THE i^FLIGT I 8072 nell Uniuersity Library F»K^ tl THE MARTIN P. CATHERWOOD LIBRARY OF THE NEW YORK STATE SCHOOL OF INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY The Conflict Between Capital and Labor A Fair, Candid, and Impartial Treatment of the Subject From a Non-Partizan and Christian Standpoint By Edgar Torrey Russell The terrible struggles oetween capital and bbor, with the appalling prospects of world-embracing organizations on both sides, are the darkest aspects of an irresistible tendency. — Hugh Price Review and Herald Publishing Association Washington, D. C. New York City South Bend, Ind. ^'V; Copyright, 1905, 1912, by Edgar T. Russell MANY books have been written on the subject of Cap- ital and Labor, containing many excellent thoughts upon this important theme. Most of such works, however, unfortunately present but one side of the question. The author of this work does not belong to any organi- zation or association formed in the interest of either class. He has, therefore, written from an unbiased standpoint, and for the purpose of pointing out not only the evils involved in this tense struggle, but a remedy for these evils. He is confident that there are sincere and honest persons belonging to both classes, whose hearts beat in tender sympathy for the suffering and distressed, and who desire to stand for right and truth. To such this book, he trusts, will come with a message of hope and cheer. Read thoughtfully and carefully, dear reader, heed the message, and it will bring you into undisputed possession of the estate provided for you by an all-wise and beneficent Creator. The author desires to acknowledge his indebtedness to Mrs. Anna L. Colcord, of Washington, D. C, and to others, for valuable assistance rendered in the preparation of this work. E- T. R. Property of '^^'^"'i;:- CATHERWOOD LIBRARY masmm km labor rrations Cornell University (5) CONTENTS Page The Conflict On g The Increase of Wealth ........ ii Gold and Silver Cankered .,.-,. .^ . . . . 17 Trusts ........... 22 Vast Accumulation of Wealth Not Conducive to Stability of Gov- ernment ........... 39 Unions ........... 50 Strikes ............ 61 Boycotts 80 Distress of Nations ......... 9S Causes of Distress ......... 99 A Remedy for Existing Evils . . . . . . .111 Our Present Social Conditions Productive of Anarchy . . 125 The Coming Revolution ........ 132 Leaders in the Coming Revolution ...... 148 Parallels in History ......... 15,3 Cities Storm-Centers ........ t66 Misery Awaits the Rich ........ 17,3 Scripture Admonitions ........ 185 End of the Conflict ; the Reign of Peace ..... 195 ILLUSTRATIONS Page Frontispiece .......... 2 Money Pyramid .......... 12 Two Money Centers ........ 15 The Miser 18 George Washington ......... 23 J. Pierpont Morgan ......... 24 'Andrew Carnegie ......... 24 Carnegie Steel Plant ......... 25 John D. Rockefeller 28 Oil-Weils 31 Judge Landis .......... 32 Supreme Court .......... 33 Lafayette ........... 40 6 Illustrations United States Treasury Theodore Roosevelt .... Grover Cleveland ..... William Howard Taft Abraham Lincoln ..... Justice Brewer .... Morrison, Gompers, Mitchell Wreck of Los Angeles Times Building Labor Day Parade .... London Seamen's Strike . T. V. Powderly . Philadelpiiia Street-Car Strike Columbus Street-Car Strike . English Coal Strike British Parliament Lawrence Strike Baldwin Locomotive Works Captain Boycott Bread Riot in Vienna . Bread Line Automobile .... Pay-Day American Cavalry U. S. Steamship Farm Scene .... Steamship " Titanic " Liberty Bell .... Ruins of Egypt Immigrants Landing Lord Macaulay Great Buildings of Rome East Side Tenements, New York Carnegie's Mansion Vanderbilt and His Residences New York Sky-Scraper Woolworth Building, New York World's Great Buildings Sphinx and Pyramids The extraordinary industrial changes of the last half-century have produced a totally new set of conditions, under which new evils flourish; and for these new evils new remedies must be devised. — Theodore Roosevelt. Wherever and whenever combination suppresses competition, it is followed by monopoly and the crushing of the individual. — John A. Sleicher. Organized crime has its inception in organized capital or in organized discontent. — Washington Post. (8) THE CONFLICT ON ONE of the fiercest and most far-reaching controversies that has arisen between man and man, is seen in the conflict that is now being waged between capitahsts and the laboring classes. This conflict is not confined to one nation alone, but is world-wide. This fact is thus expressed in the opening words of the preamble to the constitution of the American Federation of Labor: "A struggle is going on in all the nations of the civilized world between the oppressors and the oppressed of all countries, a struggle between the capitalist and the laborer, which grows in intensity from year to year." Never has the agitation over this question been so great as now. Intelligent, thinking persons everywhere are alarmed at the outlook; for it is evident we are on the eve of a mighty revolution. The strained relations existing between the rich and the poor, between the capitalist and the wage-earner, plainly indicates that the present state of things can not long continue. Some peaceful solution of the difficulty must be discovered, some amicable adjustment of differences arrived at, or serious results will inevitably follow. Each succeeding year the conflict grows more fierce; each year strikes become more numerous and more wide-spread. The difficulties between the capitalists and the wage-earners are constantly becoming more complicated and the relations more strained. The trust magnates are yearly adding millions to their already princely holdings, while, on the other hand, the (9) 10 Capital and Labor toiling masses are finding their condition more and more in- tolerable. Though they live in the shadow of the homes of the wealthy, their want and misery do not touch hearts filled with greed. The social conditions of these two classes are in most striking contrast. The brightness of noonday and the darkness of midnight are not more opposite than the con- ditions represented in the lives of the rich and the poor. "The hut of the starving," says the historian Headley, "stands in the shadow of the palace of the wealthy, and the carriage of Dives every day throws the dust of its glittering wheels o'er the tattered garments of Lazarus." Many ridicule the idea that this conflict between the rich and the poor will end in any general or extensive destruction of life or property. They claim that people are too intelligent to adopt violent means, and hold that through organizations, social and political, the differences between these two classes will eventually be amicably settled. Others feel that we are on the eve of a severe and bloody conflict. Rev. H. W. Bowman, in his work entitled "War Between Capital and Labor," says that "judging from the human standpoint, the prospect is dark; it looks like war, universal war." Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, in 1897, in a sermon entitled "The Relation- ship Between Capital and Labor," made the following state- ment: "You may pooh-pooh it! You may say. This trouble, like an angry child, will cry itself to sleep. But . . . it is the mightiest, the darkest, the most terrible threat of this century. All attempts at pacification have been dead failures; the monopoly is more arrogant, and the trade-unions more bitter." THE INCREASE OF WEALTH THE world to-day is filled with wealth and princely splendor. This condition is fitly described by the prophet in the words, 'Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures." Isa. 2: 7. And this, he said, was to "come to pass in the last days." In a striking manner this has been fulfilled, as may be seen from the following statement of facts: In 1800 the world's gold supply was valued at one billion two hundred and fifty mil- lion dollars. In 1890, only ninety years later, it had increased to five billions seven hundred millions. The increase, therefore, during the ninety years, gives nearly five times the amount possessed at the beginning of the century. This phenomenal increase of gold has been made possible by the discovery of rich mines in different parts of the world. William E. Gladstone, in speaking on this subject a few years ago, said, "There are gentlemen before me who have witnessed a greater accumulation of wealth within the period of their lives than has been seen in all preceding times since the days of Julius Caesar." George W. Rine, in a leaflet entitled "Labor and the Money Power," gives the following significant figures: "The aggregate wealth of the United States in 1870 was thirty-one billion dollars. In 1897 it had swollen to the colossal sum of ninety- four billions. During every month of that twenty-seven years our nation created one hundred and ninety-four million dol- , lars more than it consumed. In other words, our national (II) 12 Capital and Labor wealth increased at the rate of two hundred and seventy thou- four thousand five hundred better to comprehend what lion dollars is, it may be con- lar bills, packed solidly, like pile two hundred and seven- dollars is equal- to a pile of miles high. In 1909 the ag- States was estimated at one sixteen billion dol- would equal a row bills placed closely that would reach and thirty-two other words, would continent and ex- the Atlantic and Ocean more than dred miles on Speaking of the accumulation of the United States, hall, the English says our wealth less than two bil- years it had doubled; in eightfold. During the i860 to 1890, which period created and accumulated more than half a century ; wealth had risen from and seven billions, an in- The wealth of the Old World is an accumulation of many centuries, but ninety-three per cent of ours has been created and accumulated since 1850. sand dollars an hour," — over dollars a minute. In order a vast sum of money a mil- sidered thus: A million dol- the leaves of a book, make a ty-five feet high. A billion dollar bills over fifty-two gregate wealth of the United hundred and lars, which of one-dollar side by side six thousand miles, or, in span this tend into the Pacific fifteen hun- either side. remarkable wealth in Mr. Mul- statistician, in 1820 was lion dollars. In twenty forty years it had increased thirty years following, from included the civil war, we forty-nine billions in a little from 1850 to 1904, our seven billions to one hundred crease of fifteenfold or more. The Increase of Wealth 13 For ten years, from 1890 to 1900, the average daily increase of our wealth was six million four hundred thousand dollars. During the first four years of the present century, the aver- age daily increase was nearly thirteen billions, or twice as great. Surely these American days are more marvelous than " Arabian Nights. " The following, published in the Los Angeles Herald, in March, 1912, presents, in brief, the present enor- mous wealth of the United States : — "The total wealth of the United States was $43, - 600,000,000 in 1880; it had risen to $107, 100, 000,- 000 in 1904; and is now rapidly a p- proaching the stu- penduous sum of $150,000,000,000, or, say, not far short of $1,500 for every man, woman, and child living under the stars and stripes. "Our 28,500 banks have deposits of $16,500,000,000, and total resources of $21,300,000,000; in 1900 there were fewer than 14,000 banks, and they had deposits of less than $7,700,- 000,000, — a growth of fully 100 per cent. "We have more than $4,200,000,000 in our savings-banks, a showing not equaled by any other nation. "America's stock of gold is approximately $1,750,000,000, or more than twice as much as that of the United Kingdom, and much larger than the holdings of Germany, France, or ' Russia, and one fourth of the world 's stock. THE WORLD'S INCREASE IN THE PRODUCTION OF GOLD Annual production in A. D. 1500, $ 4,000,000 1600, 6,000,000 1700, 7,000,000 1800, 12,000,000 1900, 262,000,000 Total production since " 1492, 13,000,000,000 1870. 7,245,781,000 World's output in " 1908, 441,932,200 Africa's production alone in " 166,520,500 United States 94,569,000 Colorado's 22,871,000 Minted annually in United States 131,638,633 Used annually by world in arts 113,996,000 " United States in irts 14,754,900 14- Capital and Labor "Our stock of silver, $730,000,000, is nearly twice the amount owned by any other country, India alone excepted. "We have $3,250,000,000 money in circulation, nearly equal to $35 per capita. "Of the world's annual output of $450,000,000 gold, the United States contributes almost $100,000,000." It is commonly estimated that the wealth of Mr. Rocke- feller, the oil king, closely approaches the enormous sum oi one billion dollars. And all this has been accumulated during his lifetime. To illustrate what this enormous amount of wealth means, we will suppose a man lives seventy years: in order to reach this vast sum, he must accumulate nearly forty thousand dollars a day for every day he lives. If he should not save a dollar until he was twenty-one years of age, he would then be obliged to accumulate about sixty thousand dollars for every day of the remainder of his life. If Adam, the first man, had lived to the present time, and had accumulated annually one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, he would still be a hundred million dollars short of reaching the billion-dollar mark. By a comparison of all the statistics obtainable, it is very evident that the enormous growth of the national wealth of the United States during the last half-century has been with- out parallel or precedent in the history of nations. The United States is flooded with capital, as is shown by the balance in the national exchequer. The banks, likewise, are overladen with money. Mr. Charles H. Treat, national treasurer, speaking in 1907 upon "Our Country's Prosperity," said: — "The United States stands proudly to-day among the nations for its solvency and financial strength. Its reserve of two hundred and forty-three million dollars, in which the na- tional banks are represented to the extent of one hundred and fifty-three million dollars, constitutes a tremendous bulwark. We have to-day more than eight hundred million dollars in. THE TWO GREAT MONEY CENTERS OF THE WORLD 16 Capital and Labor gold in our treasury and subtreasuries. We are the largest holders of silver in the world, having sixty-eight million five hundred thousand dollars of the grand total. "Since Washington's time our people have advanced in wealth from $4.99 per capita until now the figures are $33.68 per capita. We have three times as much in deposits as we have in note currency, there being now on deposit nine thou- sand millions. The products of the country amount to more than twenty-four billion dollars annually, and when you consider this, you will see the amount of currency necessary to conduct its business." The dividends of the Standard Oil Company from 1882 to . 1906 are said to have been $551,992,904.50, while its net earn- ings for the same period are placed at not less than seven hundred and ninety million dollars. Speaking on this subject, the Rev. H. W. Bowman says: "Such colossal fortunes, such hoarding of treasures, such combinations of wealth, with such rapid increase in poverty, were never witnessed before. Our age »alone fits the pro- phetic mold." GOLD AND ^ SILVER CANKERED How a man uses money — makes it, saves it, spends it — is perhaps one of tlie best tests of practical wisdom. — Smiles. THE passion for wealth is taking possession of the people of this world. Youth and old age alike seem to share the same ambition, and run the same mad race. In- deed, it would seem as if every force of modern civilization was bent toward the one pursuit of money-getting. Greed is a seductive deity, and blindly do its votaries bow at its shrine. It seems almost impossible for them to break away from its magic influence. Against the hoarding of wealth, God has given the following explicit warning: "Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered ; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days." James 5:1-3. Such is the declaration of Scripture concerning the con- ditions that were to exist in the last days. The prophecy is now being literally fulfilled. Think of the garments and "changeable suits of apparel" that are found in the homes of the rich, only to become moth-eaten. Think of the gold and silver gathered together in heaps, and hoarded up to corrode and canker in locked vaults and bank treasuries. Henry L. Call, in a work entitled "The Coming Revolution," says: "No complaint is more frequent than this of hoarding money — of gold. In times of its greatest scarcity we always hear of great treasures lying in the vaults of the rich." (17) 18 Capital and Labor A few years ago, while some workmen were employed in recounting the money in a vault in New York City, they narrowly escaped being drowned in a flood of cankered silver. The sacks containing it had been eaten through by rust, and at their touch it rolled together in a mighty mass. On one occasion a gentleman from California showed a friend of the writer a twenty-dollar gold piece from the mint THE MISER in San Francisco. It had a rusty appearance, resembling a piece of old iron. Having been out of circulation for so long a time had given it an appearance very different from coins that are in circulation. Hoarded, unused wealth will stand as a witness against the rich. Great riches are of no service, except as they are used for good purposes. Those who are constantly heaping up wealth, not knowing who will enjoy it after them, while they Gold and Silver Cankered 19 oppress the hireling in his wages and turn a deaf ear to the cries of the poor and needy, can not expect an entrance into the kingdom of God. "How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!" are the words of the Saviour. It is for this reason that wealth, unless rightly used, is a dangerous possession. It tends to covetousness, or the wor- ship of Mammon, which is idolatry. Those who have great riches are likely to trust in them and not in God. They are in danger of becoming selfish and greedy, of not realizing the needs of their fellow creatures, of losing sight of personal accountability to God, and of giving no thought to the question of final destiny. David Swing, in an apothegm, thus aptly describes the effect of greed upon the human character: "When a man pursues money only, his features become narrowed; his eyes shrink and converge; his smile, when he has any, hardens; his language fails of poetry and ornament; his letters to a friend dwindle down to a telegraphic despatch ; he seems to have no time for anything, because his heart has only one thing for which it wishes time." It is possible for men to possess wealth and be philanthropic, unselfish, and truly pious. To make money honestly is no sin. It is God who gives men power to get wealth. To possess riches is no offense, if they are honorably and honestly acquired. The Bible condemns no man for being rich, if he has got his riches honestly and uses them properly. It is the love of money that is the root of all evil. Money itself is not an evil. It is neither good nor bad. It is simply an agency or power through which good or ill may come. By it blessings may be distributed, or evils entailed. Wealth may prove a great blessing to its possessor, if he realizes that it is not his own, but that it has been given him of God to be used in blessing mankind. But, if hoarded and unused, or pos- sessed and misused, it can be only a blight and a curse. To protect the poor from the oppression of the rich, the 20 Capital and Labor Lord made special provision for them. The hire of the laborer was to be promptly paid. In the seventh, or sabbatical, year the Hebrew slaves were to be set free, and they were not to be sent away empty. To the poor, the seventh year was a re- lease from debt. The people were instructed to assist them, and every fifty years all landed property lost through debt or misfortune was to revert back to the original owner. See Leviticus 25. Further instruction was given in these words: "If there be among you a poor man of one of thy brethren, . thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother." "The poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying. Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land." "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord." By ministry to the poor, the Lord would restrict the in- ordinate love of money. Great evils have ever followed a vast accumulation of wealth by one class and the consequent poverty of another. Unless held subject to the demands of God and humanity, the power of the wealthy becomes a mon- opoly, and the poor are treated unjustly, and forced to degra- dation and despair. A modem writer states the case thus: "Christ has said that we shall have the poor always with us, and he unites his interest with that of his suffering people. The heart of our Redeemer sympathizes with the poorest and the lowliest of his earthly children. He tells us that they are his representatives on the earth. He has placed them among us to awaken in our hearts the love that he feels toward the suffering and oppressed. Pity and benevolence shown to them are accepted by Christ as if shown to himself. An act of cruelty or neglect toward them is regarded as though done to him. If the law given by God for the benefit of the poor had continued to be carried out, how different would be the present condition of the world, morally, spiritually, and temporally! Selfishness and self-importance would not be manifested as Gold and SiUier Cankered 21 now, but each would cherish a kind regard for the happiness and welfare of others; and such wide-spread destitution as is now seen in many lands would not exist." The same writer still further wisely observes: "Were the principles of God's laws regarding the distribution of property carried out in the world to-day, how different would be the condition of the people ! An observance of these princi- ples would prevent the terrible evils that in all ages have resulted from the oppression of the poor by the rich and from the hatred of the rich by the poor. While it might hinder the amassing of great wealth, it would tend to prevent the igno- rance and degradation of tens of thousands whose ill-paid servitude is required for the building up of these colossal fortunes. It would aid in bringing a peaceable solution of problems that now threaten to fill the world with anarchy and bloodshed." It has been held by some that, under the fall, divine provi- dence designed that both classes should be in the world, that the one should be a help to the other, — the rich to relieve the wants of the poor, and the poor to minister to the rich, and for such ministry receive a just recompense. If such a view were generally held, it is evident that the extremes of poverty and riches would not exist as they do to-day, and that a won- derful blessing would come to every land. "All the gold we leave behind us When we turn to dust again, Though our avarice may blind us, We have gathered quite in vain; Since we neither can direct it, By the winds of fortune tossed, Nor in other worlds expect it, What we hoarded we have lost. " But each merciful oblation. Seed of pity wisely sown, — What we give in self-negation We may safely call our own; For the treasure freely given Is the treasure that we hoard, Since the angels keep in heaven What was lent unto the Lord." TRUSTS THE rapid congestion of wealth which characterizes modem times has been made possible by the formation of trusts. A trust is a monopoly with power to fix prices in any industry or group of industries. Altogether, there are something like one- thousand trusts in the United States, controlling nearly every commodity, from the least to the greatest, including passenger and freight traffic. James A. Garfield, in speaking of the railroad peril, said: "The modem barons, more powerful than their military prototypes, own our greatest highways, and levy a tribute at will upon our vast institutions." That which constitutes the chief peril here, as with great corporations in other lines, lies in the fact that railroad cor- porations have a strong hold upon both the legislative and judicial powers of the government; and the general public entertains the grave fear that these financial governors of the arteries of commerce can mold legislation as they will. The senators at Washington who were most active in opposition to President Roosevelt's plans for railway-rate regulation, came to be regularly referred to as "the railway senators." The people voiced the belief that these senators were serving the interests of the railway corporations instead of the in- terests of the people, and that through shrewd manipulation of the political machinery these men had been elected to do the bidding of these great corporations rather than that of a sovereign people. In 1896 it was said that the State of New York had no senators at Washington that the United States (22) Trusts 23 Express Company had one senator from that State, and the Vanderbilt Railway system had another, but that the people were unrepresented: that Rhode Island had no senator; but rather, that the Standard Oil Company had two senators from that State. A similar record doubtless could have been made of other States. The continuance of the rule of trusts is made possible when our senators are railway senators, oil senators, steel and iron senators, sugar-beet and cane-sugar sena- tors, and so on to the end of the list. George Washington, in his farewell address of Sept. 17, 1796, speaking of the fact that until changed by an authentic act of the whole people, the Constitu- tion is "sacredly obligatory upon all," and of "the duty of every in- dividual to obey the established government," said: "All ob- structions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with the real design to direct, control, counteract, or awe the regular deliberation and action of the constituted authorities, are de- structive of this fundamental principle, and of fatal tendency." As notable modern trusts, the steel and wire trust and the Standard Oil trust may be mentioned, the latter recently having been declared illegal and ordered dissolved by a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States. These two organizations have embraced the world in their operations. There are bank syndicates in New York City which control nearly one hundred million dollars of capital each, under the direction of J. Pierpont Morgan and John D. GEORGE WASHINGTON 24 Capital and Labor Rockefeller. Then there is J. PIERPONT MORGAN come by increasing the price of refined kerosene one cent per gallon throughout the United States. Atthe same time, it added another mil- lion to its income by in- creasing the price of par- affin candles one cent a pound. The burden of these increases will fall up- on the poor." The Ameri- can Federationist for March, 1912, says: "The United States Steel Corporation has reaped in ten years six hundred and fifty million the tobacco trust, the sugar trust, the meat packers' trust, and the copper trust. There has been talk also of the forma- tion of a farmers' trust, for the purpose of establishing grain elevators, and regula- ting the prices of agricultural products throughout thecoun- try. Through legalized finan- cial legerdemain, in shrewdly gaging prices, millions are drawn annually from the masses and placed in the cof- fers of the rich. The Chi- cago American, Nov. 4, 1903, says: "The Standard Oil Company has added ten mil- lion dollars to its yearly in- ANDREW CARNEGIE J'nists 25 dollars beyond ' a very generous return on its actual capital.' " The great lumber trust is another combination controlling another necessary and universally used commodity. This trust owns more than four fifths of the standing timber of the United States. A great deal of this was purchased from the government at only two and a half dollars an acre. This lumber trust is now in the control of less than two hundred men, and owns over one billion feet of lumber. Fewer than SECTION OF CARNEGIE STEEL COMPANY PLANT, PITTSBURGH, PA. two thousand persons hold title to eighty-eight million five hundred and seventy-nine thousand acres of timber land. When that timber is gone, the land will still remain, averaging to each owner forty-nine thousand acres, or seventy-seven square miles. This trust holds the standing timber of Florida, and sixty-five per cent of that in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. It can quite readily be understood why such a trust would be opposed to reciprocity with Canada. It wishes to compel the people of this country to purchase lumber from it, with prohibitive duties on the lumber which might come from the north. 26 Capital and Labor Seven Great Industrial Trusts of New Jersey A list of some of tfie great trusts which have arisen in the Uni- ted States, as given in Moody's Encyclopedia of Social Reform." of 1908: — Existing conditions have been well described by the late Governor Pingree, of Michigan, in the following words: — ' ' There is no feature of our times that should so alarm the pa- triot, nor is there any so well cal- culated to drive the well-meaning legislator to de- spair, as that which confronts us on all sides in the rapid concen- tration of all the productive ener- gies of the nation in the hands of overgrown c o r - porations, or mul- tiple corpora- tions, called trusts; or, where more solid com- binations can not be effected, by means of inter- corporate agree- ments, for the purpose of limit- ing competition and controlling trade. "It has invaded other fields with the power of a glacier and the Name of company Date of incorpo- ration Number (competi- tive) plants acquired or controlled Total capitali- zation, stocirs and bonds outstanding Amalgamated Copper Co. and af&liated corporations American Smelting & Re- fining Co. and affiliated corporations American Sugar Refining Co. and affiliated corporations American Tobacco Co. and affiliated corporations International Merchant Marine Co. Standard Oil Co. and con- trolled companies United States Steel Corpo- ration and controlled properties 1889 1899 1891 1904 1902 1899 1901 35 145 60 200 6 400 792 $ 271.163,000 203.100.000 160.000.000 324.309,000 176.325,705 98,338.300 1,475,201.849 TOTAL 1.638 $2,708,438,754 Adding to the above the totals concerning four hundred and fifty-one lesser trusts in the country, the same authority gives the following: — SUMMARY OF INDUSTRIAL TRUSTS IN THE UNITED STATES Trusts Number plants acquired or controlled Totalcapitaliza- tion, stocks and bonds out- standing 7 greater industrial trusts 451 lesser industrial trusts 1.638 5,038 $2,708,438,754 8,243.175.000 458 important Industrial trusts 6.676 $10,951,613,754 It is said that when the directors of the United States Steel Trust meet, one twelfth of the total wealth of the country is gathered there, and that five thousand men actually own one sixth of the entire wealth of the country. Trusts '2'7 rapidity of a torrent. One by one, each of the great staples which form the necessaries of life has fallen into the hands of its special syndicate, or trust, or trade combine, which are but other names for a group of men dominated by one man of superior force and genius, into whose single hand is concentrated more power than any king possesses, and in comparison with whom the robber barons of the feudal ages were pygmies in their capacity for extortion and oppression. "When the process of concentration has worked itself out to completion, the law which governs both prices and wages will assert itself with irresistible force. The consumer will be charged the highest price that can be squeezed out of him; the laborer will be paid the lowest wages upon which he can keep life in his body to perform his daily task. "This result has not yet been quite accomplished, but it is as sure as that night follows day, as certain as the law of human selfishness." Henry L. Call, of Washington, D. C, speaking of the mon- opoly of wealth in the hands of the bankers and money kings, says, "They hoard the money circulation and withhold it from use in order to increase a demand for it, and thereby extort higher rates." Chauncey M. Depew, as reported in the Chicago Inter Ocean, said: "There are fifty men in the city of New York who can stop every wheel on the railroads, close every door of all our factories, lock every switch on every telegraph-line, and- shut down every coal- and iron-mine in the United States. They can do this because they control the money which this country produces. The control of the money clothes its possessors with absolute power over a nation's industries." In a speech in Congress in 1891, Senator Ingalls spoke as follows: "This concentration of wealth is the most appalling fact in history. It is, so far as the results of democracy as a social and political system are concerned, the most terrible commentary that was ever recorded in the book of time. 28 Capital and Labor . . . By some means, some device, some machination, some scheme, some incantation, honest or otherwise, some process that can not be defined, less than a two-thousandth part of our population have obtained possession — and have kept out of the penitentiary in spite of the means they have adopted to acquire it — of more than one half of the accumulated wealth of the country. Our society is being rapidly stratified — al- most hopelessly stratified — into the condition of the superfluously rich and the hopelessly poor." The modern monopolist is heartless. He exhibits a . grasping avarice which dries up every sentiment of sympathy, and creates "a sordid selfishness which is deaf to cries of justice and fair treatment." These grasping and soul- less corporations so control and restrain trade as prac- tically to eliminate that natural and wholesome check upon exorbitant prices — competition. They create conditions whereby they can arbitrarily fix prices, and extort the price demanded from the people upon the alternative of paying it or enduring want and starvation. Says Frank Julian Ward, Ph. D., in Good Housekeeping: "Not a single article of consumption to-day enters the home of the salaried man the price of which to his family is not de- termined by the corporation. In sugar, flour, coffee, meat, ice, oil, and innumerable others, the price can not now be lowered by the housewife 's purchasing elsewhere of competing JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER Trusts 29 producers in case the prices at the family grocer's do not suit her, for the simple reason that she will invariably find the same price wherever she goes, as there are no longer competing producers in most commodities. Formerly she controlled prices within certain limits by her ability to bring into play JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER'S INCOME FROM THE STANDARD OIL TRUST ALONE IS SAID TO BE NINETEEN DOLLARS A MINUTE The following tabulated statement compiled from figures adduced by Deputy Attorney-General Kellogg at the hearing in the oil-trust suit, published in the Washington " Post " of Sept. 20, 1 907, serves to show, approximately, the enormous wealth of Mr. Rockefeller in Standard Oil stock alone, and his in- come per year, month, day, hour, and minute from this one source; — Standard Oil Company's capital, 1892 - - - $97,250,000 Shares owned by John D. Rockefeller ... 256,854 Standard Oil Company's capital. 1906 - - - $98,338,382 Shares owned by John D. Rockefeller ... 265,679 Value at to-day's price, $440 a share .... $116,898,760 Value in May, 1901, $842 a share (record price) - - 223,701,718 Shrinkage in value since May, 1901 - - . . 106,802,958 Dividends paid by company, 1 899 to 1 906, inclusive - 308,359,402 John D. Rockefeller's share 80,173,445 Rockefeller's yearly average income from Standard Oil - 10,021,680 " average income from Standard Oil, per month - 835,140 ' per day - 27,838 " " " " " " per hour - 1,160 " " " " " per minute 19 the law of competition by buying elsewhere. But to-day the trusts have taken from the housewife the control of this law." Rider Haggard, while on a visit to the United States in 1905, said: — "I see nothing except revolution and ruin in this country if you do not curb your gigantic trusts. Prices have been elevated to the prohibitive point for all except the ver}' rich, 30 Capital and Labor and this will cause trouble unless a remedy is quickly and thoroughly applied. . . . The poor people who live in your big cities get what we consider in England a good wage, but they have no conveniences, comforts, or money. The poorer classes in England do not make so much money as in this country, but they live better." — Washington Times, April 7, 1905. The great political parties of our country recognize in the modern trust a menace to a republican form of government. The Democratic party, in its platform formulated in the con- vention held at Denver, 1908, contained the following decla- ration : — "A private monopoly is indefensible and intolerable. We therefore favor the vigorous enforcement of the criminal law against trust magnates and officials." The Independence party, in its Chicago platform of the same year, said : — " In cases of infraction of the antitrust law or of the Inter- state Commerce Act, we believe in the enforcement of a prison penalty against the guilty and responsible individuals con- trolling the offending corporations." The above declarations sound well; but experience teaches that in the past such expressions not infrequently have been simply "political buncombe." What can the people expect from our great national polit- ical parties when they will throw such "sops" when election time is nearing; and at the same time use their influence and campaign funds to place in official position men who they know, and who all well-advised persons know, are trust hire- lings, — men controlled, soul and body, by trust magnates? Should the American people reach that high standard of po- litical development in which they would require intelligence and character, rather than intelligence and wealth, as an official qualification, it would be well for this great nation. As matters are now, our courts of justice are, to a great extent, Trusts 31 paralyzed ; and the rich criminal is quite as likely to go free as he is to be convicted. The years 1907 and 1908 will be remem- bered as the years in which the trust-breaking staff of the na- tional government was particularly busy, but with efforts which were of little or no avail. On Aug. 3, 1907, twenty -one indictments were found against the Standard Oil Com- pany, and that cor- poration was fined twenty-nine million two hundred and forty thousand dollars b y Judge Landis, of the United States district court, of Chicago. The fine remained un- paid until July, 1908, when the circuit court of appeals reversed the case, and remanded it to the district court. The government, as soon as possible, filed an appeal for the re- hearing of the case by the circuit court o f appeals. That appli- cation was denied Nov. 10, 1908. There- u p o n Attorney-Gen- eral Bonaparte, for the government, announced that a petition to have the case reviewed by the Supreme Court of the United States would be filed on November 30 of the same year. The outcome of this case is thus described by the Washington Times of Jan. 4, 1909: — OIL WELLS 32 Capita/ and Labor "The Standard Oil Company will not have to pay that twenty-nine-million-dollar fine. This was decided to-day, when the Supreme Court of the United States denied the government petition for a review of the case, following the reversal, by the court of appeals, of the fine imposed upon the company for rebating, by Judge Landis. "This is the end of what promised at one time to mark a new era in the enforcement of the laws against trusts and corporations and other so- called 'big offenders.' "The fine was hailed as the ' heaviest in the world 's history.' It was imposed by Judge Kenesaw Landis, of the United States dis- trict court, on Aug. ^, 1907. In detail it was a maximum fine of twenty thousand dollars on each of the fourteenhundred and sixty-two counts, charging violation of the federal laws governing the accept- ing of railroad rebates. "At the time of impo- sing the fine. Judge Landis, after denouncing the methods of the oil trust, which he de- clared imposed burdens upon every class of citizens, and wounded society more deeply than open depredations of criminals, expressed regret that only a fine could be imposed." Another case against the Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, which was carried to the Supreme Court of the United States, resulted in an order for its dissolution, but upon such terms as to make the recombination of "subsidiary corpora- tions" legitimate and easy, and by such a judicial construction JUDGE LANDIS Trusts 33 of the law, through the reading into it of the word "unreason- able" as applied to combinations "in restraint of trade," as greatly to weaken or practically nullify the antitrust law, and make it read as the trusts have desired to have it read. This decision, written by Chief Justice White, was handed down May 15, 191 1, Justice Harlan alone dissenting. The trust system obtained a notable victory in the nine SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES years' legal battle between the government and the packers which began in 1903 and ended March 26, 1912. The final verdict rendered was "Not guilty." This was a great triumph for the trust. Immediately after the verdict was rendered in their favor, the price of bacon, pork, and lard began to soar. Thus the people had to pay the court expenses of the packers, which, it is estimated, amounted to five hundred thousand dollars. By the increased price of meat, millions were ob- tained from the consumers in return for their expenses and 34 Capital and Labor trouble in connection with the legal battle; besides, the public were helplessly left to the mercy of that world-embracing trust without any means of redress. May 2, 1910, the Supreme Court of the United States af- firmed the decision of the supreme court of Tennessee, ousting the Standard Oil Company of Kentucky from the State of Tennessee, adjudging it a trust in restraint of trade. How much effect even government prosecutions and court- ordered "dissolutions" of the great trusts have upon these great combinations of industry and wealth, may be gathered from the following editorial in the Washington Herald of March 12, 1912: — "Notwithstanding the prosecutions of the Standard Oil trust and the tobacco trust, and in spite of court decisions which compelled their dissolution into alleged competing companies, the securities of