From various sources we learn that there is beginning to be a manifest
interest in all the different States and Congressional districts
regarding the next elections. The representatives of labor seem to begin
to realize the great importance of special attention to all that belongs
to primary organization, and to perceive that heretofore they have been
obliged to throw their strength away or waste it in unprofitable
directions, from the very fact that they did not give the necessary
attention to the first steps in the process of determining who should be
set up for them to choose between. It does not seem possible that any
should be returned to office who entertain opinions antagonistic to the
general interests of labor. Three-fourths of the entire population of
the country are in this interest, and whether they be artisans in
mechanics or nature—whether they be by the anvil or the plow—whether
they be printers or writers—their interests are all the same; it only
requires that they should all understand this to consolidate them into a
power that would control every movement of government. Should this unity
once be found practical, and should it be recognized by capital as
consummated, its representatives would be compelled to come to those,
who now look to them, for the granting of ameliorating conditions. It is
most probable that when such a unity shall be attained both the
capitalist and the laborer will, for the first time, discover that
whatever really militates against the true interests of one, is equally
antagonistic to the best interests of the other.
Some who have thought this might be so, have endeavored to devise
methods by which harmonious action could be secured. Various schemes of
co-operation have been suggested, many of them tried and found faulty
and then discarded, until it has come to be pretty thoroughly understood
that there is no level upon which they can meet and part in mutuality of
interest. It is true that no perfect method can be suggested or
instituted that will from the first give complete results; but the
principle must be sought that governs the relations between the separate
interests and applied, at first, with imperfect results, which must
afterward be improved as the interests grow into a true comprehension of
each other’s character.
The principle is this, that labor and capital are equally interested in
the productions that flow from their joint operations; that is, the
capital that gives employment to one hundred laborers is entitled to an
equal interest with the laborers in what is produced. But here is an
inequality to begin with. The capital may only represent one individual,
while the laborers are one hundred; still, this is the relation, and the
final result of its operation will be a complete equality in this wise:
The one hundred laborers perform their regular duties, receiving
therefor such regular wages as are proper; and also their respective
proportions of the profits of their productions. In, say, five years,
these one hundred laborers will have accumulated a sufficient capital
with which to transact the business on their own account; and here is
where a system of equality is reached, which again would be followed by
another degree of progress for the laborer. The capitalist, finding
himself left out of the count by the operation of this method, would
come forward and offer his capital to labor organizations at a
reasonable rate of interest, and in this way a common interest would be
the only possible result. The entire profits of the labor would then be
divided among the producers, while the capitalist would have to be
satisfied with the moderate interest he would realize, in place of the
extraordinary sums now sometimes acquired from the sweat and muscle of
the laborer. There is one point, however, in the first instance, that
modifies the inequality mentioned in a very material degree. The
capitalist, while enjoying as much profit as all the laborers, is also
liable for all losses, in which the laborer has no interest.
Following the results of the co-operation above mentioned would be
various modifications in society and in the locality of populations.
People engaged in the same pursuits would naturally gravitate to each
other and into distinct localities, while the various interests they
represented would gravitate to those localities that should offer the
most inducement to their respective trades. One of the results of this
would be that all raw material would, in all cases—where all the
requirements were present—be manufactured in the locality of its
production, thereby saving vast amounts of transportation; and this
again would be illustrative of another department of general economy, in
the light of which protection to special manufacturing interests would
be seen in its true colors.
We have thus briefly endeavored to point out the practical results that
would flow from the adoption, generally, of the true principle of
co-operation for the specific purpose of assisting the labor interest in
selecting candidates for their representatives, both State and national.
They should be those who understand these relations, and what would
naturally follow them, and who would at all times, and under all
circumstances, advocate their adoption, and, in the first instance, such
policies as would most materially assist in their development, and lead
to their introduction and practice on the part of all who compose both
interests. Labor is the basis upon which all society rests, and nothing
is entitled to so much consideration at the hands of legislation.
Nothing heretofore has been so grossly neglected, insulted and imposed
upon.