligent party will be likely to discover how far the bias has misled the one or the other, or both, and be able to indicate the points that should be those of agreement. The remedy is further commended to the judgment by the fact that it is inexpensive, that it is flexible and may be adapted to all sorts of controverties, that it may dispense with all the ordinary formalities of litigation, and that it may proceed without disturbing the business. Commonly it will be expected that the third party who is called in will first make an effort at conciliation; and should such an effort succeed, formal arbitration will be unnecessary. But any reference of a dispute to a third party even for advice, is in a certain sense an arbitration. The desirability of such a remedy is obvious: how far it may be made available is the troublesoIme question. But in some other countries arbitration has been found invaluable, and wve ouight to be able to profit by the lessons of its use. Especially slhouvld the experience of England be valuable, the governmenit and the habits of thoughlt and of action among the people of that counxtry resembling our own imore than those on th continent. For several reasons, however, there are greater difficulties in the' way of making tihe remedy general in this country than A rbjilraion. 295 elsewhere. 1.The feeling of independence among thel laborers is greater, and there is proportionately less inclination to allow their controversies to pass for settlement in other hands. 2. Workmen here are migratory; large numbers not settling down for permanent abode anywhere, but moving about from place to place, and often from business to business, as they think or hope they may better their coAdition. In many such cases it would be practically impossible to make the obligation to abide the result of an arbitration lmutual, and one side could not be expected to be bound when the other was not. 3. There is also less permanence in business here than elsewhere; employers being migratory as well as men, and many establishments being experimental, rather than definitely and permanently set up. But, on the other hand, the greater general intelligence among all classes in this country ought to tell in favor of the adoption of any measure calculated to be beneficial to their interests; and there is no room for doubt that ample field for the useful emiployment of arbitration may be found in the great manufacturing centers, the mining regions and among the railroads. That there may be difficulty in introducing it is no reason for not making the effort; few things of value are easy of attainment. Methods next demand attention, 4nd here very naturally the first thought is of legislation. 1. A statutory tribunal may be established with such compulsory powers as would be admissible in free government. Such tribunals have'been fougad 296 Laor: Ils Rzghts and Wrongs. serviceable on the continent of Europe, and have been provided for in England. But in the latter country they are not resorted to, nor is is believed they would be here. Without the power to prescribe terms for the future, the jurisdiction would be too limited to be of much service, and they could not be given that power except through the establishment .of despotic :government, to which laborers at least would not submit. 2. A statutory tribunal may be established without compulsory powers. This would be merely a standing board offering its services in arbitration, and would be of still less value. Parties disposed to arbitrate would in general prefer to choose their own judges. 3. The tribunal most likely to be of value would be one establsshed by the parties themselves. Where business is permanent and steady, it should be a permanent board of arbitration, created either for a single manufactory, railroad or other establishment, or for all who are engaged in any particular line of business in any locality or section. Tribunals of this sort are found exceedingly valuable in England, and their use has increased steadily with the best results. To make such board valuable, the parties must stand on an equality before it. It must therefore be composed of equal numbers of employers and men, chosen by them respectively; and it must receive complaint from both sides, whether comining from single individuais or from a class, or from all. The A rbiration. 297 board itself should examine and determine the controversy if possible, but must have power to call in an umpire for final decision when necessary. It should be an invariable rule of submission that the business should go on undisturbed while the complaint is under examination. This is the best of all tribunals for the purpose. The award of the board or of the umpire would not be binding in law, but the parties would be pledged in honor to accept it; and the experience in England is that the pledge seldom fails in redemption. 