the mine owners refused in any way to treat with them. Their standpoint
was that if they recognized the trades-unions in their deliberations,
they were beginning on a course which they might not know how to stop;
if eight hours were demanded to-day by the trades-unions, seven hours
might be demanded in the same way next year. The employers thought it
high time once for all to break up the dictatorial power of the
trades-unions. President Baer explained that trades-unions are a menace
to all American industry. The strike continued. Now the anthracite
miners produce five million tons every month, which supply all the homes
in the eastern part of the country. A cold winter came on, and the lack
of coal throughout the country brought about a condition which resembled
the misery and sufferings of a time of siege. In many places it was not
even a matter of price, although this was four times what it ordinarily
is, but the supply of coal was actually used up. Schools and churches
had to be closed in many places. And now the public understood at last
perfectly clearly that, if the trades-unions wanted to exert their whole
power, the country would be absolutely helpless under their tyranny.
Nevertheless, the embitterment turned most strongly against the
employers, who still affirmed that there was nothing to arbitrate, but
that the workmen simply must give in.
The workmen then put themselves on the wrong side by threatening with
violence all men who came to take their places in the mines; indeed,
they forced back by barbarous methods the engineers who came to pump out
the water which was collecting in the mines. Troops had to be called,
but at that moment the President took the first steps toward a solution
of the problem by calling representatives of both parties to Washington.
A commission was finally appointed, composed of representatives of both
parties and well-known men who were neutrally inclined, and after
Pierpont Morgan on the side of the capitalists gave the signal to
consent to arbitration, the coal miners went back to work. The
commission met, and some time later in the year 1903 decided about half
of the points under dispute in favour of the miners, the other half
against them. This was by no means the last strike; the building trades
in many parts of the country, and specially in New York, were thoroughly
demoralized during the year 1903, the movement proceeding from the
strikes of 5,000 bridge builders: then too, the textile workers of the
East and miners of the South have been restless. And at the present
time, every day sees some small strike or other inaugurated, and any day
may see some very large strike declared. It was the coal strike,
however, which set the nation thinking and showed up the dangers which
are threatening.
The results of the coal strike had shown the friends of trades-unions
more clearly than ever the strength which lies in unity. They had seen
that results could be achieved by united efforts such as could never
have been gotten by the unorganized working-man. They had seen with
satisfaction that the trades-unions had taken a conservative part by
putting off the great strike as long as possible; and they had seen that
the employers would not have consented for their part to any
arbitration. In the end not only many of the union demands had been
granted, but, more than that, the policy of the trades-unions had been
put in the most favourable light. A whole country had to suffer, human
lives were sacrificed and millions lost, and in the end the
trades-unions won their point; if the mine owners had been willing in
the autumn to do what they had to do in winter, a great deal of injury
would have been spared. But the trades-unions could truthfully say that
they had been true to their policy and had always preferred peace to
war. The majority of votes within the trades-unions was against
thoughtless and unnecessary strife, against declaring a strike until all
other means had been tried. Many people felt that the interests of that
neutral party, the nation at large, were better looked out for by the
more thoughtful union leaders than by such capitalists as were the
Pennsylvania coal magnates.
On the other hand, it was felt that the most calmly planned strikes can
lead to embitterment and violence, and the tyrannical and murderous
suppression of the non-union working-man. And here the American sense of
freedom is touched. Every man has the right to decide freely under what
conditions he shall work; the strike-breaker was regarded as a hero, and
the trusts did their best to convince the world that the interference of
the trades-unions in the movements of non-union workmen is a menace to
American democracy. The unionists admit that it is unlawful power which
they have used, but pretend that they had a moral right; they say that
every working-man has a claim on the factory more than his weekly wage:
for he has contributed to its success; he has in a way a moral share,
which brings him no income, but which ought to assure him of his
position. And now, if during a strike an outside person comes in and
takes his place, it is like being robbed of something which he owns, and
he has the right of asserting his claim with such means as any man would
use on being assaulted.
Capitalists turned against the trades-unions with the greater
consternation, because these latter put not only the independent
working-man, but also the companies, in a powerless position. They
showed that their right to manage their own property was gone, and that
the capitalist was no longer the owner of his own factory the instant he
was not able to treat with the individual working-man, but forced to
subject himself to the representatives of trades-unions. It was easy to
show that while he, as undertaker of the business, had to take all the
risks and be always energetic and industrious, the working-men were
simply showing their greed and laziness by wanting shorter days, and
that they would never be really satisfied. It was affirmed that the best
workman was an unwilling party to the strike, and that he would more
gladly attend to his work than to trades-union politics, and that as a
fact he let his trades-union be run by irresponsible good-for-nothings,
who played the part of demagogues. Every man who had ever saved a cent
and laid it up, ought to be on the side of the capitalist.