the organizations have risen enormously in value. The New York Herald says that the stocks of the various companies in the oil trust alone have increased two hundred and twenty-one million dollars since the order of the court was passed, and it asks whether the con- ditions which it Sought to remedy do not now exist in the same aggravated, but less public form. "It is the opinion of former Assistant Attorney-General McReynolds, who fought the plan of dissolution which the courts approved, that competition has not been restored, and that the purpose of the law has been successfully evaded. Certain it is that the overthrow of the oil and tobacco trusts, which was predicted at the time the government was prosecut- ing them for conspiracy in restraint of trade, has not occurred. On the contrary, they are richer and more powerful than ever. " If this is to be the result in all cases, we can imagine that the steel trust will do all in its power to hasten the litigation which the government has instituted, and that all the other trusts will appeal to the federal authorities to take them into court. The situation is certainly a remarkable one, and Trusts 35 demonstrates that the so-called dissolution of the trusts is to their pecuniary advantage." Thus through the influence of wealth, and by legal leger- demain, the wealthy criminal, in most cases, goes free. This is because the spirit of greed so permeates our body politic that it enables the rich to fight their legal battles against both the government and the poor, with the odds decidedly in favor of the rich. Too often justice is unevenly meted out. The friendless and the poor are summarily dealt with, while the rich can secure delay after delay of the legal pro- ceedings, and in many instances, finally escape altogether the conviction and punishment which they deserve. While often the dishonest rich man hides behind the law, and is virtually protected by it, the poor man finds himself oppressed, per- secuted, and punished by the law that should be his shield and protector. The following is taken from the Boston A rena of July, 1 909 ; — "Among a number of unjust and oppressive laws which are enforced only against the working classes, are the vagrancy laws of the various States, which make every working man a criminal if he is out of work and in poverty. It matters not how good or respectable a man may be, nor how hard he tries to get work to do, the fact that he is hungry and destitute renders him a criminal in the eyes of the law. He is hunted out of every town he goes into with an empty pocket. If found wandering on the streets of the larger cities at night without money or shelter, he is liable to be clubbed by the police, locked up, and the next day sent to prison. If he is found with one or two others, the conspiracy laws can be used against him. "His wife and children, whom he left in some other place when he started to travel in hope of finding work, may have been thrown out on the streets because they had nothing with which to pay the landlord his rent. In some States the law allows the seizure and sale of the tenant's household goods to satisfy a claim for rent. 36 Capital and Labor "There is no justice in classing any man as a vagrant who is willing to work, but is deprived of an opportunity to labor through no fault of his own; and neither he nor his family should be made to suffer by conditions over which he has not the least control. He is without visible means of support because, in most [many] cases, others have deprived him of the greater part of the value of his labor." The trust idea is not confined alone to men of commerce and wealth. The many combinations which have been formed in this and other countries in the interests of labor are simply "trusts." This fact is generally recognized by the public. As these organizations or federations merge their interests and unite their forces in national federations, they become gigantic "trusts," which may wield almost unlimited power in both commercial and political worlds, and be productive of international strikes and boycotts. And there are indications that in the near future the many national organizations will unite and form a great international trust. During the summer of 1909 strong efforts were made by labor leaders on both sides of the Atlantic to effect a world organization of labor. While these efforts were not successful, there can be little doubt that such a federation will finally be formed. It is only fair to say that labor union trusts are but the logical and natural results — according to the laws of self-pro- tection, self-defense, and retaliation — of the moneyed trusts, formed to meet the latter and the evils growing out of a wrong use of the advantages enjoyed by the possessors of wealth. But, like the capitalistic trust, the labor trust can also be oppressive by seeking to control everything within its reach and realm through the use of unlawful or improper means. When laboring by any one in any trade or calling beyond a certain number of hours a day, or for whomsoe ver the laborer wills, is prohibited, penalized, and made dangerous by vio- lence or threats of violence, natural and inalienable rights are invaded. Granting an injunction to the Meade-Morrison Trusts 37 Company, of Cambridge, against the officers and members of Boston Lodge No. 264, of the International Association of Machinists, Judge Richardson, of Boston, said: — "Every man is entitled to work for any number of hours, for any wage that is satisfactory to him, without interference or threats of violence. The combination of capital into what is known as trusts has aroused much criticism throughout the country, but it seems to me that the labor unions have formed a trust, inimical to that freedom which the laws of the state guarantee to every citizen." When laws are secured making it a penal offense for any one engaged in the ordinary pursuits of life to labor, or contract to labor, for more than a certain number of hours a day, legis- lation has gone beyond its proper limits in protecting men's rights, and actually entrenched upon their rights. In the interests of public safety, laws forbidding such men as en- gineers on railway trains being at their posts more than a certain number of consecutive hours, are perfectly proper and right, as would be similar laws prohibiting captains of steam- ships from indulging in intoxicants; but ordinary honest toil on the part of adults, voluntarily performed, ought never to be made a crime. A New York labor law provided that no employee should be "required or permitted" to work in bakeries or confectionaries more than ten hours a day, or sixty hours a week. The law not only made ten hours a day a legal day, but attempted to prohibit an employee from working longer under any circumstances. The Supreme Court of the United States, in 1905, declared this law unconsti- tutional, as constituting an attempt to deprive the individual of his liberty without due process of law. The court held that there was no reasonable ground for interfering with the liberty of a person or the right of free contract by determining the hours of labor in the occupation of a baker, intimating that there is nothing in that occupation injurious to health, and, therefore, requiring the state to exercise its police power in 38 Capital and Labor protecting the health, morals, or general welfare of the public. See Lochner vs. N. Y., 198 U. S. Reports, 45, Apr. 17, 1905- But the primary and most ruinous trusts are the money trusts, which, through unjust legislation, rob the people of their hard-earned money. As noted on page 24, through rais- ing the price of kerosene only one cent a gallon the Standard Oil trust added ten millions to its yearly income. But what shall be said of the law passed by Congress in 1902, raising the tax on colored oleomargarine from two cents a pound (law of 1886), to ten cents a pound? This was not passed to prevent the manufacture of oleomargarine, or to stamp it as impure or unfit for use, but to rule it out as a competitor of butter; for the law itself provides that when it is "free from arti- ficial coloration that causes it to look like butter of any shade of yellow, said tax shall be [only] one fourth of one cent per pound." Oleomargarine is the poor man's butter. This tax of ten cents a pound, with the additional annual tax of $600, $480, and $48 on each manufacturer, wholesaler, and retailer of it, means not only a million dollars internal revenue paid, in the final analysis, by the poor for one of the necessities of life, but, by the power it places in the hands of the manufacturers of butter to raise the price of butter, a virtual tax of something like one hundred millions annually, paid to the butter in- terests by the ten million families in the cities of the United States for the one hundred pounds of butter they use each year. God give us men! A time like this demands Great hearts, strong minds, true faith, and willing hands; Men whom the lust of office does not kill; Men whom the spoils of office can not buy; Men who possess opinions and a will; Men who have honor, men who will not lie; For while the rabble, with their thumb-worn creeds, Their large professions and their little deeds, Wrangle in selfish strife — lo! Freedom weeps, Wrong rules the land, and waiting Justice sleeps. — 0. W. Holmes. VAST ACCUMULATION OF WEALTH NOT CONDUCIVE TO STABILITY OF GOVERNMENT THE corrupting power of accumulated wealth is felt in national life, as well as in nearly every phase of indi- vidual life. In governments where there have been great concentrations of wealth, there have also been corresponding corruptidp, ~ poverty, degradation, and vice — in fact, all the evils which tend to enervate and destroy. In the working out of the history of nations, this fact has been repeatedly demon- strated. Hon. S. M. Hotchkiss, ex-commissioner of labor of Con- necticut, expressed a great truth when he said, "The world has seen more nations destroyed by wealth and luxury than by poverty and plain living." The marvelous prosperity of the United States in the past has been due, in large degree, to the fact that the masses of the people have owned and controlled the wealth and re- sources of the country. Noah Webster said, "An equal distribution of property is the foundation of the republic." Down to the middle of the last century, according to another authority, "the condition of equality, of common happiness, of free industrial pursuits, of fairly equal distribution of wealth, with plethora for none, and poverty for none, still prevailed in our country. . . . The cry of the poor was nowhere heard. The humble homes of the common people abounded with the essentials of human happiness." (39) 40 Capital and Labor When the French author Tocqueville visited America, in 1831, he remarked that "nowhere else had he seen so equal a distribution of the country's wealth and so marked an absence of capitalists." During Lafayette's visit to this country in the year 1825, he asked in a speech made in Boston: "Where are your poor? In this country I see them not." A bystander answered, "We are all here, rich and poor together." The marquis replied: "No, the poor are not here. They are not anywhere in Amer- ica. They are all in Europe." Thus it was in the early his- tory of the United States. But conditions have greatly altered since then. The wealth of the country is not now owned by the people in any such proportion as it washalf a century ago. Mil- lions of the population now own no property at all. Much of the country's wealth has been absorbed by a few. In the course of a few years individ- uals have amassed fortunes reaching LAFAYETTE even into the hundreds of millions. This vast amount of wealth transferred from the general pub- lic into the hands of a few must necessarily leave far less for the masses to spend for the various necessities of life. For each individual fortune thus gathered, hundreds of persons are left poor. Thus the gulf between the rich and the poor is continually growing wider and deeper. Because of this great and growing disparity, and the many evils attending the vast accumulations of wealth in the hands of a few, various organizations, parties, and societies are Vast Accumulation of JVealth 41 formed to alter conditions, and remedy these evils. One will adopt one expedient and another another; but all aim at improved conditions and a more equal distribution of wealth and the good things which wealth will buy. Socialism is one phase of this general movement. Says Mr. H. E. Holland, a member of the Socialistic League, in describing the aim of Socialism : — "We Socialists deprecate assassinations, because we do not UNITED STATES TREASURY, WASHINGTON, D. C. The vaults of this building are said to be the safest in the world. They con- tain a netvvorli of electric wires so arranged that any attempt to enter them improperly short circuits some of the wires, sounds a burglar-alarm, and brings armed guards and the city police. The vaults of the Bank of England, it is said, are submerged under water ex-ery night. aim at removing the figureheads of the capitalistic system. That is foolishness in itself. New figureheads will appear immediately the old ones go. We aim at abolishing the capi- talist system, which rests almost absolutely upon the killing of men and women and children, by a system of organized warfare for profits, or by an industrial system that sacrifices thousands of lives to make profits for the capitalist class." — • Sydney, Australia, Daily Telegraph, Sept. 77, 1901. 4-2 Capital and Labor In the Outlook of July 15, 1909, Colonel Roosevelt said: "The multimillionaire's not per se a healthy development in this country. If his fortune rests on a basis of wrong-doing, he is a far more dangerous criminal than any of the ordinary types of criminals can possibly be." In a paper on "The Concentration of Wealth," Henry L. Call, of Washington, D. C, says: — "Fifty years ago there were not to exceed fifty millionaires in the United States, and their combined fortunes did not exceed probably one hundred million dollars, or one percent of the then-aggregate wealth of the nation. To-day a bare one per cent of our population owns practically ninety-nine per cent of the entire wealth of the nation. "As a result of this wealth concentration, industrial society is practically divided into two classes, the enormously rich and the miserably poor; our eighteen million wage-earners receive an average of but four hundred dollars per year; nine tenths of our business men are notorious failures; our clergy receive an average annual salary of about five hundred dollars; the aver- age for the educators of the land is even lower, and the income of other professional men in proportion; while of our six mil- lion farmers one third are tenants, and the homes of one third of the remaining two thirds are mortgaged ; and a debt burden is almost universal. "We are, in fact, a nation of debtors. Our public and pri- vate mortgages, bond, and general indebtedness alone reach a probable total of thirty billion dollars, or three hundred and seventy-five dollars per capita; in other words, an amount equal to thirteen and one-half times our per capita money circulation, and twenty-two times our savings-bank deposits." — Washington Post, Dec. 28, igo6. In his address at the dedication of the Pennsylvania State Capitol at Harrisburg, Oct. 4, 1906, reported in the Washington Times of that date, President Roosevelt said: "The extraor- dinary industrial changes of the last half-century have pro- Vast Accumulation of JJ^ealtli 43 duced a totally new set of conditions, under which new evils flourish; and for these new evils new remedies must be de- vised." Speaking further, he said: " It is our clear duty to see, in the interests of the people, that there is adequate super- vision and control over the business use of the swollen fortunes of to-day." History is again repeating itself. Unless there is a radical change, certain and irre- trievable ruin must re- sult. Patrick Henry said, "I know of no way of judging the future but by the past." What, in this respect, has been the history of other nations in the past? When Egypt went down, two per cent of her population owned ninety-seven per cent of her wealth, and the people were starving. When Persia went down, one per cent of her population owned all the land. At the time of Nebuchad- nezzar, king of Babylon, two per cent of the popu- lation owned all the wealth, and in a few years the gov- ernment was overthrown. Rome went down following the reign of the Ctesars, during which time it reached its high- est pinnacle of wealth and splendor. But, like the others, it perished through its own corruption. Eighteen hundred men owned all the then-known world. There is a striking likeness between the republic of Rome, before its overthrow, and the United States to-day. In France, before the Reign THEODORE ROOSEVELT 44 Capital and Labor of Terror, all the wealth of the country was owned by the aristocracy — the nobility. The masses were half clad and half fed, groaning under exorbitant taxes and rents. What followed was the most bloody upheaval ever known in the annals of history. The same conditions exist in our own country to-day as existed in France before the French Revo- lution. What may we expect? What can we expect? Shall we look for a reign of peace, or a reign of terror? While we fain would hope for the best, the outlook is anything but reassuring. Wise statesmen and penetrating minds are not blind as to the evils threat- ening. Said ex- President Cleveland shortly before he died : — "I look with apprehen- sion upon the wealth-mad rush of American life, which is certain to impair the mental and physical vigor necessary to every human being. ... In these times of dollar-cha- sing, many of the most vital necessities of a normal human life are being neglected." — Washington Post, March i8, IQO^. In his address before the Southern Commercial Congress at Atlanta, March lO, 191 1, President Taft said: "There has been danger in the past that the rush for wealth would injure the moral fiber of our people and degrade their ideals and standards." That danger still exists. In a letter written to John Kirby, Jr., James W. Van Cleave, GROVER CLEVELAND Vast Accumulation of Wealth 45 of the Bucks Stove and Range Company, of St. Louis, shortly before his death, said: — "I see danger signs ahead, and it will again require strong leadership and brave fighting to bring our good old ship safe and sound over the political reefs, socialistic whirlpools, and demagogue maelstroms." — Washington Times, Aug. ii, igio. Another has set forth the situation thus : "What now is the inevitable end to which our present sys- tem is tending? It is the old, old story, 'Him that hath, to him shall be given,' but 'him that hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.' Society is being transformed into two great ■ divisions, — the moneyed class and the moneyless class. Progress is accom- panied by poverty. For one magnate, riding in his private car, a hundred tramps are plodding along the highway, utterly discouraged; brutalized by hunger and want, they are ready to commit crime. For one great dinner given by a successful manufacturer, tables in midwinter banked with choice flowers, costly wines, imported fruits, rare viands from distant countries, thousands of weary labor- ers plod homeward in the sleet; other thousands of innocent children, hungry and shivering, are crying for food. For one elegant mansion, whose rooms contain all that luxury can ask, all that wealth can buy, innumerable tenement compartments are the homes of discouraged fathers, weary mothers, children WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT ■^^' Capital and Labor at present prattling innocents, but who in a few years will become a part of the great army of workers, though some of them, a sadly large part of them, will go to swell the ranks of the criminal and vicious classes." In his "Eight Hour Primer," page 7, Geo. E. McNeill gives the following answer of the capitalist to the question, "What do you want?" as indicative of the spirit largely now governing the barons of finance and trade : — "I want to be let alone; and what is more, I don't propose to be interfered with, either by trade-unions, questioners, students of the industrial question, philanthropists, clergymen, legislatures, or city councils. I have made my money legally. I control telegraphs, telephones, means of transportation, mines, food supplies, fuel, and, in fact, land, water, and about everything on the planet, including Congress, legislatures, and courts of law. As the people did not know enough to control them for themselves, a few of us have become possessors; but, to be polite to you, I want the best of everything there is, everything that art, science, and labor can produce, and that education and travel can give, and I propose to have all I can get; and if there is any attempt at interference, it will be the worse for those who interfere. This may seem hard to you, but it is just and right. I believe in the survival of the fittest. We have proved our fitness by the mastery of all these forces. We are kings; if not by divine right, by the royal right of success. A people who don 't know enough to hold what they produce in time of peace, and to protect it in time of war, don't know enough to regain that which they have lost, or to hold it if they should get possession. If it were all redis- tributed to-day, men such as I am would have it all again in a short time." The manifestation of such a spirit does not tend to pro- mote domestic tranquillity nor foster stability of government. With prophetic eye, Lincoln, near the close of the civil war, is said to have described the future of our country in Vast Accumulation of Wealth 47 these words: "I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me, and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the war, corporations have been I enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few, and this republic is destroyed." Speaking of the dangers of wealth and material prosperity, the late Justice Brewer, in his work "The United States a Christian Nation," on pages 83-87, made the following ob- servations : — "One of the pressing dangers facing all civilized nations is the enervating influence of wealth and great material develop- ment. That was the one thing which sapped the life of the great nations of antiquity and buried them in the 'tombs of their own vices. In each there was a wonderful accumulation of wealth, marvelous manifestations of material splendor; but the moral character of the citizens was under- mined thereby, and the nation declined and fell. Wealth brought luxury ; luxury brought vice ; and vice was followed by ruin and decay. "To-day we are in the presence of a like marvelous material development. It is one of the phenomena which attract everybody 's attention. You hear on all sides descriptions of rv ^ mA i Y^^^ HHb^H ^r ' -^^ ABRAHAM LINCOLN 48 Capital and Labor the wonderful things which the scientific mind and the ingen- ious skill of the country is accomplishing. The sky-scrapers, the tunnels, the railroads, the mighty steamships, the tele- graph, the cable, the telephone, — all these things, with their accompanying conveniences and luxuries, are before us. I am not here to say aught against the magnificence of this material development; but, remem- ber, it is only a means to an end. We do not live to make bricks and mortar, nor to build sky-scrapers. "That which alone will save this country from the destiny which has attended those nations which have vanished into oblivion, that which will make our marvelous material de- velopment something for the glory of humanity and the upbuilding and per- manence of this republic, is the putting into the life of the nation the convic- tion that the purpose and end of all is the building up of a better manhood and woman- hood. How is this to be accomplished? Not, certainly, by giving up all our thought to material development. . . . If the nation puts all its energies and thought into simply the work of extending its commerce, improving its highways, building up great cities, and adding to its manufactures, it may expect the fate which attended those departed nations. Christianity, entering into the life of the indi- vidual, and thus into the life of the nation, is the only sure antidote for the poisonous touch of mere material prosperity." JUSTICE BREWER Vast Accumulation of Wealth ■ 49 During the civil war Lincoln asked Governor Curtrin of Pennsylvania, "What do you think of those fellows in Wall Street who are gambling in gold at such a time as this?" "Capital was already becoming congested, and corrupting the national life," observes H. R. Binns, in his "Abraham Lincoln, " page 333. Lincoln wisely said: " Experience proves that wealth, power, and luxury, in the hands of a few, with - wide-spread poverty of the working people, are followed by certain decay, national as well as individual." — "Lincoln and the Men of His Time," by Robert H. Browne, Vol. II, pages 638, 639. In the forty-ninth psalm the psalmist speaks thus of the folly of those who make a god of their wealth: "They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him. . . . Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for- ever, and their dwelling-places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names. Nevertheless man being in honor abjdeth not: he is like the beasts that perish. This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings." "O prince, in the pride of thy millions, Who canst by a nod or a breath Decide for another, a brother, The issue of life or of death, Remember, not thine is the power; Thou art but a steward divine Of the share of that other, thy brother, Whose hand lacks the cunning of thine." UNIONS AS the outgrowth of our present social conditions, trade- unions have been formed, in order, as the unionists maintain, to protect themselves against the greed and oppression of nionopolies. That their cause is a just one is a settled conviction with them, and they are confident that, through organization on their part, or by the ballot, they will finally triumph. The first trade-unions of Great Britain were semisecret societies. This was because enactments were passed by the government, in the year 1800, that prohibited the agreement of associations of working men. There are at present, how- ever, many unions in England, Scotland, and Ireland; and they have influenced legislation in favor of the working man. It is now admitted that there are over six million trade- unionists in Europe. The first union of this kind formed in the United States was in 1806, the tailors, it is claimed, being the first to organize. From 1825 to 1830 there was quite an agitation in the United States by the workmen over the ques- tion of fewer hours of work and higher pay. In 1834 there was formed a trades assembly at Boston. The first industrial congress of the United States met in New York in 1845. Dur- ing the sixty's and seventy's the industrial agitation was continued, and local labor organizations were formed in vari- ous parts of the country. Their continuance, however, was of short duration. After serving the purpose for which they were organized, they disappeared. (so) Unio ns 51 The emancipation of the Negro race as a result of the civil war, threw millions of freed men upon the labor market, and in turn revived the labor question, as it had its effect in develop- ing capitalistic production. Following the war there was an era of extraordinary industrial and commercial activity. And through inventive genius, power and machinery were provided to operate in factory, mill, and mine. Railroads were built which penetrated the great West, and the population rapidly spread over our vast domain. Soon a congest- ed condition of things ap- peared; the markets were President American Federation of Labor glutted, and our prod uc- tive machinery to a great ex- t e n t became paralyzed. The "good times" had come to an unexpected end, and factories and workshops were closed down ; wages were gen- erally reduced, and thousands were discharged from employment. Then the country swarmed with idle workmen, and everybody was earnestly discussing "the panic" and the "hard times." Then followed the JOHN MITCHELL Vice-President American Federation of Labor 32 Capital and Labor great railroad strikes ; chattels were seized and sold under the sheriff's hammer; the tramp era was inaugurated, and the tramp became a recognized factor in our national life. Com- monweal armies were organized under the leadership of Gen- erals Coxey and Kelly. The improved machinery produced during the civil war supplied the loss occasioned by the re- moval of thousands of men from farm and workshop; and when the war was over, the disbanded soldiers helped to swell the ranks of the unemployed. ' At the close of the civil war there were only about thirty or forty labor unions in existence, including national, inter- national, and amalgamated. Since 1866 they have increased with astonishing rapidity, and at present the American Feder- ation of Labor, with Mr. Samuel Gompers, of Washington, D. C., as president, has an aggregate membership of nearly two million. Their reason for associating themselves together in unions is that "men can not stand alone; they must combine to enforce their rights, and advance their interests." BOTH PARTIES ORGANIZING While labor is organizing to protect itself against capital, and to secure for itself a larger measure of justice, capital is also combining against organized labor, as is shown by the following from Wilshire's Magazine for June, 1903: — "Those ultraconservative and timid souls who scoffed at President Parry's call to arms, addressed to employers of labor at the recent meeting of the American Manufacturers' Association, have since then had almost daily demonstrations of the wisdom of the position taken by him, and of the timeli- ness of his warning. It came none too soon. The scoffers should have been at that Friday night mass-meeting of New York, in the Trades Building, and have noted the earnest- ness of these eight hundred employers, and their enthusiasm at the prospect of an early release from the paralyzing grip of organized labor. That conference, and its action, are the Unions 53 most convincing proof that President Parry knew what he was tallcing about, and that he then and there named the only remedy for the evil. 'What is it,' asked Mr. C. L. Eidlitz, of the Electrical Contractors' Association, in his address at the mass-meeting, ' that has made it possible for these men [labor unionists] — many of them ignorant, most of them without a dollar laid aside — to demand surrender by us employers, and to get it? — Only the fact that they were thoroughly organized, while we — men of intelligence, men of affairs — have tried to deal with them singly.' Indifference to their own interests, and failure fully to sense the growing seriousness of the menace in labor's exacting policies, have heretofore kept employers apart, each working out his troubles as best he could. But that could not go on forever. The remedy of organization is being applied late, but not too late to effect a cure. Every employer of labor between the two oceans ought to join in the general movement, and give it the aid of his personal effort and influence. The key-note was struck by President Parry when he said, 'Organize!'" As to how capitalists view organized labor, we quote the words of Mr. D. M. Parry, of Indianapolis, Ind., president of the National Association of Manufacturers, in a speech de- livered in New Orleans, La., in 1903: "Organized labor knows but one law, and that is the law of physical force — the law of the Huns and the Vandals, the law of the savage. All its purposes are accomplished either by force or by threat of force. It does not place its reliance in reason and justice, but in strikes, boycotts, and coercion. It is, in all essential fea- tures, a mob-power, knowing no master except its will, and is continually condemning or defying the constituted authority." That violent and unlawful means have been resorted to by some connected with labor organizations can not be denied. During only six years, or from Aug. 10, 1905, when the Inter- national Association of Bridge and Structural Iron-workers declared a general strike against the American Bridge Com- 54 Capital and Labor pany, to the fall of 191 1, there occurred no fewer than one hundred and thirteen dynamite outrages against buildings, bridges, and other structures throughout the United States. These, it was noticed, were perpetrated generally where labor differences existed to a marked degree. Among them was the wrecking of the Times Building, of Los Angeles, Cal., Oct. i, 1910, in which twenty-one lives were lost. Gen. H. G. Otis, the proprietor of the Times, had for years stood for' PHOTD ar UHDENWOOD UNO UNDtnWOOD, V, Y( WRECK OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BUILDING, OCT. I, I9IO the "open shop." At the trial a year later, John J. McNamara, of Indianapolis, Ind., secretary and treasurer of the iron- workers' association referred to, and his brother James B., confessed to their guilt in this and other like outrages. When millions of property are destroyed, and scores of lives sacrificed, through the use of dynamite in labor quarrels, a means is employed suited only to anarchy. When a man must belong to a labor organization in order to be regarded a JJnio ns 55 respectable laborer or receive consideration or courteous treatment, matters are being carried too far. More than seventy thousand men and women took part in the annual Labor day parade down Fifth Avenue, New York City, Sept. 5, 1910. A noticeable feature of the parade was the strictly union make-up of the marchers. "Not only did they belong to the unions themselves," says the Washington Herald of Sept. 6, 1910, "but they wore union clothing and shoes, and banners men LABOR DAY PARADE, NEW YORK, SEPT. 5, I9IO women were registered mem- bers of organized trade associations. This rule was imperative, and if any of the marchers had failed to comply with it, they were ordered out of line." Colonel Roosevelt has well said: "Labor organizations have the weaknesses and defects common to all other forms of human organizations. Sometimes they act very well, and sometimes they act very badly. I am for them when they act well, and I am against them when they act badly. I am ^^ Capital and Labor the poor man's friend if the poor man is straight, but I am against the crooked man — rich or poor." What organized labor thinks of organized capital may be seen from the following words of Mr. Samuel Gompers, presi- dent of the American Federation of Labor: "Capitalists are now organizing on the basis suggested by their more rational confreres. In Chicago a secret association of employers has been formed to protect the interests of employers and to resist aggressive demands on the part of organized labor. If these organizations mean to treat labor fairly, to 'recognize it,' abjure obsolete notions, and accept accomplished facts, we expect to have no difficulty with them. But the first thing for the organization of employers to do is to send the ' capitalistic agitator' about his business, and to secure reasonable, broad- minded, sagacious men to manage its affairs." The general purpose of the American Federation of Labor, which had its origin in a convention of one hundred and seven representatives of labor held in Pittsburgh, Pa., in 1881, and was reorganized at Columbus, Ohio, Dec. 8,1886, is thus stated by Mr. Frank Morrison, the secretary of the federation, in a communication dated May 18, 1909: "It is the purpose to bring all the influence of the general movement and the assistance of the members of all trades and callings to bear in the interest of any particular trade, both financially and morally. " The Industrial Workers of the World, organized in Chicago in 1905, differ from the ordinary labor unions in that they do not believe that capital and labor have anything in common. James P. Thompson, the general organizer of the Chicago division of the society, says: — "There is and always will be, until we have won, a class struggle in society. Society is divided into two great classes, not according to the color of men 's skins, but according to the way they make a living. One class works for the other class. These two classes confront each other on the world 's stage like Unions 57 two vast armies, and one army must be annihilated. Each class has powers peculiar to itself. The capitalist class, for instance, has the weapon of bribery. The greatest weapon of the working class is solidarity. All the working class has to do to paralyze the world is to do nothing. When this is brought about, the world will remain paralyzed until the hand of labor touches it and brings it back to life." — Denver Re- publican, April 28, igi2. Instead of a strike in a single craft, or even of a single in- dustry, they hope to bring about a world-wide strike, which, by what they term the "direct action," will mean the utter paralyzing of all traffic and trade until the workers have gained possession of all industries. Says the preamble to their con- stitution : — "There can be no peace so long as hunger and want are found among millions of working people, and the few who make up the employing class have all the good things of life. The struggle must go on until we take possession of the earth and the machinery of production, and abolish the wage system." "There is but one bargain," says Vincent St. John, general secretary and treasurer of the society, "which the Industrial Workers of the World will make with the employing class — complete surrender of all control of industry to the organized workers." This is not merely socialistic and revolutionary, but an- archistic, in tone and sentiment, it would seem. To those who view the matter from an unbiased standpoint, the words of Mr. Roosevelt, in a speech made at Harri- son, Idaho, in 1903, must appear reasonable. He said: "There are two things which, as a people, we can not too strongly condemn, — the arrogance which looks down upon those not so well off, and treats them with brutal and selfish disregard for their interests, and the equally base spirit of hatred and rancor for those who are better off." 58 Capital and Labor To summarize the whole matter, it is force arrayed against force. It is combined capital, on the one hand, to control the volume of money, and so control the world ; while on the other hand, it is a combination of workmen to control the labor of the world. One is a monopoly of wealth, the other a monopoly of labor. The logic that would justify the one would also justify the other. The capitalist, generally, has no concern for the welfare of the laboring class. His chief care is in looking after the profits, and he therefore keeps wages reduced to as low a rate as possi- ble. He takes advantage of the necessities of the wage- earner, and, holding the means of the laboring man's daily subsistence tightly within his grasp, endeavors selfishly to make him yield to his terms. Labor, no longer submissive, now organized into unions for mutual protection and assistance in securing for itself better conditions, contends for equality in the benefits of production, and endeavors to advance its interests by means of coercion, strikes, and boycotts. Thus organization and combination is the policy now being pursued. Organized labor on the one hand, and combined capital on the other, represent two great divisions of our in- dustrial society. And while there is perhaps no doubt that, through the organization of labor and through labor disputes, both the income of the labor organizations and the profits of the combinations of capital have increased greatly, what may be said in regard to the middle class, the great unorganized public? They have not caused the trouble and unrest, yet they have had the worst of it. The burden has fallen heaviest on them. The great majority, with no way of raising their salary or of increasing their income, have been forced to pay more for all the necessities of life. H. N. Gaines, of Topeka, Kans., editor of the Farmer's Advocate, in a speech made at Omaha, Nebr., March i, 1904, outlining the reasons for a farmers' organization, said: "Look Unions 59 where you will, capital is strongly entrenched behind an al- most impregnable fortress of organization. On every hand the farmer feels the hand of. oppression. Capital fixes the price of everything he buys, and names the price on every- thing he produces." At the same time Mr. Gaines paid his respects to the multimillionaires of the country, the Rocke- fellers, Camegies, and Goulds, and to the trusts of the country. He said: "The vast combinations of capital have a monopoly on the necessities of life, and fix the price to the consumer, whether the produce is from the farm or factory, so that the consumer must pay the price or go without." It is to be deprecated that this state of things exists. The principles involved on both sides do not speak for either peace or prosperity. They are subversive of the best interests of society and good government. The Hon. S. M. Hotchkiss, ex-commissioner of labor of Connecticut, truthfully says: "There are higher ambitions than to be rich. The study of economics, however important, is not man's noblest study. The mightiest nation is the one that rests upon the strongest moral basis. If we make everything of wages and profits, of course we shall fight over their proper division." The gospel of Christ is a gospel of peace, love, and good will to men. It is not a gospel of force. If the principles of the everlasting gospel were properly applied in the world, universal peace and prosperity would prevail. But these two mighty organizations of combined capital and combined labor arrayed against each other, foreshadow revolution and ruin. STRIKES ONE of the marked features of the present conflict between capital and labor is the organized strike. To those connected with the labor movement the strike seems both justifiable and necessary, in order that their inter- ests may be protected. Men in high standing have sometimes spoken in justification of it. Thus, in a speech on Labor day, Sept. 5, 1910, at Fargo, N. Dak., Colonel Roosevelt said: — "Strikes are sometimes necessary and proper. Sometimes they represent the only way in which, after all other methods have been exhausted, it is possible for the laboring man to stand for his rights." — Washington Herald, Sept. 6, igio. At the same time the strike is an undesirable feature, and is necessarily attended with more or less hardship and evil. Nearly forty thousand