4. Voluntary boards of arbitration may also be created for single controversies, where permanent boards are unnecessary or are found impracticable. To arbitration by tribunals thus voluntarily created, 11 obstacles which are insurmountable present themselves; none but such as spring for the suspicions, the prejudices and the pa sions of men. It is, therefore, a plain dictate of reason to make vigorous endeavors to bring it into use. Every successful attempt has value. It settles the particular controversy. It tends to accustom the parties to the idea of relying upon other remedies than such as are hostile, and thus to render it more probable that future controversies will be settled peaceably and with proper regard to mutual interests. It tends to bring parties divided in feeling nearer together, to remove prejudices and suspicions, and to imnpress upon them, while their differences are under examination, how inseparably their interests are associated, and how unlikely it is that one can be seriously in13* 298 Labor.' Its R o~is anTd Wrongs. juied without injuring both. The good influence extends far beyond the parties immediately concerned, for the whole community perceives that there are better means of redress for real grievances than such as are grounded in a hostility that ought not to exist, and which are likely to be administered in a spirit that puts reason altogether aside. Arbitration, then, is the true remedy for labor controversies. Its use is a reformatory measure, and therefore, unless the tendency of society is backward, its adopt-ion is certain. General adoption cannot be immediate; all true reforms are likely to work their way slowly;:but society and the state are not transient; they are for all time; and whatever tends to make them peaceably,accomplish their purposes, in like degree tends to give them beneficent strength, and to insure their perpetuity. It should not be understood from what is above said that the opinion is entertained that a government commission or board of arbitration could be of no service; on the contrary, it is believed it might be exceedingly useful in calming the passions of men, and bringing about a state of feeling in tle country favorable to this method of adjusting disputes. No doubt, it might also sometimes give valuable assistance in the settlement of controversies, which, through mismanagement or otherwise have been suffered to grow to enormous propor tions.-From The Forum. TIEBOYCOTT IN AMERICAS MR. P0WDERLY :CONVICTS THE EMPLOYERS OF FIRST USING THE -WEAPO. New York World. A LEADING journal, commenting on my circular Mr. or that part which relates to boycotting, said" Powd erly strongly denounces boycotting. He 'hates even the word.' It is a bad practice, not to be resorted to except when everything else fails. He might well have made his denunciation without the exceptionl. The boycott as a means of coercion is to be compared to dynamnite as -a destructive for'e." It is against -the law and. condemnned by the popular senti men t of the country.*" Icould not very xvell':have made the denunciation without the exception, and if I -did it w-vould not put an end to -the system of boycotting. -Boycotting would still -be practiced -though every .society :.of workingmen passed resolutions condemning 7it. It did not originate w ith workingmen, i-tis' not enforced by workingmen. alone and it Is -not of foreign origin, as many suppose. I cann6dt remem-' ber a time when lboycotting was not.. ipracticed,- but [299] 3co Labor: Its Rzih/zs and Wrongs. until recently it attracted no public attention. The organizations of labor deserve credit for bringing the system prominently before the country. I hope this prominence will be the means of driving the boycott and the necessity for it from the land ; but so long as it is practiced on one hand, lex talionis will be the rule on the other, notwithstanding the divine precept, "Do good to those that hate you." I am glad that a leading moulder of public opinion admits that " the boycott, as a means of coercion, is to be compared to dynamite as a destructive force." Will that journal apply that comparison to the boycotting employer as readily as to the boycotting employe? Let us turn back the pages of history for half a century. The year 1836 heard the hum of the spinning-wheel, the " ring of the anvil" and the sound of the shoemaker's hammer all over the land. One craft will serve as an illustration. If you travelled through the United States you did it on horseback or in the stage-coach. The highways over which you travelled were dotted here and there with the village blacksmith shops and country shoe-shops. The steel rail has taken the place of the wagon road. The stage-coach finds its " nose put out of joint" by the locomotive. The song of the shoemakler and the sound of his hammer catnnot now be heard above the roar and crash of machinery. Village shoe shop, stage and stage-road are being boycotted. What has become of the shoemakers ? You will find them, not strung along the country roads, each The Boycol in A mc rzca. 301 one independent in his own shop, but huddled together by tens, hundreds and thousands in the largu manufactories to be found in every large city in the United States. They have been called in from the highways and -byways at the bidding of capital. Fifty years ago many, men or employers, hired one shoemaker. To-day many shoemakers are hired by one employer. The conditions have changed. A part of man's independence has been given away in effecting the change. What is true of the shoe trade is true of others. Men have been gathered in large factories, mills and shops. If one of these men displeases his employer, as represented by the superintendent, he is discharged, let the offense be what it may. If that employer wishes todo so he can drive the man he has discharged to the verge of starvation. I knew a man who committed suicide because his name had been sent ahead of him to the shops where he applied for work with this warning, " Do not hire him, he is a dangerous character. The man's offense was his habit of denouncing his employer and speaking harshlly of him when drunk. The superintendent of the factory owned the saloon where the man bought the liquor which made him drunk. Where large factories exist it is an easy matter to discharge a man and black-list (boycott) him until