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Show BISHOP SPALDING ON THE LABOR PROBLEM Mercenary Spirit. Mast Be Got Rid Of Before Solution Can Be Effected Socialism Social-ism No Remedy. In the presence of a va-! audience at the Valentine Valen-tine theatre. Toledo. Ohio, pveiitl- Kr. Kev. John Lancaster Spalding, bishop of Peoria. III., delivered a teo-i inf.e'-e-ting address on the labor jo-oblem. Mayor Jono- introduced the speak, r. and 011 the platform were Mishop II.ii-strii.inii. many prominent priests and representative- of labor union-. Mi.-hop Spalding. wh wa- enthu-ia.-ticaiiy received, said: "It. is a natural iinpuFe lo sympathize with men rather titan with money. Human life is the bihe-i visible form of life. Nowhere i- this syuio.it by ' more apparent than in America. Good will is the most striking American trait. Americans I mean men who live here and love tlii- country and , - try to aid in its upbuiliiin-. This feeling has led us to invite hither to make their homes all the people- of the earth .and especially those who are poor and oppressed, that they nm. find an opportunity. "Y have had the greatest sui-o, of any nation. W'e have taken first place in commerce and industry. We have an invincible people. No combination of powers would dream f attacking us. We are morn universally intelligent than any other people, and this is due nor alone to our school-, but to our lifo and our free institutions, our libcrly and our feeling of responsibility that it arouses to make a man more ! ruly man. "Whatever we 'nave undertaken we have brought to a successful issue. By a taint in our constitution we were brought to the discord of a civil war. Through infinite sacrifice and patient courage we i came forth from the trial, north and south welded together in more real unity than ever before. "Since that great victory' a new question had forced itself on the American people. We had been largely agricultural. There were no syndicates; no large combinations of wealth; we did not compete in the markets of. the world. Since then we have developed in industries, commerce and wealth in a way that has astonished the world and ourselves. ,'Tut then has grown up a feeling of distress. There is a cry of hundred.- of thousands paying: 'Why do multitudes work for the benefit, of a f ow f It. is a living question arising from our intelligence and our emotional nature. We should discus.- it with all dispatch, calmly, without hate, with kindness kind-ness uppermost. "It is largely due to the mercantile spirit which dominates all nations. There is a reason for antagonism antag-onism among classes. We should not have classes. I doubt whether we have classes in America. J "The world was made for the workers. There j must, be men who work with hearts and minds and j , consciences as well as those who work with their ' hands, if we sro to be a civilized people. These workers are not enemies of one another. The men who ha'-o position and wealth are at, one with th toilers who have strength and courage and patience. Neither the wealthy nor the laborers feel that thing are right, but the great majority know that hate and unkindness will not better things. "We are a 'practical people, and thi- practical bent, based on common sense, will enable us to settle set-tle this question. The earth was not formed by cat- . aclysms. A sudden revolution would not cure, but : intensify, the evil. Wc are rightly dissatisfied with conditions that make men work to a degree incompatible incom-patible with the development of the higher life. We see thousands doing work that, degrades and prevents pre-vents all improvement, and we say that this cannot last. We have been carried away by the mercantile spirit. SOCIALISM OUT OF THE QUESTION. "We must settle this question in c-bedier.ee to ihe fundamental laws of our nature. look upon socialism as out of the question. Those who want a swift settlement are fascinated by socialism. "All the suffering of thousands of years has been ; for liberty and truth, for the opportunity of the individual in-dividual to grow and to be more a man, to advance the family, the woman, the child, science, art and religion. These things are the. treasures of humanity, human-ity, nor a sordid plenty. Vet that sordid plenty is the idea of socialism. "Socialism in it- origin was atheistic and materialistic, ma-terialistic, an enemy of the family and the church. However it may change, the original taint will remain re-main always to vitiate it. 