Show The Open Forum I A bet bot spare cnn can be letter lathis In la this department nt writer must mast confine to fo 40 O 0 or J b 0 Unless Ibl die gise Ife us their full U name n end and addresses their letters letter will not nol If lit considered No u o manuscript will wilt be returned unless the writer wends rends p postage staJl for Cor or that pur e. e The c herein expressed mn or mj my not DOr reflect the Uie opinion of or The Ibl Herald L OF OT LABOR I OR Editor Herald President Wilson de describes describes de- de scribes iho league of or nations among amon other things as the Magna Charta Chart of ot Labor He means to say that for tor the first time in tho history of ot International International covenants co labor is to bo be recognized recognized recognized as a factor entitled to certain rights and anet to standards of or proper liv 11 In log ing In this statement ho he Is partly part correct A few tew remarks may ma he useful useful use use- ful as to the word labor The President President dent ent Is rather vague ague In this respect lie ITc defines labor as the persons workIng work- work workIng Ing inS b by hand and almost in the same breath ho defines labor as people who work with their brains Tho The text of Q the league of oC nations defines labor as the and contrasts thorn thom with capital Now statistics show that capitalists capitalists cap cap- are a small tim minority in every overy country say ay front from 10 to 20 O per cent of oC a nation Accordingly h are aio all aU people who are arc not capitalists with few exceptions Labor so defined would therefore include about 75 per percent percent cent cut of ot tho the people and includes the farmers who arc are not capitalists In other words Labor so defined means the majority of oC the tho people and as In Ina Ina ina a free Cree country the majority rules orIs or 01 orIs Is supposed to rule rule labor means the tho people the rulers Unfortunately capital rules largely eh In America throe-fourths throe of ot all wealth is In the hands of at possibly less than 10 per cent of or the nation Money Ione talks in business in elections every every- where So It follows that the people Instead of or ruling by majority are ruled by b a minority Geor George e Washington Washington Wash Wash- ington saw this as M one of the tho great dangers for this country countr the tho other danger ho saw law In entangling alliances with wiLh European powers Both dangers aro are really one danger namely the tho omnipotence of ot international capi- capi Wo Yo see from this situation that ItIs it itIs t Is s sinister in a great International document to acknowledge this Jils By trying to arbitrate or r decide between labor and capital the he league undertakes to tell to tho the majority of a nation nallon what whal to do and what it O owes the wealthy minority This Is wrong wron- in principle Tho The ma- ma majority of or a free nation needs no one else Majority rules Majority properly properly prop prop- erly represented is Its arbiter and final Inal Judge This and this alone Is democracy In conclusion a few fow words on the term Magna I gna Charta This term was first lr l used In England when In the tho car year 1213 1115 l the barons forced ling King In John Johno to o grant rant them some privileges lc It was nIB I drawn up b by the aristocrats who represented represented rep rep- resented tho the then En English lIsh nation nallon and mid only a a. C few w crumbs fell to the unhappy I toiling oiling masses masseR In III this struggle gle between the lie mighty lIt ones The Tho Magna Charta Is s a purely feudal document It was waR gluon riven by b king kinE John by the grace of Sort clod God ling King of England land It I Is sinister to speak of ot a t Magna Charta of Labor of or tho the of the he majority of or a a. free freo people granted to o them b by som above e them This some somebody bod is is IR as th things Ings stand nobody els else but capital as us a class This IH Is Isa n a wrong spirit for to u a great real International league It breathes the spirit of oC the tho dark ark tury cen ages ases not nol of or the twentieth cen- cen tur ur DR A A. A BRODBECK |