he sues for forgiveness, commits suicide or enlists'in: the army of tramps. It is an easy matter to enforce tho boycott in this way, and eveiy labor asociation in this country can furnish instances of most heartless boycotting of workingmen by employers. I had in my 302 Labor Its R/ts c;ad TVro;os. pcsesioi thu bllacklists of Feven factories and three railroads, with the names of oycotted employes and the offenses they were charged with given in full. These lists do not say that the tnei whose Tames are given should not be employed. That is given in a separate comniiication. Some shallow-pated economists assert that labor is a commodity. Some employers believe that labor is a commodity. They wish to obtain that comuodity for the lowest possible price. The workman who charges $3 a day for:B his commodity, is discharged; his employer boycotts American abor, sends to Europe for a cheaper ma who does not understand our laws or institutions, brings him over to this country and secures his comrhodity for a dollar a day less than his old employe charged him. The American workman is boycotted. A false idea of economy take possession of the employer before he inaugurates this system of boycotting. Ile believes that if he can get labor, or commodity, for nothing lie will reap immense profits. Let us follow that a little further and find out what he reaps. Suppose that every workingman in the United States would agree to work for nothing for the next twelve months: how much money would be in circulation at the end of the year? How many men would be employed? How many factories would be in running operation? How many anufacturers would set up a yell at the end of the year for somebody with money to buy what was itianufactured during the year? The LPoycoll inz A mcrica. 30 303 The lower wages:are out,'the less money wiil find its way into the channels of trade. The hatter may make hats and the shoemaker may m:ak shoes, but ifthe sin Of cheapness has reduced the price of the in " commodity" which createse hatter ad shoemaker xvil nlot exJha:ngYmany shoes for hats, and vice versa. The employer of labor who nle boyhunts for cheap men makes a mistake when cotts the high priced workmanfor the inferior article. Men who sell themselvesaat a low price are expene ey sive to-those who buy. g~be le-. It is high time for the employer of labor -to learn that. this is-true. Heshould swear off boycotting; h1ehsset a bad example for his empo who in -turn minust pass",by the-superior-for theIn ferior article in-Iihis unt for chellpergoods. The workingman is .said to-be unlette reduncultured and ignoranl~t. If he is,why.is-itconidercd inexcousable. in hhfn to boycott when the example is held uip so pr-ominently beforim y his intelligent, educated emiployer? I know five manufacturers who, during the months of Januarty and Febr-uary of this 'year, discharged all of their employes because they were mombers of the Knighits of Labor.- The-men did nlot ask for an increase in wvages or shorter hours of labor. They in no way interfered with their emrployers. Nor'did they intend to do so. When asked- whiy-the employes were dischiargred thie employers gave- as a reason that they "1did.not: want any Knights of Labor in their service." 'Is not- that' 304 Labor:. Its Rzgk/s and Wrongs. method of boycotting "to be compared to dynamite as a destructive force?" Is it against the law for the workingman to refrain from- puichasing a certain brand of goods while the employer discharges hundreds of producers because they have exercised the right to " pursue happiness" according to their own ideas? It is my opinion that the whole system of boycotting should be abolished, but so long as one man or set of men practice it it will be practised by others. That employers of labor have not made the system of boycotting which they practise as public as the workingmen have is true, but they use the weapon with deadly effect nevertheless. While the victim may not be able to locate the cause of his trouble at all times, yet hefeels it keenly. It is time to stop boycotting. Labor is setting an example in that direction. Will capital emulate it? REPORT OF LABOR COMMISSIONER CARROLL D. WRIGHT. FOREIGN CONTRACT LABOR A CHIEF CAUSE OF OUR INDUSTRIAL DEPRESSION; PREVENTION OF LAND MONOPOLY AND PECULATION, AND THE INSTITUTING OF INDUSTRIAL PARTNERSHIPS SUGGESTED AS REMEDIES. THrE first annual report of the bureau ofLabor contains facts, figures, and deductions concerning indtistrial depressions of a novel and interesting character. Under the head, "1The Industrial Depressions in the United States," Mr. Wright says that from the observations of the agents of the lbureau, and from other sources, it is estimated that .71 per cent, of the establishments, such as -factories, mines, &c., existing iu the country were idle or-equivalent to idle during the past y ear. Applying this percentage, a total of 998,839 is obtained as constituting the best statement of the Unemployed iu the United States during 1885, that it has been possible for the bureau 'to 56 Labor: Is Ro~tls and Vrongs. make. " A million of men out of employment," the report says, " means a loss to the consumptive power of the country of at least $1,000,000 per day, or a crippling of the trade of the country of over $300,000,000 per year. The earnings of the people involved in the classes named above would not be far from $600 each per annun. The wage earnings of the million that should be employed are crippled to the extent of over $300,000,000 per annum, a sum sufficient to cause a reaction in business and a general curtailment of expenses, from which result