CAPITAL AND LABOR IN CONFERENCE
Colonel Harris's awakened conscience was considering seriously the
question, "How can I right this wrong done to Ingram?" when the Express
stopped at a station thirty miles out of Harrisville, and into his car
came the son of James Ingram, George Ingram who was now superintendent of
the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co.'s plant. Somebody, perhaps Gertrude, had
telegraphed from Buffalo to the superintendent to tell him on which train
Colonel Harris expected to return.
George Ingram was visibly affected as he took the proffered hand of
Reuben Harris, and inquired about his health and the whereabouts and
welfare of his family. Harris implored young Ingram to tell him all about
the strike, its latest phases, and what the municipal authorities were
doing for the protection of his property. George Ingram gave him a brief
history of the troubles up to the time of his leaving Harrisville. He
told how the manager aided by the company's general counsel, Mr. Webster,
had used every possible argument with the workingmen's committee; that a
statement even had been submitted, showing that very small or practically
no profits had resulted from recent contracts, which were now being
completed by the company. The effort to arrive at a satisfactory
adjustment with the employees was thus far absolutely fruitless. Since
daylight the four thousand men had been parading the streets with music
and clubs, forcing employees of other establishments to quit work, and
threatening to destroy the steel plant.
The color in Colonel Harris's face came and went as he listened, showing
a white heat of indignation. Ingram sat facing his employer, watching the
emotions of a strong man, and not then daring to offer any suggestion,
for he felt strongly in behalf of the employees, who always looked upon
him as their friend.
Colonel Harris was a man of powerful build, wide forehead, overhanging
brows, broad chest and shoulders, short thick neck, and strong arms
developed at the anvil. His superintendent from boyhood had studied him,
but never before had he seen the lion in his employer so aroused.
Arriving at Harrisville the wealthy iron-master, accompanied by his
superintendent, stepped into his own private carriage, and immediately
drove to the general offices of the Harrisville Iron & Steel Co. The
directors of the company were in special session to devise means of
protecting their threatened property and of crushing the strike.
B.C. Wilson, the manager, rose to greet Colonel Harris, who shook hands
with him and the directors, and then the meeting was resumed, Harris
acting as chairman of the board. Colonel Harris soon grasped the
situation, and he approved of all that his directors and manager had
done.
Rising to his feet, in a firm tone, he made a vigorous talk to his board:
"Gentlemen, my views as to the best method of dealing with the important
question before us are known to some of you. Four years ago a similar
trouble perplexed our company, and our failure then to act decisively
resulted in prolonging the discontent among our employees. Their purposes
are as apparent to-day as then, viz., to rule or ruin our gigantic
enterprise. Capital and labor should be the best of friends.
Unfortunately, trusts and labor organizations are alike avaricious and
selfish.
"Centuries ago, in Belgium, weavers dictated terms to capital, and hurled
rich men from balconies to death upon spears below. This unnatural
revolution lasted for a short time only; brains and wealth again acquired
control, and they always will control. To yield to our employees the
privilege of fixing their own wages, and a voice in directing the affairs
of our company is to cloud or mortgage our capital. This is a most
unreasonable demand. Why should they expect us to share with them our
property, title to which the United States has guaranteed?
"If our state, or national government cannot or will not defend us in the
title to our property, on which they yearly levy taxes, then we will
place our interests beneath a flag that can and will give ample
protection. This terrible uncertainty as to titles and values in the
United States will yet wreck the republic."
It was natural that the directors should heartily approve Colonel
Harris's utterances, as he was the owner of five-sixths of the stock of
the company. He then asked Mr. Webster their general counsel, to read
to the board the position which the company proposed to take before the
public.
Mr. Webster was a tall, elderly man, who had served five years on the
supreme bench of his state, an attorney of few words, but well versed in
the laws of his country, especially in corporation laws. Holding a sheet
of paper in his hands he read, "The Harrisville Iron & Steel Company
claims the fundamental right to manage its own business in its own way,
in accordance with and under the protection of the laws of the land."
The board voted its approval of the attorney's position, and also voted
that a petition be drawn and immediately sent to the mayor of the city
asking protection for their property. The board then adjourned.
Colonel Harris, his manager, and Mr. Webster entered a carriage, and
drove rapidly to the mayor's office, while superintendent George Ingram
drove back to the steel works to execute his orders, though he did not
believe in harsh measures. Harris presented the petition to the mayor,
who hastily examined it. Bands of music were now audible on the street,
and a long procession of workingmen, bearing national banners, was seen
marching towards the city hall. Citizens on the streets held their
breath, and policemen feared the outcome.
Colonel Harris rose to go, but the Mayor seized his arm and said,
"No! you and your friends must stay here and meet a committee of your
employees who have an appointment with me at three o'clock.
"Already I have said to the same committee, who called at ten o'clock
this morning, that I should expect them to influence your employees to
keep the peace, to aid in protecting your property, to disperse quietly
and remain in their homes. Colonel Harris, please be seated, you and your
friends must remain."