strikes and lockouts have occurred in the United States since 1891, which have meant a great loss to both employer and employees, as well as to consumers. Besides, as a result of these conflicts, feelings of bitterness and hatred have been engendered, making the chasm which separates the contending forces still deeper and wider. Some claim that there is very little danger of a serious conflict from the adoption of this means; but how can they reason thus when, as a result of almost innumerable strikes that have al- ready taken place, millions of dollars ' worth of property have been destroyed, and many lives sacrificed? T. V. Powderly, in speaking of the Homestead strike of 1892, termed it "the rumblings of the coming revolution." (61) Capital and Labor One of the first strikes that occurred in the United States was on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, in 1832. Many laborers struck for a better wage, and were arrested and im- prisoned. In 1833 a carpet company in Connecticut had some of its striking employees arrested for conspiracy. During more recent years, strikes have become painfully common, and many of them have assumed such proportions as seriously to interfere not only with trade, but with the purchase of ac- tual necessities of life by the public generally. Some have thought mat- ters would improve in this respect, and that strikes would die out as a means of settling disputes be- tween employer and em- ployee. Even as late as 1904, Mr. T. V. Pow- derly, former head of the Knights of Labor, after a conference between cap- italists and laboring men in Pittsburgh, said: — " I firmly believe that the day of the strike is over. I don 't mean by that that there is never to be another strike, but I do mean that each year will see fewer causes for strikes, and that, as a natural result, the strike will be a thing of the past as a means of bringing employers and working men to amicable relations." — Washington Times, Dec. 31, 1904. By referring to the accompanying table, the reader will see how strikes and lockouts have increased in the United States since 1881. T. V. POWDERLY Strikes 63 STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS IN THE UNITED STATES FROM 1881 TO 1905 From the Twenty-first Annual Report of the G>mmissioner of Labor, 1906, pages 15, 20 STRIKES LOCKOUTS STRIKES AND LOCKOUT YEAR 1881 1882 1888 1884 __,_ 3885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 Total s s » ?1 S" 36,757 2,928 2,105 2,750 2,367 2,28J 10,053 6,589 3,506 3,786 9,424 8,116 5,540 4,555 8,196 6,973 5,462 8,492 3,809 11,317 9,248 10, 14, 20,248 10,202 8,292 181,407 2 ^g o n 129,521 154,671 149,763 147,054 242,705 508,044 379,676 147,704 249,559 351,944 298,939 206,671 265,914 660,425 392,403 241,170 408,391 •249,002 417,072 505,066 543,386 659,792 656,055 517,211 221,686 8,703,824 1,546 Within the past few years many serious strikes have occurred. Among these may be mentioned the great an- thracite coal strike in Pennsylvania, in 1902. On this oc- casion Pennsylvania 's well-drilled militia was unable to cope with the situation. Finally, the President of the United Not including two striltes Involving thirty-three establishments not reported. ^>''- Capital and Labor States intervened, and appointed a commission of arbitration, that the settlement of the strike might be accomplished. Another great strike that threatened for a time to pre- cipitate a civil war, was that of the Colorado-Cripple-Creek Federation of Miners' strike, in the year 1904, to quell which taxed the utmost powers of the State government. Many will recall the great strike in the Goldfield, Nev., mining camp, in 1906, when lawlessness and crime held high, carnival, and it was necessary to proclaim martial law, and- occupy the city with government troops. Bombs were found beneath the railway ties, designed to blow up the trains carry- ing the troops to the scene of disorder; hundreds of arrests were made ; and at great cost order in the civil government was finally restored. The year 1909 was unprecedented for its number of strikes, both in this and in other countries of the world. Forty thousand men at one time quit work in Sweden; and more than five hundred thousand British miners voted to strike in support of the Scotch miners in resistance to a wage reduc- tion of sixpence a day. August 12 Fort Williams, Ontario, was placed under martial law because of rioting strikers. The American Sheet and Tin Plate Workers asked two hundred thousand dollars' damages on account of the despoliation work of strikers. Great strikes occurred in Spain, France, Italy, and other European countries. In that year Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, visited Europe with a desire to bring about, if possible, the organization of an international federation of labor which might have power to declare a national or international strike, which would mean that all labor unionists throughout the world at the command of their leaders — or, perhaps, of a single individual — could strike simultaneously. Should there occur a universal, world- wide strike, only Divine Wisdom could foresee the direful results that might follow. A secular newspaper describes the Pressed Steel Car Com- Strikes 65 pany employees' strike at McKees Rocks, near Pittsburgh, in 1909, as "worse than ' Homestead.' " Thousands of men were lined up on both sides of this bitter controversy over wage; eleven men were killed, and scores seriously wounded, while the property and wage losses were immense. The New York Evening Post described it as "a disgraceful civil war." The New York Call (Socialist), reviewing the situation, said: "The profits of the master are piling up. . . . The prices of steel products are going up by leaps and bounds. But there is no let-up in the war on labor. The 'independents, ' as well as the trust, have resolved upon destroying the last vestiges of the Amalgamated Association, formerly so powerful. The Pressed Steel Car Company invents new ways of reducing the wages of its employees and of pitting group against group, skilled against unskilled, in the so-called pooling system. In the Pittsburgh district that hideous creature of the modern Moloch, outraged human nature, has reached the limit of endurance and breaks out in blind, helpless revolt against deeper degradation. And for answer one humane, civilized, Christian, -twentieth-century society has police and militia, and the lash of hunger that substitutes for the Roman cross." The strike on the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company in the spring of 1910, was a prolonged and bitter struggle, in- volving not only the four thousand carmen who struck, but many thousands of others through the sympathetic strike which followed. This struggle continued for about two months, resulting in the loss of a number of lives, and from twelve to fourteen millions of dollars through destruction of property, idleness, and the paralyzing of trade. "The great burden of the loss," says the Washington Times of April 18, 1910, "fell on the business community, which is estimated to have suffered in the loss of trade and other ways to the extent of eight million dollars. The cost to the strikers, including those who went out on sympathetic strike, was three million 66 Capital and Labor dollars, while the direct loss to the Rapid Transit Company is figured at not less than $1,200,000." Commenting on this, under the heading "A Disastrous Strike," the Washington Post of May 18, 1910, said: — "Thus is industrial war as ruinous as commercial war; and it vies with famine, pestilence, the earthquake shock, the volcano's vomit, the tidal wave's remorseless invasion. PHILADELPHIA STREET-CAR STRIKE IN I9IO. Strikers beating a strilce breaker. the drought's brazen skies, and the flood's engulfing embrace, to bring disaster on the community. "That Philadelphia strike brought no material benefit to any human being; but it brought sorrow and disaster to thousands. It established anarchy and military rule where there had been order and peace. There were arson and mur- der, and society was between the. mob on the one side and the military on the other. "What was it all about? — Only a little thing of wage, that Strik es 67 the ordinary exercise of the plainest precepts of common justice could have composed in fifteen minutes. There is one sublime truth that this country has yet to learn, and that is this: Capital and labor are partners, and they should be and must be friends. Let justice prevail, and wage and dividend will automatically adjust themselves to the satis- faction of both and to the benefit of the public." A street-car strike similar to the one in Philadelphia occurred STREET-CAR STRIKE IN COLUMBUS, OHIO, IN IQIO A crowd of strikers and their sympathizers surrounding a car run by strike breakers. in Columbus, Ohio, during the summer of 1910. In this, street-cars were blown up, and for weeks the presence of regi- ments of the Ohio National Guard were required. For six weeks in the autumn of the same year, forty thousand garment-workers in Chicago were on strike. During this time the police were kept busy quelling small riots, and one hundred thousand persons are said to have suffered for the necessaries of life. The strike is estimated to have cost the city over one million five hundred thousand dollars. 68 Capital and Labor Referring to strike violence, the Outlook of Feb. 17, 1912, says : — "Why do trade-unions resort to violence, bloodshed, and destruction of property to win strikes? What hardens the heart of the union man when he sees non-union workers as- saulted, maimed, and even done to death? Tailors are com- monly supposed to be mild-mannered, inoffensive people of peaceable dispositions. Yet during the strike of the Chicago garment-workers the 'entertainment committees' of the union habitually forced the non-union tailors to quit work by snap- ping the bones of their needle fingers with a short, sharp twist. In San Francisco non-union teamsters had their wrists broken by blows delivered with steel bars. In Coalinga, Cal., two men were beaten to death in a crowd of striking metal-work- ers. On State Street, in Chicago, a non-union teamster was dragged from his seat and trampled to death. Three stri- king machinists in Los Angeles, seated in an automobile, fol- lowed a strike breaker when he boarded a car, attacked him with gas-pipes, and pounded him into a pulp. The victim did not leave the hospital for six months." In the fall of 1910 a strike of the railway employees in France occurred, affecting eighty thousand men, and paralyzing traffic virtually throughout the republic. During its con- tinuance there was acute distress in a large part of France in consequence of the suspension of railway communications. The strike resulted from the refusal of the railway companies and the state to increase the minimum rate of wage from sixty cents to one dollar a day. As a means of breaking the strike, the government called upon thirty thousand employees of the Northern road to join the colors, which at once subjected them to military discipline. Disobedience to the order meant insubordination. In this way the strike was suppressed. In June, 1911, under the orders of the National Seamen's Union, there was begun in England a world-wide strike of seamen, which was designed, if necessary, not only to tie up Strik es 69 the great ocean liners, but to extend to all ships carrying the English flag throughout the world. For some time, in conse- quence, both ocean and railway traffic was seriously inter- fered with, business was paralyzed, thousands of tons of perishable foods rotted on the wharves for want of dock men to handle them, the Thames was blocked with steamers held up by the strike, troops were ordered to quell riots, and the ENGLISH COAL STRIKE, I912. EMPTY COAL-CARS large cities of England were threatened with famine and pesti- lence. March l, 1912, a great coal strike, affecting a million mine workers, was called in England. On the third day of the strike a London despatch said : — " 'The black strike,' as the coal crisis is called, is now affect- ing every class. Nearly a quarter of a million workers of all trades have been dismissed, railway service is dislocated and disorganized, and like creeping paralysis the stoppage of the coal supply is threatening the life of the nation. King George, alarmed at the situation, has canceled his trip to Sandringham, and has declared he will remain at Buckingham Palace, where he can keep in touch with his cabinet until the matter is settled." 70 Capital and Labor A little later, reports stated that it was estimated that five hundred thousand workers had been thrown out of employ- ment in south Wales alone, and that in consequence of food prices continuing to increase, there was rnuch^ suffering among the poor. Commenting upon this strike, the Washington Herald of March 7, 1912, said: — "More than one million coal-miners are on strike in Great Britain. It is estimated that two hundred and fifty thousand men in other lines of activity are consequently idle, and nearly one million five hundred thousand others have been served with notice to quit work within a short time. On Monday not a ton of coal entered London. Business throughout the king- dom is paralyzed, and the comparatively small amount of reserve coal commands a prohibitive price. "It is certain that these conditions can not long continue. The pity of it is that they should exist at all. With all its boasted civilization, England does not seem to have reached a method of action whereby disputes between labor and capital can be adjusted without causing distress to millions of inno- cent persons. . . . Unless some steps are quickly taken in Great Britain, an enormous amount of suffering must ensue, and unquestionably there will also be much disorder. The problem demands the highest type of statesmanship, and its solution must be speedily reached." A London despatch, under date of March 21, 19 12, said: "The suffering in the industrial districts continues. It is now estimated that in addition to the two million miners out on strike, nearly two million more have been rendered idle." Writing under the same date, Mr. W. T. Stead stated that "the pinch of poverty is very severely felt," and that the rail- way receipts in Great Britain had fallen off two million dollars per week. The condition to which this strike reduced thousands in Great Britain, before it had been in operation hardly three Strik es 71 weeks, is thus described by an article in the New York Globe of March 23, 1912: — "The scenes in the cities are particularly affecting. There a constant procession of men, women, and children moving on the pawn-shops is seen. White-faced and wan, their appear- ance more than their words showing the pinch of hunger, they carry their miserable, scanty pieces of furniture to the agents, who advance a few pennies at an extortionately high rate of interest. Thousands of families in the United Kingdom, it was estimated to-day, are living in absolutely bare rooms, BRITISH FARLIAMEN'T, LONDON, ENGLAND every single article of furniture and clothing having been pledged to buy bread to tide them through the present crisis." For five weeks this strike, one of the greatest in the history of labor troubles, which is said to have cost the country fifty million dollars a week, continued. The matter was finally adjusted after Parliament had passed a minimum wage act, and the government had got itself into military readiness to protect the mines in case of trouble upon their reopening. On the heels of this strike came other coal strikes in Ger- many, France, and the United States, though of less gigantic proportions. 71 Capital and Labor In January, 1912, a strike involving twenty or twenty-five thousand operatives, broke out in the textile mills of Lawrence, Mass., and continued for several months. The angry stri- kers, speaking some forty-five languages, gave the authorities a serious problem to handle. Eight companies of the State militia were called out, and given orders to "shoot to kill," if necessary. The strike was under the direction of the Indus- LAWRENCE, MASS., INDUSTRIAL WORKERS STRIKE, I9I2 Hose playing on bridge to keep strilcers from destroying mills. trial Workers of the World. About the same time a similar strike occurred in New Jersey. These facts are sufficient to demonstrate that the days of strikes evidently are not over, and that international and world-wide strikes may yet be in store. Already men are beginning to fear the possibility of such strikes. Speaking of the danger of the English coal strike extending to this and other countries, the Washington Times of March 4, 1912, said: "An international strike of this sort would be a world calamity." Strikes 73 Commenting on America's great coal strikes, Roger W. Babson, the well-known statistician, in the New York Times of April 14, 1912, says: — "Generally speaking, the employer will pay as little as he must, reducing the wages or dismissing the employee as it seems expedient. At least it was long that way; but since laboring men organized for mutual protection, the relation between the employer and the employee has become somewhat altered in practise if not in spirit. The employer has learned that he is no longer dealing with individuals, but with organi- zations. These organizations seek the welfare of their mem- bers precisely as the employers of labor seek to promote their own advantage, and there is little philanthropy practised by either side. Each tries to get the better of the other, and each appeals to the law, the lawmakers, and public sentiment to sustain its contention. Each interest is to a degree self- ish. . . . Selfishness may carry compensation, but it engenders an immense amount of friction in business and other relations. "When this nation was small, and a neighborhood feeling pervaded every community; when employer and employee were one in association, lived side by side, and had a mutual interest in each other, labor strikers and strikes were unknown. With the coming of the corporation and the development of the trust, employer and employee got out of touch. The employer was no longer a person, but an institution, pro- claimed as 'soulless.' "The battle is now on between organized labor and capi- tal. . . . The strife between employer and employee must apparently go on until a proper relationship between the interests shall be established. . . . The old idea seemed to be that capital was entitled to all the fruits of toil that it could exact, and the idea has not entirely perished. The antithesis of this theory is that labor is exacting more and more as its proportion, public sentiment apparently approving 74 Capital and Labor in the main. . . . Let the old relationship continue, and the strife will become more and more acute, with the possi- bility that the general government will have to manage the coal industry." The following table, taken from Mr. Babson's article, gives, in brief, some statistics regarding coal strikes in this country since 1899: — SUMMARY OF COAL STRIKES IN UNITED STATES, 1899-1911 i Number of Total Working- Av. No. Men on Days Lost Days Lost Strike per Man 1899 45.981 2,124,154 46 1900 131,973 4.878,102 37 1901 20,593 733.802 35 1902 200,452 16,672,217 93 1903 47.481 1,341.031 28 1904 77.661 3,382,830 44 1905 37.542 796,735 21 1906 372.343 19,201,348 51 1907 32,540 462,392 14 1908 145.145 5.449.938 38 1909 24,763 723.634 29 1910 218,493 19.250,524 88 1911 25,000 725,000 29 The Washington Times of Jan. 29, 191 1 , makes the following observations in regard to the "waste in strikes:" — " It needs no argument to establish the costliness of strikes. The expense of the conflict is on the very surface of public appreciation. Whatever the final result, there is loss on the one hand, and suffering on the other. It is illuminating, however, to get from an authoritative source a balance-sheet of merely one phase of the cost paid by workers in battle with capital. "In advising the United States Mine Workers against a continuation of a pending strike, Pres. 'Tom' L. Lewis submitted the following summary of amounts paid out by the union in the last decade on account of strike benefits: Strikes 75 SUMMARY OF AMOUNTS PAID STRIKERS BY UNIONS 1900 . $ 144,462.56 1906 • • $ 805,599.92 I90I . 202,202.71 1907 . . • ■ 105,045-57 1902 , . 1,834,506.53 1908 • ■ 744,897-19 1903 . . . 301,922.44 1909 . . . 600,267.39 1904 . ■ ■ 1.065,43547 1910 . . 1,532,020.42 1905 • . 753,626.02 Total . . . . $8,089,986.16 "Here is more than eight miUion dollars in actual cash paid out for men idle for a principle. It means eight million dollars taken from already scanty means of support for the benefit of unknown persons engaged in industrial conflict with unknown employers. All of this money loss represents 'nothing of grievance in those who paid it, except as they made a distant cause their own. What was the loss it represented in the poverty and want that it sought to relieve is only faintly in- dicated by the industrial tragedies that called it forth. What was the loss to the employers, whose expenses in such cases are great where those of the workers are poignant, is a question suggesting an even more appalling total. And what was the loss through the petty advances in price to the consumers makes even a more hopeless picture. . . . The eight millions unselfishly given by the mine workers for the aid of striking brothers is but a drop of the loss of the strikers which called for their donation. The strikes of the mine workers constitute a small portion of the total amount dribbled from the pockets of a consuming public living from hand to mouth. When and how, by process of law or progress of understanding, will an end come to the drain of industrial warfare which at times rivals the drain of armed conflict?" Many of these unwelcome and disastrous strikes would doubtless be avoided if those concerned, and particularly the employers, would, as the Washington Post says, recognize the one sublime truth that "capital and labor are partners," and that they should be "friends." Mr. John H. Converse, who 76 Capital and Labor STRIKES IN THE UNMEU STATES FROM 1906 TO 1911 The statistics as published in the annual report of the secretary of the American Federation of Labor, though not complete, show the following con- cerning strikes in the United States for the six years 1906-1911: — Year No. of Strikes Strikej Won Strikes Compro- mised Strikes Pending Strikes Lost No. Involved Cost of Strikes 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 887 1,433 861 693 827 1,359 493 1,071 365 341 470 642 89 106 210 57 84 90 155 66 62 64 259 261 112 124 105 104 62 93 600 91,530 130,271 115,923 87,031 341,448 170,526 $3,982,865.66 3,090,359.34 2,448,041.07 1,862,836.03 3,727,277.68 4,709,550.69 Total 6,060 3,383 636 867 936,729 $19,820,930.47 died May 3, 1910, was an energetic, ambitious, and resourceful man. Making the most of his opportunities, he finally be- came head of the great Baldwin Locomotive Works of Phila- delphia. Here his success was phenomenal, and to-day en- gines built under his wise management are in use wherever railroads are known. Of him it is said: "His righteousness and fair dealing with his men kept them contentedly employed when all over the country there was the most serious conflict between labor and capital. He believed in the gospel of humanity; he believed in the love of Christ." Mr. Bailey Millard, in the Washington Herald of March 25, 19 12, writes the following as suggestive of the way an up-to- date manufacturer should treat his employees: — " Everything about the big cotton-mill seemed to have gone wrong. Careless spoolers were winding bad bobbins, weavers were turning out skip-thread fabrics, bleachers were away behind in their work, and customers were growling and sending back defective goods. " In despair, the president of the company called in a famous factory expert, a man who did not work for a salary, but for the Strikes // love of humanity. They went over the whole mill together. Standing in a dilapidated, close-smelling, poorly lighted room, packed with frowzy female operatives, the president asked in querulous tones of the expert: — " ' What shall I do with these people to get more and better work out of them ? Increase their hours?' " ' No,' was the quick reply. ' They're long enough already.' JOHN H. CONVERSE BALDWIN LOCOMOTIVE WORKS, PHILADELPHIA '"What, then?' '"You won't get angry if I tell you?' '"No, I promise you. What shall I do with them?' " ' Permit me to suggest that you treat them as if they were human beings.' '"What do you mean?' demanded the magnate, ruffled in a moment. '"I will answer your question in detail if you will take me to a room where I can breathe. ' 78 Capital and Labor '"Come to my office,' said the president. And he led the way to a palatial room, clean, well-ventilated, and well-lighted. 'Now,' he asked gruffly, 'what's wrong with the mill?' " 'Simply that you, like a great many other factory propriet- ors, like fresh air, plenty of light, and pleasant surroundings, but can not understand that what is good for you is also good for your employees. If you were to treat your operatives as one big family and you the father of it, you would find that the result would be better work, an increased output, a decreased cost of production, and bigger returns all around.' Then he went into the details of his plan of factory improvement. "'But the expense,' objected the mill owner, throwing up his hands. 'We can not afford to do it.' "'You can't afford not to do it,' insisted the expert. "And he was right, as the record of the mill showed at the end of the next two years, in which the one-big-family idea was grudgingly adopted and enthusiastically continued." The historian and versatile writer John Clark Ridpath, speaking of the domination of wealth, says: — "Not a nation in the world is exempt from the dominion of the universal monarchy. The political autonomy of every one has been surrendered, openly or covertly, to the will of a ruler whom none have seen, but before whom every state and principality, every republic, and kingdom, and empire, bends a supple knee. . . While civilization continues, so long as mankind shall be organized into nations, so long will this intolerable incubus rest day and night on the labor of the world. Under the horrid nightmare every working man in every country under the sun becomes and remains a slave. It is needless to say that such a debt will absorb the entire property of the world. It will drink the ocean dry. It will suck up, at the rate of eight hundred millions a year, the whole wealth of mankind, and then demand another planet to satisfy the vacuum in its infernal maw." It is this lack of sympathy and love for one 's neighbor, this Strikes 79 selfish, insatiable thirst for wealth, this inordinate greed for gain, that is widening the gulf between the rich and the poor, and inciting the latter to resort to the strike, the boycott, and to deeds of violence. In a speech delivered at a Bryan birthday dinner in March, 1 91 2, on "The Idle Rich," and quoted in the Commoner of April 5, 1912, Mr. Frederick Townsend Martin, of New York, said: "Some day there will be a strike which the idle rich will be only too glad to arbitrate. But the time for arbitration will be gone." This reminds us of the statement of Talleyrand, that Louis XVI, the last king of France before the great French Revolution, granted twenty reforms, any one of which would have saved his head and his throne had he granted it in time. But his reforms came too late. BOYCOTTS ALTHOUGH the system of boycotting, or organized social and commercial ostracism, has come promi- nently into use during recent years, as the outgrowth of our existing social conditions, it is by no means a new insti- tution. It is another fulfilment of the words of the wise man that "there is no new thing under the sun." The term boycott has been applied to what is known as the system of boycotting since about the year 1880, when Captain Boycott, agent for Lord Earne, an Irish landlord of Galway, Ireland, became a prominent victim of the practise, through exciting the ill will of the land league by evicting tenants who had not paid their rents. But the system itself, though not under that name, was practised in Europe centu- ries ago. It was employed there by established churches against dissenters, and also against cities and nations that failed to obey ecclesiastical or pontifical requirements. Of late years this system is being used in the social, re- ligious, and commercial worlds as a weapon in the hands of a combination of persons, who, by concerted action, attempt to force an individual, or class of individuals, to comply with their demands. Capitalists are using it as a means to compel those of their fraternity who differ from their customs and methods to wheel into line, or be ruined financially. The trade-unions are employing it as an aggressive weapon against non-union men. Those who do not join the unions, even though it may be for conscientious scruples, and not because (80) Boycotts 81 of unfriendly feelings, are frequently boycotted in their business, and forced into embarrassing positions. By this means men have had their business ruined. In some cases even life has been taken. It is such a menace to liberty and good government that some of the States, such as Illinois and Wisconsin, have enacted laws against it. Many other States have laws that could fairly be construed as prohibiting the boycott. It is as exacting and as merciless in its op- erations as a Nero or a Domitian. One effect of trade-union organizations is to put power into the hands of men who are unfit to use it. Mr. Balfour, in the House of Commons, not long ago told of a case illustrating this. A butcher near Bel- fast, Ireland, employed both union and non-union men. The unionists were offended with one of t h e latter, and demanded his dismissal. The employer apolo- gized to the union for employing non-unionists, offered to pay the fines, and to employ only unionists in the future. The leader of the union, however, refused to allow the offending workman to join the union until he had purged his offense by "walking the streets for a year." The employer pleaded that the man was the father of a family; but the unionist leader was pitiless, and the employer had to face the alternative of either being ruined himself or dismissing the unfortunate workman who had incurred the displeasure of the union. The tyranny of labor can be just as cruel as the tyranny of capital, and just as destructive to the real interests of the workers. CAPTAIN CHARLES CUNNINGHAM BOYCOTT (1832-1897) 82 Capital and Labor In Chicago the coal team drivers ' union and the coal drivers ' union combined. They would not allow a person owning a horse and wagon to haul coal for his own use from the coal- yard to his own home. A horseshoers' union in one of our large cities refused to shoe horses for any one not belonging to the union. Drivers' unions, in many cases, have not allowed any freight to be delivered, even for fuel, when persons were suffering from the rigors of winter. In 1903 a funeral procession was held up in Chicago for about two hours, because one of the hack-drivers in it was a non-union man. He was finally replaced by a union man, and the procession was allowed to move on. Similar experiences have occurred in other cities. In some instances non-union men have been killed while attempting to haul perishable goods with their own teams. During a recent street-car strike in a certain city, some women, while riding on a street-car, refused to pay their fares to the conductor because he was a non-union man. Upon informing them that he would then stop the car, he was at once attacked by a number of men, and would doubtless have been seriously dealt with had not a policeman with a drawn revolver taken him in charge and hastened him to a place of safety. The driver of the same car, also being a non- union man, had to run for his life. Examples of this kind are not wanting in the history of boy- cotts. The boycotting system is not only an enemy to both capital and labor, when employed one against the other, but to the public generally. As, in the case of strikes, more are affected than simply the strikers, so with the boycott, more are involved than the persons immediately boycotted. The boycott as applied to non-union working men, not only de- prives a man of the right to labor unless he belongs to a labor union, but takes away the liberty of the people by compelling them to employ only such men as are recognized by labor Boycotts 83 organizations, iiowever satisfactory their services may be. Dr. Lyman Abbott truthfully says: "If any section of society endeavors to prevent any man from working, and from enjoying the product of his work, that section of society is unjust. If any organization undertakes to prevent any man from working when he will, where he will, for whom he will, and at what wages he will, that organization violates the essential rights of labor. It is not primarily the enemy of capital : it is primarily the enemy of labor ; for every man has a right to work, and every man has a right to the products of industry." On the question of unionism in the trades, the Denver Republican says: "The principle of the open shop does not necessarily conflict with legitimate and intelligent labor union- ism. Labor unions have a perfectly legitimate field in the effort to improve the condition of their members by raising the standard of work, by making the fact of membership evidence that the man who holds a union card can do with superior skill the kind of work represented by the card. Un- ions of this kind seek the establishment of no monopoly. They seek, on the contrary, the elevation of the standards of labor, ofTering thereby to employers superior skill and faith- fulness in the discharge of duty. To unions of this kind there can be no opposition from intelligent employers. But to those organizations which are labor trusts, seeking to ac- complish their purpose by maintaining a labor monopoly, there will always be opposition. They strike at the foun- dation of individual liberty, and for this reason they are among the worst enemies skilled labor can have." The principle of the organized boycott has been declared illegal by statesmen, legislatures, and courts. Replying to a delegation of fifty business and professional men of the borough of Bethlehem, Pa., who waited on him on April 6, 1910, Presi- dent Taft said : — " I am utterly opposed to the principle of a boycott. Every 84 Capital and Labor issue ought to be settled on its own merits." — Washington Post, April 7, J 910. Because Goldberg, Bowen & Co., grocers, of San Francisco, refused to discharge non-union men employed in their stables, the stablemen's union employed pickets to carry placards and transparencies in front of the grocery. Judge Hebbard, of the superior court, reviewing the law in the case, declared that any organization of working men that attempts to hamper trade, or to coerce fellow working men to become its members, or to quit work, is illegal. In his decision he said: — • "To proclaim a business, or the proprietors thereof, unfair in this manner is as infamous as to proclaim before a private dwelling that the inmates thereof are prostitutes. The acts complained of are breaches of peace." — Washington Times, Nov. 2S, 1904. Mr. Otto B. Schultze, a baker of Racine, Wis., was boy- cotted by the Trades Labor Council for running an open shop. In the decision of the circuit court. Judge Chester A. Fowler, of Fond du Lac, held illegal the contract exacted from the boss bakers by the union men, in an effort to enforce the closed shop; the Trades Labor Council and the individual members were enjoined from using the "unfair list;" the boycott was declared an actionable conspiracy to accomplish a criminal or unlawful purpose; and Mr. Schultze was allowed to recover twenty-five hundred dollars' damages for the loss of profits during the boycott, and thirty-five hundred dollars' damages for injury done to his business and property in relation to its selling value. The court said : — "Any injury to one's business and trade is on the same footing as an injury to his tangible property, and the law furnishes a remedy for one as well as the other. The acts complained of are, in my view, plainly in violation of section 466 a, Wisconsin Statues of 1898, as construed by the Supreme Court. This statute makes any two or more persons who shall 7 contbine, associate, mutually undertake, or concert Boycotts 85 together for the purpose of wilfully or maliciously injuring another in his trade or business, by any means whatsoever, or for the purpose of maliciously compelling another to do or perform any act against his will, guilty of an offense punishable , by fine and imprisonment." — Washington Post, Aug. 2Q, igo6. Feb. 3, 1908, the Supreme Court of the United States, in harmony with the Sherman antitrust law of 1890, awarded Loewe & Sons, hatters, of Danbury, Conn., three times the estimated damages, in their suit against the United Hatters of North America, for boycotting their products. See 208 U. S. Reports, 274. In the same year the American Federation of Labor was enjoined by the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia from continuing to boycott the Bucks Stove and Range Com- pany of St. Louis, through the publication of an "unfair list" in the American Federationist, the official organ of the feder- ation. For disregarding this injunction, the officers of the federation, Messrs. Gompers, Mitchell, and Morrison, were later sentenced by this court to terms of twelve, nine, and six months' imprisonment, respectively, the sentences being stayed, however, through appeals. In his annual report at the thirteenth annual convention of the American Federation of Labor, held in St. Louis, Nov. 14, 1910, Mr. Samuel Gompers, the president, defended the right of organized labor to use the boycott. He said : — "There must be no law which can deprive the laborer of his right over his power to purchase or refrain from purchasing whatever is legitimately on sale in the community." — Wash- ington Times, Nov. 14, igio. When asked a few years ago if he condemned the boycott provision in the Gomper's bill, Mr. Taft, as reported in the Washington Post of Sept. 15, 1907, said: "Certainly; it legal- izes the boycott. The boycott is an un-American weapon, and I do not think the American people will sanction any measure that makes it legal." 