apprehension and timidity among all classes. To sh!ow the enormous benefits gained by the people at large through the application of motive power the report says: The mechanical industries of the United States are carried on by steam and water power, representing in round numbers 3,400,000 horse-power, equalling the muscular labor of six men. That is to say, if men were employed to furnish the power to carry on the industries of this country, it would require 21,000,000, and 21,000,000 men represent a population, according to the ratio of the census of 1880, of 105,000,000. The industries are now carried on by 4,000,000 persons in round numbers, representing a population of 20,000,000 only. To do the work, then, accomplished by power and power machinery in our mechanical industries and upon our railroads, would require men representing a population of 172,500,000 in addition to the present population of the country of 55,000,000, or a total population, with RpoiI of Carroll D. IrigIii.30 3-07 W band processes and wvithi ,orse power, of 227,500,000, whichi popiulation would be obliged to subsist on pre.sent means. In an economic viewv thecost totHe country would be enormous. The present cost of operating the rai-lroads of the country with steam power is, round numbers, $522,000,000 per annum but to carry on the same amount of work with men and horses .wounld cost the:co.untry.$11,308500000. These -illustrations, of 'course, shoW, the extreme straits to which a countryw ould be brought if -itU1 dertook to perform its-work in the old way. It is not necessary to show that all the.effects of the introducti-on-of power machineryhave been to raise the standard-of life wherever the introduction has taken place. It is true that in those countries where machinery has been developed to the highest the greatest nuuber of work people are engaged, and thiat in thtose countrieswhere machinery has been developedtolittle or nopuoep yeigns, ignorance is thie prevailing condition, and civiliza- tion-, consequently, far in thie rear. Yet, if the question shouRld be askced,:has the -wage-worker 'received his equitable shbare of the benefits derived fromi the introdutctionof macehiery, time,,answer must bno. Inthe struggle for industrial supremacy,:1in thegreat .countries devoted -to mechianical pmroductionsit probab.ly has -been impossible for lhm-to share -equitable in such benefit. His gr-eatest benefit has'come throuigh his being a consumer. In very m-rany instances the adult mnale has been obliged -to work at .a reduced w'"age because under improved 308 Labor.: Its Rights and Wrongs. machinery women and children could perform his work, but the net earnings of his family stand at a higher figure than of old. It is also true that while labor has been displaced apparently in many directions and-to many industries, machinery has brought new occupations, especially to women. But while the apparent evils resulting from the introduction of machinery, and the consequent subdivision of labor, have to a large extent been offset by advantages gained, the commissioner believes it cannot successfully be controverted that this wonderful introduction and extension of power machinery is one of the prime causes, if not the prime cause, of the novel industrial condition in which the manufacturing nations find themselves. The direct result, he says, has been overproduction, or, to be more correct, bad or injudicious production, and he adds that an influentical cause in producing this condition of things is the modern system of carrying on great works by stock companies-a somewhat reckless and abnormal organization of capital and of interests aimed at the developments of the industries of the country. The report continues: The employment of contract labor of foreign importation and rapid immigration generally are features which have a positive influence in crippling consuming powers. By the census of 1880 the whole number of people engaged in agriculture in the United States was 7,670,493. Into the total number then engaged in agriculture there had been absorbed 812,829 foreign born; that is the foreign Report of Carroll D. Wright. 309 born constituted 10.15 per cent of the whole number. The total number employed in the country in manufactures, mechanical and mining industries was 3,837,112. Into this number had been absorbed 1,225,787 of the foreign born, or 31.9 per cent of the whole number. It will be seen at once that the tendency of imimigrants is to assimiliate with our mechanical industries. This increases the supply of labor in comparison to the demand, lower wages contributes to whatever overproduction exists, and cripples most decidedly the consuming power of the whole. In examining the facts one sees that prior to each period of depression since 1837 there has been a large increase in immigration, and following the inception of the depression a sharp falling off. As times became prosperous after each period immigration has set in and been followed up to an abnormal degree, and as soon as prosperity ceased temporarily the foreign mechanic or laborer has remained at home. This constant artificial augmentation of the number of laborers during prosperous years has had its full share in bringing on the following period of depression. Considering suggested remedies for depressions, the commissioner says: A.halt should be made in freely granting lands to corporations, for, however valuable such grants may be to the public interest in developing great lines of railways, the result is, that the lands con- 3 io Labor • Its Rrihs and Wrongs. stitute a basis, to a greater or less