But the public took a rather different attitude, and felt that the group
of capitalists had been revealed in a bad light by the strike, and when
their representatives came to instruct the President of the United
States, in a brusque way, on the rights of property, the public began to
revise its traditional ideas. The public came to see that such large
corporations as were here in question were no longer private enterprises
in the ordinary sense of the word; that a steel trust or coal trust
cannot be such an independent factor in the commonwealth as a grocery
shop in a country town. It was felt that the tremendous growth of the
business was the product of national forces, and in part dependent on
public franchises; wherefore, the business itself, although privately
owned, nevertheless had a semi-public character, so that the public
should not be refused the right to interfere in its management. Belief
in state socialism, in state ownership of railroads and mines, made
great progress in those days; and the conviction made still greater
progress that the working-man has a moral right to take an active hand
in managing the business in which he works.
And so public opinion has come round to think that violence on the part
of working-men, and refusal to treat with trades-unions on the part of
employers, are equally to be condemned. The community will hardly again
permit capital and labour to fight out their battles in public and make
the whole nation suffer. It demands that, now that labour is actually
organized in unions, disputes shall be brought up for settlement before
delegates from both sides, and that where these cannot come to a
solution the matter shall be brought before a neutral court of
arbitration which both sides agree to recognize.
Of course these disputes will continue to arise, since the price of
manufactured articles is always changing; the employer will always try
to lower wages in dull times, and the labourers will try to force wages
up during busy times. But it may be expected that the leaders of
trades-unions will be able to consider the whole situation intelligently
and to guide the masses of working-men carefully through their ambitions
and disappointments. Although the employers of labour continue to assert
that, so soon as they are handed over to the mercies of the
trades-unions, the spirit of enterprise will be entirely throttled and
capital will decline to offer itself, because all profit is sacrificed
to the selfish tyranny of the working people, nevertheless, experience
does not show this to be true. Trades-unions are convinced that, in
these days of machinery, too small a part of the profit falls to the
labouring man; but they know perfectly well that they themselves can
prosper only when the industry as a whole is prosperous, and that it
cannot prosper if it is burdened by too high wages. Trades-unions know
also that after all they will be able to gain their point in courts of
arbitration and elsewhere only so long as they have the sympathy of the
public on their side, and that every undue encroachment on the profits
of capital and every discouragement of the spirit of enterprise will
quickly lose them the sympathy of the American nation. If they really
attack American industry, public opinion will go against them. That they
know, and therefore the confidence is justified that, after all, their
demands will never endanger the true interests of capital. Capitalists
know to-day that they will always have trades-unions to deal with, and
that it will be best to adapt themselves to the situation. Many
thoughtful captains of industry admit that the discipline of
trades-unions has had some salutary effect, and that some of their
propositions, such as the sliding wage-scale, have helped on industry.
Thus both parties are about to recognize each other with a considerable
understanding. They instinctively feel that the same condition has
developed itself on both sides; on the one side capital is combined in
trusts, and on the other labour has organized into unions. Trusts
suppress the competition of capital, trades-unions kill the non-union
competitor. The trusts use as weapons high dividends, preferential
rates, and monopoly of raw material; the unions use the weapons of
old-age insurance, free aid during illness, the union label, strikes,
and boycotts. Both sides have strengthened their position by the
consolidation of many interests; just as the steel works are allied with
large banks, railroads, steamship lines, copper mines, and oil
companies, so the leaders of trades-unions take care to spread the
disputes of one industry into other industries.
Moreover, both parties fight alike by means of artificially limiting the
market; and this is, perhaps, the most dangerous factor of all. While
the trusts are continually abandoning factories or temporarily shutting
them down in order to curtail production, so the trades-unions restrict
the offering of labour. Not every man who wants to learn a trade is
admitted to an apprenticeship; the trades-union does not allow young men
to come in while old men who have experience are out of work. The
regulation of the flow of labour into the trades which require training,
and the refusal of union men to work with non-union men, are certainly
the most tyrannical features of the situation; but the trades-unions are
not embarrassed to find high-sounding arguments for their course, just
as the trusts have found for their own similar doings.
Things will continue in this way on both sides, no doubt; and the nation
at large can be content, so far at least as, through this concentration
and strict discipline on both sides, the outcome of the labour question
is considerably simplified. As long as the mass of capitalists is split
up and that of working-men chaotically divided, arbitration is
difficult, and the results are not binding. But when two well-organized
parties oppose each other in a business-like way, with mutual
consideration and respect, the conference will be short, business-like,
and effective.