'Socialism is an impractical scheme. It has failed in small communistic societies. It has militated mili-tated against Ihe family. All of our support as a civilized people comes from the home, and except from the home the higher life cannot arise. In Lu- , rope there may.be some excuse for sociali-m; there is none here. "Americans do not want to live where V j a man cauyot own his own home, cannot hold prop- f erty of his owu. The thirst to be somebody, not one ; . in a herd, is in our blood. ' "Without capital we cannot organize great industries in-dustries or develop a country so va.-t as ours. Kick ; ! men and cities are necessities. Cities of about 100,- i I 000 would b- ideal. Great cities are an evil, but an j If inevitable one. It is in the great centers that the j I labor problem becomes acute. i ' "Labor and capital are allies. The laborer needs the employer and the employer needs the laborer. They should work in unison. Organized labor i necessary ju-t as organized capital is necessary.- The vast improvement from starvation wages in Knglaml. from unsanitary conditions, from the f labor of women and children, is due 10 the labor j union. Thev have educated men by bringing them together and making them think. 1 beheve it there were no unions today men should be forced back to j starvation and degradation. "Competition has failed in many ways. Organized Organ-ized capital results in trusts and trusts have no : souls, or devils' souls. They destroy oompeut-on bv crushing the weak. That same competition would lower the wage. Laborers put their labor together to-gether that they may get a fair price in the market. ; "The strike is the one great weapon ot labor. Without it there is no means of redress. But it is the most dangerous of weapons, -ior it cuts both wuvs. It hurts the laborer more than the capitalist, . I for lie i Joss prepared for it. Tho strike demoral- T" izop lho laborer. Jdlo, discoursed, bitter, brooding, , ! Jio easily lx-oouies th-? victim of drink. 3IU wife and i children suifcr. A STRIKE IS REAL WARFARE. ! "A great strike involves a loss of millions, de: C grades thousmds. breaks up homes and loads to in tiniidation and violence. Jn Pemit-ylvania we listened lis-tened io over G(M witnesses. There was a great deal v cf violence. Towns were in a ftate of terror. "What van the strikers do but put out pickets, and that l't leads to intimidation. I .a "The right of labor is fundamental. Mitchell u fid Guiner and other great labor leaders admit tljat intimidation beyond persuasion is wrong. Yet ' has a professional strike breaker the right to come j. and work fcimply to destroy ihe hoie honest men il have of getting fair wages I The men are forced H t' strike. Then comes an army of tramps from JVew York or Philfldelphia and the militia and the troops protect ihem 1 hat honest labor may be de-' de-' feated. This is a great evil. (: "Wo cannot settle this question unless we bring 1, social feeling and good will to it. God is the Father ii of us all. We are one family. This has been " wrought into us. Jt is not the law of nature, which ' J: j the survival of the n'ttest. Strong nations crush 1 ;t weaker ones and we Americans have been doing the I same thing. It is only through education that wo J'. learn we have one Father to whom we are all re- li ' sponsible, lie alone is a real man who is of help to t;a ,viu,. I ji ' 1 a "If we are to arrive at a means of settling the I 1 labor difficulty there must be brought about a feel- 1 ii'g. not of hate, but of good will, fraternal feeling. I "Why should not the captain of an industry feel v jn his employes the same pride that a captain of sol- I u liers does in Ids men? Why should the employes I ' not trust and love their captain as the soldiers do I h tb.f-ir leader? I "The great trouble in mines is with the foremen. ! Ji lien the men come to complain the foreman sends I !, ihem away or lies to them. The men feel there is i " J'O justice and no redress. I have never seen it fail !S tbat. if you listen to the men and be interested they will away satisfied. 1 ''After five months' investigation of the mining I trouble I brought away a more profound respect. for men. They are often the victims of misunderstanding, misunder-standing, but there is in every one the element of good. Take hold of men from the side of their vir- ji uh. not of i heir vices. Take a man as he ought to s bo and he will say, 'lie trusts me and I will not be- v tray him.' . " THE PURPOSE OF LABOR UNIONS !; " J he union makes nossible an understanding 1 f between capital and labor. Trade agreements are ' made !etween them and that works pretty well. If I tbe unions violate these they lose the confidence of I , the public and disintegrate. I "The unions are not always wise. The wisest I nu n are sometimes foolish. How, then, can we ex- I ! Pf,et uneducated men always t do the right and 1 l wise thing? Tliere have been very foolish strikes in ' Xew York and Chicago. Business was stopped and I i 1 'bo burial of the dead interfered with. These men I ' J. make themselves ridiculous and hurt union labor. . 