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Show EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYE. (Written for the Intermouutain Catholic.) The teamsters' strike in Chicago, upon which is foctissed the mental vision of the nation, serves to remind us how painfully ever-present isi the modern labor-problem, with its attendant, intolerable intolera-ble annoyances, its menace to the peace and prosperity pros-perity of the nation and its pernicious influence upon the moral and spiritual status of the people. That, sooner or later, there must come an end to present relations between employer and employe em-ploye is a self-evident proposition. That it may come in the. form of a more reasonable attitude on the part of the one or the other or both by virtue vir-tue of which harmony and peace will once more reign undisturbed in our industrial realms under our present wage system, is a fond hope that seems absolutely irrational. Even when we assume that wage-earners are disposed to demand only a just and fair compensation compensa-tion for their daily toil and that their employers are willing to accord all that is fair and just, we are still confronted by an insuparable obstacle to an acceptable solution of the vexed problem, so fruitful of contention and strife. Who shall who can possibly determine, in a single instance, under un-der our complicated industrial system, just what daily' wage constitutes a fair compensation to the toiler i But. stupendously difficult as is the determination determina-tion of this question, it is palpably evident that upon it depends the restoration of harmony and tranquillity in the relations of the wage-earner with his employer. With the former it is obviously ob-viously not so vitally important whether he is paid three dollars or five dollars per day; what he demands, de-mands, and that with which only he will be satisfied, satis-fied, is that he shall receive a just and full share of the wealth that is produced by means of his labor. Such being the mental attitude of the wage-earners wage-earners of the land, it is evident that they will not cease their airitation for increased compensa tion so long as the employing class, the ''captains of industry,' continue to amass for themselves stupendous stu-pendous fortunes out of enterprises in which the co-operation of an army of laborers is a requisite. It therefore follows deplore the fact as we' may l i at. it is virtually impossible to restore the reign of peace and prosperity under our present industrial indus-trial system. The inauguration of the regime of the public ownership of alK public utilities would, no doubt, have a more decided influence in effecting a satisfactory satis-factory adjustment of the relations between employers em-ployers and employes than would any other proposition propo-sition now before the American people. It is reasonable rea-sonable to presume that the men employed in the operation of the enterprises included in this proposition' prop-osition' would he paid "all that the traffic would bear,'" and their wage-scale would necessarily be-eome be-eome the standard in all similar private indutsries. The remedy for present industrial evils proposed pro-posed by the ultra-socialistic agitators i. e., the abolition of all private ownership would certainlv prove a most decisive one. But the system with which they would supplant that of the. present is so utterly repugnant to the American spirit that I it can never be made to prevail. The spirit of independence in-dependence and individual liberty is so positively inherent in the American character as to render it the dominant impulse in the life of the nation. Xo matter how thoroughly dissatisfied the average citizen citi-zen may be with prevailing conditions, he will not, for a moment, tolerate the idea of a remedial system sys-tem which would necessitate placing the absolute control of his time and talents into the keeping of another; nor is he disposed to place in the keeping of others the arbitrary power of determining his earnings and manner of living. Many .there be who are now disposed to accept the shibboleth of Socialism because they do not realize its true import: im-port: whenever these are brought to a realization of the logical tendency of the socialistic cult, they may be relied upon to promptly desert its standard, preferring the' ills of our present imperfect system to the graver evils inherent in a system so utterly incompatable with our American spirit and institutions. insti-tutions. When we consider, furthermore, the moral evils, such as the abrogation of family relations and the nullification of Christian principles as applied ap-plied to social relations in general, inherent in a system of absolute equality among all men, it is readily apparent that Socialism implies an impossibility. impos-sibility. But. that the great mass of the American public demands, and will irresistably demand, a radical modification of our present industrial system, is unmistakably evident to all thinking men. All that may be demanded within the bounds of reason and the moral law must ultimately, be achieved. This nation is irrevocably committed to the principle of majority-rule. To obstinately oppose the legitimate legiti-mate demands, however radical they may seem, of the great army of American toilers, is irrational and essentially un-American. All such opposition must, eventually, prove utterly futile and be attended at-tended with disastrous consequences to the nation as a whole. As the public ownership and operation of the public utilities of the country is a proposition that certainly promises to accomplish much in the restoration res-toration of better conditions in the field of labor, ! and hence for the promotion of peace and prosper- ! ity in our industrial realms, it should, it would I seem, receive the support of all patriotic citizens. This may, forsooth, be too much to expect from men whose private interests would be unfavorably affected by the inauguration of the system, but these constitute but an insignificant minority in the voting strength of the country, and their opposition would prove of but little force when measured against the overwhelming majority of our population popula-tion that would be more or less directly and materially ma-terially benefitted by the change. It is not unreasonable to anticipate that the reorganized re-organized Democracy, under the leadership of such men as William Jennings Bryan, Governor Folk of Missouri and Mayor Dunne of Chicago, will emphatically em-phatically espouse the cause of this vitally import-ant import-ant economic reform in the next ensuing national campaign; and if it does, it is reasonably to be expected ex-pected that it will rally to its support a sufficient number of the great army of wake-earners and the formidable "middle-class' to achieve a signal victory vic-tory in the next presidential election and this despite de-spite the great popularity of President Roosevelt, At-ho Avill doubtless be the leader, though not the candidate, of the Republican hosts. In ihe meantime, this movement, with all that it implies, should have the effect of rendering the discontented Avage-earners less insistent in pressing j their demands against their employers. Recogniz- ing the fact that demands for increased Avages, enforced en-forced by means of a costly, strike, are productive I of good to them only after the lapse of much time, their common sense should prevail upon them to j rather abide the course of events that shall bo i i brought about by means of the ballot. They should turn a deaf eaV to all Socialistic and other rovolu- tionary agitators, realizing that the only victory I that can guarantee unto them substantial and last-i last-i ing Aveal is one wrought by means of that glorious American institution, the ballot the only Aveapon of which the sovereign citizens of this nation-of-. free-men should make use in the consummation of a great political or industrial reform, j It cannot be amiss, in connection with an inquiry ! into the relations between employers and employes, to advert to the almost ideal conditions that prevailed pre-vailed during medieval ages, as represented by the ! trades-guild system, fostered by Holy Church when her benign influence so efficaciously permeated all human relations. Deprived of the sanctifying min-1 min-1 istrations of the religion of Christ, it is safe to conclude con-clude that no social or industrial system, however perfect, can give to the hearts of mankind that abiding peace which alone constitutes happiness A. C. LAYJM AX. |