86 Capital and Labor On the other hand, the leaders of organized labor intend to secure laws in their favor if possible, and to reckon with those legislators and statesmen who do not accede to their wishes. This was plainly indicated in a letter which Mr. Gompers sent to a mass-meeting of labor men, at Columbia Theater,^ Washington, D. C, April 19, 1908, in which he expressed himself as follows : — ( "We must hold to a strict accountability every man in whose hands is vested the power to remedy the wrongs of which we justly complain, and to secure and safeguard the liberties and the freedom which are justly ours. The repre- sentatives of the American Federation of Labor propose to question every candidate for Congress, every man who is a candidate for a legislative or executive office, be it president of the United States, as to his attitude, and the votes of the labor unions of the country shall be cast for those who evince friendliness to the measures." — Washington Times, April 20, 1908. Some years ago a mine operator in one of the Eastern States boasted that he was a free man in his business. A few weeks later the miners in that section struck for a slight advance in wages. The mine operator said he would cheerfully grant the request of the workmen if he could. When asked why he could not, he replied, "If I should, the railroads would not haul any more coal for me." This proved that he was not a free man in his business after all. Not only has the boycott been used by capital and labor separately, but the two, in some instances, have combined to control trade. Some years ago, pipe lines were laid from the Indiana gas-field to Chicago. As a result, the sale of coal was somewhat lessened, many of the large firms using gas, it being cheaper and more cleanly than coal. The coal dealers, team owners' union, and teamsters' union formed a collusion to drive natural gas out of the field as a competitor, as it injured their business. Some of the large firms using gas resented Boycotts 87 this as an encroachment upon the realm of individual rights; but they were finally forced to yield and to return to the use of coal, as the boycotting coal conspiracy on the part of the dealers and teamsters would not allow any coal to be delivered to them as long as gas was used. Many have longed for the time to come when capital and labor wou d come together, thinking that it would prove a blessing to both parties and to the public. But, from the example just cited, it is evident that, when organized, they can be more oppressive when combined than when operating separately. So oppressive to business interests and individual freedom have the labor unions become that antiunion associations have recently been organized, composed of employers and independent workmen. Their object is to place themselves in a position to combat the demands of the labor union organ- izations, and to protect themselves from strikes, boycotts, and labor troubles generally. Thus corporations, syndicates, trusts, and organizations are multiplying in the land, each gathering to itself and com- bining all the strength and influence it can muster to work against the other. But when instituted for selfish purposes, organizations thus formed are a source of weakness rather than of strength to the people as a whole. They are a menace to good government rather than a help. The more powerful the organizations, the weaker are the ties of universal brother- hood which bind the people together. The more successful the organization in its plans and operations, the more trouble must necessarily come to the people at large. The outcome of the essential principles underlying such organizations must be the complete undoing and the utter destruction of society. It is of such a condition of things that the prophet speaks when he says, "Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces." Isa. 8:9. The more such organizations there are, therefore, the more complicated matters must necessarily become. Each organization, as it 88 Capital and Labor comes into the field, thinks to better conditions; but more often it only makes them worse. As a means by which boycotting may be more effectively carried on, the labor unions are coming to use a distinguishing badge or mark. Those who belong to the unions' wear this mark, while those who do not wear it are readily recognized as non-union men. Goods made by manufacturers employing union labor are also distinguished in like manner. Unlike ordinary trade-marks, this mark signifies nothfng as to the quality of the goods or the efficiency of the workmen; it is simply a club in the hands of the labor unions to carry on a boycott. There is a strong prospect also of a revival of religious boy- cotting in connection with the labor unions. Recently many of these unions, though composed of thousands who care little or nothing for religion, have attached the Sunday sabbath to their chariot wheels. Many church leaders have set before them the idea that the highest object to which their powerful organizations could be directed would be the securing of Sun- day rest. "Here," they say, "is a place for effectively using the machinery of organized labor." Labor unions, it is as- serted, "must join the churches everywhere in the protection of Sunday as a day of rest and recreation." Leading trade-unionists have even declared themselves in favor of enforced Sunday rest. Mr. Samuel Gompers, presi- dent of the American Federation of Labor, in a letter addressed to Dr. T. T. Mutchler, president of the International Feder- ation of Sunday Rest Associations of America, under date of Sept. 14, 1907, said: "Not only am I personally in hearty accord with any movement which has for its object the preservation of one day's rest in seven, but the American Federation of Labor has emphatically declared itself in favor of the Sunday rest day, and it has done as much, if not more, than any other organized body of men and women to enforce the observance of the Sunday rest day." Boycotts 89 Mr. John Jenkins, president of tiie British Trades Union Congress, in 1895 said: "I believe, too, that in striving with you to assure for others the opportunity of similarly observing it [Sunday], of enjoying the greatest of all privileges, I am doing true trade-union work." According to these statements of Mr. Gompers and Mr. Jenkins, and similar statements of other labor leaders that might be cited, it is evident that these labor organiza- tions have come to believe that it is a part of their duty to secure enforced Sunday observance. With the prospect of a future international federation of labor to direct and control national and international strikes and boycotts; an international court of arbitration, or world tribunal, designed to direct and control the governments of the world; an international reform bureau, — a religious organ- ization, — advocating a world government to control national and State governments in all matters; both civil and religious, and these three in agreement respecting the enforcement of Sunday as a mark of "Christian" citizenship, giving the law to the whole world that Sunday must be legally observed, it is not difficult to see that that nation or people which chooses to dissent from its observance will be subjected to a universal boycott and the penalties that must inevitably follow. In the journal L'Egypte, published at Cairo, Egypt, under date of June 26, 1910, appeared the following illustration of the means which are already beginning to be employed by organized labor in this matter: — "ultimatum to stubborn employers "After having exhausted all the means of conciliation and harmony in its power, the International Society of the Em- ployees of Alexandria declares that, notwithstanding all its efTorts to obtain the general Sunday rest, some unfair shop- keepers seek to exempt themselves from this just obligation, at the same time urging others to follow their evil example. "Consequently, in order to safeguard the interests of the 90 Capital and Labor good employers and reputable houses, who have granted us their generous support, and whose loyalty can not be ques- tioned, we do from this day forward declare bitter war on all those who will not adhere to Sunday closing, that just rule of hygiene, justice, and humanity. "This war will not limit itself to simple manifestations, but it will be carried without mercy in every direction where we can possibly reach these inhuman sweaters; and we shall not hesitate at any means to discredit them, promote their ruin, and precipitate the overthrow of their business. "Know, then, that — "i. A commission of inquiry named by the committee shall make, every Sunday morning, beginning with the twenty- sixth of the month, a tour of inspection, with the purpose of pointing out to the committee the shops which are not closed. "2. These shops shall be immediately put on the index, for a boycott to the bitter end. "3. A general list of the shops put on the index, with the names of the employers, shall be printed by the thousand, together with a vigorous appeal to the boycott. This list shall be distributed broadcast, and given to the press. "4. The most energetic means of coercion shall be set on foot at once against the delinquents, by every possible means to increase their expenses, diminish their receipts, and drive them to ruin. "We hope this ultimatum will be understood, and that, in view of the energetic decisions which it contains — decisions which we shall carry out to the end — the delinquents will understand that there remains but one thing for them to do — close their shops on Sunday." From all this it is evident that influences are at work to cause labor organizations to believe that it is a part of their duty to secure enforced Sunday observance, and that it is proper to employ the boycott in seeking to bring this about. Said the New York Independent of Oct. i, 1903: "No one Boycotts 91 can watch the recent development of trade-unionism, with all its unquestioned value and importance, and not be impressed by the rapidity with which it is tending to become a dogmatic religion, surcharged with bigotry, fanaticism, and superstition. The unions have erected Sunday into a sabbath of the faithful. The trade-unions embrace possibly two and a half million members. If they are all to become dogmatic religionists, the days of persecution for 'the faithful' are not over." The Federal Council of Churches, at its first organic meeting, held in Witherspoon Hall, in Philadelphia, December, 1908, pronounced in favor of an enforced Sunday rest day, and against those who conscientiously hold to and observe another day. Like the great industrial trusts of the age, it leaves no room for legitimate competition in religious work, and in aligning itself with labor, and expressing itself as favorable to "force" in the matter of religious observances, it was virtually indorsing the history of the church in the earlier ages. Years ago Newell Dwight Hillis predicted that a "church trust" was yet to come; and at the time of the preliminary council of these federated churches at New York in 1905 he was reported by the New York papers as saying, "The church trust is here." The church federation is a mighty combination of "these latter days;" and that t intends to throw its power and in- fluence with telling effect into the strife and turmoil of capital and labor no one can doubt. Rev. W. F. Ireland, of Los Angeles, Cal., says: "We purpose to organize a Sunday rest league, and to erect a guillotine in the United States in view of which every politician will recognize the fact that he is destined to political beheadal if he does not give us the legis- lation we demand." Some years ago. Dr. Scudder, of the Jersey City Tabernacle, gave utterance to the following striking declaration : — "The church is going into politics, and it is going there to stay. Futhermore, the church is to become a powerful po- litical factor, and will act as a unit on all great moral questions. 92 Capital and Labor I do not take it that the churches are to form a separate po- litical party; on the contrary, they will stand outside all par- ties; but they will cooperate, and, as one prodigious organ- ization, make their demands upon existing parties, and have their wishes fulfilled." The evident aim of this interchurch federation is the control of the civil power in the interest of the religious; and in pro- posing to amalgamate its forces with those of capital and labor, it repeats the history of Roman times. The intelligent reader will see that only disappointment, persecution, and national ruin can come from this proposed coalition to coerce the individual, and through combination, to control the govern- ment. The American people may well tremble as they con- template the natural and inevitable efifect upon the free insti- tutions of the land, of a common understanding upon the part of the federated churches and the powerful labor organizations, in any effort to enforce the observance of any church dogma or religious institution. When this idea becomes dominant, then the observance of Sunday as a day of rest or worship will be a badge, or mark, required of all who are to receive the benefits of labor and trade. And from the way those who have not seen fit to comply with their requirements have already been treated by the trade-unions, it can readily be understood how those will fare who do not meet this requirement. They will be boy- cotted. It will be decreed that no man can buy or sell save he who has this mark — he who observes the Sunday sabbath. In a sermon preached in Burlington, Kan., Jan. 31, 1904, the Rev. Dr. Bascom Robins said: "In the Christian deca- logue the first day was made the sabbath by divine appoint- ment. But there is a class of people who will not keep the Christian sabbath unless they are forced to do so; but that can easily be done. We have twenty million men, besides women and children, in this country, who want this country to keep the Christian sabbath. If we should say, We will Boycotts 93 not sell anything to them, we will not buy anything from them, we will not work for them, nor hire them to work for us, the thing could be wiped out, and all the world would keep the Christian sabbath." Evidences seem to indicate that we are nearing the time foretold eighteen hundred years ago by the seer of Patmos, when none will be allowed to buy or sell who can not answer to this shibboleth of the churches and trade-unions. But all this is contrary to the gospel of Christ, which says, "If thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink." It savors of that spirit which would crush out all that refuses to yield to its demands. It is a negative form of persecution. It would destroy life by withholding the neces- sities of life. It is a denial of the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, and is directly opposed to the instruction: "Love your enemies, . . . do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefuUy use you." It puts on the Index Expurgatorius, "We don't patronize," and "un- fair" list all it condemns. DISTRESS OF NATIONS A GLANCE at the condition of things in the various nations of the world to-day must make it apparent to all that, though the world is filled with wealth, general and wide-spread distress prevails. In England there are over one hundred thousand persons who are absolutely homeless. During 1909, the high-water mark of the unemployed in that country reached the startling figure of seven million. In London thousands threaded the streets in winter, crying, "Give us work! Give us bread! or we die!" A cablegram to the press of America stated that London 's hungry marchers numbered fifty thousand on Christ- mas day. Yet as a nation, it is stated that England has reached the climax in the accumulation of capital; that she can not begin to spend her income. London, it is said, possesses such a vast concentration of wealth that she is able to supply capital to the world. At the same time, in that city alone is a vast army of people who are next door to starvation, while thousands of others are wretchedly poor, being scarcely able to supply themselves with the barest necessities of life. In India, Africa, and China, within recent years, millions have actually starved to death because of famine. A report from Peking, China, dated June 3, 1903, showed an estimate of two hundred thousand deaths daily from starvation in the district of Kwang-si, and that in some instances cannibalism was being resorted to, and human flesh publicly off^ered for sale. (95) 96 Capital and Labor Throughout Europe millions of people are in a half-fed and half-clothed condition. The poor there stand a meager chance of gaining a livelihood. The land is largely owned by the aristocracy, and the rents are high, while the wages are low. The population is therefore made up, for the most part, of two classes, the immensely rich and the very poor. In America, one of the richest, if not the richest nation in the world, the same conditions exist. There are paupers on the one hand, and millionaires on the other. Destitution and great wealth characterize the two classes of society. Multi- tudes, though living in a land of plenty, are compelled to live on insufficient food, and are scantily clad;. they live in hovels, and die in poverty and neglect. For many years, one tenth of all who have died in the wealthy city of New York have been buried in the potter's field, while another class roll in wealth, and have more than they can use. "I saw an old cottage of clay, And only of mud was the floor, 'Twas all falling into decay, And snow drifted in at the door. "Yet there a poor family dwelt, In a cottage so dismal and rude; And though keenest hunger they felt. They'd scarcely a morsel of food. "The children were crying for bread, And to their poor mother would run: 'O, give us some breakfast!' they said; Alas! their poor mother had none. "O then let the wealthy and gay : But see such a hovel as this, ■', And in a poor cottage of clay Learn what real misery is!" The editor of the American Magazine, September, 1909, says: "I have seen the army of unemployed in London. But I have seen again and again in the outskirts of the cities of the United States women picking up coal and bits of wood along the tracks of railroads and in the yards of factories, and seen Distress of Nations 97 them carrying their pickings home on their backs. I rarely enter or leave an American city on a railroad that I do not see something of this kind. I watched the bread lines of New York all last winter, and I had my heart wrung by an endless stream of would-be workers for whom there was no work." Though living under a free and supposedly just and Chris- tian government, many are continually being wronged. Con- ditions that tend to the increase of paupers and millionaires do not indicate a healthy or equable state of things. Thousands of men with families to support, being unable to find employ- ment, are obliged to depend on charity or go hungry. Many others go from door to door with such little articles as they are able to dispose of, hoping to get a pittance with which to buy their daily bread. Hundreds, desperate and discouraged, end their lives by suicide; many of the weaker sex, utterly cast down, barter themselves away as "white slaves" to escape hunger and wretchedness. The Bible, speaking of last-day conditions, says, "And they shall pass through it, sore distressed and hungry." Isa. 8; 21, A. R. V. The year 1894 will be remembered as a time of great want and suffering among the laboring classes in America. It can truthfully be said that many did then "pass through it, sore distressed and hungry." Owing to the closing of many silver-mines, thousands of men were thrown out of employment, who, being joined by other idle men, formed themselves into great companies, known as "industrial ar- mies." They passed through the land toward Washington, distressed companies, virtually armies of tramps, dependent upon the charity of the people along the way for their support. One army, under General Coxey, reached the steps of the Capitol, where they hoped to get redress for their wrongs. They were, however, dispersed by the police, and the leaders arrested and fined. The Kelly contingent was another di- vision of this same movement. Nine years later, seventy thousand textile-workers of Phila- 98 Capital and Labor delphia, Pa., struck for fifty-five instead of sixty hours' work per week. Among the number was a large per cent of children , who, instead of being in school gaining a needed education, or at home under a mother 's care, were, on account of poverty, forced to work in order to help earn a living for the families to which they belonged. A woman styled "Mother Jones" formed four hundred of these children into an industrial army, and marched through the streets of the city. She said: "I can not believe that the public conscience is so calloused that it will not respond. I am going out of Philadelphia to New York to see if there are people with human blood in their veins. I am going to picture capitalism and caricature the money power. I am going to show Wall Street the flesh from which it squeezes its wealth." But she was not success- ful, being refused permission to march through the streets. Witness the revolutions and uprisings during 1908-09, in Tur- key, Spain, France, Germany, Persia, Russia, arising doubt- less from intolerable industrial conditions and oppression, the irreconcilable conflict between the two great parties to the world contest, — capital and labor, — the govern- ments being more or less involved because of sympathy with the capitalistic class. BREAD LINE CAUSES OF DISTRESS WE have seen that the present unhappy, dissatisfied, distressed condition of society exists throughout the world. The causes of this general distress are numerous and varied. In a great many instances it comes as a result of indolence. Some are too indo'ent and slothful even to attempt to climb the ladder of prosperity. So long as hunger is appeased, they are satisfied. They are contented to remain in poverty, and have no ambition to rise above the low level which they occupy. The increased cost of living is one of the causes of wide- spread suffering and misery. In 1909 living expenses in the United States were forty-nine per cent higher than they were in 1896, thirteen years previous; but with the increased price of commodities there was not a corresponding increase in wages. One reason for the high cost of living, according to Dr. Harvey W. Wiley, for twenty-eight years chief of the na- tional Bureau of Chemistry in the United States, is that "the producer and the consumer are too far apart, and that the steps between them are taken at altogether too great cost." Japanese writers are lamenting the increase of criminahty in their country, which had grown by forty per cent during the five years from 1905 to 1910. A Tokio paper says: "This condition of things is largely due to the aggravated economic circumstances in which the people live. While the police arrest the criminal, and the judge passes sentence on him, no (99) 100 Capital and Labor attempt is made to provide a fundamental remedy for the causes which in most cases inspire the acts of lawlessness. Among these causes the most conspicuous is the difficulty which the people find in making ends meet. The cost of living is rising higher and higher, and the taxes are a more and more crushing load upon the subjects of the mikado. In 1893 the taxes amounted to only £8,600,000. In 1910 they rose to more than £48,900,000. The taxes on foods especially have risen to a very considerable degree. Between 1893 and 1910 they actually doubled. Everything has suffered any analogous raise in price — salt, sugar (raw and refined), and petroleum. Even rice, the food most essential to the diet of the Japanese, has risen from twenty to thirty per cent in price, and in times of a bad harvest from fifty to one hundred per cent." This increase in the cost of living, unattended by an noticeable raise of wages among the working classes, is breeding a spirit of violent discontent in the masses. "The demar- cation between the classes, the rich and the poor, is becoming dangerously deepened. The latter see with rage and despair the vast fortunes piled up by capitalists since the Russo- Japanese war. The poor regard the rich as rapacious mon- opolists, and minds into which the doctrines of socialism have been instilled lend a ready ear to the instigations of criminals." Wastefulness, improvidence, and extravagance also bring on want and distress. Should a person characterized by wasteful habits chance to fall heir to a fortune, it would soon be squandered, and he again be reduced to penury. Waste means want, and distress follows the waste of money, as well as the want of it. It is not alone what a man earns that con- stitutes his wealth, but his manner of saving, spending, or economizing it. In some cases there are those who, through unavoidable misfortune, such as sickness, loss of property, and the like, have been reduced to poverty, while still others have been born Causes of Distress 101 poor, and our existing social conditions tend to keep them thus. Such are the honestly poor. But with many among both rich and poor, extravagance is the cause of many of their troubles, and not infrequently of their downfall. Says a wise observer of the times: "The people believe that they must have automobiles, must go to the theaters, must have various kinds of amusements, and must have many things, more or less expensive, without which their fathers and grandfathers got along well enough and prospered. This desire prevents a sensible conservation of the people's re- sources." In Minneapolis it is said that one automobile firm holds mortgages on fifteen hundred homes; that the mortgages placed on homes and other properties for the purchase of automobiles in Minne- sota amount to four mil- lion dollars, in Nebraska to nine million, and in Kan- sas to at least four million. This shows to what the era of extravagance is leading. Oct. 12, 1910, a rich New York woman paid eleven thou- sand dollars in duty mostly on Parisian gowns, on her return from Europe. The customs inspectors were five hours ex- amining her forty-five trunks, which were looked after by a special agent and six servants. Besides the gowns, two hun- dred thousand dollars' worth of jewelry was also brought along, but this was not dutiable. In August, 1910, a Pittsburgh miUionaire gave legal notice to merchants that he would no longer be responsible for bills incurred by his beautiful wife. Explaining the reason for his action, he said: "Mrs. and I have widely different ideas of the value of money. While wilHng to admit that I am rich, I can not afford to pay as high as fourteen hundred dollars for a dress, and hundreds of dollars for hats. That is foolish- AUTGMOBILE 102 Capital and Labor ness. I have told my wife repeatedly that I am willing to give her eight thousand dollars per year for pin-money, but she does not appear able to get along on fifteen thousand. Recently I arranged for her vacation in a style befitting the wife of a rich man, but when she got there, she at once arranged to spend just three times what I had p 1 a n n e d." — Washington Herald, Aug. 2g, igio. Intemperance is also respon- sible for much of the want and distress in the world. The wise man says, "The drunk- ard and the glutton shall come to poverty." Money spent for alcoholic drinks, as well as that which goes for tobacco, is worse than wasted. It is simply sac- rificed on the altar of perverted appetite, while fam- ilies depend- ing upon it for their support fre- quently suffer for the barest necessities of life. Of the evils of intemperance, a chief justice says: "An experience of more than twenty years of judicial life has taught me that more than seven eighths of the crimes committed in this country which involve personal violence are traceable to the use of intoxicating liquors; . . . that, of all the crimes of sin and misery, of pauperism and wretchedness, intoxicating liquor stands forth the unapproachable chief." Says Walter M. Edwards, F. C. S., in "The Temperance PAY-DAY Causes of Distress 103 Compendium," page 143, "It is generally accepted that if the money spent in drink was diverted into ordinary channels of trade, there would be no lack of employment for all." Mr. Thomas Burt, member of the British Parliament, says: "We all know the drink traffic lies at the very root of all our great social evils, and if we had a sober, educated, and thought- ful people, nearly all the evils which are inevitable would be manageable." The British "Poor Law Commission Report," page 221, says: "A great weight of evidence indicates drink as the most potent and universal factor in bringing about pauperism. Some witnesses also indicate gambling as a serious and growing cause; but gambling, though it wastes the resources of its victims, does not lead to such physical and moral degeneration as drink." The working man who spends his hard-earned money for drink is robbing his family, if he has one, of its living. Hard times which come from this cause should not be charged up to the conflict between capital and labor. The laborer himself is responsible for the evils thus created. And, sad to say, not a little must be charged to this account. Over two billion gallons of spirits are now consumed annually in the United States, the annual consumption per capita being over twenty- three gallons. The annual bill for intoxicating liquors in the United States stands at the enormous sum of one billion seven hundred and fifty million dollars. A large pro- portion of this, as every one knows, is furnished by the bread- winners and laboring classes generally. To wage eternal warfare on this great evil, and more than wasteful expense, would surely be well worth while. Another cause of distress is due to the support of large standing armies and the enormous preparations made for war, felt to be necessary because of the universal fear and jealousy between nations. These not only withdraw many men from their daily pursuits, thus increasing the number of non-pro- 104 Capital and Labor ducers, but bring heavy taxation to the people to sustain them. Europe, especially, feels the weight of this burden. Another cause of distress is our congested centers of popu- lation. Steadily from year to year the proportion of those living in cities has been increasing, while the proportion living in the country has been correspondingly decreasing. This means that the producers are decreasing, and the consumers increasing. Says the Washington Times of May lo, 191 1: AMERICAN TROOPS CROSSING A RIVER ON A PONTOON BRIDGE "Without any doubt, the character of the country is chan- ging. The United States is becoming a nation in which the number of consumers is growing by leaps and bounds, and the relative number of the producers is diminishing." In the early history of the country the population was largely rural, not more than one fourth, perhaps, living in cities and towns. In 1890, however, the population of the cities and incorporated towns had grown to forty-three per Causes of Distress 105 cent. In 1900 it was forty-eight per cent; and in 1910 it had increased to fifty-five per cent, or more than one half of the entire population. Writing of the opportunities to make a good livelihood at farming, Edward Hungerford, in Ambition for February, 1912, says: " Already there are five million persons in New England alone without farm or garden of their own. And each year the problem of feeding the hungry mouths of all those cities grows a little more intense." The paying of high rents by thousands and miUions in our U. S. BATTLE-SHIP large cities who are not able to own the roof that shelters them, is another constant and wearing burden. In the rural dis- tricts, the land of the small property-holders is being merged into the plantations and cattle farms of the rich, who rent it out to the toiler at a high rental. In case a failure in crops occurs, the tenant, unable to make his rent, is driven to penury, and goes to help swell the great army of the poor. Crop failures, usually brought on by drought or flood, are still another cause of want and distress. In the event of a 106 Capital and Labor failure of crops in tlie United States, with every commodity cornered, so that prices would be subject to the caprice of the monopolists, great suffering would necessarily follow. Add to such a failure a financial panic, and divine wisdom only could foresee what the result would be. Heavy rates of interest have also wrecked many financially. During a time when crops are poor, wages low, or men thrown out of em- ployment, if those in straitened circumstances can procure money at all, to help tide them over the hard times, it is frequently at so high a rate of interest that it finally causes the ruination of their busi- ness, and drives them to poverty. Still another heavy bur- den imposed upon the people is heavy taxation. Through getting control of courts and legislatures, the rich have so manip- ulated things as to ease themselves of the burden of taxation, and place it upon the shoulders of the masses. In many i n - stances they do not pay their proportion of the local tax, and pay only that portion of the government tax covered by the internal revenues and tariff on the articles they use. Their great fortunes go untaxed. Growth in Population of New York City The growth in the population of the city of New York, the second largest city in the world, dur- ing the last one hundrt d and twenty years is shown in the following table: — 1 1790 - 49,401 1800 79,216 1810 - - 119,734 1820 152,056 1830 - - 242,278 1840 391,114 1850 - 696,115 1860 1,174,779 1870 - - 1,478,103 1880 1,911,696 1890 ■ - 2,507,414 1900 3,437,202 1910 4,766,883 The city of New York now has a population greater than many of the countries of the world. For instance: Australia has 4.275,306; Ireland, 4,374,158; Bulgaria, 4,158,409; Switzerland. 3,559,- 000; Denmark, 2,659,000; Greece, 2,632,000; and Norway, 2,350,786, Population of the W Drld's Great Cities The population of the world's great citiei is shown by the following table: — London - 7,537,196 New York 4,766,883 Paris - - 2,763,393 Tokio 2,186,079 Chicago - 2,185 283 Vienna 2,085,888 Berlin 2,064.153 St. Petersburg 1,678,000 Canton - 1 ,600,000 Peking 1,600,000 Philadelphia - - 1,549,008 Moscow .- 1,359,254 Constantinople - 1,125,000 Osaka 1,117,151 Calcutta and suburbs - - 1,026,987 Causes of Distress 107 Touching this point, Mr. J. A. Wayland, in the Appeal io Reason for Dec. 13, 1902, says : " If the revenues were collected in the same manner that the local taxes are, instead of from internal revenue and tariff, the great fortunes of the United States would have to pay taxes that are now paid by the in- creased cost of the articles the people consume. In other words, the people pay the tax that exempts the property of the rich from assessment, for the support of the national gov- ernment, when they buy goods or use tobacco. The great for- tunes of the Astors, Vanderbilts, Morgans, Rockefellers, and that class, do not pay anything to support the national govern- ment, yet they own a very large per cent of the national wealth. Of course, they pay to the local government, not to the na- tional government. The rich do not care how expensive the national government is. They do not pay any of it — ex- cept the trifling part that attaches to the little they eat, drirtk, or smoke — a few dollars a year. If they paid their part of the tax to support the national government, you would find a different state of things in Washington. They would not permit the extravagance that obtains there — for they are the real rulers of the country." Another cause of distress comes through bribery. The courts have revealed instances where railroads and other moneyed corporations have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to control elections and influence legislation. Such corruption is so common that people who know what is going on are seemingly indifferent to the effect it will have on the country. Hon. David Davis, long a justice of the United States Supreme Court, and later a United States senator, said: "The rapid growth of corporate power, and the malign influence which it exerts by combination on the national and State legislatures, is a well-grounded cause of alarm. A struggle is pending in the near future between this overgrown power, with its vast ramifications all over the Union, and a hard grip 108 Capital and Labor- on much of the poHtical machinery, on the one hand, and the people in an unorganized condition on the other, for control of government. . . . Great corporations and consolidated monopolies are fast seizing the avenues of power that lead to the control of the government. It is an open secret that they rule States through procuring legislatures and corrupting courts; that they are strong in Congress, and that they are unscrupulous in the use of means to conquer prejudice and acquire influence. This condition of things is truly alarming; for, unless it is changed quickly and thoroughly, free in- stitutions are doomed to be subverted by an oligarchy resting upon a basis of money and of corporate power." Unjust laws and discriminating legislation are secured to advantage the rich. To the extent that such measures suc- ceed, the masses suffer. Still another cause of the general unrest and distress of the masses, and perhaps a greater cause than any other, — in- temperance only excepted, — is the scarcity of money in cir- culation, and the consequent limited numbers of actual owners of homes and possessors of the soil. Less than five per cent of the money in the world is said to be in actual circulation. In the accumulation of wealth, past ages can ofTer no par- allel to the present. The banks are filled with gold. Neither is there a limit to the food supply of the world. Nature is ever generous in furnishing enough, if properly distributed, for a comfortable subsistence equal to every one 's need. God not only created the life, but also provided sustenance for that life. Earth's storehouses are full. There never was more wealth in the country, and there never was more food. And yet, notwithstanding all this, there never was so much poverty. With the wealth of nations is closely associated the misery of nations. With the augmented wealth of the one class contrast the want and destitution of the other. Much of the misery and distress that exists in the land is caused by selfishness, — by the greed of some to accumulate Causes of Distress 109 wealth to the exclusion and defrauding of others. This world is large enough for all, and if the wealth and resources of the world were justly distributed among men, there would be no destitution. The trouble lies in the fact that so little money finds its way into the pockets of the people; notwithstanding nature's storehouses may be full, many have not the where- withal to buy the daily necessities of life. The people need the use of the wealth that is withdrawn from the common A FARM SCENE fund and hoarded merely to satisfy inordinate and insatiable greed. Their labor and living are dependent upon it. Like- wise are the poor dependent upon the use of the soil, which is largely excluded from both their ownership and use by exacting terms which they can never hope to meet. The land is the original source of all wealth, and likewise of all sub- sistence. All food, water, and even articles of convenience find their origin in the soil. Even the king himself, the Bible says, is served of the field. God told man to till the land and to enjoy the fruit of his labors. He said, " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread." But God 's provision for those he has created has been largely frustrated. The world and all its wealth appears to have been made for only a small class — 110 Capital and Labor the rich. The poor are left with but little or no means, and comparatively no place to live or labor, the majority not having even so much as a foot of land that they can call their own. We are left, therefore, to conclude that much of the distress and destitution in the world to-day is caused, not from a lack of wealth, stores, or resources, but by their improper, unjust, and extremely unequal distribution among the people. The great extremes of wealth and want produce unnumbered evils. In our large cities there exists an appalling condition of poverty; multitudes are destitute of food, clothing, or shelter fit for a human being. In the same cities are men of wealth, who have more than heart could wish ; who live luxuri- ously, spending their money upon richly furnished houses, upon personal adornment, or worse, upon the gratification of sensual and sinful pleasures, upon tobacco, intoxicating liq- uors, and other things that destroy the power of the brain, unbalance the mind, and debase the soul. Bow, O man, as thou passeth by! This is the god we have set on high Beneath the dome of the sunlit sky; This is the thing to which we pray, This is our golden calf to-day. Down on your knees to the dollar-god! He owns the water, the trees, the sod, The food, the clothing, the oil, the coal — Owns thee, body, estate, and soul; Holds existence in deed of fee — Controller of life and destiny. — French. riHttl) SHALT LOVE Mi IIMMI AS TWYSEIF."|| L^ ./, "'V*'^''? 1 BtAB YEOllF AIJOIHEI'j BUiftSOlS 1 A REMEDY FOR EXISTING EVILS THE question by what means a change may be effected in our present social conditions that will alleviate the vast amount of suffering and subdue the spirit of ferment that is rising and working everywhere, is one of general interest, and is being widely discussed by platform, pulpit, and press. In almost every nation it is a problem with which statesmen are having to grapple, and one with which they are puzzled to know how to deal. It is evident that, unless there is an adjustment of matters soon, more serious troubles than any which have yet arisen are before us, for everything in- dicates that the present condition of things can not continue much longer. Either there must be a reformation, and that without delay, or revolution and ruin are near at hand. Since the vast amount of poverty, and the discontented, oppressed, and unhappy state of society are largely due to the extremely uneven distribution of the wealth and resources of the world, any legitimate or humane plan that would prove successful in altering such a state of things would be a blessing to mankind. In his Labor day speech at Fargo, N. Dak., Sept. 5, 1910, Colonel Roosevelt said: "The most pressing problems that confront the present century are not concerned with the ma- terial production of wealth, but with its distribution." Violent and unjust measures, such as anarchy, nihilism, communism, socialism, strikes, boycotts, or the use of force of any kind, are ill-advised, and can not bring a satisfactory (in) 112 Capital and Labor adjustment of affairs. For capital to gain the mastery over labor, and have everything its way, will not solve the vexed problem. Nor will peace and prosperity come by labor rising up in its might and violently wresting from capital its wealth. Neither will the changing of political parties nor the over- turning of governments solve the problem and bring about the desired results. The solution must come, if at all, by legit- imate and peaceable means, — means which will appeal to the sense of justice and right of all concerned. Nor is any plan feasible which has for its object the perfect equalization of ownership, or equal division of property or wealth. Some one has said that if the wealth of the world were equally divided among the people, it would not remain thus for twenty- four hours; before the passing of a day some would be rich, while others would be poor, simply because some have the acquisitive faculty, and others know not how either to keep or to acquire property. Plutarch tells us that Lycurgus, the ancient Grecian law- giver, seeing that the lands had fallen largely into the hands of the rich, made a general redistribution of them, allotting an equal portion to each of the nine thousand Spartan citizens, and a smaller and less desirable portion to each of the thirty thousand subjugated nations. It is not probable that there was ever before or since such an equal and exact redivision and equalization of landed property. But in the fourth century following, according to the same authority, not more than one hundred of the citizens held any land. A National Industrial Peace Association has been organized, with headquarters in San Francisco, with a view to bringing about better relations between employer and employee, but apparently thus far without any very tangible results. Evidently, under the fall, divine Providence did not intend that in this world all should have the same capabilities or possess the same amount of worldly goods. By their very constitution some are poorly qualified to amass wealth, while Remedy for Existing Evils 113 others have a natural genius to acquire it. Neither the genius nor the lack of it is a crime, but, under God, they are simply variations in nature's gifts to man, and all for a wise purpose. In his work "Gold Foil," page 115, writing on the subject of ^almsgiving, J. G. Holland says: "In making this world, the Creator furnished it with all the materials necessary for the support of his entire human family. For the best develop- - ment of our minds and bodies, he made it necessary for us to labor, so that, by molding the agencies and recombining the materials he permits us to use, we may secure that which is necessary for our sustenance and shelter. He knew that [under the fall] some would be able to secure more than enough for sustenance and shelter, and that others would not be able to secure enough, yet he did not intend that any should lack food and clothing, or any of the essentials of healthful bodily and mental life. He knew, and I verily believe intended, that some would be poor and that others would be rich; and thus instituted the emergency for human beneficence, or charity. It is better, on the whole [in a world of sin), that the world should be made up of benefactors and beneficiaries than that each man should be independent of every other man." Neither was it God 's plan that there should be such great disparity between the conditions of men, the immensely rich and the extremely poor. The true philosophy of society, as God ordained it, tends to prevent the inordinate, unreasonable, and unnecessary accumulation of wealth on the one hand, and that extreme poverty which results in degradation, want, and distress on the other. Israel was a nation of God 's own choosing. Its laws were God's laws for men for all time. Its social regulations were God's regulations for society, and a pattern for all nations. In carrying these out, God said that other nations, hearing of them, would say: "Surely this great nation is a wise and un- derstanding people. For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, . . . and what nation is ll"!