The next thing necessary is simply an arrangement which shall be so far
as possible automatic for appointing an unprejudiced court of
arbitration in any case when the two parties are not able to agree. In
this matter public opinion has gone energetically to work. In December,
1901, at the instigation of the National Civic League, a conference of
leading representatives of capital and labour was called, and this
appointed a standing commission to pass on disputes between employers
and labourers. All three parties were represented here—capital by the
presidents of the largest trusts, railroads, and banks, trades-unions by
the leaders of their various organizations, and the public by such men
as Grover Cleveland, Charles Francis Adams, Archbishop Ireland,
President Eliot, and others, who enjoy the confidence and esteem of the
whole nation.
It has been objected that the millions of unorganized working-men are
not represented, but in fact these neutral leading men of the nation are
at the same time the representatives of unorganized labour. If these
were in any other way to be represented by delegates, they would have to
organize in order to choose such delegates. But this is just what
unorganized labour does not wish to do. Everything looks as if this
permanent commission would have the confidence of the nation and,
although created unofficially, would contribute a good deal to prevent
the outbreak of real industrial wars. But there can be no doubt that the
nation is ready to go further, and that if the two well-organized
parties, together with the men in whom both sides put their confidence,
are still not able to come to harmonious agreement, nor even to the
appointment of a court of arbitration, then the nation will quite likely
appoint an official and legally authorized board for compulsory
arbitration.
The example of New Zealand is encouraging in this direction, although
the experience of a small country may not be immediately applicable to a
large one. Nevertheless, there is some wish to imitate that example, and
to disregard the outraged feelings of capitalists who predict that
American industry will collapse utterly if the country becomes
socialistic enough to appoint arbitrators with the power to prescribe to
capital what wages it shall pay, and how otherwise it shall carry on
business. The nation has learned a good deal in the last two or three
years.
A peaceable solution of the problem is promised also from another
direction. The dramatic wars have concerned generally very large
companies, which employ thousands of workmen. The whole thing has been
repeated, however, on a more modest scale, where thousands of working
people stood opposed not to large trusts but to hundreds of small
employers, who were not separated from the working-men by any social
cleft. Here the battles have often been more disastrous for the
employers and their helplessness before small unions more patent. Then
it became natural for them to imitate the example of the workmen and to
form organizations to regulate the situation.
The first employers’ union was formed in 1890 by the owners of
newspapers, for whom sudden strikes are of course especially disastrous.
For ten years very few trades followed this example; but in the last few
years trades-unions of employers have been quietly forming in almost all
trades, and here the situation has been much more favourable from the
outset for bringing employer and labourer to a mutual understanding.
While the employers were not organized, an understanding was hard to
arrive at; but now both sides are able to make contracts which must be
in all respects advantageous, and one of the most important clauses has
regularly been that disputes shall be submitted to a court of
arbitration.
Whether this solution will be a source of great satisfaction to the
public seems doubtful, since, as soon as local employers and working-men
close an agreement for offensive and defensive co-operation, the general
public is left in the lurch, and an absolute monopoly is created. When,
for instance, in a large city, all the proprietors in the electric
trades have agreed to employ only union workmen, and all workmen have
agreed to work for only such as belong to the employers’ union, it is
hardly possible for a new employer to step in as competitor and lower
prices, since he would have difficulty in getting workmen. The
consequence is that every house owner in the city who wants an electric
bell must pay such prices as the employers’ and workmen’s unions have
seen fit to agree on. Free competition is killed.
The problem of so-called economic freedom is thus opened up again.
Trades-unions are, of course, the product of free and lawful agreement,
but one of their most important achievements is to pledge themselves to
furnish the employers’ union with a certain number of workmen, which is
sufficient for all needs. In return for this they receive the promise of
the employers to hire only members of the working-men’s union. The
result is, then, that the workman himself becomes a mere pawn, and is
dealt about like a Chinese coolie.
It is clear that these latest movements are able to contribute a great
deal, and already have so contributed, to the reconciliation of capital
and labour and to an appreciation of their common interests. The right
is being more and more conceded to labour unions of controlling certain
matters which relate to the discipline and conditions of work, and more
assurance is given to the working-men of permanent employment, so that
they are able to bring up their families with more confidence and
security. And cases of dispute are more and more looked on as
differences of opinion between partners of equal rank.
A good deal may still be done on both sides; especially the labour
unions must be more strict in their discipline: they must become
responsible for seeing that their members refrain from every sort of
violence during wage wars, and that every violation of law, particularly
with regard to strike-breakers, is avoided. It is true that labour
unions have always preached calmness, but have nevertheless looked on
willingly when individual members or groups of members, in their anger,
have indulged in lawlessness and crime. This must be stopped. It was in
the wish to avoid such responsibility that labour unions have hitherto
struggled against being forced to become legal corporations; they have
not wished to be legally liable for damages committed by their members.