extent, for speculative purposes. Legitimate voluntary immigration may be too rapid to enable a country developing its industries to assimilate labor from the outside, but when immigration becomes a subject of inducement of contract for the purpose of displacing a higher grade of labor, the result is indeed pernicious, and all the authority of law should be called in to prevent the cont intance of the wrong. The effect that the enactment of laws to stop speculation would have, if they could be specifically applied, would be for the public good. It might be well to enact, allowing no organization to put its stock upon the market without thefuil value of its capital stock is paidin, either in the currency of the counitry or in absolttte property. Many corporations are organized for the purpose of floating stock, and with a glowing prospectus the stock is floated. Under this lhead, too, vWould come the question of corners and trading in futures. It cannot be denied that both inflation and contraction disturb values, and thereby disturb industry, and certainly a sound currency is demanded by labor in orde: that the labore, may know the value of his earnings at all times, and it is demanded by the producer that he may cealulate with reasonable accuracy the cost of ptoduction. Reform in the methods of distributirig supplies would, if rightly direeted, bring great relief to consumers. Co-operation in its distributive form is Report of Carroll D. Wright. 11 suggested as a remedy in this respect; but co-operative distribution is only a half measure, because this inethod is organized, economized, and made effective for consumers alriost entirely, and producers as such aie not ia-terially benefited. What is known as industrial copartnership, involving proft shdring and embodying all the vitality there is in the principle of co-operation, offers a practical way of producing goods on a basis at once just to capital and to labor, and one which brings out the best moral elemehts of the capitalist and the workman. This system has been tried in many instances, and nearly always with success. In the United States but little has been done in this direction, but wherever the principle has been tried there have been three grand results: Labor has received a more liberal share for its ' skill, capital has been better remunerated, and the moral tone of the whole commnunity involved, raised. Emnploymenit has been steadier and more sure, confHolict ceases, and harmony takes the place of disturbances. Profit-sharing and organization of all the forces of industry would aid in securing a more just division of the profits of production, and one of the first advantages to be gained would be a reduction in the hours of labor, considered by many as the only solution for the labor troubles and the great panacea for industrial depressions. It is certain that under the present conditions of manifacturing through the aid of machinery, the hours of labor ought to be reduiced because the draft on the human system necessary 312 Labor: lis Rights and Wrongs. to enable machinery to be well operated is so much greater than under hand processes. There is no contest between labor and capital, nor between the laborer and capitalist as such, but there is a contest between the latter as to the profits of capital and wages of labor, or, in simple terms, as to the profits each shall receive for his respective investment, and this contest will continue so long as the purely wage system lasts. It is absurd to say that the interests of capital and labor are identical. They are no more identical than the interests of the buyer and seller,. They are, however, reciprocal, and the intelligent comprehension of this reciprocal element can only be brought into the fullest play by the most complete organization, so that each party shall feel that he is an integral part of the whole working establishment. By way of summary the Commissioner says: It has been clearly shown that the depressions of the past in the manufacturing nations of the world have been nearly or quite contemporaneous in their occurrence. As to the severity of the present industrial depression and its duration, it can safely be asserted that the depression began early in 1882 and has continued until the present time. From the time the agents of the Bureau entered the field in prosecuting their investigations to the time they left it, a period of five or six months, there had been a mariked change in the condition of business. With a healthy public opinion behind it, the lawmaking power can prevent, to a great degree, the Refport of Carroll D. Wrihkt. 313 unholy speculation in food products. It can restrict the grants of the public domain. It can regulate transportation on a just and uniform basis, to the end that the stockholders shall not be robbed by ruinous competition, and that the workman may calculate with some degree of certainty the cost of his living, and the producer of production so far as transportation is concerned. It can see to it that the tariff shall be regulated on the basis of justice and science, and not on a haphazard basis, which affects only individual interest and oftentimes inflicts general harm. It can see that a stable currency be guaranteed, that the workman may know the purchasing power of his stipulated earnings. It can consider what reasonable and human regulations may be adopted relative to immigration, and see to it that labor is not lowered, either in standard or through earnings, by the pernicious method of importations by contract. It can sti-ulate thegrowth of the principle of industrial copartnerships through