- Capital and Labor there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law?" From a study of the Jewish economy we may learn God 's plans for dealing with the capital and labor question. In- equalities of wealth and poverty, of freedom and slavery, existed in Israel. But God instituted a plan whereby these inequalities would not become so great as to cause trouble, division, and class hatred, — a plan for bringing freedom to the slave, and relief to those in poverty and distress. To the poor, the seventh year was a year of release from debt. The people were enjoined at all times to assist the needy by lending them money without interest. To take usury from a poor man was expressly forbidden. "If thy brother be waxen poor, and fallen in decay with thee; then thou shalt relieve him: yea, though he be a stranger, or a sojourner; that he may live with thee. Take thou no usury of him, or increase: but fear thy God; that thy brother may live with thee. Thou shalt not give him thy money upon usury, nor lend him thy victuals for increase." If the debt of a debtor remained unpaid un- til the year of release, the principal itself could not be re- covered. The people were expressly warned from withholding needed assistance to the poor on account of this: "If there be among you a poor man, . . . thou shalt not harden thine heart, nor shut thine hand from thy poor brother. Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, say- ing, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand ; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him naught; and he cry unto the Lord against thee, and it be sin unto thee." "The poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying. Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land," "and shalt surely lend him sufficient for his need, in that which he wanteth." Commenting upon these provisions, another has said: "Al- though God had promised greatly to bless his people, it was Remedy for Existing Evils ■ 115 not his design that poverty should be wholly unknown among them. He declared that the poor should never cease out of the land. There would ever be those among his people who would call into exercise their sympathy, tenderness, and be- nevolence. Then, as now, persons were subject to misfortune, sickness, and loss of property; yet so long as they followed the instruction given by God, there were no beggars among them, neither any who suffered for food." After "seven sabbaths of years," or "seven times seven j-ears," came what was known as the great year of release, or the jubilee. The instruction concerning this was: "Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family." At this time all Hebrew servants who had not received their liberty were set free. But that which especially distinguished the year of jubilee was the reversion of all landed property to the family of the original possessor. No one was at liberty to dispose of the family estate, neither was he to sell his land unless poverty compelled him to do so, and then, whenever any of his kindred desired to redeem it, the purchaser must not refuse to sell it; and, if unredeemed, it was to revert to its first possessor, or to his heirs, in the year of jubilee. The Lord declared to Israel : "The land shall not be sold for- ever: for the land is mine." The people were to be impressed with the fact that it was God's land which they were per- mitted to possess for a time; that he was the rightful owner, the original proprietor, of it; and that he would have special consideration made for the poor and unfortunate. It was to be impressed upon the minds of all that the poor have as much right to a place in God's world as have the more wealthy. Land is the free gift of God to man; man has not created 116 Capital and Labor a single foot of it. "He may cultivate it or build upon it, he may dig of its stores and fashion these to his use, but, what- ever forms of wealth he may create or consume, however he may build up or destroy, the land is that upon which he must depend, and this is the common heritage of the race. As a man has been given life, he has also been given that upon which to support life; the world is for the use of man." Such were the provisions made by a merciful Creator to lessen suffering, bind humanity together, and bring rays ofi hope and sunshine into the hfe of the destitute and distressed. The jubilee was therefore intended to be a great leveler, a unifier, among Israel. And this was but a sample of the mode of procedure God would have all nations adopt. It shows that he has a most tender regard for the poor and afflicted. Even in ancient Greece and Rome, efforts were made at different times in this direction. When, through wars, or a long train of misfortunes or oppression, the poor had become very poor and hopelessly in debt to the rich, matters were sometimes placed in the hands of single men, called lawgivers, constitutional reformers, or friends of the poor, such as Lycurgus, Solon, Clisthenes, the Gracchi, Licinius, and Marcus Aurelius, some of whom went so far as to cancel all debts, relieve the poor of usurious in- terest, redistribute the land, and cause all tax claims to be gathered in a heap and burned. If God's plans were adopted to-day, the situation would very quickly be relieved, tranquillity would be lengthened, and, in the end, assured peace would come to our world. The capital and labor question would be settled at once. No heroic measures would be necessary, and no occasion given for social upheavals, anarchy, or revolution. But to carry out any such plan, the rich would have to give up some of their princely holdings. They would have to loosen up their purse- strings, and beccJtne real friends, benefactors, and patrons of the poor. And this would only be just and right, for God gives Re)nedy for Existing Evils 117 no man either wealth or abiHty to be used only for selfish ends. Every gift received from God we are in duty bound to use for the benefit of others, as well as for our own profit, pleasure, and enjoyment. "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" is a divine law. We are commanded of God to "look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others." The gravitation of pure love is toward equal dis- tribution. "Servility to wealth," says John Stuart Mill, "is a social curse." Vespasian spoke truly when he said, "Riches are well, if gotten well and well spent;" and Peter Cooper likewise uttered a great truth when he said, "A man of wealth is but a steward for the good of mankind." The world still furnishes examples of men who, touched with the needs and feelings of others' infirmities, willingly part with their accumulated wealth. Mr. M. A. Nayland, of Kansas City, Mo., one day late in November, 1910, gave sixty thousand dollars to charities, this being three fourths of his fortune. When asked why he did it, he said: "I had a little money. I saw so many people worse off than I was that I wanted to help them a little. That's all there is to it." Some years ago David Ranken, Jr., of St. Louis, deciding to give away his fortune, went to Mr. Rolla Wells, then mayor of the city, for advice as to the best way to use his money to benefit the most persons. Mr. Wells advised the founding of a manual training-school in which young men could be taught the trades. Mr. Ranken accepted the advice, gave three million dollars, nearly all his fortune, for the founding and endowment of such an institution, reserving only a com- paratively small annual income for his own simple wants. Years ago, before he died. Baron de Hirsch, of Paris, gave twelve million dollars to be used in enlightening and educating foreign Hebrews coming into this country. This has been a great blessing to many hundreds of Russian Jews arriving at Ellis Island, strangers in a strange land. Mr. James A. Patten, the retired Chicago millionaire wheat 118 Capital and Labor broker, has announced his intention of giving away his fortune to charity before he dies. In the Washington Times of Nov. 5, 1910, he is quoted as saying: "I believe a man should give away a good share of his wealth while he is living. He can 't take a dollar out of the world with him, although I know some . men who seem to believe they can. Personally, I mean to get rid of the most of my fortune. I hope to help many chari- table institutions before I die. I doubt the advisability of leaving any great sum of money to one 's children. Many lives have been ruined by large beque.sts. The offspring of a rich man are better off if they are required to hustle for them- selves." This is in harmony with Paul's instruction to Timothy: "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." Here is where the rich young man who came to Christ, desirous of learning of the way to eternal life, failed. Christ told him if he wished to be perfect, to go and sell what he had, and "give to the poor," assuring him that he would then have "treasure in heaven." Unwilling to do this, the record says he "went away sorrowful." Says J. R. Miller, in his excellent work "Week-Day Relig- ion:" "The mistake of the rich man in our Lord's parable was not that he was rich. He had made his wealth honestly. God gave it to him in abundant harvests. But his sin began when he asked, 'What shall I do with all this wealth? Where shall I bestow all my fast-increasing goods?' His decision showed that he was living only for himself. He thought not of his relation to God above or to men about him. ' I will build larger barns, and there bestow my goods.' Instead of Remedy for Existimr Evils 119 using his wealth to bless others, he would hoard it and keep it all in his own hands. The man who fulfils his mission and illustrates his consecration when money is given to him, is he who says: 'This is not mine. I ha^'e received it through God 's blessing. He has greatly honored me in making me his agent to use it for him. It is a sacred trust, granted to be employed in his name for the blessing of men ; I must do with it just what Christ himself would do if he were here in my place. ' " The rich man who simply accumulates and hoards, God calls a fool. The man in the parable said to his soul, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry." - But God said to him, "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?" Like the mil- lionaires who went down on the "Titanic" on the morning of April 15, 1912, with its total death toll of 1,517, he was sud- denly called from the scenes of this world, with no time for the disposing of his goods. On this steamship, sailing on her maiden voyage, there were seven men, Col. John Jacob Astor, Benjamin Guggenheim, Isador Straus, George D. Widener, Col. Washington Roebling, J. B. Thayer, and J. Bruce Ismay, whose combined wealth, it is said, totaled half a billion dollars. All but one of these, Mr. Ismay, went down with the ill-fated vessel. Besides its large mail and valued cargo, five million dollars' worth of jewelry carried by women passengers, was also reported lost in this great maritime disaster. Commenting upon this terrible disaster, Senator Rayner, in a speech in the United States Senate, May 28, 1912, said : — "We are to a large extent to-day defying the ordinances of God, and the sooner we awaken to a realizing sense of our responsibility, the better it will be for the spiritual elevation of the country. We are running mad with the lust of wealth, and of power, and of ambition. We are separating society into castes, with fabulous fortunes upon the one side, and desti- tution and poverty on the other. It takes a terrible warning 120 Capital and Labor to bring us back to our moorings and our senses. We are abandoning the devout and simple lives of our ancestors, and the fabric of our firesides is weakening at the foundations." Robert G. IngersoU, though not a professed believer, some- times spoke Christian truth. He said : — "I despise a stingy man. I don't see how it is possible for a man to die worth fifty millions of dollars or ten millions of THE STEAMSHIP TITANIC When launched, largest boat in the world. Length, 882 feet; cost, $7,500,000. Sank on maiden trip, in 2 miles of water, 2 hours and 34 minutes after collision (Sunday, 1 1 146 p. m.) with an iceberg off Newfoundland, Monday, April 15, 1912, at 2:20 a. m. Speed at time of coU lision, 24^,^ miles an hour. Lost, 1,517 passengers and crew ; saved. 704. dollars, in a city full of want, when he meets almost every day the withering hand of beggary and the white lip of famine. How a man can withstand all that, and hold in the clutch of his greed twenty or thirty millions of dollars, is past my com- prehension. I do not see how he can do it. I should not think he could do it any more than he could keep a pile of lumber where hundreds and thousands of men were drowning in the sea." — "Kings of the Platform and Pulpit," page J4j. Great wealth seldom brings happiness. Andrew Carnegie Reiiifdy for Existing Evils 121 is reported in the Washington Times of March 9, 1906, to have said: "Beyond a competence for old age, which need not be great and may be very small, wealth lessens rather than in- creases happiness. Millionaires who laugh are rare." Nor can true riches be estimated in dollars and cents. While attending services at Smith Chapel, Hot Springs, Va., one Sunday evening in April, 1908, Mr. Rockefeller was referred to by the pastor as "the richest man in all the world;" where- upon Mr. Rockefeller arose and said : " Riches are not counted by land, gold, or silver; but he is the richest of us all who has the most of God's grace in his soul." A good test as to how much of this grace a rich man has in his soul is his attitude toward the poor. A diversity of gifts and conditions is one of the means by which the Creator designs to prove and develop character. He intends that those who have worldly possessions shall re- gard themselves as stewards of his goods, as entrusted with means to be employed for the benefit of the suffering and the needy. There is a divine philosophy, it would seem, in the poor being in the world. Their presence here should awaken in our hearts the love which Christ feels toward the suffering and oppressed. "But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?" "If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest. Behold, we knew it not; doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?" For any man of means to disclaim any obligation to relieve suffering humanity is virtually for him to take his stand with the first man who slew his brother, and ask, "Am I my brother's keeper?" The fast most pleasing to God is described thus: " Is not this 1-- Capital and Labor the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house ? when thou seest the naked that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thj'self from thine own flesh?" Isa. 58:6, 7. This is the fast most acceptable to God, — genuine rescue, relief, and Christian Help work. To those who en- gage in this work, many blessings are promised. "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee ; and the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward [rear- guard]. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say. Here I am. ... If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afidicted soul ; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday : and the Lord shall ^uide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not." Verses 8-1 1. For their own benefit, as well as for the benefit of the world at large, the wisest thing those possessed of wealth could do would be to assist the poor and needy. Some modem million- aires are giving quite liberally of their means to the founding of libraries and universities. While these things are com- mendable and good in themselves, such institutions generally can benefit only comparatively few, and those usually of the financially upper or middle classes of society. They are of but little practical use to those most in need of help. The cities, where such institutions are generally located, are centers of both crime and labor troubles. Nearly all the crimes, strikes, lockouts, and boycotts occur in the cities. Large cities are proving to be the moral plague-spots and curses of the world. If the rich would unite in an effort to get the poor of the cities out onto the land, they would accomplish much more for the Remedy for Existing Evils 123 good of humanity than to erect even such commendable things as libraries and universities in our large cities. The help and attractions most needed are such as will draw the people away from the cities rather than to them. The masses need land more than libraries, and homes rather than universities . It is the duty of the rich not only to assist the poor in their immediate needs, but to help them to become self-supporting. God designed that what one class lacked should be supplied by the other. To thus look upon the things of others, and help where help is needed, is not only a duty, but a work that would bring uni- versal benefit and blessing. Good and evil come back. We get what we give. Each man's world is a reflex of himself. Because Israel failed to carry out God 's instruction concerning the year of jubilee, in proclaiming liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof, he suf- fered the nation to fall, and the people themselves to go into captivity and slavery. Through the prophet Jeremiah he said: "Therefore thus saith the Lord: Ye have not harkened unto me, in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother, and every man to his neighbor: behold, I proclaim a liberty for you, saith the Lord, to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and I will make you to be removed into all the king- doms of the earth." Jer. 34: 17. What the world needs to- day is a great jubilee proclamation — a release from debt and oppression. If America would stand, she should carry out to the letter the motto on old Liberty Bell, "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof." Lev. 25 : TO. LIBERTY BELL, INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILADELPHIA 124 Capital and Labor We are all woven into one great web of humanity. Each is but a part of one great whole. Whatever or whoever in- jures a part, injures the whole. Whatever or whoever benefits a part, benefits the whole. No man lives to himself, and no man dies to himself. Mankind is a brotherhood. God has made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth. Altogether, we are but members of one body. When one member suffers, all the other members should suffer with it, and do all in their power to relieve the afflicted member. In blessing others, men bring blessings upon them- selves. It is true of this life, as well as of that to come, that — ■ "The tissues of the hfe to be, We weave with colors all our own; And in the field of destiny, We reap as we have sown." Not until men learn that we receive to give, and that "it is more blessed to give than to receive," will the capital and labor problem be solved. "God so loved the world, that he gave." In every soul who receives it, that love will manifest itself in like manner. If we love with his love, we too shall give. We shall be coworkers with him whose mission it was not only to "preach the gospel to the poor," but to relieve suffering and minister to the needs of mankind. " If all who hate would love us, And all our loves were true, The stars that swing above us I Would brighten in the blue. "If cruel words were kisses, And every scowl a smile, A better world than this is Would hardly be worth while. "If purses would untighten To meet a brother's need, The load we bear would lighten Above the grave of greed. "Then love would kneel to duty, And all the world would seem A bridal bower of beauty, A dream wjthin a dream. " OUR PRESENT SOCIAL CONDITIONS PRODUCTIVE OF ANARCHY THAT our present social conditions are productive of anarchy is evident from the fact that everywhere it waves its red flag. Anarchy is criminal in its nature, and is opposed to all law and government. Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, in a speech on anarchy, said: "Great throngs gather at some points of disturbance in almost all our cities. Rail- road trains hurled over the rocks! Workmen beaten to death in sight of their wives and children! Factories assailed by mobs! . . . The whole country asking the question, 'What next?' Anarchy is abolition of the rights of property. It makes your store and your house and your family mine, and mine yours. It is wholesale robbery. It is every man 's hand against every other man. It is arson and murder and rapine and lust and death triumphant. It means no law, no church, no defense, no right, no happiness, no God. It means hell let loose on earth, and society a combination of devils incarnate." Constant wars and incessant strife between parties within a community lead to the same results as did the endless con- tentions and divisions of the Greek cities in ancient times. Democratic institutions are overthrown, internecine war and strife result in anarchy, and anarchy leads to tyranny. With murderous missiles it destroys life and property. Of the anarchist, the same authority says: "He owns nothing but a knife for universal bloodletting, and a nitroglycerin bomb for universal explosion. He believes in no God, no government, no heaven, and no hell, except what he can make on earth." (i-'5) 1-*^ Capital and Labor Rev. H. W. Bowman, in his work "War Between Capital and Labor," says: "What do these immense hordes of anarchists and nihilists propose to do? — They propose to right the wrongs of this world by a greater wrong — by dynamite, sword, and torch to crush out the last vestige of government, and bring in a social chaos. Their numbers are constantly increasing." Anarchy has laid rulers low in death. President McKinley was both hanged and burned in effigy because he was not in favor of a speedy declaration of war against Spain, and his life was subsequently taken by an anarchist. Anarchy is not confined to one country alone, but is world- wide. In other nations the same feeling against rulers has likewise been manifested, especially of recent years, in taking their lives. In 1894 President Carnot of France was stabbed to death at Lyons. In 1895 the queen of Korea was killed by a Japanese soldier. In 1896 the shah of Persia was murdered while entering the sacred shrine. In 1897 an attempt was made to take the life of King Humbert of Italy, and June 29, 1900, he died the victim of an assassin 's blow at Monza. The same year (1897) the prime minister of Spain was shot; the president of Uruguay, Juan Idarte Borda, was killed; and attempts were made on the lives of Felix Faure, president of France; Porfirio Diaz, president of Mexico; Seiior Moreas, president of Brazil; and upon the sultan of Turkey. In 1898 the president of Guatemala was murdered, the king of Greece was attacked, and the empress of Austria was stabbed to death. In 1900 a shot was fired at Edward VII, king of England, before his coronation, while he was visiting Brussels. In 1902 an attempt was made to take the life of King Leopold of Bel- gium, and in the year 1903 the king and queen of Servia were assassinated. In 1907 King Carlos of Portugal was assassin- ated at Lisbon; and March 14, 191 2, an attempt was made to assassinate King Victor Emmanuel of Italy, by an anarchist in Rome, who fired three shots at him from a crowd in the street. Commenting upon the execution of Prof. Francisco Ferrer by Present Social Conditions 127 the Spanish government in October, 1909, Herve, the extreme radical of the French parliament, in a rabid speech said: "The royal imbecile, with a heart untouched by the tears of Ferrer's daughter or the indignant protests of the civilized world, is a murderer. His end will be that of his neighbor, Portugal's royal hog. He has signed his own death-warrant; and when he dies like a dog, no man of heart will drop a single tear.' ' The lives of other rulers are in peril, and not a few have been forced to abdicate the throne on account of the bitter feelings entertained against them by their subjects. This condition of things is in harmony with the time foretold by the prophet Isaiah, when the people should be hungry and fret themselves and curse their king. The tyranny and injustice which exists in many of the gov- ernments may be held responsible for the fostering and spread of anarchy. With the great immigration to the United States from every quarter of the globe, America has many anarchists who have imbibed the theory and spirit of anarchy in other countries. After the assassination of President McKinley, in September, 1901, the Republicans of Pennsylvania in- troduced the following plank into their State platform: "We place ourselves on record as favoring the passage of wise immi- gration laws, to the end that anarchy may be forever driven from this country, and that the American working man shall be protected from unfair labor from abroad." This was called forth by the death of the President from the hand of an assassin, and is an acknowledgment on the part of the Republican party of Pennsylvania that anarchy has be- come prevalent in this country. After the President's assassination, a wave of indignation swept over the United States, and in strong and unstinted terms anarchy was denounced. In fact, this sentiment ran so high that it was unsafe for a person to express any opinion other than that of friendliness to the administration, for fear of being termed an anarchist or being arrested as one. Both 128 Capital and Labor the secular and the religious press were strong in their in- vectives against anarchy. Legislatures considered the ques- tion, and laws were enacted against it, also political parties in- troduced planks into their platforms against the terrible curse. But it is evident that all failed to strike at the root of the matter. Why are anarchists so rapidly increasing? Do notour present social conditions breed anarchy? Bishop Pot- ter declared that "a caste of capitalists, separated by practi-" cally inseparable barriers from a caste of laborers, means so- '. cial anarchy and industrial war." Dr. Lyman Abbott, on "Who Are Real Anarchists," says: "The real anarchists are not always the deluded creatures who inveigh against rulers and government. The legislator who champions class legis- lation directed in favor of the classes and against the masses; the lawyer who is bribed to work injustice; the monopolist who lays heavy burdens on the shoulders of labor; the journal- ist who is subsidized in an unrighteous cause, — these are the real anarchists." There are two classes of anarchists, therefore, — the anarch- ist of poverty and the anarchist of wealth. The anarchist of wealth perverts and subverts government by purchasing legis- lation to further his own interests. The anarchist of poverty views government thus perverted and used in the interest of the rich as unjust, as a system of legalized tyranny controlled by the favored few as against the masses, and, therefore, he demands the overthrow of government. In the United States the latter class are demanding not only a change in the government, but also the abolition of the Supreme Court, because they feel that this government at present is not "of the people" and "for the people," but of the rich and for the rich. They also feel that the Supreme Court has given unjust decisions in favor of the rich. This senti- ment was clearly expressed by Fred. D. Warren, editor of the Appeal to Reason, in his address to the United States Circuit Court at Fort Scott, Kans., June, 1909. He said: — Present Social Conditions 129 "Our colonist forefathers, imbued with the high ideals embodied in their immortal Declaration, shouldered their guns and shot to death the divine right of kings; and then the cun- ning enemies of democracy raised in its stead the Supreme Court with its many federal arms reaching out into all the States of the Union. The Supreme Court has become the reigning monarch of the American people. . . . Our modern system of jurisprudence is a survival of medieval times when judges presided by right of ownership of lands and castles, and it will require another political revolution similar to that of 1776 and that of i860 to abolish this bulwark of special privi- lege and capitalist exploitation. ... In feudal slavery the courts sustained the feudal lords, in chattel slavery they pro- tected the slave-owners, and in wage slavery they defend the industrial masters." The anarchist of wealth breeds the anarchist of poverty. Senator Stuart, in the Arejia of August, 1903, pertinently asks: " What difference is there in morals between the anarch- ist of poverty and the anarchist of wealth? The anarchists of poverty seek to divide among themselves and their followers the accumulations of others; the anarchists of wealth seek to absorb the earnings of the masses by cunning and fraud." Wherever one class is found, the other is found also. As rats and mice are found around wheat-bins and corn-cribs, so the anarchist of poverty is found where lives and thrives the anarchist of wealth. Dr. Lyman Abbott, as reported in the Topeka daily Capital, speaking on the cause and cure of anarchy, said: "The funda- mental cause of anarchy is the reaction of unjust government. It was so in France. Shall we see this in America? If our legislatures neglect the many, and legislate for selfish ends, in order to enable the few to lead lives of luxurious leisure, then we shall have anarchy East and West and North and South ; but if legislators are true to their calling, and if journal- ism will not seek to reflect, but to lead and direct, public 130 Capital and Labor opinion into proper channels, then anarchy will disappear." Dr. Abbott says the fundamental cause of anarchy is the re- action of unjust government, and significantly asks, "Shall we see this in America?" From a speech by Recorder Goff, before the Nineteenth Century Club of New York, in which the speaker recalled the luxuries of Rome and France and their effect upon those without food, we quote the following: — • "For us who are gathered here in this well-appointed and beautifully decorated chamber, under the glare of these elec- tric lights, it is perfectly proper to agree that anarchy is abomi- nable. We should be false to our surroundings if we did not. We are all well dressed and pretty well-to-do financially, and it is only natural for us to take the position of the party in possession. But I think we assume a little too much if we make the mistake of congratulating ourselves on the present state of our society or our position in it. The aristocracy and nobility of France took the same position before the Revo- lution in regard to what they called their rights. But was it not their lives that caused the Revolution ? The nobles amused themselves in luxury and wealth while the people starved to death. Who were the anarchists — the people or they?" In a speech in Carnegie Hall, New York City, March 20, 1912, Colonel Roosevelt said: "Our task as Americans is to strive for social and industrial justice. ... If on this new continent we merely build another country of great but unjustly divided material prosperity, we shall have done nothing; and we shall do as little if we merely set the greed of envy against the greed of arrogance, and thereby destroy the material well-being of all of us. To turn this government either into government by a plutocracy or government by a mob would be to repeat on a larger scale the lamentable fail- ures of the world that is dead." It is evident that we are standing on the threshold of troub- lous times. Society is in an unsettled and precarious condi- tion. The large cities of both the Old World and the New are Present Social Conditions 131 filled with anarchists, who are determined to right up matters between the rich and the poor, between the employer and the laborer, between the government and the governed, by the destruction of Hfe and property. The greed and extortion of the rich will be met by the lawlessness and violence of the poor . The course of one class can no more be justified than can the course of the other. Each class should be a help to the other. The poor should work faithfully and conscientiously for the rich, and the rich should have an interest in the welfare of the poor. The good Book says: "Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: but the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away." Commenting on his life, the patriarch Job says: "If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; . . . if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; if his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate : then let mine arm fall from my shoulder-blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone." When the heart of Zaccheus was touched by the presence of the Saviour, he said, "The half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold." But there appears to be no limit to human selfishness. The rich, in order to add to their treasure, grind the face of the poor. The poor envy the rich, and envy, fostered, leads to hatred. The feelings entertained in the hearts of both classes are not in sympathy with the spirit which says, "Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ;" "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Would that all might be able to say in the words of the apostle Paul, "We have wronged no man, we have corrupted no man, we have de- frauded no man." ^ _ =--:__ -^ - - ^ -i^^ - --_ - ^^-ir^'Mj hA % ,^ -■^- A ,; . " ^ THE COMING REVOLUTION THE present condition of things, and the worse condition to which they are tending, clearly indicate to observing minds that some great change, upheaval, or revolution is near at hand. The gulf between the rich and the poor is continually widen- ing. The outlook for harmony between capital and labor is anything but reassuring. Rabbi Adler says: "Never in the world 's history has there been greater need to preach the duties of wealth and the rights of poverty. In no previous age has the chasm been so deep which divides the rich and poor." Rev. Hugh Price says: "The terrible struggles between capital and labor, with the appalling prospects of world- embracing organizations on both sides, are the darkest aspects of an irresistible tendency." A writer, in 1893, said: "Beneath the surface of society, wherever the pressure becomes so great as to open an oc- casional rift, you will catch ominous glimpses of toiling and groaning thousands, seething in sullen discontent, and yearn- ing after a new heaven and a new earth, to be realized in the wild frenzy of anarchy by the overthrow of all existing insti- tutions and the letting loose of all the fiercest passions of the human animal." On every side are seen evils which are a menace to the peace and prosperity of the nation, — the oppressive monopolies which bind and fetter manufacture and trade; the money power; the control of elections and legislations; the great (132) The Coming Rfvo/ution 1^3 organizations of industrial activities, which are rapidly be- coming a dangerous and threatening element to the peace and stability of society; the insidious but sure and certain presence of anarchy, the aim of which is to overturn civilized society; and the vast army of unemployed which stands as a menace to the country. Out of work means no wages, and no wages means hunger and cold, no homes, and no necessaries of life. Men in this condition, incensed at a system that beggars a thousand men to contribute to the lavish luxury and extrava- gance of one, will not stop to reason or legislate, but, like the wild, frenzied, determined lynching mob, will resort to force and revolution to remedy matters. George E. McNeill, editor of the Labor Movement, says: "The laborer and capitalist are living in war relations; and the sooner this fact is acknowledged, the better for the adjustment of difficulties. The mob can be put down for a while, but the spirit of hate that now centers upon the great monopolies will soon extend to the government that acts as their protector. The existence of a million tramps is a standing threat against the stability of our institutions. They are the unorganized militia of incipient rebellion, and the attempts to suppress them by violent means will fail in the nineteenth [or the twen- tieth] century as it did in the eighteenth." Hugh O. Prescott said: "We are on the brink of a financial panic. It may break upon us at any day. Only a few days ago money was loaned on Wall Street at the rate of nearly two hundred per cent a year. Soon after the panic comes, laborers will begin to feel the pangs of hunger and the bite of cold. A hungry stomach and shivering limbs know no respect for property, no reverence for law. And when hungry men begin to seize food and clothing wherever they can find them, the monopolies will have them shot, and a terrible dance of death will issue, by the light of burnmg houses and the discordant music of cries, and groans, and musketry, and dynamite bombs." 1-^^-1- Capital and Labor From a sermon on the subject of "The Relations of Capital and Labor," by Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, Sept. 5, 1897, we quote the following: — "The greatest war this world has ever seen is between cap- ital and labor. . . . The antagonistic forces are closing in upon each other. The Pennsylvania miners' strikes, the telegraph operators' strikes, the railroad employees' strikes, the movements of the boycotters and the dynamiters, are only skirmishes before a general engagement; or, if you prefer it, escapes through the safety-valves of an imprisoned force which promises the explosion of society. "All attempts at pacification have been dire failures, and monopoly is more arrogant and the trade-unions more bitter. 'Give us more wages,' cry the employees. 'You shall have less, ' say the capitalists. ' Compel us to do fewer hours of toil in a day.' 'You can toil more hours,' say the others. 'Then, under certain conditions, we will not work at all,' say these. 'Then you shall starve,' say those. And as the work- ing men gradually use up that which they accumulated in better times, unless there be some radical change, we shall soon have in this country four million hungry men and women. Now, four million hungry people can not be kept quiet. All the enactments of legislatures, and all the constabularies of the cities, and all the army and navy of the United States can not keep four million hungry people quiet." The following extract from a letter written in 1857 by Lord Macaulay, the great English historian, to a friend in the United States, predicted the situation thus: "It is clear as daylight that your government will never be able to hold under control a suffering and angry majority, because in your country the government is in the hands of the masses, and the rich, who are in the minority, are absolutely at their mercy. A day will come, in the State of New York, when the multitude, between half a breakfast and the hope of half a dinner, will elect your legislators. Is it possible to have any doubt as to the kind of Tlie Coming Revolution 135 legislators that will be elected? You will be obliged to do those things which render prosperity impossible. Then some Caesar or Napoleon will take the reins of government in hand. Your republic will be pillaged and ravaged in the twentieth century just as the Roman empire was by the barbarians of the fifth cen- tury, with this difference, that the devastators of the Roman empire, the Huns and Vandals, came from abroad, while your barbarians will be the natives of your own country, and the product of your own institutions." The reader will do well to note carefully the prophecy here recorded by this noted statesman and historian. Senator Hotchkiss, of Missouri, in a speech before Congress on the social and financial problem, is reported to have said: "Mark what I say! If the inexorable law of cause and effect has not been expunged from the Statute-Book of the Almighty, unless a halt is called very soon, we may expect to see the horrors of the French Revolution put on the American stage with all the modern improvements, and that within the next decade." Samuel Gompers, the uncrowned king of the labor world, speaking of the denial of the national government to unionize its printing shop, said, as reported in the Buffalo Express: "If our government continues to deny the ordinary rights of the laborers, I tremble for the safety of the government. It means another French Revolution." The following editorial utterance from the New York Call of Feb. 13, 1912, under the caption "Shadows of the Guillo- tine," is an indication of what many thoughtful men fear is in store for the capitalist and the multimillionaire : — "The possibility of a repetition of the scenes of the French Revolution, with the great capitalists instead of feudal aristo- crats as victims, is a prospect which Judge Gary, of the steel trust, placed before an assemblage of his fellow exploiters and their retainers at a banquet recently held in the Hotel Astor. "Little notice has been taken of Judge Gary's declaration 136 Capital and Labor by the press of the city, the matter being casually dismissed by a contemptuous paragraph or two declaring that there is no possibility of history repeating itself in this manner, as the con- ditions are different; we have no classes in this country, no aristocracy, no state church, and opportunity is open to all. "While we do not contemplate a wholesale massacre of capitalists as a necessary feature of the social revolution of the future, if such event does take place, the capitalists will invite it themselves by their own stupidity and obstinacy ; and their insistence on the above platitudes will not help them to avert it, either. "Even Judge Gary, in voicing this fear, invites the very thing he dreads most. If the capitalists of the country do not take a leading position, he declares, 'in trying to improve the conditions of humanity, we shall find that there will be changes of some kind, right or wrong, by the mob.' "Here is the assumption that not only the capitalists can 'improve the conditions of humanity, ' but also the admission that they are virtually responsible for them, — a dangerous admission to make. Let the mob once get hold of that idea, and the capitalists will get short shrift when the time comes for the general overturn." Speaking of existing conditions. Senator Tillman, of South Carolina, in a speech in the United States Senate, Feb. 26, 1912, said : "We are between the devil of capitalistic greed on the one hand, and the sea of socialism, with the red flag of the Jacobins, on the other. We are bound to have some blood- letting before the disease is cured." In an address before the Yosemite Valley Chautauqua, July 12, 1909, Bishop William Bell, of Los Angeles, Cal., said: "Wealth is centered in a few individuals, and the time is coming for a division of this wealth, even if a revolution is necessary." Senator Ingalls, in a speech in the United States Senate, made the following significant statement: "We can not dis- The Coming Revolution 137 guise the truth that we are on the verge of an impending revolution. Old issues are dead. The people are arraying themselves on one side or the other of a portentous contest. On one side is capital, formidably entrenched in privilege, arrogant from continued triumph, conservative, tenacious of old theories, demanding new concessions, enriched by domestic levy and foreign commerce, and struggling to adjust all values to its own gold standard. On the other side is labor, asking for employment, striving to develop domestic indus- tries, battling with the forces of nature, and subduing the wilderness. Labor, starving and sullen in the cities, reso- lutely determined to overthrow a system under which the rich are growing richer and the poor growing poorer, — a system which gives to a Vanderbilt and a Gould wealth beyond the dreams of avarice, and condemns the poor to poverty from which there is no escape or refuge but the grave. Demands for justice have been met with indifference and disdain. The laborers of the country, asking for employment, are treated like impudent mendicants begging for bread." Daniel Webster very truly observed that " the freest govern- ment can not long endure when the tendency of the law is to create a rapid accumulation of property in the hands of a few, and render the masses of the people poor and dependent." A modern writer on this subject says: "The education of the masses and the cultivation of the fine arts will not redeem humanity, nor secure justice in the government. Egypt, Babylon, and Greece were all highly cultured, but the same inequalities existed there." They all went down because of their "lavish luxury" and "social inequality." President Roosevelt, in a speech delivered at Syracuse, N. Y., Sept. 7, 1903, said: "In the history of mankind many republics have risen, have flourished for a less or greater time, and then have fallen because their citizens lost the power of governing themselves, and thereby of governing their state; and in no way has this loss of power been so often and so 138 Capital an J Labor clearly shown as in the tendency to turn the government into a government primarily for the benefit of one class instead of a government for the benefit of the people as a whole." Is not history again repeating itself at the present time? The organizations that have arisen as the result of a lack of due consideration and just dealing between the classes, have be- come a menace to one another and to the na- tion. The Vorhote, of Chicago, says: "You might as well suppose the military organiza- tions of Europe were for play and parade as to suppose the labor organizations are for mere insurance and helpfulness. They are organized to protect interests for which, if the time comes, they will fight." At a labor confer- ence held in St. Louis, Aug. 31, 1897, Eugene V. Debs, president of the American Railway Union, said: "When- ever the trade-unions of this country decide to do battle with our common enemy, they can count upon us to come to the front, and take our place side by side with them, and fight with them. Never in my life have I been more hopeful than now. I am not i -' - ^-":-i\ 1 I^S ^-^ ' '::^ mr\ 1 , 1- ~yi,iVti^ l^P .