"Well, Mr. Mayor, since you insist, we will remain, but our company
demands the protection of all our property, and the preservation of peace
and lives in our midst. You are the city's executive officer. The payment
annually by our corporation of thousands in taxes, calls for an
equivalent, therefore we ask that you maintain the dignity of the city
and her laws."
The mayor stepped to the telephone and called Major Strong, the chief of
police. "Send at once a captain and twenty-five policemen in patrol
wagons to the city hall. Hold fifty more men in readiness."
A great throng of people occupied the sidewalks and the windows of
adjoining buildings. Thousands of workmen crowded the pavement from curb
to curb. The vast crowd below, though impressive was not new to Colonel
Harris nor did it alarm him.
Four years before, his employees were out on a strike for several months.
Then the issue was, "Will the company recognize the demands of the
Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers of America?" The reply
of the company was, "No!" The struggle then was severe, but the strike
failed. The present issue was, "Will the company pay an increase of
wages?"
The committee of five of the employees soon entered the mayor's office.
They were much surprised to find that Colonel Harris had returned to the
city; it was believed that he had actually set sail for Europe. The
committee unfortunately was a radical one, and did not represent the
average thoughtful and conservative type of workingmen. Evidently the
committee had been selected for the purpose of intimidating capital, as
their manner did not indicate a conciliatory policy.
Mr. Burns, acting as spokesman, said, "Mr. Mayor, it is 3 o'clock, and we
are back again promptly, as you requested, and you see that our committee
is increased by several thousand workingmen on the street below who have
come to demand bread of a soulless corporation. Mayor Duty, what do you
advise us to do?"
The Mayor was nervous as he replied, "Mr. Burns and members of the
committee, I confess that so many thousands of honest and upturned faces
of workingmen move my heart. If I were able it would give me pleasure
first to ask you all to partake of a good meal, for more satisfactory
business is usually accomplished after people are well fed. You ask my
advice. Here, gentlemen of the committee, is Colonel Harris, your
employer, let him speak to you."
Memories of a wife and three babies at home, dependent for bread upon his
own earnings at the forge, flashing upon the mind of Colonel Harris,
sweetened his spirit and softened his voice, so that he spoke briefly and
kindly to the committee, repeating, however, what his manager had told
the committee at ten o'clock, viz., "that the present bad condition of
the steel market would not permit the company to grant the advance of
wages they asked."
The committee, aware of the large profits of former years, sullenly
retired, and after the company's decision had been communicated to the
anxious thousands below, the employees of the Harrisville Iron & Steel
Co. slowly returned to their homes. The mayor ordered his chief of
police to dispatch immediately in patrol wagons fifty men to the steel
works, to guard the property and keep the peace.
After the committee retired, the mayor said, "Well, Colonel Harris, what
will be the outcome?"
"Mr. Mayor, we cannot foretell anything. You never know what workingmen
in their lodges will do. There, as a rule, the 'Walking delegate' and a
few agitators rule with despotic power. If a workman, whose large family
forces him to take conservative views, dares in his lodge to suggest
peaceful measures, an agitator rises at once in indignation and demands
that traitors to the cause of labor be expelled. This throttles freedom
of action in many labor unions, so that often what appears on the surface
to be the unanimous action of the members of workingmen's leagues, is but
the exercise of despotic power by a few men who have nothing to lose, and
whose salary is paid from the slim purses of honest labor.
"Usually those who talk much and loudly think little and unwisely, and
the opposite to their advice is safest to follow. The greatest need
to-day in most of our labor organizations is wise leadership, and this
will result when the best element in the labor lodges asserts itself.
"The despotism of ill-advised labor is to be dreaded by civilization more
than the reign of intelligent capital. This is especially true in the
United States, where under wise laws, wealth cannot be entailed, and
where most large fortunes soon disappear among the heirs.
"A simple pair of shears illustrates perfectly the relationship that
capital and labor should sustain each to the other. Capital is one blade
of the shears, and labor is the other blade; either blade without the
other is useless, and the two blades are useless unless the rivet is in
place. Confidence is to capital and labor what the rivet is to the two
blades. The desideratum to-day in the business world is full and abiding
confidence between capital and labor." Thus speaking Colonel Harris and
his friends left the mayor and returned to their homes.
* * * * *
After a visit to Niagara Falls, Mr. Searles and his party went on to
Harrisville, where Mrs. Eastlake rejoined some friends and continued her
long journey to the Pacific Coast. Colonel Harris met his daughter and
Mr. Hugh Searles at the station, the latter, under the circumstances,
being the last person he cared to see. The carriage was driven at once to
Reuben Harris's beautiful home that overlooked Harrisville and blue Lake
Erie.
After dinner Colonel Harris explained to Mr. Searles all about the
inopportune strike; also that it was impossible to say when the steel
plant would be started again. Mr. Searles decided next morning that after
a short ride through Harrisville he would continue his journey through
the States to California, and possibly to Australia, where he had another
important interest to attend to in behalf of a London client.
It was further arranged that he would return to London via Harrisville in
about six months, if so desired by Colonel Harris, otherwise he would
complete the journey around the world, returning to England by way of the
Suez Canal.