But such legal liability will be absolutely necessary if contracts
between the unions of employers and those of labourers are to become
important. It is perhaps even more necessary for both sides to learn
what apparently American public opinion has forgotten, that a court of
arbitration must really arbitrate judicially and not merely hit on
compromises.
The labour question is still not solved in America; but one must close
one’s eyes to the events of recent years in order to think that it is
unsolvable, or even unlikely to be solved soon. The period of warfare
seems in the East nearly over; both sides have found ways of asserting
themselves without impairing the progress of the nation’s industry. And
the nation knows that its progress will be more rapid in proportion as
both parties maintain their equilibrium and protect industrial life from
the tyranny of monopolies, whether of capital or labour.
PART THREE
INTELLECTUAL LIFE
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
_The Spirit of Self-Perfection_
There are three capital cities in the United States—Washington the
political capital, New York the commercial, and Boston the intellectual
capital. Everything in Washington is so completely subordinated to the
political life that even the outward aspect of the city is markedly
different from that of other American cities; buying and selling
scarcely exist. In spite of its three hundred thousand inhabitants, one
is reminded of Potsdam or Versailles; diplomats, legislators, and
officials set the keynote. Washington is unique in the country, and no
other large city tries to compete with it; unless, indeed, on a very
small scale a few state capitals, like Albany, which are situated away
from the commercial centres. Being unique, Washington remains isolated,
and its influence is confined to the political sphere. As a result,
there is a slight feeling of the unnatural, or even the unreal, about
it; any movements emanating from Washington which are not political,
hardly come to their full fruition. And although the city aspires to do,
and does do, much for art, culture, and especially for science, its
general initiative seems always to be lying under the weight of
officialdom. It will never become the capital of intellect.
In a like way, New York is really informed by but a single impulse—the
struggle for economic greatness. This is the meaning and the moral of
its life. In this respect, New York is not, like Washington, unique.
Chicago makes terrific strides in emulation of New York; and yet, so far
as one now sees, the city of three million dwellers around the mouth of
the Hudson will continue to be the economic centre of the New World. The
wholesale merchants, the banker potentates, and the corporation
attorneys set there the pace, as the senators and diplomats in
Washington, and dominate all the activities of the metropolis. Through
their influence New York has become the centre of luxury and fashion,
and wealth the most powerful factor in its social life. All this cannot
take place, and in such extreme wise, without affecting profoundly the
other factors of culture. The commercial spirit can be detected in
everything that comes from New York. On the surface it looks as if the
metropolis of commerce and luxury might perhaps be usurping for itself a
leading place in other matters. And it is true that the politics of New
York are important, and that her newspapers have influence throughout
the land. But yet a real political centre she will never become; new and
great political impulses do not withstand her commercial atmosphere. New
York is the chief clearinghouse for politics and industry; purely
political ideas it transforms into commercial.
This is still more true of strictly intellectual movements. One must not
be misled by the fact that there is no other city in the land where so
many authors reside, where so many books and magazines are published, or
so many works of art of all kinds are sold; or yet where so many
apostles of reform lift up their voices. That the millions of
inhabitants in New York constitute the greatest theatre for moral and
social reforms, does not prove that the true springs of moral energy lie
there. And the flourishing state of her literary and artistic activities
proceeds, once more, from her economic greatness rather than from any
real productive energy or intellectual fruitfulness. The commercial side
of the intellectual life of America has very naturally centred itself in
New York and there organized; but this outward connection between
intellect and the metropolis of trade has very little to do with real
intellectual initiative. Such association rather weakens than
strengthens the true intellectual life; it subjects art to the influence
of fashion, literature to the demands of commerce, and would make
science bow to the exigencies of practical life; in short, it makes
imminent all the dangers of superficiality. The intellectual life of New
York may be outwardly resplendent, but it pays for this in depth; it
brings into being no movements of profound significance, and therefore
has no standing as a national centre in these respects. As the
intellectual life of the political capital bears the stamp of
officialdom, so is that of the commercial capital marked with the
superficiality characteristic of trade and luxury. Intellectual life
will originate new thoughts and spread them through the country only
when it is earnest, pure, and deep; and informed, above all, with an
ideal.
The capital of the intellectual life is Boston, and just as everything
which comes out of Washington is tinged with politics, or out of New
York with commerce, so are all the activities of Boston marked by an
intellectual striving for ideal excellence. Even its commerce and
politics are imbued with its ideals.