■!>^asm^ >'■-''' ' SjM ": ' ■ mm, f^^ ■ i' \mm vjI^^S^^-^^^^^^^ -,. ~--'' .. ■■■', ".- *.)-< RUINS OF EGYPT The Coming Revo/ution 1^9 gifted with great visionary powers, but I can see the be- ginning of the end. [Cheers. This meeting is an inspira- tion. It will lead to great results. This movement has at- tained tremendous impetus, and will go ahead with a rush. When the people are ready, — and that day is not far off, my friends, — there will be a spontaneous uprising; the Su- preme Court will be abolished, Congress disbursed, and the rights of American citizens and American freedmen will be enthroned. [Great applause.] ... I hope in this march of common intelligence we shall reach a point where we shall be able to settle these questions without appealing to the sword or bullet. I can not tell. Certain it is that there are thousands of our fellow citizens suffering, and it is certain this can not last." At the same conference, the following resolution was adopted : — "Resolved, That no nation in which the people are totally disarmed can longer remain a free nation, and, therefore, we urge upon all liberty-loving citizens to remember and obey Article II of the Constitution of the United States, which reads as follows: 'The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.'" In harmony with the above resolution, many of the labor unions have provided themselves with muskets, and have also organized themselves into military companies, as the following quotation from the pen of Mr. John Swinton, ex-editor of the New York Sun, shows: "A short time ago, when the great strike of the steel-workers got under headway, the New York Herald startled the country by printing a despatch from West Virginia, that the first military company ever formed by a labor union had been organized at Wheeling, by Crescent Lodge, Amalgamated Association. The interest in the origi- nal report, however, has not been diminished, for it is now known that the Crescent Lodge at Wheeling is not the only one that has taken the subject under consideration, and that other 1-^0 Capital and Labor labor' (organizations in different parts of the country have done likewise. They claim that the right of the people to keep and bear arms is guaranteed by the Constitution, and that, as the working men are the bone and sinew of the country, the Con- stitutional right can not be denied them." The inefficiency of the State militia as a protection to life and property during strikes and labor riots has created a demand on the part of capitalists for a large standing army. J. J. Hill, a railroad magnate, is credited with saying: " I am not overrating the demand when I say that it is imperative that the United States maintain the nucleus always, and the organization and the officers, for an army of two hundred thousand men. With our varied interests, with our expand- ing commerce, and with our crowning and ever-increasing power, this strength is not more than sufficient for our uses in times of stress and danger." The Coming Nation says: "We know what the capitalists are doing. We see them preparing the munitions of war to rule the masses by force of arms. But they are foolish. . They are wise only in their own conceits. They are adopting the tactics of kings, and will be as chaff before the winds by and by. All the fates are against their tactics. Kings, with greater armies than can be mustered to fight for capitalism here, are trembling before the steady growth of a higher civi- lization among the people, hurried on by the distress of this rapidly increasing army of out-of-works." Louis Duchez, in the International Socialist Review of Octo- ber, 1909, plainly indicates that it is in this country where the opening scenes of the last struggle between capital and labor will be enacted. He says: — "The workers of the world, I believe, may well turn their eyes to America as the opening scene of the last .struggle with the master class. All signs indicate that the great world-wide movement of the world 's toilers will find its origin on American soil. The industrial process is more highly developed here The Coniing Revolution 141 than in any other country. Because of the fact that our capitalist class has accumulated its wealth so rapidly that it still retains its middle-class attitude of mind, it is more des- potic, more brutal, and more intolerant, and withal, more ignorant, than the master class of Europe. Then the pro- gressive and revolutionary blood of Europe has been driven to this country, and we are not hampered with the clannish tra- ditions of the lands across the Atlantic. Besides, the working class ii; this country, once aroused, will want direct action. Not only that, but a large percentage of the workers here have no vote, anyway. The principal reason why the workers of this country will not look to the political state for the redress of their wrongs is that the state is not their direct enemy as is the case in Europe, where the industrial life of those countries is more or less directly controlled by the political state of the masters there. Great things, indeed, may be expected from the working class of this country in the near future." Theodore Roosevelt, while president of the United States, referred to the social problem thus: "Every foreign observer believes that the grand struggle between the ' Haves ' and the 'Havenots' which is to mark this century, will be fought out first of all upon American soil." During the financial panic of 1907-08, the noted labor leader, John Mitchell, said: "If laboring men do not get their rights, I tremble for the government." 1 John Bigelow, former ambassador to France, a statesman, diplomatist, and author, said in a letter written to the Civic Forum: "I see more prospect of a revolution than of any re- form in our government. For the last two years there has been a larger army of wage-earners on strike, that is, in revolt against their employers, than was at any time engaged in our civil war by the Confederate States, thus far less bloody only because of enforced concessions to the demands of the wage- earners." Lord Averbury says of the conditions in Europe: "Unless 1-^2 Capital and Labor something is done, the condition of the poor in Europe will grow worse and worse. It is no use shutting our eyes. Revo- lution may not come soon ; . . . but come it will, and as sure as fate there will be an explosion such as the world has never seen . ' ' The labor unions of to-day are a different sort of labor unions from those which existed a few years ago. They are now no longer a mere strike mob, but have assumed the prerogative of punishing such as do not yield obedience to their decrees, not only by fines, but by denying them the right to work at all for such length of time as they deem fit. They are also evolving the labor boss, and setting up in the United States a one-man power, an absolute monarchy. They even assume the func- tions of civil government in causing the arrest of non-sub- servient workmen, which, says Charles W. Eliot, ex-president of Harvard University, is an "abridgment of personal lib- erty distasteful to democracy." Labor unions are also developing strong political and legis- lative power. The unions have definitely decided the eight- hour question in California by getting an amendment to the State constitution and a provision in the city charters limiting the employment of all public-service workmen to eight hours, and fixing, in the city, a minimum wage of two dollars a day. Like legislation is also being sought from the national govern- ment. The unions, while adding to their own strength, are de- creasing the strength of the State militia, the military force that would be brought against them in time of civil disorder. Mr. Swinton says: "A good number of trade-unions, especially those in Western States, have recently prohibited their mem- bers from joining the regular State militias, under pain of expulsion, and the reason given for this action is that the State troops are used in the interest of capitalism against the labor element, and in the suppression of justifiable strikes. It is a fact, nevertheless, that, at least in Pennsylvania and The Coming Revolution 143 Illiuois, the State militia have, on several occasions, suffered from the charge of being unduly sympathetic with labor in the case of a strike." Loyalty to the unions is put before either patriotism or religion. The oath of the Typographical Union of the United States reads as follows: "I hereby solemnly and sincerely swear that my fidelity to the Typographical Union, and my duty to the members thereof, shall in no sense be interfered with by any allegiance that I may now or hereafter owe to any other organization, social, political, or religious." The New York Independent suggests that this oath must have been composed by some "absolute unbeliever, if not an anarchist." It certainly requires the members of this particular body to set their trade-union before their country, and even before their God. All other ties are to be relinquished, and all other obligations canceled, if the interests and claims of a particular trade-union come into conflict with them. An editorial in the San Francisco Call of Sept. 23, 1903, gives the following significant utterance: — "It is evident that the American Federation of Labor is giving impulse to a campaign which is operated on several converging lines. Members of the federation in Porto Rico are spreading sedition among the very ignorant members of the labor unions in that island, and have gone so far as to denounce the flag of the United States as the emblem of rascality, and to threaten the life of Governor Hunt. On the mainland the movement is more cautious, though in the same direction. "Here the laws of the unions and the laws of the land con- flict in respect to membership of the National Guard. Fed- eral and State laws recognize the militia organized in the National Guard as the defensive arm of the government and the training-school of the military rank and file. In times of civil disorder, when the peace officers and the courts are con- fronted by a physical force obstructive of their functions, the militia is the sole resource of the State for protection against 144 Capital and Labor the actual anarchy which exists when the civil courts can no longer enforce the law. The next resort is to federal authority, enforced by the regular army of the United States. The unions in the American Federation strike at the nearest sup- port of law and order by striking at the militia. During the past few months National Guardsmen, and some of them officers, have been compelled by their unions to resign. They have given their reasons that if they remain in the Guard, they will be expelled from the union, and then, if they attempt to work, they will be killed. It will be seen at once that this is the use of duress of the most serious kind in order to break down the first defense of the law. It is, in effect, threatening with assassination every man who holds the law of his country to be higher than the laws of his labor union. The extrava- gant assumptions with which the country has been made familiar, and at which good citizens have laughed as mere va- poring of ignorant enthusiasts, have borne fruit. When Mr. Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, declared, in the presence, and in the approving presence, too, of the mayor of this city and the governor of this State, that his organization had 'sovereign rights,' law-abiding citizens believed that he was using terms in ignorance of their meaning, since here only the State has sovereignty and sovereign rights. But Mr. Gompers was not using a term in ignorance of its significance. He knew and meant exactly what he said, that his organization had taken, in the allegiance of its members, the place of the State, and they knew no other sovereignty than that represented by him. Again, at New Orleans, Mr. Gompers gave evidence of his sense of the importance of his position and authority when he said, with his sovereign charac- ter in mind, 'Our most dangerous competitor is the federal government.' He undoubtedly meant that his federation of labor unions was strong enough in its sovereignty to subvert a single State, or to overcome, one by one, a group of States, inasmuch as one State can not go to the aid of another, except The Coming Revolution 145 as it operates through federal energy. But after that he would find the federal government, with the regular army, making a stand for public sovereignty, as against the claims of voluntary organizations bound by secret oaths. "It must be admitted that Mr. Gompers has inspired his confederated unions with the courage of his convictions. They are now fearlessly attacking the laws of the United - States and threatening the President for enforcing them. So far, every considerable convention of labor unions held during the summer has declared for the sovereign right of the unions to dictate the terms of employment in the government print- ing-office, bookbindery, and bureau of engraving and printing. The terms they dictate violate the laws of the land, and as those laws conform to the Constitution, the unions are striking at the fundamental law, and for this they threaten him with vengeance. Having shown their power to disorganize the National Guard, and to leave a single State powerless to en- force the law, they now aim their vengeance at the President himself. There is no use denying the fact that this contest puts our institutions to a new test and subjects them to a new strain, in some of its aspects more serious than secession itself. The talk of the last few years, supposed to be wild and empty, has been accepted as the teaching of principle,, and has im- pressed the vast numbers of alien immigrants who have re- cruited the ranks of union labor, to the exclusion of Americans; and now the conflict rages around the federal gove'-nment, and the President is threatened because he represents the sover- eignty of the United States and the supremacy of the law.' ' For refusing to allow the labor unions to thus dictate in regard to who should be employed in the various governmental departments, representatives of the labor unions sought to intimidate President Roosevelt by intimating that it was a dangerous thing for him to get the ill will of labor organizations so near another presidential election; whereupon Mr. Roosevelt heroically replied that he would rather be " a whole president half a term than half a president a whole term." In June, 1912, the labor interests secured from Congress a law prescribing an eight-hour day on all government contract work, work on the Panama Canal only excepted 146 Capital and Labor "The issue is serious; it is revolutionary; it is subversive of all law. It is to be carried, secretly or openly, into the next presidential campaign, and may easily cause all other issues to be forgotten. If the people of this country tolerate another sovereignty than that of the State, then anarchy is here." Which will it be, law or anarchy? This is the question to be settled. These are the two opposing priritiples, the conflict of which society is now watching with intense interest. Labor is coming to be a monopolistic force as truly as is capital, with powers, though different, nevertheless strong. Each takes advantage of and overrides the law for the sake of its own interests and against the interests of the other. Capital is coming to realize that labor's contempt of law is a menace to property, while labor has been proclaiming that the illegal power of capital is a menace to the working man. Thus the contending forces jealously regard each other, and mean to be prepared, if possible, for the worst. The peace and stability of the government depend upon all its citizens working together in harmony with the law. There is liberty only under law. President Roosevelt, in a speech on the labor problem, said: — "Ours is a government of liberty, by, through, and under the law. Lawlessness and connivance at lawbreaking — whether the lawbreaking take the form of a crime of greed and cunning, or of a crime of violence — are destructive, not only of order, but of the true liberties which can come only through order. If alive to their true interests, rich and poor alike will set their faces like flint against the spirit which seeks personal advantage by overriding the laws, without regard to whether this spirit shows itself in the form of bodily violence by one set of men, or in the form of vulpine cunning by another set of men. "Let the watchword of all our people be the old familiar watchwords of honesty, decency, fair dealing, and common sense. The qualities denoted by these words are essential to The Coming Revolution 147 all of us, as we deal with the complex industrial problems of to- day, the problems affecting not merely the accumulation, but even more, the wise distribution, of wealth. We ask no man 's permission when we require him to obey the law; neither the permission of the poor man, nor yet of the rich man. Least of all can the man of great wealth afford to break the law, even for his own financial advantage; for the law is his prop and support, and it is both foolish and profoundly unpatriotic for him to fail in giving hearty support to those who show that there is, in very fact, one law, and one law only, alike for the rich and the poor, for the great and the small. "Men sincerely interested in the due protection of property, and men sincerely interested in seeing that just rights of labor are guaranteed, should alike remember not only that, in the long run, neither the capitalist nor the wage-earner can be helped in healthy fashion save by helping the other, but also that, to require either side to obey the law, and do its full duty toward the community, is emphatically to that side's real interest." "No structure of government," said Abraham Lincoln, "can endure unless founded upon justice. There must be one law for all, and equality under that law. The slave power must not be resurrected in a more oppressive and tyrannizing money power." But the slave power has been resurrected in the form of an oppressive and tyrannizing money power. There is not one law for all, and equality under that law. As ad- ministered, justice has, to a large degree, ceased to be the foundation of the government. How, then, under such con- ditions, can popular government long endure? When such a state of things exists, when the very fundamental principles of the republic have been subverted, government of the people, by the people, and for the people, is gone. Then a revolution is at hand. LEADERS IN THE COMING REVOLUTION FROM all appearances it seems that the world is fast falling into chaos. The bonds of society seem almost entirely broken. The strong oppress the weak; the rich rob the poor. The machinery of government does not meet the de- mands of the laboring classes, as evidenced by the multiplying of large organizations, formed for mutual protection and re- dress of real or supposed wrong. Prof. A. T. Jones, in a series of articles on "History of Gov- ernment," published in the early part of the year 1904, says: "Government of the people, both in the individual life and in the public life, is so far gone that, in every phase of the public life, government is of a few. The contest between capital and labor has reached the point where it is truly a contest as to which shall control the formal government machinery to the disadvantage of the other. This contest is as certain to grow as that day and night continue. And as it grows, confusion and uncertainty will only the more grow, and expedients of government will certainly have to be resorted to as means of balancing issues and preserving order. And, at the rate that things have been going lately, it will be but a little while be- fore a triumvirate will be the surest expedient of the balancing of issues. For at the point at which things almost stand to- day, the chief representative of capital, and the chief repre- sentative of labor, and the chief political manager of whatever national party should be in power, by agreeing together, could decree that nothing should be done in the commonwealth (148) Leaders in Coming Revolution 149 without the consent of each of the three; and such a trium- virate would form a power as complete and beyond any other combinations to resist as was that of the triumvirate of Pom- pey, Crassus, and Caesar." But, as in ancient Rome, such an expedient can not last long. The old evils and animosities will still exist. The triumvirate, if formed, will inevitably fall to pieces. Then reason will be set aside, and an attempt be made to settle the problem by force. On one side is capital, backed by law, money, and the militia; on the other is labor, supported by the vast farming populace, murmuring poor, and the unemployed. Eugene V. Debs, president of the American Railway Union, at a labor conference in St. Louis, in the year 1897, said: "The time will- come to incite the populace, and when that time comes, you can count on me. I will not stand in the rear and ask you to go ahead. I will be in the front, and say to you, 'Come on.' " Few of the conservative labor leaders, perhaps, have even a faint conception of what the coming struggle will be. When the inflamed populace rises up, it will mean slaughter and bloodshed, and the result may be a reign of terror far exceeding that of the French Revolution. Then the work of pillage and bloodshed reached a stage that appalled the hearts of the conservative leaders. They endeavored to stay the tide of destruction; but, as they drew back, and called a halt, the worst of the people, led on by bloodthirsty demagogues, marked them as turn-coats and enemies, and their heads fell beneath the guillotine. Thus we may expect it to be in the coming conflict. This will be made possible by the character of the people. A threatening element to the society of America is the dangerous class which helps to swell the great tide of immigration from Europe to this country. While America has received from Europe many noble people, who have added greatly to her national strength and to the stability of her institutions, there ISO Capital and Labor have also landed on her shores from that country, especially during recent years, thousands of ex-convicts and crooks among the one million immigrants now pouring into the United States IMMIGRANTS LANDING IN NEW YORK Leaders in Coming Revolution ^51 annually. In former years most of the immigration was from northern Europe, from among the Anglo-Saxon, German, and Scandinavian nations. These classes have proved to be her best and most worthy citizens. But of the vast hordes of immigration during the past few years, a large per cent is drawn from southern Europe, from nations that partake of a fiery, untamed nature that knows little of either self-restraint or 'self-control. Frank P. Sargent, ex-commissioner of immigration, says: " I am not an alarmist, but when I see hundreds of thousands of ignorant foreigners crowding into our great cities every year, I think I can realize in some degree the danger that will come from their discontent and dissatisfaction when there are no wages to be earned." The following is from the New York Herald: "The United States has ever welcomed desirable immigrants of every con- dition and from every country. They have been a valuable contribution to our population and citizenship. But there is a limit to the number even of desirable immigrants we can take each year with advantage and assimilate with success. ' Un- digested aliens' is an evil to be guarded against in the body politic not less than 'undigested securities' in the financial world. We can not take indiscriminate hordes in rapidly increasing numbers without serious risk. We can not view without concern the alleged business of steamship runners drumming up steerage-passengers among the lowest classes in the poorest quarters. Above all, the United States can not afford to become the dumping-ground for all the dregs of Europe. To take aliens whom their country is glad to get rid of, to become a public charge here, increases the number of illiterates, recruits the army of discontented idlers, and adds to the dangerous criminal classes." In all the strikes that have been marked by violence and bloodshed, those that have gone to the greatest length in these have been the "worst of the nations." At the time of the 152 Capital and Labor Chicago riot a few years ago, the papers published to the world that those engaged in the work of destruction and spoli- ation were thugs. So it will be in the last great strike, when the world 's un- requited toilers arise suddenly. The rich will become "booties" of the infuriated populace. As Macaulay has predicted, they will be abso- lutely at the mercy of the poor. How they will then be regarded and treated may be judged to some extent by the way Crassus, the rich member of the first Roman triumvirate, was treated. History tells us that his captors poured mol- ten gold down his throat, that in his death "he might be sated with the metal which he had so coveted during life." The conservative leaders will stand aghast as they realize the awfulness of the situation; and to attempt to call a halt would be to place their own lives in jeopardy. That time will be a harvest for the thugs and robbers. There will be no security to life or property. Then will be fulfilled the words of the prophet : "Violence is risen up into a rod of wickedness ;" " I will bring the worst of the nations, and they shall possess theirhouses." Eze. 7: ii, 24, A. R. V. "Shall they not rise up i suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them?" Hab. 2:7. Unhappy Dives! in an evil hour 'Gainst Nature's voice seduced to deeds accurst! Once Fortune's minion, now thou feelst her power; Wrath 's vial on thy head hath burst. — Lord Byron. LORD MACAULAY PARALLELS IN HISTORY ROME AND THE UNITED STATES A REPUBLIC has been defined as a "government of the people, by the people, for the people." In other words, in a republic the citizens composing the government make the laws and govern themselves. They choose the office-holders, and tell them how to administer the law. Since the nation is made up of individuals, it is evident that if each individual governs himself, the result must be that the whole body is governed, inasmuch as the character of the government as a whole is but a reflex of the character of the individuals composing it. In the proportion that the people govern themselves, the true idea of a republic is realized. But when the -people lose the power of self-government, the republic ceases to exist. Mr. Roosevelt has well said: "Many republics have fallen because their citizens lost the power of governing themselves, and therefore of governing their state." This is apparent, also, from another point of view. In a republic the majority rule. A republican form of government is possible, therefore, only so long as the majority of the citi- zens composing it know how to govern. And no one knows how to properly govern others who does not know how to govern himself. Self-government, therefore, lies at the very foundation of a true republic. It is said that, with the exception of the Anglo-Saxons, the early Romans "possessed the faculty of self-government (153) 154 Capital and Labor beyond any people of whom we have historical knowledge." This was true, until, through extensive conquests, Rome became filled with gold, when followed luxury, vice, corruption, loss of self-restraint and self-control, greed, strife, slavery, labor troubles, servile wars, proscriptions, and bloodshed. Then came the fall of the republic, a revolution, and empire. The early virtues which had made the nation the most power- ful of all ancient times had vanished. Laws were made only to be broken. The character of the people was gone, and they could not sustain the laws which they themselves enacted. ' The people had lost the power to govern themselves, and the republic went down, and in its place sprang up an imperial tyranny supported by a military despotism. And the empire that succeeded the republic itself fell in time through the evils resulting from wealth, luxury, licentiousness, and lack of self-control. The chief causes which led to the downfall of Rome are seen to-day in the United States. Similar conditions exist here, and these are rapidly tending to bring about similar results. In Rome, before the overthrow of the republic, all the real powers of the government were held by the aristocracy of wealth. In the United States nearly all the powers of government are held by a similar aristocracy. In Rome the highest offices of state were, in theory, open to the humblest citizen, but they were, in fact, confined to those who had "the longest purses," or the most ready use of the tongue on the popular platform. In the United States it is the same; all offices are, in theory, open to all citizens, but, in fact, they are held largely by the opulent. In Rome the elections were managed by clubs and coteries. In the United States the elections are managed by clubs. In Rome those who spent most freely were the most certain of success. Money was the one thought,, from the highest Parallels in Histoi-y 155 senator to the poorest wretch who sold his vote in the comitia. In the United States money seems to be the one thought, and has much to do in determining the result of the ballot. In Rome the elections, once pure, became matters of annual bargain and sale between the candidates and the voters. Under these conditions, the chief powers of the commonwealth necessarily centered in th^p rich. In the United States the elections, once pure, have become too much a matter of bargain and sale between the candidates and the voters, and the chief powers of the government have largely centered in the rich. In Rome civil equality and solidarity were alike destroyed by the concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. Just before his assassination, President Lincoln foresaw, as the result of the civil war, that corporations would be en- throned, and that an era of corruption in high places would follow; that the money power would endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people, until all 156 Capital and Labor wealth would be concentrated in the hands of a few, and the republic destroyed. See quotation on page 47. In Rome the senate, from the first, identified itself with the interests of the wealthy occupiers, claiming to stand on the constitution. In the United States the tendency of the lawmaking body is to identify itself with the interests of the wealthy. In Rome, with the people generally, there was an ever- growing indifference to the traditional politics of the republic, and to the established principles of the constitution. In the United States there is likewise a manifest growing in- difference to the wholesome doctrines of the founders of this republic, and the fundamental principles of the Constitution. In Rome, "aware of the partizanship and the corruption of the political leaders, all classes became indifferent to the ques- tions which agitated the forum." In the United States, being aware of the partizanship and corruption of the political leaders, many are indifferent to the questions which vitally concern the body politic. Middleton thus describes the condition of affairs in Rome from the middle of the second century before Christ and on- ward: "While Rome had been extending her sway westward and eastward, . . . while her nobles and merchants were amassing colossal fortunes abroad, the small freeholders throughout the greater part of Italy were sinking deeper into ruin under the pressure of accumulated difficulties. The Hannibalic war had laid waste their fields and thinned their numbers. And when peace returned to Italy, it brought with it no revival of prosperity. The heavy burden of military service pressed ruinously upon them, and, in addition, they were called upon to compete with foreign corn imported from beyond the sea. . . . Farming became unprofitable; and the hard, laborious life, with its scanty returns, was thrown into darker relief when compared with the stirring life of the camps, ... or with the cheap provisions, frequent Parallels in History 157 largesses, and gay spectacles to be had in the large towns. . . . Their holdings were left to run waste, or merged into the vineyards, olive-yards, and, above all, into the great cattle farms of the rich." In Rome, before its overthrow, society had divided into two classes, the rich and the poor. The middle class, which had held the balance of power and maintained order in the govern- .ment, had either gone up in the scale of wealth or down into poverty. The rich became richer, and the poor poorer. "To be poor" at that time, says history, was regarded "not merely the sorest disgrace and the worst crime, but the only disgrace and the only crime;" therefore, any means, whether lawful or unlawful, was used to obtain monej'. In the United States, by some, it is considered a disgrace and "a misfortune to live poor." As quoted in the Appeal to Reason, the Rev. Russell Conwell, of Philadelphia, made the following statement in Omaha, doubtless in irony: "Every man in Omaha has had an opportunity to get rich. It is a disgrace, too, for any man to live in Omaha for ten years and not get rich. No man has a right to be poor. As a rule, the poor- people are the dishonest people, and the rich are the honest people, in this day of Christian civilization. The foundation of business success and Christianity are identical. Money is power, and you should pray for power. Get money, no matter how, nor who sufifers by your taking from the pro- ducers what by right belongs to them." Edmund Kelly says, "There is no longer any reason for distinguishing between the criminal and pauper." In Rome, bribery was practised to a large extent. "The votes of senators and the decisions of judges, the offices at Rome and the places of provinces, — everything pertaining to the government had its price, and was bought and sold like merchandise." "For money, the statesman sold the state, and the burgess sold his freedom ; the post of the officer and the vote of the juryman were to be had for money;" and history 158 Capital and Labor tells us that Bestia, a Roman consul in charge of an army, even sold himself to Jugurtha, king of Numidia. The venal- ity of the Romans disgusted even Jugurtha, who exclaimed, "O venal city, thou wouldst sell thyself if thou couldst find a purchaser!" To-day bribery is rife in the United States. In Rome those who were able to buy the most votes stood the best chance of getting a position in the government. The poor man was induced to sell his vote for money, and thus the elections, which were once pure, degenerated into bargains and sales between candidates and voters. By this means, free government was destroyed. This also is being repeated. The Lord in his Word says of such work: " For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right." Amos 5: 12. History says that "after the death of Gracchus, there seemed no one left to resist the heart- less oppressions and to denounce the scandalous extravagances of the aristocratic party." Such was the corruption of Rome. In the United States many political candidates spend more money to secure their election than their salaries amount to, and, at the close of their term of office, have stolen enough to add thousands to their possessions. Jurymen are frequently bribed, and wrong verdicts are rendered as a result. Wit- nesses are bribed to swear falsely, and the innocent are, by the courts, often adjudged guilty. Thus, through corruption, the innocent suffer, and the guilty go free. Through conquest, wealth poured into Rome more and more, and luxury abounded and increased. "Palaces sprang up in the city, castles in the country, villas at pleasant places by the sea, parks, fish-ponds, and game-preserves, and gar- dens, and vast retinues of servants," everywhere. The serv- ants of Rome were prisoners taken in war and sold as slaves. They were bought by the rich; and, as many of them were skilled workmen in different branches of industry, it gave the rich a monopoly. The native-born Romans could not com- Parallels in History 159 pete with such labor; consequently they were thrown out of employment. To-day, in the United States, the man who is rich enough to control a machine that does the work of fifty or a hundred men has a monopoly. He appropriates all the vast gains of the mechanical inventions to himself, and makes it a means of oppression against labor, for hand workmen can not compete with machine labor, and are consequently thrown out of em- ployment. In Rome the farms were bought up by Roman capitalists, and the small holdings were merged into vast estates, until the land had fallen into the hands of a few. Says Mr. A. T. Jones, in his work "The Two Republics:" "The effect of all this absorbing of the land, whether public or private, into great estates worked by slaves, was to crowd the free laborers ofT the lands and into the large towns, and into Rome above all. There they found every trade and occupation filled with slaves, whose labor only increased the wealth of the million- aires, and with which it was impossible to compete." The wealthy Romans controlled the land by controlling the money, and, by controlling both money and land, they made the lot of the common people most miserable. Speaking of their condition, a historian says: "The people gave themselves up in despair in the field, as beasts of burden lie down beneath their load and refuse to rise. The disintegration of society was almost complete. All public spirit, all generous emotions and noble aspirations of men, shriveled and disappeared as the volume of money shrank, and prices fell. . . . Wealth accumulated in the hands of the few. . . . Whole prov- inces became the property of one man. " The rich Romans used their power, not to bless their fellow men, but to increase their own wealth, and used their wealth to perpetuate their power. The rich and the poor continually grew farther apart. The rich despised the poor, and the poor envied and hated the rich; for "wealth which is used only for 160 Capital and Labor ■ idle luxury is always envied," says Froude, "and envy soon curdles into hate." It was urged and demanded by the populace that a more equable division of things monopolized by the few should be made. But their advice, admonitions, and entreaties were unheeded. Such were the social conditions of Rome before her over- throw. And such are the social conditions to a large extent in the United States to-day. While visiting this country some years ago, Herbert Spencer said: "You retain the forms of freedom, but, so far as I can gather, there has been a considerable loss of the substance. It is true that those who rule you do not do it by means of retainers armed with swords; but they do it through regiments of men armed with voting papers, who obey the word of com- mand as loyally as did the dependents of the old feudal nobles, and who thus enable their leaders to override the general will, and make the community submit to their exactions as effectually as did their prototypes of old. Manifestly, those who framed your Constitution never dreamed that twenty thousand citizens would go to the polls led by a boss." Of recent years much has been said about imperialism and paternalism in the United States, similar to that which was a marked feature in the closing days of the Roman republic. The revolution and change which are imminent are thus set forth by the Des Moines Globe: "For a long time thinking people who have large commercial interests have felt unsafe with our present form of government. Now is a good time to do away with our obsolete Constitution, and adopt a form of government that will be logical, with expansive ideas, which will give ample protection to capital. A constitutional mon- archy is probably the most desirable plan that we could now adopt. Everything is ripe for the change." In the light of what has here been presented, what we may Parallels in History 161 logically expect as to the future of this government is apparent — revolution, and a repetition of Roman history. FRANCE AND -THE UNITED STATES The chief causes of the French Revolution were "the abuses and extravagances of the Bourbon monarchy, the unjust privileges enjoyed by the nobility and clergy, the wretched condition of the great mass of the people, and the revolutionary character and spirit of French philosophy and literature." The San Francisco Examiner, under "Luxury the Destroyer of Nations," says: "Power, wealth, luxury, decadence, death! In these five words we have the epitome of the history of every nation that has ever risen, flourished, and fallen. . . . Times change, and men change with them, but laws never; and so certain as it is that two and two make four, history is sure to repeat itself if the conditions are repeated." The leading conditions in France which culminated in the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror exist in the United States to-day. In France the sentiment was, "Grab all you can, and keep all you grab." The problem in the United States to-day is "how to get more." In France the land was owned by the rich. The condition of the peasants in most districts was miserable in the extreme. History states that "it is quite impossible to give any adequate idea of the pitiable condition of the poorer classes of the com- mons throughout the century preceding the Revolution." They suffered the "most intolerable wrongs." Exactions of all sorts, which "went to feed the luxury of the court at Ver- sailles," left them barely the means to sustain life. In various places they rose up against the landed proprietors, and fearful scenes of plunder, devastation, and bloodshed ensued. In the United States less than one fifth of the people have a clear title to a home, and no nation, except Great Britain, shows as large a per cent of tenement farmers. 