methods of profit-sharing by wise permissive laws. It can ask that the contracts of labor be as free as the contracts for commodities, under fair agreements for services rendered, to the end that the workman shall not be obliged to make contracts on terms not acceptable to him, and it can hold the party which declines to resort to the conciliatory methods of arbitration morally responsible for all the ill effects firowing out of contests. These remedial agencies or remedial methods, alleviatory in their designs, are all possible by the 14 314 Labor. Its Rights and Wrongs. reasonable acts of men. They are not chimerical schemes, but measures adapted to practical adoption. They demand simply a fair recognition of a part only of the truth bound up in the rule which insists that all men shall do unto others as they would have others do unto them. LABOR AND CAPITAL. REV T. DEWITT TALMAGE. As for myself, as an individual I have a right to be heard. My father was a farmer and my grandfather, and they had to work for a living, and every dollar I own I earned by the sweat of my own brow, and I owe no man anything, and if any obligation has escaped my memory come and present your bill when I descend from this pulpit, and I will pay you on the spot. I am going to say all that I think and feel of this subject without any reservation, asking your prayers that I may be divinely directed. This day I declare the mutual dependence of labor and capital. A old tentmaker put it just right -I mean Paul-when he declared: ' "The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee." You have examined some elaborate machinery-a thousand wheels, a thousand bands, a thousand levers, a thousand pulleys, but all controlled by one great water wheel, all the parts adjoined so that if you jarred one part you jarred all the parts. Well, society is a great piece of mechanism, a thousand wheels, a thousand pulleys, a thousand levers, but all controlled by one great and ever-revolving force[315] 316 Labor: Its Righs azjd Wrongs. the wheel of God's providence. So thoroughly is society balanced and adjusted, that if you harm one part you harm all the parts. The professions interdependent, all the trades independent, capital and labor interdependent, so that the man who lives in a mansion on the hill, and the man who breaks cobblestones at the foot of the hill, affect each other's misfortune or prosperity. Dives cannot kick Lazarus without hurting his own foot. They who throw Shadrach into the furnace get their own faces scorched and blackened. No such thing as independence. Smnite society at any one point and you smite the entire community. Or to fall back on the old tentmaker's figure, what if the eye should say" " I am overseer of this physical anatomy; I am independent of all the other members: if there is anything I despite it is those miserable and lowlived finlgers 1" What if the hand should say : " I am boss workman; I am independent of all the other members; look at the callous in my palm and the knots of my knuckles; if there is anything I hate it is the human eye, seated under the dome of the forehead, doing nothing but look!" Now, we come in this morning to break up that quarrel, and we say : "Oh, silly eye, how son you would swim in death if you had not the hand to support and defend you. Oh, silly hand, you would be a mere fumbler in the darkness if it were not for the human eye." "The eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee." Relief will come to the working classes of this Labor and Capital. 3P7 country through a better understanding between capital and labor. Before this contest goes much further it will be found that their interests are reciprocal; what helps one helps both; what injures one injures both. Show me any point in the world's history of 6,000 years where capital was prospered and labor oppressed, or where labor was prospered and capital oppressed., What is the state of things now ? Labor at its wit's end to get bread. Capital at its wit's end to pay the taxes and to keep the store and factory running. Show me any point in the last fifty years where capital was getting large accumulations and I will show you the point at which labor was getting large wages. Show me a point at any time in the last fifty years when labor was getting large wages and I will show you the point where capital was getting large profits. Until the crack of doom there will be no relief for the working classes until there is a better understanding between labor and capital and this war ends. Every speech that capital makes against labor is an adjournment of our national prosperity. Every speech that labor makes against capital is an adjournment of our national prosperity. When the capital of the country maligns labor it is the eye cursing the hand, when labor maligns capital it is the hand cursing the eye. The capitalists of the country, so far as I know them, are successful laborers. If the capitalists in this house to-day would draw their glove, you would see the broken finger-nail, the sear of an old blister, and here and thlere a stiffened finger-joint. 