1 think the socialists stir up these troubles. They j look upon the union man as half-witted, and go 1 into unions to use them. They want an overturning. "Labor leaders with whom I have talked all de- t iiounee the sympathetic strike. Xot r0 per cent of i -the strikes succeed, and then only at a great cost. A strike is not a frivolous thing, and frivolous men 'c should not be allowed to lead men who are working f for wife and children. i "The union is bringing the shorter day. The shorter 1 he working day at the same wages the bet- tf ; t'r. It does not lead to the saloon. (Jompers says $ : tbat such is not the result.' The men give more time j and thought to their homo. If they work till tired i -out they go to the saloon for invig.ration.. j "What -is the solution of the labor problem? Get rid of the mercenary spirit. A man may have , ; millions and may be a thief or a miserable wretch. The best people I have ever known have been, first, women, the wives of workingmen: then laborers; iore than any other they have revealed God to me. "It is evil and foolish talk of employers and souk; . newspapers in denouncing labor and of kbor in de- Inoui icing employers. Employers have their hard times. Almost per cent of enterprises fail. Failure Fail-ure is often staring them in the face. "Money is a great good, it gives independence. I "Hut. intelligence, a loving heart, a pure conscience, I virtue, arc better. 1 "1 do not think compulsory arbitration would be of much ue. Men driven to arbitrate would be I . M'lbhorn over Hie result. The army of the United j Stales could not have driven the miners back to I work. it "1 believe in compulsory investigation. Neither employer nor union want all their affairs ihrown open to ihe public. They would be eonciliatorv rath- j t than lhat. "I I'ouask: 'If labor and capital agree, what be- ! comes of the public r' That will take care of itself. ! There is a natural law" that regulates prices. j POLITICAL CORRUPTION A MENACE. ".Much of our trouble is due to political corrup-. corrup-. J'oii. One of the greatest troubles comdsts in the I buynig up of congresses, legislatures and councils ' for certain interests, turning our officials into graft-' 1 ers and making our police force the allies of erim- r , . . ri-. unu jose neart. J nev J 1biiik tnere is no Jitvtice and fair play. " ' I ".v d '(A1 vf,e for honest men, and refuse I 1o I,ilve anything- to do with corrupt men, and cor- nipt men are always knowm let us get rid of the iuliuujistrative lie. ihe damnable curse of our cities, I i ie law that is passed wlien everyone knows that it I vi II not be enforced. I "lvre is a,"" is never enforced. I; '.here is the law that separates the saloon and ' ;,;m:? liiill the gateway of the brothel. Their ! I Waekmail by the police is hellih, the devils work. I e are nut in eollnsion with prostitutes, gamblers I snd all criminals. 1 lh,t M-v m w en abolish the saloons in rnr, vlUrv-- ,,ut w can make a fair, reasonable law I ana enforce i(. I "l do n,,t tbat .we can blot out -.the social evil, bw ,we ,'fln pwveut our streets from being made I market places of the infamous traffic. I "Tlie unions et,n do much bv moralizing their ow n people. " q can reform conditions that grow out of-political conditions that proceed from greed. The great work must be done in cities. "I nfortunately the machine is omninotent and its work jsseen in the ruin of homes and the degradation deg-radation of officials. Xothing seems to astonish ns or 11 us with holy wrath. It is on the poor that the burden falls. They have not at home all the attractions of the rich and they are forced out more. Ave teach mr children in school to be smart, and we do not educate their consciences. In our pulpits y.e preach trivialities and are afraid to speak out Jest some rich man be offended. (! "If we allow our oiliest o become centers of baw-j lessucss and vice how are we going 1o sav that democracy de-mocracy has triumphed ? Wo might have Vour hun- I dred millions of population, but if we lose intelligence intelli-gence and virtue, liberty and justice, the sacredness of home, in the name of God, how shall we save the I nation? I "The people must bestir themselves by the school I iXl3 the ohurch and the labor union and every insti- f tutl0n that comes close to the people. Remember Jliat !t is better to live soberly, justly, honestlv, I kindly, than to have all the millions of the capital- I its." I : 4 ; : i I M ,the Yld's 8tat?e, but many of the actors re only understudies. " I ' |