162 Capital and Labor In France, before the Revolution, the poor people demanded that the vast estates be divided and given to the poor. The same is being urged in the United States to-day. In France the courts of justice would usually listen to the noble as against the peasant, and bribes were notoriously accepted by the judges. To no small degree, similar condi- tions obtain in the United States to-day. In France there was no confidence between the people and the rulers. Suspicion fastened upon all the measures of the government as designing and selfish. The confidence between people and rulers in the United States is waning. Many look upon the measures of the government as compromising and scheming. In France, at the breaking out of the Revolution, two hun- dred thousand paupers claimed charity from the hands of the king. In the United States there are hundreds of thousands of paupers at the present time, and this vast army is con- tinually increasing. In France the year 1789 had been one of famine, and the people everywhere were suffering for bread. "On the fifth of October," says Wilson's "Outlines of History," "a crowd of the lowest rabble, armed with pikes, forks, and clubs, marched to Versailles [the headquarters of the government]. They penetrated the Assembly, vociferously demanding bread." They seemed to imagine that the states-general could make bread as well as a new constitution; but the bread did not appear. In the United States similar conditions have already begun to appear. The Atlanta Constitution, April 23, 1894, said: "We are coming face to face with protected capital fighting for its tribute inside of the Capitol, while outside may be seen the vanguard of the nation 's unprotected paupers, clamoring for food and work." Before the Revolution, France was leavened with socialism. To-day the United States is permeated with the same. Social- Parallels in History 163 ism in France before the Revolution was both an antirehgious and a political force. In the recoil against the evils of religious superstition, church establishment, and ecclesiastical domi- nation and oppression, France, during the Revolution, went to the other extreme of throwing off all religious restraint, and plunging into atheism. The tendency of the teachings of socialism in France was to lead the people away from the Bible and its Author. Christ was publicly denied and burned in effigy. Bibles were destroyed. A leading French actor said : "If thou be God, avenge thy injured name. I bid thee defiance. From henceforth who will believe thy existence?" Social- ism in the United States to-day is identical with the socialism of Europe. Proudhon says, "If God exists, he is man's enemy." Bebel said, in a speech in the German Reichstag, Feb. 3, 1893, "We socialists are against all authority, both heavenly and earthly." Carl Marx says, "Abolition of religion is a necessary condition for the happiness of the peo- ple." Many of the socialists of the United States are atheists. During the reign of socialism in France in this great up- heaval, the marriage contract was lightly regarded, and there were more illegitimate than legitimate births in Paris. A witty French actress of those times styled "the republican marriage" as " the sacrament of adultery." Many socialists of to-day do not believe in the marriage relationship as it now exists. Many of their leaders advocate very lax morals, as the following quotations will show. Morres and Bax say, in " Socialism," page 300: "The family will be based on mutual inclination and affection, and association terminable at the will of either party." Marx and Engels say, in the London Jfawifesto, that socialism stands for "free and irresponsible intercourse between the sexes, as love or desire may dictate." It is quite significant also that socialism in the days of the French Revolution worshiped the Goddess of Reason, and that the socialists of the United States have for their chief exponent the well-known paper called the Appeal to 164 Capital and Labor Reason. This organ represents the principles that socialists stand for, and are desirous to have incorporated in our national life. If their dream is ever realized here, the principles which they advocate will, of course, direct the people of the social- istic state in matters both civil and religious. And these principles, when crystallized into law, will become the only deity that will be recognized in the socialist's regime. For socialism is, in a sense, a religion. At the time of the Reign of Terror in France, the ire of the common people was directed not only against the government, because it was a plutocracy, but also against the church, because the priests were committed to the interests of the aristocracy. Church property was confiscated, and the priests, who were viewed by the common people as their ene- mies, were cruelly slaughtered or sunken in barges. From "Students' History of France" we quote the follow- ing: "The Goddess of Reason, personated by a well-known figurante from the opera, was impiously enthroned in the very sanctuary of the cathedral of Notre Dame; and the members of the convention, the commune, and all the constituted au- thorities, bowed before her in public adoration. Over the en- trance of the cemeteries was now placed the heathen inscrip- - tion, 'Death is an eternal sleep.' The churches were dese- crated throughout France; abbeys and religious houses were secularized and pillaged." In the United States many of the popular churches are committed to the interests of the rich. The Literary Digest says: "Not long since, a New England clergyman addressed a letter to Mr. Samuel Gompers, president of the American Federation of Labor, asking him to state why, in his opinion, so many intelligent working men do not attend church. In reply, Mr. Gompers said that one reason is that the churches are no longer in touch with the hopes and aspirations of the working men, and are out of sympathy with their miseries and burdens. The pastors either do not know, he said or Parallels in History I'jS have not the courage to declare from their pulpits, the rights and wrongs of the toiling millions. The organizations found most effective in securing improved conditions have been frowned upon by the church. Laborers have had their atten- tion directed to 'the sweet by and by,' to the utter neglect of the conditions arising from the 'bitter now and_^now. ' The church and the ministry have been the apologists and defend- ers of the wrongs committed against the interests of the people, simply because the perpetrators are the possessors of wealth." The churches are losing their hold on the masses in whose hearts a spirit of hatred is rising up against the churches, be- cause they are not friends of the poor, and do not, like the Master, preach the gospel to the poor. When the storm breaks forth in all its fury, such churches, corrupted by mam- mon, will not command enough respect from the people to stay the tide of misery and destruction that will be brought upon them. As with those churches in France that favored the rich before the French Revolution, these sacred edifices will be desecrated. Then will be fulfilled the words of the prophet, "I will . . . make the pomp of the strong to cease; and their holy places shall be defiled." Eze. 7:24. "Go look in yon church with its cloud-reaching spire. Which gives back to the sun the same look of red fire. Where the arches and columns are gorgeous within, And the walls seem as pure as a soul without sin. Walk down the aisle, see the rich and the great, In the pomp and pride of their worldly estate; Walk down in your patches and find, if you can. Who opens a pew to the moneyless man." In France, before the Revolution, the current of thought was revolutionary. In the United States, revolution is the thing talked of to-day. A writer says: "This description of the condition of the people of France yesterday may be accepted as a fair portraiture of the condition of the people in many nations to-day. Will history repeat itself, or will a higher civilization influence a peaceful, rather than a bloody, revolution?" CITIES STORM-CENTERS j IN the United States the increase of crime is appalling. When Mr. McKinley and Mr. Bryan were running for the presidency in the year 1896, and the question of gold standard or bimetalism was before the nation, an eminent American jurist said: "The true issue before the American people is not the question of gold standard or bimetalism, but whether the proper protection can be given to human life." During the twenty years from 1890 to 1910, the population of the United States increased only fifty per cent, while crime increased nearly eight hundred per cent. Though only half of the population live in cities, the cities furnish about ninety-eight per cent of all the crime committed in this country. In the past, the cities have been the centers of trouble, as in Babylon, Nineveh, Jerusalem, Sodom, Gomor- rah, Rome, and Paris. In a work entitled "The Twentieth Century City," Dr. Josiah Strong says : — "The American city is becoming a menace to State and nation, because as it grows more powerful it becomes less capable of self-government. The maladministration of munic- ipal affairs in our large cities has long since become a national scandal, and the opening up of its rottenness has made mu- nicipal democracy a stench in the nostrils of the civilized world. Our friendly but discriminating English critic, Professor Bryce, says that one conspicuous failure of American insti- tutions is the government of our great cities. Disregard of (166) Cities Storm-Centers 167 the rights of person and property, or, in a word, lawlessness, is much more hurtful and dangerous in the city than in the country; and yet it is much more prevalent there than else- where. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh are exceptionally good cities, but in Philadelphia there are seven and a half times as much crime to a given population, and in Pittsburgh and Alle- gheny City nearly nine times as much, as in the average rural county of Pennsylvania. We are now prepared to weigh the gravity of the fact that more than one half of our population will soon be urban, and that in due time we shall be a nation of cities. If the rate of the movement from country to city between 1880 and 1890 continues until 1920, there will then be in the United States ten million more people in our cities than outside of them. . . . What if the cities are then in- capable of self-government ? If their government is then a conspicuous failure, what will become of our free institutions? Most of our great cities have at some time been in the hands of a mob. In the summer of 1892, within a few days of one an- other. New York, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee ordered out their militia, and Idaho called on the United States govern- ment for troops, to suppress labor riots. More recent in- stances are fresh in mind. That is not self-government, but government by military force. There is peril when the God- dess of Liberty is compelled to lean on the point of a bayonet for support. Sooner or later it will pierce her hands. The city, in a position to dictate to State and nation, and yet in- capable of self-government, is like Nero on the throne. As the city, by virtue of its preponderating population, is soon to ascend the throne, it is well to glance at some of the powers that are reaching after the city's scepter." At the time of the Reign of Terror in France, the trouble began at Paris. Ridpath's "History of the World" says: " Paris became a sea tossed by the storm. . . . The most beautiful city of the modern world became a horror too awful to contemplate. The rage for blood was caught in other parts, 168 Capital and Labor and the cities of Meaux, Rheims, Lyons, and Orleans imitated the work done in the capital." The massacre of St. Bartholo- mew in 1572, seemed both repeated and avenged. The city is the center of population. Into the cities the masses gather. Here capital and labor are arrayed in force. Here Lazarus and Dives are brought face to face. Not owning their prop- erty, the poor are forced, through lack of employ- ment, low wages, and the burden of high rents and expensive living, from the comfortable cottage to the miser- able tenement, with its fetid air and its foul sur- roundings. There they form a hatred toward the rich, which ends in cruel plottings against them. In our large cities are found, besides the army of needy, unemployed men, organized roughs, robbers, thieves, gam- blers, drunkards, thugs, and criminal societies — the very classes that are ever ready for any desperate undertaking that promises plunder, though the cost may be sacrifice of property and life. President Henry Hopkins, of Williams College, in an ad- dress in New York City, said: "But most startling and dis- LIFE IN NEW YORK CITY Population in 1910, 4.766.883 Every second four visitors arrive in Nevf York. Every forty-two seconds an immigrant arrives. Every forty-two seconds a passenger-train arrives. Every three minutes some one is arrested. Every six minutes a child is born. Every seven minutes there is a funeral. Every thirteen minutes there is a wedding. Every forty-two minutes a new business firm starts up. Every forty-eight minutes a building catches fire. Every forty-eight minutes a ship leaves the harbor. Every fifty-one minutes a new building is erected. Every one and three-fourths hours some one is killed by accident. Every eight and one-half hours some pair is divorced. Every ten hours some one commits suicide. Every night $1,250,000 is spent in restau- rants for dinner. Every day three hundred and fifty new citi- zens go to New York to live. Every thirty-six hours there is a murder. Cities Storm-Centen 169 heartening of all is the progress of the spirit of lawlessness in our towns and cities, where there have grown up idle hood- lums, where there is an increasing population who break out into reckless violence at times of strikes and lockouts. Of the same nature as these manifestations are the worse than brutal EAST SIDE TENEMENTS, ELIZABETH STREET, NEW YORK 170 Capital and Labor exhibitions — in defiance of all authority and decency — in the lynchings and burnings that continue to disgrace our country, and to dishonor human nature itself." A continuation of the present evils must bring any com- munity to the pass to which Rome had come before her over- throw, of which it is said that the evils were so great they could neither be cured nor endured. Concerning the period just before the Reign of Terror in France, the "Leading Facts of French History," page 217, says: "While the Assembly was engaged in constitution- making, matters were fast growing critical in Paris. Bad har- vests had caused great distress throughout the country. There was scarcity of bread in the capital, and, to render the condi- tion worse, thousands of desperate tramps had come into the city, eager for riot and pillage." With the present labor complications in our large cities, like Chicago and New York, unless there should be some special intervention from some source to stay the storm, it seems probable that they may, at almost any moment, be subject to the will of the infuriated populace bent on destruction and spoliation. Several years ago Tocqueville said: "I look upon the size of certain American cities, and especially upon the nature of their population, as a real danger which threatens the se- curity of the democratic republics of the New World." Writing of the "wave of organized crime" that is sweeping over the world, the Washington Post of May 13, 1912, says: — "Organized crime has its inception in organized capital or in organized discontent, according to the point of view. The theory that big business breeds socialism and its attendant evils finds many supporters more or less qualified to enlighten their fellow men. The counter-theory that the wave of dis- content that is sweeping over the world is responsible for the increase of crime, or rather the banding together of the law- less, also is advanced with a persistence and particularity that leaves nothing open to dispute. Cities Storm-Centers 171 "The countries of Europe, notably England and France are revising their criminal laws upward, and adopting sterner measures in running down the modern school of desperadoes. The new propaganda is being carried into the labor field here in America more systematically, perhaps, than in any other direction, as witness the conspiracies of violence in New Eng- land mill towns, Pennsylvania coal regions, and Western rail- road centers. Wherever there is a foreign element whom the banded crime promoters can induce to do their bidding, any pretext is seized upon to precipitate a clash between the mob and the authorities. These newly organized disturbers are increasing at a rate that promises soon to give them greater prominence than now attaches to the imported peril, which itself is flourishing menacingly. "New York, Chicago, and San Francisco are gathering- points of foreign-bom malefactors whose operations baffle the machinery of the law, and it has long been agreed that the only remedy lies in restricting immigration." Says R. H. Browne in his "Lincoln and the Men of His Time" (Vol. ii, pp. 640, 641): "The grinding and oppressive system of Britain, of all Europe as well, drives to our shores about half a million of their people every year. Unused to comfortable living or self-supporting pursuits, they are flying from an existence that barely allows them to live, with deep- ening degradation and increasing poverty. This immense influx, without a proportionate new field for agriculture or in- dustrial occupation, chokes up our cities and easily accessible States with a greater increase of population than can find em- ployment or be readily assimilated. The result is disturbed industrial conditions, reduction of wages, strikes, and distress, bordering on starvation, in a land of plenty. All this comes of the driving here of so many thousands who can find nothing to do." The possibility of committing great ruin in the cities in a short time is thus described by Dr. Josiah Strong: — 172 Capital and Labor "It must not be forgotten that, side by side with this deep discontent of intelligent and unsatisfied wants, has been de- veloped, in modern times, a tremendous enginery of destruc- tion, which offers itself to every man. Since the French Revolution, nitroglycerin, illuminating gas, petroleum, dyna- mite, the revolver, the repeating rifle, and the Gatling gun have all come into use. Science has placed in man's hand superhuman powers. Society, also, has become more highly organized, much more complex, and is therefore much more susceptible of injury. There never was a time in the history, of the world when an enemy of society could work such mighty mischief as to-day. . . . Palaces, factories, railways, immense bridges, Hoosac tunnels — all the long inventory of our material wonders — are destructive by material means. The explosion of a little nitroglycerin under a few water-mains would make a great city uninhabitable. The blowing up of a few railroad bridges and tunnels would make famine quicker than the wall of circumvallation that Titus drew around Jerusalem; the pumping of atmospheric air into the gas-mains, and the application of a match, would tear up every street and level every house. We are preparing conditions which make possible a reign of terror that would beggar the scenes of the French Revolution." Before the fall of the Roman republic, the pent-up masses in the city of Rome lighted the fires of revolution. The con- dition in Rome was similar to that of many of our large cities at the present time; and what followed in both France and Rome was but the more complete development of conditions similar to those which we see in the United States to-day. Social dynamite is much more easily produced in the impure atmosphere of the city than in the more wholesome surround- ings of country life. The large cities are the places where the storm will break forth and rage in its greatest fury. Then will be realized the condition foretold by the prophet, "The land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence." i MISERY AWAITS THE RICH WHILE many of the rich do not apprehend the great calamities that are coming upon them as the result of the present controversy between capital and labor, others view the future of this struggle with serious forebodings and grave apprehensions. A prominent capitalist of New York City, on being asked why he did not build for himself a palatial mansion like those owned by other millionaires, replied that he did not want his house to be so conspicuous or so easily found "when the hungry fellows break loose." Senator Hatch, in a speech before Congress, said: "That gentleman, Astor, who went to England some time ago, bought him a place on the island, and became a British subject, saw what is coming as plainly as I do ; so he took time by the fore- lock and skipped out when there was not such a rush for state- rooms as there will be after a while. He knew very well that if things should keep on as you and I have seen them for some time past, the time was not far off when there would be such a crowd of this class of people hurrying aboard every outgoing steamer that he might be shoved off the gangplank." A New York paper, in 1892, said: "Since the outbreak of cranks in New York, the rich men of that city have had their houses guarded by from one to three private watchmen. Jay Gould has three. The late Col. Elliott F. Shepard had a six- foot Irishman to watch his house. The colonel should have remembered, 'Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman (173) 174 Capital and Labor waketh but in vain.' But so it is down the long list of New York 's millionaires — each has one watchman or more to keep away cranks and other dangers." The Bible plainly teaches that misery awaits the rich who have heaped together treasure at the expense of their fellow men. It says: "Go to now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches are cor- rupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and CARNEGIE S MANSION, FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK your silver are rusted; and their rust shall be for a testimony against you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye have laid up your treasure ["heaped treasure together," A. V.] in the last days. ... Ye have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure; ye have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter." James 5: i - 5, R. V. The Lord says of them, "Ye have lived in pleasure, . . . Misery Awaits the Rich 175 and been wanton." The newspapers abound in descriptions of fashionable balls and banquets, reception dinners, and midnight suppers, which cost thousands, tens of thousands, and even hundreds of thousands of dollars, at which the wealthy appear in royal attire and decked with costly jewels. In commenting upon one of the fashionable balls in New York City, the California Christian Advocate said: "The lavish luxury and dazzling extravagance displayed by the wealthy Greeks and Romans of 'ye olden times' is a matter of history. Such reckless display is beginning to make its ap- pearance in what is called fashionable society in this country. One of our exchanges tells of a New York lady who spent one hundred and twenty-five thouand dollars in a single sea- son in entertaining. The character and value of the entertain- ments may be judged from the fact that she taught society how ... to freeze Roman punch in the heart of crimson and yellow tulips, and how to eat terrapin with gold spoons out of silver canoes. Other entertainers decked their tables with costly roses, while one of ' the four hundred ' is said to have spent fifty thousand dollars on a single entertainment. Such lavish expenditure to such poor purposes is sinful and shame- ful, no matter how large a fortune one may possess." The Messiah 's Herald commented upon the foregoing enter- tainment as follows : " One hundred and forty-four social auto- crats, headed by an aristocrat, held a great ball. Royalty never eclipsed it. It was intensely exclusive. Wine flowed like water. Beauty lent her charms. Neither Mark Antony nor Cleopatra ever rolled in such gorgeousness. It was a collection of millionaires. The wealth of the world was drained for pearls and diamonds. Necklaces of gems costing two hundred thousand dollars and downward emblazoned scores of necks. The dance went on amid Aladdin splendors. Joy was unconfined. While it was going on, says a journal, one hundred thousand starving miners in Pennsylvania were scouring the roads like cattle in search of forage, some of them ^'^'5 Capital and Labor living on cats, and not a few committing suicide to avoid seeing their children starve. Yet one necklace from the metro- politan ball would have rescued all these from hunger. It was one of the 'great social events' of a nation called Christian; but what a contrast ! And there is no remedy for it. Thus it will be 'till He come.'" A few years ago another millionaire, a woman of New York City, gave a fancy dress ball at the Waldorf-Astoria which cost five hundred thousand dollars. People came thousands of miles to attend it. The papers of that city stated that eight hundred persons, whose attire was of "surpassing mag- nificence," participated. The hostess was "decked in price- less jewels." The lady who led the quadrille wore "gems costing a quarter million dollars." The ball began at mid- night, and ended at five o'clock in the morning. Its pleasure, therefore, cost at the rate of one hundred thousand dollars an hour. Mr. Vanderbilt, on the occasion of the marriage of his daugh- ter to the duke of Marlborough, presented her with a necklace costing one million dollars. The daily press tells of five thousand dollars being spent in burying a pet poodle, and of receptions costing no less than five hundred dollars being given by the rich in honor of their dogs. The pet canines are fed on dainty morsels of imported French sausages, cakes and candies, and are tended by nurses, while countless numbers of poor, helpless children in the land are shivering with cold and starving for bread. Such a course would be bad enough were there no want in the world; but when it is known that millions are in want and distress, it is doubly criminal. All this is in fulfilment of the scripture already quoted, and is a sign of the times. A San Francisco journal called Industry, commenting upon the extravagance of two wealthy men in the United States, said: "The Wanamaker dinner in Paris, and the Vanderbilt dinner at Newport, costing together at least forty thousand Misery Awaits the Rich 177 NORTH CAROLINA ESTATE dollars — perhaps a good deal more — are among the signs of the times. Such things presage a change in this country. This, which is only typical of a hundred more cases of like ostentatious money- show, may be likened to a feast in Rome before the end came, and the luxury in France that a century ago was the precursor of a revolution." The selfishness and greed of men to become rich and W. K. VANDERBILT AND HIS RESIDENCES 178 ~ Capital and Labor revel in luxury, to the utter disregard of the rights and needs of others, and what such a course will finally bring upon them, are further set forth in the following scriptures: — "Thou that art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and that canst not look on perverseness [that is, to approve of it], where- fore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy peace when the wicked swalloweth up the man that is more righteous than he ; and makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? He taketh up all of them with the angle, he catcheth them in his net, and gathereth them in his drag [wily schemes, by which men are controlled]: therefore he rejoiceth and is glad. Therefore he sacrificeth unto his net, and burneth incense urito his drag [glorifies and exalts his schemes]; because of them his portion is fat, and his meat plenteous. Shall he therefore empty his net, and not spare to slay the nations continually?" "Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him; , . . a treacherous dealer, a haughty man, and that keep- eth not at home; who enlargeth his desire as hell [Sheol, the grave], and he is as death, and can not be satisfied, but gather- eth unto him all nations [witness to-day the trusts and world- wide confederations], and heapeth unto him all peoples. Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say. Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and that ladeth himself with pledges [bonds, stocks, deeds, mortgages] ! Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them? Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city, and to all that dwell therein. "Woe to him that getteth an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil! Thou hast consulted shame to thy house, by Misery Aii'aits the Rich 179 cutting off many peoples, and hast sinned against thy soul. For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it [the testimony of underpaid labor]. Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity." Hab. i: 13-17; 2:4-12, R. V. The following significant words appeared some time ago in the Philadelphia Press: — "Danger ahead! There is no doubt about it that New York is divided into two great classes, the very rich and the very poor. The middling classes of reputable, industrious, fair-to-do people are gradually disappearing, going up in the scale of worldly wealth or down into poverty and embarrass- ment. It seems unquestioned that, between these two classes exists, and is rapidly growing, under intentional fostering of evil men, a distinct, pronounced, malignant hatred. There are men here who are worth ten million dollars and twenty million dollars of whom you know nothing. . . . There are men here, who, twenty years ago, sold clothes on Chatham Street, who to-day live at an annual expense of one hundred thousand dollars, who wear jewels costing, in reasonable stores, twenty-five thousand dollars. "Come with me in a Madison Avenue car any day, rain or shine, between the hours of ten o'clock in the morning and five or six in the afternoon, and I will find you car after car closely packed with ladies in whose ears are diamonds worth from five hundred to five thousand dollars each, on whose ungloved hand, red and puffy, sparkle fortunes. Walk with me from Stewart's old store, at the corner of Ninth Street and Broadway, to Thirteenth Street and Broadway, any day, and I will show you, on block after block, women in sealskin cir- culars, down to their heels, worth from fiye hundred to one thousand dollars each, with diamond earrings and diamond finger-rings, and other precious stones as well, carrying in their hands dainty pocketbooks stuffed with money. They represent the newly rich with which New York is filling up. 180 Capital and Labor "On that same street, at that same time, I can show you men to whom a dollar would be a fortune, whose trousers, torn and disgraceful in their tatters, are held about their pinched waists by ropes or twine or pins, whose stockingless feet shufifle along the pavement in shoes so ragged that they dare not lift them from the pavement, whose faces are freckled, whose beards are long and straggling, as is their hair, while their reddening hands taper at the nails like claws. How long before those claws will fasten on the newly rich? Make no mistake about it, the feeling is born, the feeling is growing, and the feeling, sooner or later, will break forth." "Fulness of bread," "abundance of idleness," and neglect to "strengthen the hand of the poor and needy" filled the cup of iniquity of ancient Sodom, and brought on her destruction. The same sins will bring about the ruin of the world. Many of the rich have obtained their wealth through fraud and oppression in wages justly earned and rightly belonging to their employees. God foresaw that this would be so. The Bible says: "Behold, the hire of the laborers who mowed your fields [a class representing all laborers], which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth." James 5:4, R. V. Through the power of wealth, justice is denied the weak, and the poor are oppressed. The rich man's thought is simply to advance his own interests. He rolls in wealth, revels in luxury and voluptuous pleasure, while distress and even starvation are multiplying in the land. He spends money like water for his own pleasure and selfish interest, with no thought of God or the claims of humanity upon him. But a change is coming. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." The rich who have sown seeds of injustice and oppression will reap a harvest of miseries. A judgment awaits them, and they will be left desolate. Thus the prophet Amos declares: "Forasmuch therefore as Misery Awaits the Rich 181 your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them." The psalmist foretold what the end of the rich would be. He says: "Pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fat- ness: they have more than heart could wish. They are cor- rupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. . . . Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world, they increase in riches. . . . When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! They are utterly consumed with terrors." Ps. 73:6-19. Some men of wealth foresee what is coming. Thus Mr. Rudolph Spreckels, the millionaire fighter of graft in San Francisco, as quoted in the Washington Herald of June 2, 1910, says: "Capital, labor, and politics are all on a basis of cor- ruption throughout the United States to-day. The beginning of the end is just in sight. There is need of a national house- cleaning which will extend to city. State, and federal govern- ment. ... I do not see why the wealthy men of this country wait to realize that some day there will come a fall, and when it comes, they, the wealthy themselves, will be the ones to suffer most." The miseries that are to come upon the rich will be from a sudden uprising of an infuriated and outraged populace. The workers, the toilers, the unemployed, the hungry, the desper- ate, the despairing, and the wretched will come forth together and rise up against the arrogant rich, whose hearts have been hardened with greed for gold. The prophet vividly describes what the rich will do with the 182 Capital and Labor treasures that they have heaped together in the last days: "They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord." Eze. 7:19. Some years since, while bread riots were taking place in. Italy, a mob of strikers at Minerva, Italy, rushed to the home of a millionaire miller, Bartella, shouting, "We want the head of the old usurer." He directed his attendants to hurl five thousand dollars in five-franc pieces from the second-story windows of his mansion, supposing they would gather up the money and depart. But they continued to cry, "We want the head of the old usurer," and broke into his mansion and looted it, killing the owner. Going on to other mansions in the city, they continued the work of spoliation and looting until govern- ment troops appeared and dispersed them. A friend of the writer living in the State of California says: " In the winter of 1888, while in Humboldt County, California, a socialist tract was placed in my hands in which it was stated that there would be such a thorough organization of labor that, when the opportune moment comes, at the command of their leaders they will rise up at once and accomplish their purpose by taking possession of the wealth of the country and dividing it among the people." John P. O'Hare, of Kansas City, Mo., in a speech delivered at Kingman, Kans., in the summer of 1902, in speaking of a rich man who owned about one hundred and thirty-five quarter- sections of land, said: "All but one of them belong to the people, and to the people they shall go." A voice asked, "How shall they get to them?" He replied, "We purpose to have them, and we will succeed!" The rich trust in their money, making gold their defense; but the Bible says that neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath, and that "they shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed." Eze. 7: 19. Misery A-waits the Rich 183 In a time of calamity, or in the face of death, riches are lightly valued. " Riches profit not in the day of wrath," says the wise man. "All that I have for five minutes more of life!" said a dying rich man in New York. At the time of the foundering of the steamer "Central America," in 1857, in a gale off Cape Hatteras, when more than four hundred lives were lost, and two million dollars in treasure, it is stated that "as the storm continued to rage, less and less was thought of gold ; and when it became evident that they were likely at any moment to be buried beneath the waves, wealthy men divested themselves of their treasure- belts and scattered the gold upon the cabin floors, telling those to take it who would, lest its weight about their persons — a few ounces or pounds — should carry them to their death. Full purses, containing, in some instances, thousands of dollars, lay around untouched. Carpetbags were opened, and the shining metal was poured out on the floor with the prodigality of death's despair. One of the passengers opened a bag, and dashed about the cabin twenty thousand dollars in gold-dust, and told him who wanted to gratify his greed for gold to take it. But it was passed by untouched, as the veriest dross." On the ill-fated steamer "Islander," which crashed into an iceberg off the coast of British Columbia in the month of August, in the year 1901, and sank in a quarter of an hour in forty fathoms of water, were a number of men who were re- turning with their gold from the Klondike gold-fields. One man, with a satchel containing fourteen thousand dollars in gold, rushed to the upper deck as the boat was settling by the head. Soon there was a rush for the life-boats. Not daring to throw his satchel of gold down from the deck into the life- boat for fear that the weight of the gold would stave a hole through the bottom of the boat, and thus cause the loss of the lives of those in the craft, as well as destroy his own chance of escape, this man concluded to abandon his gold. Dropping his satchel on the deck, he slid down into the water, and was 184 Capital and Labor hauled into the life-boat, thankful to have his life saved, though he lost all his treasure. Two other men with satchels containing four thousand and three thousand dollars in gold, did likewise. Another man, taking his portmanteau from the purser, and with a grip con- taining gold-dust amounting in value to forty thousand dollars grasped firmly in his hands, jumped from the sinking steamer for a life-boat near by. Failing to reach the boat, he went down, together with his treasure, to rise no more. Through clinging to his gold, he lost both his life and his gold. Thus it will be with the grasping rich. Their gold will be the "stumbling-block of their iniquity." By holding on to their riches they are ruining the world, and paving the way for their final destruction. I would rather live in a cottage small, Where the warbling birds of spring-tide call, With a happy wife to love me dear, And fill my fieart with heavenly cheer, And sweet, contented children gay To welcome me home at the close of day, Than to live in a palace of marble and gold With scorns of a pride that is earthly and cold. — Irving Hess . SKY-LINE OF NEW YORK. THE BILLION-DOLLAR MILE SCRIPTURE ADMONITIONS THE Scriptures give plain and explicit instruction for both rich and poor, for capitalists and laboring men, which, if followed, would bring peace, prosperity, joy, and contentment to our world. First, to the rich they say: " Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, . . • lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein ; and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God. . . . But thou shalt re- member the Lord thy God : for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth." Deut. 8: 11-18. Riches are to be held only in trust for God. Not only the riches themselves, but the power to acquire them is from God. No one has anything — land, houses, cattle, gold, or silver — which he has not received primarily from God. The rich, therefore, should regard themselves as God 's almoners, — channels through whom he would bless others, — and not selfishly hold on to all they get. "But they that will beirich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." i Tim. 6:9,10. (185) 186 Capital and Labor Not money, but the love of it, the idolizing of it, the in- ordinate desire for it, the tenacious holding on to it, the never- satisfied craving for it; in a word, covetousness — a violation of the tenth commandment — is the root of all evil; for covet- ousness leads to selfishness, and selfishness to the disregard of the rights of others, and this to every sin and crime possible for man to commit. "He. that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house." Prov. 15:27. "Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!" Isa. 5:8. After the great fire in Rome in A. d. 64, Nero appropriated a large part of the burnt region for the buildings and grounds of an immense palace, called the Golden House. As he ensconced himself in its luxurious apartments, he said, "Now I am housed as a man ought to be." But he secured money for his enormous expenditures by murders and confiscations. He was even accused of firing the city himself to make room for his palace, to divert which he accused the Christians of the deed, whereupon a terrible persecution was inaugurated against them, Peter and Paul falling victims to his rage. But his tyranny and disgrace became unendurable. The Roman senate finally declared the emperor a public enemy, and con- demned him to death by scourging, to avoid which, aided by a slave, he took his own life. So the Scripture says, "As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool." Jer. 17: 11. "Rob not the poor, because he is poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate: for the Lord will plead their cause, and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them." Prov. 22:22,23. In our large cities we see great buildings rising, like the tower of Babel, story after story toward heaven. In erecting Scripture Admonitions 187 them, the thought of the owners is not that first of all duties, to glorify God, but to gratify ambitious pride, and provoke the envy of their neighbors. The buildings are furnished with the CITY INVESTMENT COMPANY BUILDING, NEW YORK Largest office-building in tlie world : thirty-three stories, twenty- three elevators, half million square feet floor space, founda- tion on solid rock eighty feet below street level. most costly material. But much of the money spent in erect- ing and equipping them has been obtained through exactions and by grinding the face of the poor. It is no wonder, there- 188 Capital and Labor fore, that the protecting hand of God is withdrawn, and that great fires so often sweep away the entire business portions of some of our largest cities, destroying granite and other build- ings hitherto considered absolutely fire-proof, together with the most combustible structures. In these things the hand of the Almighty is being unveiled, and men are having an opportunity to learn that no material can be used in the erec- tion of buildings that will preserve them from destruction when God's appointed time comes to send retribution upon those who have oppressed his creatures and disregarded his law. Of the rich man, who, not knowing where to bestow his goods, decided to tear down his barns and build greater, that he might say to his soul, "Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry," Christ says: "Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." See Luke 12: 16-21. Again Christ asks, "What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matt. 16:26. "Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death." Prov. 11:4. In Paul's first epistle to Timothy he says: "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." I Tim. 6: 17-19. This is the spirit the Lord would have those manifest who have large possessions of this world 's goods. He would have them to be "rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to cripture Admonitions 189 WOOLWORTH BUILDING, Tallest building in the world. Height, 750 'eet- Number of stories, 571 elevators, 38; Hoor space 27 acres; cost, Si2,ooo.ooo. communicate." But too often when they see want and suffering, like the selfish priest and the heartless Levite, they shut up their bowels of compassion, close their eyes to their brothers' need, and "pass by on the other side." Too often they act like the wealthy but churlish and niggardly Nabal, who, when David, in his flight from Saul, sent to him and asked, in return for past favors, for food for himself and the men who were with him, said: "Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants nowadays that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be?" Men forget that there is a God in heaven, who, in proportion to the measure of blessings be- stowed, holds them responsible for the good they might do. In the midst of Nabal 's feast- ing, God said to him, as he said ||i|< j! Ii ' to the rich man of the H-Hlii!i ' parable, "This night thy soul shall be required of thee." Stricken with par- alysis, he died in ten days. In the selfish course of Nabal may be seen a pic- ture of the course being pursued by thousands of rich men to-day; and in the NEW YORK 190 Capital and Labor sudden manner in which he was called to "give account of his stewardship " is doubtless also mirrored how many an- other, through selfishness, has forfeited his right to be en- trusted with God's goods, and been weighed in the balance and found wanting. Will Carleton has thus pictured the end of the richest man ; — • He owned to-day a large and gleaming share Of this earth's narrow rim. A sigh, a groan, a gesture of despair — • ' The earth owned him. The richest one of any clime or land The old-time lesson taught. A human mine of gold! God raised his hand, And he had naught. "Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after." All who act the selfish part are not dealt with in so summary a manner; but a reckoning day awaits all. "If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest. Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?" Prov. 24: II, 12. "He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the Lord; and that which he hath given will he pay him again." Prov. 19: 17. Christ says, "Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matt. 25:40. To those who think they must join the unions or some con- federacy in order to protect themselves, the Scriptures say: "For the Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and in- structed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying. Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself; and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread." Isa. 8: 11-13. Scripture Admonitions 191 Note carefully this language. The Lord here gives explicit instruction that we should not walk in the way of those who say, "A confederacy." If this means anything, it means that we should not join confederacies formed because of the fear of men, nor fear the fear of those who form them. These confederacies are formed because men fear men, and because men trust in men. They fear those outside of their confeder- acies, and trust those inside of them. Such fear and such trust we should not have. We should sanctify the Lord, and he should be our fear and he our. dread. No man should be associated with either a labor or a money confederacy. The logic that would justify the one would also justify the other. Instead of fearing men and trusting in men, all, both rich and poor, should fear God and trust in him. "Thus saith the Lord: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh ; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not in- habited. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." Jer. 17:5-8. God desires all to be free. He would not have us bound up in confederacies with those who do not fear and trust in him. He would not have us deny our faith in Christ by placing our faith in human devisings and worldly combinations. The gospel of Christ is not only a gospel of good news and good will to men, but a gospel of freedom to all who wiM receive it. Christ came into the world to set men free from sin and every entangling cord and yoke of bondage. "If the Son there- fore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." John 8:36. We are not to surrender our individuality to any man, or to 192 Capital and Labor any set of men, so that when they say, "Strike," we must strike, and when they say, "Boycott," we must join in the boycott. We should not be tied to men, but bound up in Jesus Christ. We are to be Christ's free men. We are not to covet the possessions of the rich. "A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked." Ps. 37: i6. " Better is a little with righteousness than great revenues without right." "Better is little with' the fear of the Lord, than great treasure and trouble there- THE WORLD S GREAT BUILDINGS with." Prov. 16:8; 15:16. "Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content." "Godliness is profit- able unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." i Tim. 6: 6-8; 4: 8. "Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed." Ps. 37: 3. "I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." Ps. 37:25. "Bread shall be Scripture Admonitions 193 given him; his waters shall be sure." Isa. 33: 16. "Seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind [margin, " live not in careful suspense "]. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. But rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you." Luke 12 : 29-31. "Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages. " Luke 3 : 14. Says David Swing: "Let us learn to be content with what we have, with the place we have in life. Let us get rid of our false estimates, let us throw down the money god from its pedestal, trample that senseless idol underfoot, set up all the higher ideals — a neat home, vines of our own planting, a few books full of the inspiration of genius, a few friends worthy of being loved, and able to love us in return; a hundred innocent pleasures that bring no pain nor remorse, a devotion to the right that will never swerve, a simple religion empty of all bigotry, full of hope and trust and love, and to such a philoso- phy this world will give up all the joy it has." Spurgeon gives this advice: "Do not wade out into the dangerous sea of this world's comfort. Take the good that God provides you, but say of it, 'It passeth away ; ' for indeed, it is but a temporary supply for a temporary need. Never suffer your goods to become your god. " God would have us take our eyes off from this old world, with all its corruption, evil, and oppression, and look forward to the world that is to come, where "they shall build houses, and inhabit them, " and " plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them;" where "they shall not build, and another inhabit," nor "plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree [the tree of life] are the days of my people," and God's elect "shall long enjoy the work of their hands. " Isa. 65 :2i, 22. We have been forewarned that in the last days men would heap treasure together, oppress the hireling in his wages, and 13 194 Capital and Labor live in pxeasure on the earth. But nutwithstanding all this, notwithstanding all the oppression and inequalities we may have to endure, the instruction to those who live a blameless life is: "Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he re- ceive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be con- demned: behold, the Judge standeth before the door." James 5: 7-9. This is not a time to become impatient or to hold grudges. The heart should be established with grace. When the rich tread on the poor, take from them burdens of wheat, live in houses of hewn stone, take bribes, and turn the poor in the gate from his right, then the Lord says, "The prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time." Then we are to "seek good, and not evil," that we may live, and that the Lord of hosts may be with us. Amos 5: 13, 14. The Lord does not want his people to engage in this dreadful contro- versy, born of covetousness, hatred, strife, and envy. From all such things he says: "Come out from among them, and be ye separate. . . . Touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you." 2 Cor. 6: 17. I dreamed that the great judgment morning Had dawned, and the trumpet had blown; I dreamed that the nations had gathered In judgment before the white throne. The rich man was there; but his money Had melted and vanished away: A pauper he stood in the judgment; flis debt was too heavy to pay. The widow was there, and the orphans; God heard and remembered their cries. No sorrow in heaven forever; God wiped all the tears from their eyes. — Tillman. END OF THE CONFLICT; THE REIGN OF PEACE THE struggle between capital and labor began in ages past, and will continue until the closing act in the drama of human history. Because of greed there has ever been oppression, and as a result of oppression there has been conflict. The first labor troubles of which we have any record occurred in the land of Egypt, just before the deliver- ance of the children of Israel, when they were building treasure cities for Pharaoh. Then, as now, the "sweating system" was in vogue, together with long hours of hard work and little or no pay for the laborers. "Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. . . . And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor. And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in mortar, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigor." Ex. i: 11-14. Capital oppressed labor at that time as now, and the one thought of the oppressed then, as now, was. How can we obtain deliverance? They looked for deliverance through human wisdom and worldly power; but it did not come in that way. "Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyp- tians, and was mighty in words and in deeds." Being a great military leader, he thought himself able to deliver his people. "And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel; ... for he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God (195) 196 Capital and Labor by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not." See Acts 7: 22-25. They would not receive him as a leader, and the question was asked him, "Who made thee a prince and a judge over us?" Ex. 2; 14. Rejected by his own people, and fearing the wrath of the king, he fled to the land of Midian, and was there forty years tending the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, preparatory to the deliverance of God's people in God's way. Then the Lord appeared unto him and said," I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians." Ex. 3:7, 8. When Moses, through forty years of experience in the land of Midian, had lost his self-confidence, then God could use him; and when the children of Israel realized that "vain is the help of man," and learned to trust in the Lord, then deliver- ance came, and the Lord saved them out of the hand of the Egyptians. This labor trouble in Egypt was a type. We may again expect like conditions and like results. " Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." I Cor. 10: 11. Now, as then, deliverance will not come through human devisings or force of arms. The very condition of things as regards capital and labor foretokens that the day of deliverance is not far in the future. The present darkness is but the deep gloom that precedes the coming dawn. Selfishness, slavery, and oppression brought ruin to Egypt. Of her the Lord said, "The Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them." Isa. 19: 4. The same conditions that brought ruin to Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Rome, and imperial France, exist now, and will bring ruin to the entire world to-day. While there will End of Conflict 197 be no permanent peace between the contending parties, there will, no doubt, be temporary adjustments of the labor trouble through various means and the intervention of other forces. As one of the most important of these forces may be men- tioned the Papacy, for its attitude toward the labor move- ment is most friendly, as is indicated by its utterances. The late Pope Leo XIII, in his encyclical on labor, espoused the cause of the working men's organizations in their struggle against the greed of wealth. He said: "We have spoken of them more than once, but it will be well to explain here how much they are needed, to show that they exist by their own SPHINX AND PYRAMIDS OF EGYPT right, and to enter into their organization and their work. The experience of his own weakness urges man to call in help from without." By some Leo XIII was styled the "socialist bishop," be- cause of his apparent friendliness to working men. In thus assuming a friendly attitude toward organized labor, the Pope manifested a tender regard for his own people, as a large per cent of trade-unionists are communicants of the Roman Catholic Church. Many of the labor leaders of the 198 Capital and Labor United States have been and are Catholics; and in both this country and Europe, in connection with strikes, its followers have taken a leading part. As the Catholic Church is so well represented in trade- unions throughout the world, it is but reasonable to suppose that the eyes of the world would be directed toward it as a potent power in the solution of the problems that are con- fronting all nations. That power which has for centuries held sway over nations, directing in matters ecclesiastical, political, and social, would be untrue to the claim that "Rome never changes" if she did not make the most of the present social complications to add to her glory; for in times past she has seized every opportunity for her own aggrandizement. This same power will, no doubt, from time to time, take a prominent part in the settlement of strikes ; and for its success- ful intervention will be highly honored by the nations. In the encyclical of Leo XIII on labor, he said: "No practical solution of this question will ever be found without the assistance of religion and the church. As regards the church, its assistance will never he wanting, be the time or the occasion what it may; and it will intervene with the greater effect in proportion as its liberty of action is the more unfettered." We may rest assured that "as regards the church, its assist- ance will never be wanting, be the time or the occasion what it may;" and that "it will intervene with the greater effect" when the opportune time comes for it to do so, for she has always been willing, as attested by innumerable instances in the history of the past, to do anything that will prove a stepping-stone to the zenith of power. Speaking of the visit of Cardinal Gibbons and Archbishop Ireland to the Pope in 1887 in the interest of the Knights of Labor, M. de Vogue wrote: "The American prelates. Cardi- nal Gibbons and Archbishop Ireland, arrived in Rome to defend the rights of the Knights of Labor. The ideas they brought astonished and scandalized the venerable dignitaries End of Conflict 199 of the sacred college; it might be said that the all-too-bracing air of the Atlantic still clinging to the garments of the travel- ers made those Italians gasp. The Pope alone was un- amazed, — he understood this adaptation of Catholicism to society free and democratic." I The Papacy undoubtedly understands how to adapt itself to society for its own advancement as does no other organized system on the face of the earth. In a work by William F. Markoe, published by the Catho- lic Truth Society, St. Paul, Minn., entitled "The Catholic Church and the American Republic," occurs the following: — "Again we see the country shaken to its center by the relentless conflict between capital and labor. Who is to be the peacemaker between these bitter enemies? Is it not a suf- ficient answer to point to the significant fact that the two most prominent figures in the settlement of labor difficulties in Europe and America have been Cardinal Manning, the head of the Catholic Church in England, and Cardinal Gibbons, the head of the Catholic Church in America?" It was Archbishop Ireland, who, at the Peace Conference banquet in New York, in 1907, declared, in no uncertain tones, that the Church of Rome must be the final arbiter if peace was to be secured at all — in the social, the industrial, and the religious worlds. In President Roosevelt's course of action in connection with the great anthracite coal strike in Pennsylvania in 1902, he recognized the fact that Catholic influence had much to do with the strike and its adjustment. In appointing the com- missioners of arbitration, there was connected with the num- ber the name of Bishop Spaulding, of the Catholic Church, " as a concession to the strikers," because many of the strikers were Catholics. A recorder of the commission was also ap- pointed who had been for many years a teacher in the eco- nomic department of the Catholic University at Washington. Two assistant recorders were appointed, one of whom was -00 Capital and Labor _ ■ .- a professor of political economy in this same university. Respecting the influence of the Catholic Church in the great anthracite coal strike, M. Gohier, writing in the In- dependent, said: "With a unanimity of which the American public carelessly ignores the causes and the significance, the Catholic priests, one and all, took the part of the miners." Some Protestant ministers advocate that no one is so well fitted to settle our labor troubles as the Pope. Why are their eyes directed to the Papacy, expecting it to step for- ward and offer a panacea for our social ills? Why do they not expect some of the great Protestant denominations to make peace between the contending parties? Is it not a tacit admission on their part that the Catholic Church wields a stronger influence over labor than do any of these? But why so? — Because a large per cent of those connected with unions are communicants of that church, and, in view of its hold upon them, can be best controlled by the Papacy. It is undoubtedly only a question of time when labor troubles will be submitted to the Papacy for settlement. As the followers of the Catholic Church are many, and many of these are connected with labor unions, why should not peace come at her command, allowing that her followers are under good control, as is a generally recognized fact? In the matter of the general peace movement among the nations, the Pope not only has expressed a willingness to use his influence, but the position is taken that the movement can not succeed without his aid, and that he should lead in the movement. While acting as apostolic delegate in Wash- ington, D. C, Archbishop Falconio received an autograph letter from Pope Pius X, expressing his views upon this ques- tion. The letter was directly presented to President Taft, thus giving it all the force of, and making it in effect, an official communication between the Pope of Rome and the United States government. Explaining and defending the views set forth in this communication, a Roman Catholic End of Conflict 201 writer, in the Oct. 7, 1911, number of America, said: — "The successor of St. Peter, as vicar on earth of the God and Prince of Peace, is the divinely appointed teacher not only of the faith, but also of morals, teaching mankind both to believe and to do all our Lord has commanded. Where- fore, his approbation and support of the peace movement, besides being desirable on account of the influence he can wield in its favor, carry also the weight of his authority in the strict sense of the term; so that if he be ignored, there can be no hope of success. Neither conferences, nor tribunals, nor agreements, nor laws can bring about what is the pre- rogative of the Prince of Peace, unless his vicar not only cooperates, but actually directs the work." In many ways this power is at work to secure influence, patronage, and prestige; and out of the strife and confusion in the world, she will doubtless, through her intervention and diplomacy, gain great honor and power. Kings and nations will try to outdo one another by catering to her authority. To-day the tendency of the world is Romeward. Kings and statesmen are paying homage to that power by rendering unto her servile flattery. To-day she has a controlling in- fluence in this the latest and greatest of nations. By her power and influence she controls our elections. Public senti- ment is being rapidly molded in her favor, and, as a result of our present social conditions, she is almost certain to obtain still greater prestige and influence in national afl^airs. Undoubtedly a very important force in the settlement of our present social difficulties will be The Hague court, or some similar tribunal, which will have "legislative and ex- ecutive departments," and be recognized as having inter- national jurisdiction in dealing with questions either civil, social, or religious. Toward it all eyes will be directed, and it will be looked to as a panacea for social ills. But in its work the nations will be disappointed, as any government established by men is no stronger than the character of the 202 Capital and Labor people who have created it. The pages of human history reveal the fact that since the fall, man has ever been selfish, and it is plainly stated in Holy Writ that "in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves" and "covetous." 2 Tim. 3: i, 2. As this con- dition is to exist until the close of human history, oppression will never cease until the voice of the oppressor is hushed in silence, and the everlasting kingdom of God is set up. Instead of making duty to God and man the first rule of life, men are hoarding up wealth for their own selfish grati- fication, with no thought of their responsibility to God or of the welfare of their fellow men. They are looking "every man on his own things," instead of every man looking "on the things of others," as the Scriptures command. Instead of putting their trust in God, men are putting their trust in men, binding themselves together in bundles for certain and sure destruction. Instead of each looking to help and bless the other, man is arrayed against man in fierce conflict, each seeking to build himself up by tearing down and ruining the other. Instead of keeping the commandments of God, men are trampling them under their feet. Many churches are leavened with higher criticism and semiinfidelity, while many ministers are teaching that the law of God is abolished. Such ceaching tends to break down all restraint, as "where no law is, there is no transgression." The result of making void the law of God was shown when atheism became the ruling power in France. All these things are now bringing ruin to the world. The conflict between capital and labor will end in ruin. The rich are oppressing the wage-earners in keeping back their hire "by fraud. " In so doing they are piling up hoards of wealth. Describing their work, the apostle says, "Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days." At this time "the Judge standeth before the door." See James 5: I-9. The prophet thus graphically describes the fearful result of the heaping together of the vast fortunes End of Conflict 203 of the present day : ' ' They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed : their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord: they shall not satisfy their souls, neither fill their bowels: because it is the stumbling-block of their iniquity." Eze. 7: 19. The Scriptures are conclusive in teaching that the controversy will not be ended until the close of time. As the conflict is universal, the ruin likewise will be universal; and as surely as ruin came upon Sodom, Gomorrah, Babylon, Nineveh, and Jerusalem of old, so surely will ruin come upon the whole world when the same condition of things which brought ruin upon those cities exists throughout the world. The conflict can not be settled by human wisdom. Justice, mercy, and good will can not prevail so long as men consider their own interests to the exclusion of the interests of their fellow creatures. In God is the only panacea for our ills. We are standing on the very borders of a volcano, and in a little while from this, it will burst in all its fury. In the days of the French Revolution, only one nation was affected. In the conflict now before us, every nation will be involved. There will be evils world-wide. Trouble, and only trouble, awaits both the rich and the poor who are thus so unwisely arrayed against each other in this fratricidal conflict, — trouble that will culminate in the "time of trouble" spoken of by the prophet Daniel, at the close of which God's people will be delivered. "And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as there never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book." Dan. 12: i. Christ's people will not take part in this conflict, nor rise up against their oppressors; but, like their Master, will com- mit their cause to him that judgeth righteously, and pa- tiently wait for deliverance. 204 Capital and Labor Then Christ will set up that glorious reign in justice and mercy and love proclaimed by the angels to the shepherds at Bethlehem. In that blessed kingdom there will be no syndi- cates nor trusts. There will be both gold and corn there, — the gold of the city of God and the corn of heaven, — but they can not be cornered. See Rev. 21: 18 and Ps. 78: 24. There will be fruit there, — the precious fruit of the tree of life, — and all who desire can obtain it without money and without price. See Rev. 22:2. There will be labor there, but no strikes, because "they shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble," but they "shall long enjoy the work of their hands." Isa. 65:22, 23. What follows the close of this relentless conflict is thus beautifully described by Rev. H. W. Bowman in his work entitled "War Between Capital and Labor:" "The prophetic student climbs up the steeps of revelation, up above the dark war-clouds, and sees beyond earth 's scenes of strife and blood the restitution of all things, which was foretold by God's ancient prophets — the advent of Christ in glory, the over- throw of wickedness, the earth made new, the kingdom of God established, and righteousness, justice, equity, truth, and peace as eternal inhabitants of that bright realm. And with exultant heart he cries out, 'Come, Lord Jesus! and come quickly.'" Reader, do you not long for a better world than this? for a home where the voice of the oppressor will be forever silent; where misery, want, and degradation can not be found; where merciless greed and selfishness can not enter; where men will never be controlled by brutal passions; where the inhabitants will never curse their Ruler, — a land where the red flag of anarchy will never wave, because peace, happiness, and contentment will forever reign throughout all its borders, and all of its inhabitants will be loyal and loving subjects of the Most High? INDEX Abbott, Dr. Lyman, quoted, 83, 128, 129 Accumulation of wealth, 11, 20, 39 Adam mentioned, 14 A'dler, Rabbi, quoted, 132 American Federationist, 24 American Federation of Labor, pre- amble, 9; officers of. 51 ; member- ship, 52 ; restrained from using boycott, 85 ; right to use boycott defended, 85 ; to question candi- dates for Congress, 86 ; attitude on Sunday rest, 88 Anarchy, social conditions produc- tive of, 125-13: Ancient lawgivers and reformers, 116 Appeal to Reason, quoted, 128, 157 Archbishop Ireland cited, ;98, 199 Arena, Boston, quoted, 35, 129 Assassination of rulers, 126 Astor, John Jacob, cited, 107, 119 Averybury, Lord, on conditions in Europe, 141 Babson, Roger W., on strikes, 73 Baldwin Locomotive Works, y(} Balfour cited, 8 Bowman, Rev. H. W., quoted, 10, 16, 126, 204 Boycott, Captain, 80 Boycott, 80 ; origin of word, 80 : an ancient practise, 80 ; used by both capital and labor, 80 ; suffering caused by, 82 ; declared illegal, 83-85 ; President Taft on, 83, 85 ; American Federation of Labor enjoined from using. 85 ; Samuel Gompers's defense of. 85 ; against Sunday trade. 89-93 ; opposed to individuality, 192 Brewer, Justice, quoted, 47 Bribery, 107, 157 Bryan cited, 79, 166 Call, Henry L., quoted, 17, 27, 42 Call. San Francisco, quoted, 143- 146 Call, the New York, quoted, 65, 135 Capital congested during war. 49 ; oppressed labor in Egypt, 195 Capitalist, wan*s of described, 46; unconcerned for laboring class, 58 Cardinal Gibbons visits Pope in in- terests of Knights of Labor, 198 Carnegie quoted, 120 Catholic Church to intervene in labor troubles, 197-201 Causes of distress, 99-110: extrava- gance, 100; automobiles, loi ; intemperance, 102; war prepara- tions, 103 : high rents, 105 ; crop failures, 105 ; heavy interest and taxation, 106; bribery, 107; scar- city of money, to8 ; selfishness, 108 Christ, friend of poor, 20, 118, 121 ; gospel of, 59, 165 ; trust in, 191 ; his people to stand aloof from con- flict, 203 : to set up glorious reign, 204 ; advent of, 204 Churches losing hold on masses, 165 ; leavened with higher criti- cism. 202 Cities, large, plague-spots. 122; storm-centers, 166; favorable to crime, 166-172 City life, 104, no, 122, 166-172 Cleveland, Grover, on wealth-mad rush, 44 Commoner quoted, 79 Coming revolution, 132-152 Coming Nation quoted, 140 Condition in last days, it, 17, 97 Confederacy, unscriptural, 190, 191 Conflict between capital and labor growing, 9, 10, 132; how to end, 10, 202; began ages ago, 195 Consumers, 75, 99, 104 Contentment, 192-194 Cooper, Peter, quoted, 117 Corruption in government, 22, 2:^, 107, 108, 154-158 Covetousness, 186 Coxey, General, organized indtistrial armies, 52, 97 Crassus, 149; fate of. 152 Crime, increase of, 166 Davis, Hon. David, quoted, 107 Day of deliverance near, ig6 Debs, E. v., on outlook, 138, 149 205 206 Capital' and Labor Depew quoted, 27 Distress of nations, 95 ; causes of, 99-101 Dives and Lazarus, 10, 118 Earne, Lord, Irish landlord, 80 Egypt cited, 43 ; boycott in, 89 ; labor troubles in, 195, 196 Eight-hour day, 142, 145 Eliot, Chas. W., cited, 142 Emigrants, dangerous class, 149- 152, 171 Emigration, unrestricted from Eu- rope, 171 End of conflict, 195 English strikes, 68-71 Extravagance of rich, loi, 175-177 Faith in Christ, 191 Falconio, Archbishop, presents let- ter from Pope to President Taft, 200 Farmer feels oppression, 58 French Revolution, 44, 135, 149, 161-165, 171, 172, 203 Gaines, H. N., on capital, 58 Garfield on modern barons, 22 Gary, Judge, cited, 135, 136 Gladstone on accumulation of wealth, 1 1 God, gives power to get wealth, 19 ; his provision for poor, 20, 21 ; trust in, 191, 202; only panacea, 203 Goff, Recorder, on cause of French Revolution, 130 "Gold Foil" quoted, 113 Gold and silver supply, 11, 13, 14; cankered, 17, 18 Gompers, Samuel, quoted 52, 56, 85, 88, 89, 135, 144, 143, 164 Gospel brings freedom, 191. 192 Haggard, Rider, on trusts, 20 Hague, The, court, a factor in set- tlement, 201 Hatch, Senator, on corporations, 107 Headley, on Dives and Lazarus, 10 Henry, Patrick, on judging future, 43 High cost of living, 38, 99, 100 Hill, J. J., On standing army, 140 Hoarded wealth a witness against rich, 18, 120 Holland, H. E., on Socialism, 41 Holland, J. G., quoted, 113 Hotchkiss, S. M., 39, 59, 135 Immigration, danger from, 149-152, 171 Industrial Workers of the World, 56. 72 Ingalls, Senator, quoted, 27, 132, 136 IngersoU on stingy men, 120 Ireland, Rev. W. F., on enforced Sunday rest, 91 Israel a model nation for the world, 113-116 Japan, cause increase crime in, 99 Jones. Prof. A. T., on outcome of conflict, 148, 159 Kelly, industrial army leader, 52, 97 King served of field, 109 Labor day parade, 55 Labor unions, 50-59, 142, 148 Laborers, God's instruction to, 194 Labor troubles, the first, 195 ; in Egypt, a type, 196; temporary ad- justments, 197 ; and Pope, 200 Lafayette on American poor, 40 Land, full of silver and gold, 11; owned by aristocracy, 43, 96, no, 159, 161 ; plan to get poor of cities on, 122; source of all wealth, 109 Landis, Judge, imposed heaviest fine, 31, 32 Last-day conditions, n, 17, 97 Law of God made void, 202 Leaders in coming revolution, 148 Leo XIII and working men. 197 Liberty Bell, motto on, 123 Life in New York City. 168 Lincoln, Abraham, quoted, 47, 49, 147 ; cited. 155 London's unemployed. 96 Los Angeles Herald, quoted. 13 Los Angeles Times Bldg. wrecked, 54 Louis XVI and reforms, 79 Lumber trust. 25 Lycurgus redistributed land, 112 Index 207 Macaulay's prediction, 134, 152 Mansion, why New York capitalist did not build, 173 McKinley, assassination of, 126. 127 McNamaras confessed guilt, 54 McNeill, Geo. E., quoted, 46, 133 Middleton quoted, 156 Mill, John Stuart, quoted, 117 Miller, J. R., on mistake of rich man, 118 Millionaires, 42, 58, 117, 120, 121, 175, 176 Miser described, 19 Misery awaits rich, 173 Mitchell, John, quoted, 141 Money, honestly made, no sin, 19 ; love of, a sin, 19, 186 Morgan, J. Pierpont, cited. 2:^^ 107 Morrison, Frank, on American Fed- eration of Labor, 56 Moses cited, 195, ig6 " Mother Jones " and Wall Street, 98 Mulhall on American wealth, 12 Mutchler, Dr. T. T., received letter from Gompers, 88 Nabal, his treatment of David, 189 Nero cited, 186 New York, number in potter's field, 96; growth of, 106; life in, 168 New York Herald on immigration, 151 . Otis, Gen. H. G., proprietor Los Angeles Times, 54 Outlook alarming, 9 Papacy, attitude toward labor or- V ganizations, 197 Parallels in history, 153; between Rome and the LInited States, 153- 160; between France and the United States, 161-165 Parry, D. M., on capitalists' view of labor, 52, 53 Patten, J. A., on rich getting rid of wealth, 117 Perilous times, 202 Philadelphia strikes, 65, 97 Pingree, Governor, on existing con- ditions, 26 Plutarch cited, 112 Pope to be arbitrator, 198-201 Poor, God's promises to, 20, 21, 192, 193; never to cease, 20, 114; providence in existence, 21, 113 Poverty increasing, 16 Poverty and riches, extremes of, 21 Powderly on strikes, 61, 62 Prescott, Hugh O., on financial panic, 133 Price, Rev. Hugh, on struggle, 132 Producers and consumers, 99, 104 Rayner, Senator, on lust of wealth, 119 Reign of terror, 44, 161, 164, 167, 170 Remedy for existing evils, 1 10-127 Rents high, 96, 105 (Republican government, when only possible, 153 Revolution near, 132, 165 Rich, duty of to poor, 21, 1 13-124, 190; oppress poor, 46, 73, 180; control money, 2y, 43 ; extrava- gance of, loi, 175, 177, 179; fool, 119, 188; own land, 43, 159, 161; sudden uprising against, 152, 178, 182; misery awaits, 173, 184; houses guarded, 173; cast gold and silver away, 182-184; charge to, 188; called' to account, 119, 189 Riches, frequently barrier to salva- tion, 19, 185 ; a trust from God, 113, 119, 185 Rich and poor, 10, 19, 20, 45, 96, no, 132; both classes to be in world, 21, 112, 113, 121 Richardson, Judge, on right to labor, 37 Ridpath quoted, 78, 167 Rine, Geo. W., quoted, 11 Robins, Rev. Bascom, advocates re- ligious boycott, 92 Rockefeller, wealth of, 14; income of, 29 ; on who are richest, 121 Rome cited, 43, 153, 160 Roosevelt, quoted, 8, 42, 55, 57, 61, III, 130, 137, 141, 145, 146, 153; cited, 199 Sargent, Frank P., on danger from immigration, 151 Scripture admonitions, 17, 20, 49, 114-124, 152, 158, 174, 178, 181, 182, 187-194, 196, 202-204 208 Capital and Labor Selfishness, 20, 108, 177, 196, 202 Self-government essential to a re- public, 153, 154 Shepafd, Col. Elliott F., had house watched, 173 Silver, stock of, 14; flood of, 18 Sky-scrapers, 48, 186-189 Sleicher, John A., quoted, 8 Smiles quoted, 17 Social conditions, contrast in, 10 Socialists, teachings of, 41, 100, 162, 163 Sodom, cause of destruction, 180 Spaulding, Bishop, appointed ar- bitrator, 199 Spencer, Herbert, on lack of free- dom in America, 160 Spreckels, Rudolph, on misery await- ing rich, 181 Spurgeon, on contentment, 193 /^ Standard Oil Company, 16, 24, 31 Stead, W. T., on English strike, 70 St. John, Vincent, on Industrial Workers' demand, 57 Strained relationship existing, 9 Strikes, increasing, 9, 62 ; chapter on, 61 ; number of in United States, 61 ; statistics concerning, 63, 74, 75, 76 ; suffering caused by, 65-67, 69-71, 75 ; opposed . to individuality, 192 ; to cease, 204 Strong, Dr. Josiah, quoted, 166, 171 " Students' History of France," quoted, 164 Sudden uprising against rich, 152 Supreme Court, U. S., 23, 31-34; on right to labor, 37; on boycotting, 85 Sweating system, 195 Swing, David, quoted, 19, 193 Taft, President, quoted, 44, 83, 85 Talmage quoted, 10, 125, 134 Taxes, high, 106; rich pay little, 106, 107 Talleyrand cited, 79 Thompson, James P., on Industrial Workers of the World, 56 Tillman, Senator, on coming revo- lution, 136 Time of trouble, 203 "Titanic," loss of, 119, 122 Tocqueville, 40, 170 Treasures heaped up for last days, 17, 174 Treat, C. H., on national wealth, 14 Triumvirate, 148, 149 Trust in God, 191, 202 Trusts defined, 22 ; control legisla- tion, 22 ; Washington on, 23 ; ef- fect of dissolution, 34 ; magnates, 9 Typographical union, 143 Unions, 50; violence of, 53, 54; oath of typographical, 143; ancl State militia, 142; Scriptures on, 190-192 United States, wealth of, 12; strikes in, 63, 74, 76; and Rome, 153; and France, 161 Van Cleave, J. W., on danger ahead, 44 Vanderbilt, W. K., wealth of, 107, 176 Vespasian on when riches well, 117 Violence predicted, 152 Wages, to be content with, 193 Wall Street gamblers in gold, 49 Ward, J. W., on trusts controlling prices, 28 Washington Post quoted, 8, 66, 170 Washington Herald quoted, 34 Washington, Geo., on trusts, 23 Wealth, of United States, 12, 13; per capita, 16: mania for, 17; hoarding of, 17, 19, 202; warning against, 17; a dangerous posses- sion, 19 ; may be a blessing, 19 ; accumulation of, 20 : power to get from God, 19; trusting in, 49; a stumbling-block, 203 Webster, Noah, on equal distribu- tion of property, 39 Webster, Daniel, on evil of wealth in hands of few, 137 "Week-Day Religion" quoted. 118 White, Chief Justice, wrote decision on oil trust, 33 Wiley, Dr. H. W., on high cost of living, 99 Wilshire's Magazine, on employers' organizing, 52 Wilson's " Outlines of History," on French bread famine, 162 DATE DUE GAYLORD MNTED IN U i.l Cornell University Library HD8072.R8 1912 The conflict between capital and labor; a 3 1924 002 403 602 I '1 1 3,