318 Labor: Its Righlts and Wrongs. Again : Relief will come to the working classes of this country through a co-operative association. I am not now referrng to trades unions. But I refer to that plan by which laborers become their own capitalists, taking their surpluses and putting them together and carrying on great enterprises. In England and Wales there are 765 co-operative associations, with 300,000 members, with a capital of $14,000,000, doing business in one year to the amount of $57,000,000. In Troy, N. Y., there was a co-operative iron foundry association. It worked well long enough to give an idea of what could be accomplished when the experimentis fully developed. Thomas Brassey, one of the first of the English parliament, declared : " Co-operation is the one and only solution of this questiou; i is tihe sole path by which the laboring classes as a whole, or any large 1lnumber of them, will ever emerge from the hand to mouth mode of living, and get their share in the reward~ (landhonors of oar advanced civilization." Thos. Hlughes, the ablest and the most brilliant friend of the working man; Lord Derby, John Stuart Mill, men who gave half their lifetime to the study of this question, all favor co operative association." The principle was illustrated in Ireland. One day a mnail coach traveler found a man standing in the water repairing a dam. " Are you working by yourself ?" inquired the traveler. "Yes," was the answer. " Where is your steward ?" " We have no steward." " Who is your master ?" " We have 11o Labor and Capital. 319 master. We are on a new system." "Then who sent you to do this work ?" " The committee." " Who is the committee?" "Some of the members." "What members do you mean?" "The plowmen and laborers who are appointed by us as a committee. I belong to the new systemites." Again, I remark, that relief will come to the working classes through more thorough discovery on the part of employers that it is best for them io let their employes know just how matters stand. The most of the capitalists of to-day are making less than six per cent., less than five per cent., less than four per cent. on their investments. Here and there is an anaconda swallowing down everything, but such are the exceptions. It is often the case that employes blamle their employer because they suppose lie is getting along grandly, when he is oppressed to the last posut of oppression. I knew a manufac trer who emnployed more than a thousand hands. I said to him: " Do you ever have any trouble with your workmen ? Do you have any strikes ?l" " No," he srid. "What! in this time of angry discussion between capital and labor, no trouble ?" " None at al- none." I said, "How is that ?" " Well," he said, " I have a way of my own. Every little while I call my employes together, and 1 say, 'Now, boys, 1 want to show you how matters stand. What you turned out this year brought so much. You see it isn't'so much as we got last year, I can't afford to pay you as much as I did. Now, you know I put all my means in this business. What do you think 32o Labor Its Rigkts azd Wrongs. ought to be my percentage, and what wages ought I to pay you ? Come, let us settle this.' And," said that manufacturer, " we are always unanimous. When we suffer we all suffer together. When we advance, we advance together, and my men would die for me." But when a man goes among his employes with a supercilious air, and drives up to his factory as though he were the autocrat of the universe, with the sun and the moon in his vest pockets, moving amid the wheels of the factory, chiefly anxious lest a greased or smirched hand should touch his immaculate broadcloth, he will see at the end he has made an awful mistake. I think that employers will find out after awhile, that it is to their interest, as far as possible, to explain matters to their employes. You be frank with them, and they will be frank with you. Again, I remark, relief will come to the laboring classes through the religious rectification of the country. Labor is appreciated and rewarded just in proportion as a country is Christianized. Why is our smallest coin a penny, while in China it takes six or a dozen pieces to make one penny, the Chinese carrying in his own country the "cash," as it is called, around his neck like a string of beads, a dozen of these pieces necessary to make the value of one of our pennies? In this country for nothing do we want to pay less than a penny. In China they often have to pay the sixth of a penny or the twelfth of a penny. What is the difference . Christianity. I have the highest aMthority for saying th-t Labor and Capital. 32I Godliness is profitable for the life that now is. It pays for the employer. It pays for the employe. The religion of Christ came out to rectify all the wrongs of the world, and it will yet settle this question between labor and capital just as certainly as you sit there and I stand here. The hard hand of the wheel and the soft hand of the counting-room will clasp each other yet. They will clasp each other in congratulation. They will clasp each other on the glorious morning of the millennium. The hard hand will say : "I plowed the desert into a garden ;" the soft hand will reply, " I furnished the seed." The one hand will say: "I thrashed the mountains;" the other hand will say: "I paid for the flail." The one hand will say: "I hammered the spear into a pruning hook," and the other hand will answer: "I signed the treaty of peace that made that possible." Then capital and labor will lie down together, and the lion and the lamb, and the leopard and the kid, and there will be nothing to hurt or to destroy in all God's holy mount, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. This book is a preservation facsimile produced for the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. It is made in compliance with copyright law and produced on acid-free archival 60# book weight paper which meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48- 1992 (permanence of paper). Preservation facsimile printing and binding by Micrographics Northern Brookhaven Bindery La Crosse, Wisconsin 2009