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The Commoner.
VOLUME'. 7, NUMBER 37
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advised the Oklahomans to vote against tho
democratic constitution his advice was freely
interpreted as a reminder that tho republican
national administration had tho power to un
make tho constitution.
But thoso influences were of no avail.
Oklahoma and Indian Territory, ambitious for
statehood, wanted to insuro for the new com
monwealth popular govorniriont in its best sense.
To this end they entrusted tho work of making
a constitution to the democratic party and the
democratic party proved itself faithful to the
trust.
Tho fidelity shown by tho democratic con
stitutional convention and tho purpose dis
played by the democratic candidates for office
have been recognized and rewarded by a victory
so complete that it must give encouragement
to all men who participate in politics in the
hope of deriving from government "the greatest
good to the greatest number."
; OOOO
THE SPIRIT OF BROTHERHOOD-
There should be no such thing as a labor
question; that there is such a question is a
reflection upon mankind. As far as history car
ries us back into the past, however, there has
been a labor question and it has too often
seemed to vary in its gravity in proportion to tho
advancement of the country. We "say "seemed"
x because, as a matter of fact, the industrial con
troversies among the advanced nations are due
to tho growing strength and independence of
the wage earners rather than Jo any retrograde
movement. While in the United States the con
dition of the laboring man is not what it ought
to be when compared with the importance of
. tho position which he occupies, while he suffers
from evils which should bo corrected and is
deserving of more consideration than he '"re
ceives at tho hands of the government, still it
is only fair to say that, generally speaking, he
is more intelligent, mpro influential and better
supplied with the necessaries and comforts of
life than he has ever been before.
Compared with the laborer of other coun
tries his superiority is still more marked. It
iB;only a few centuries ago that the wage earner
was1 entirely ignorant of " history, geography,
science and literature. It did not relieve his
condition to know that nearly all of the com
munity shared the disability. While the print
ing press and the public school have brought an
immeasurable advance to the workmen of
Europe and are bringing improvement to the
laboring classes of the Orient, our country Ik
approached by but a few ' of the nations raid
equaled by none in the reward that It offers
to ,the man who earns his bread in the sweat of
his face,
.' The fact that laborers have flocked to the
United States from all the countries of Europe
is sproof that in the old world, as well as in the
r r .United States, the advantages offered here are
. Z'" appreciated. The Chinese, by coming tempor
arily, admit oud (possession of greater industrial
opportunities; but the Europeans, by casting in
their lot with us, give stronger proof. It is one
thing to travel into other lands for commercial
reasons or for the purpose of exploitation, and
quite another thing to make a change of citizen
ship and commit one's self and posterity to the
keeping of another people and government.
Thoso who come to us, therefore, to become citi
zens aim 10 identity themselves with tho destiny
of the nation, pay us the highest possible com
pliment, and the great bulk of those who come
almost all, in fact come to enter -the ranks of
labor .or to settle upon farms. There is addi
tional significance in the fact that no American
born laborer and few naturalized laborers go to
other countries to become permanent residents
Many causes have contributed to the steadv
hpward progress of the labpVer, among which
may be mentioned education, labor-saving ma
chinery, trade organizations, cheapened trans
portation and the growth of the idea of brother-
Education has increased the efficiency of the
laborer and therefore, his earning power; it
has enlarged his capabilities, and, therefore, his
Independence. The man whose mental discipline
iS,,fCltlmt ?au easily ndust ktoself to any
occupation which offers an opening has a great
E? ?ffniag0nM Ver 0Iie '?h0 has notllinS rauscle
to offer, ihose who have dealt with, the Oriental
laborer comment upon his lack of. initiative. He
does what he is told to do and does it as he
is directed; but if anything happens in the ab
sence of the overseer tho laborer is lost, for
he does not know how to meet an emergency or
to devise a new method on the spur of the mo
ment. Education also enables a man to present
with intelligence his claims for proper treat
ment. In any group of men who have a griev
ance to state, the men who can state the griev
ance clearly and forcibly naturally become the
leaders, and so an improvement in the averags
condition of the man follows (Jlosely upon his
intellectual improvement.
Education furnishes the companionship of
books and tends to raise the standard of social
intercourse. No matter how favorable the in
fluences of government or the social environ
ment may be, much depends upon the habits of
the individual; and education, by supplying a
higher form of enjoyment, lessens- the convi
viality that wastes time and money as well as
impairs the strength. Intelligence and morals
are not inseparable companions, but one is apt
to promote the other it would be a reflection
on the dispensations of Providence to doubt
that the proper development of the body, the
mind or the heart would, for any natural rea
son, retard the development of the others. The
thing to be desired is. the harmonious develop
ment of the threefold man, and the performance
of our duty in respect to the care of one part
of our being throw's light upon our duty in re
spect to the care of the other parts.
The labor-saving machine has often been
spoken of as if it were an enemy of the labor
ing man. The error arises from confusing the
temporary with the permanent effect. What
would we think of one who would argue against
the economic advantage of education on the
ground that the child is withdrawn from re
munerative work while it is in school? The
very obvious answer would be that the training
acquired in school would constitute an invest
ment far greater, even measured by dollars and
cents, than the child could possibly make with
the money earned during the school period.
Nearly everybody in our country understands to
day that there is a pecuniary advantage in edu
cation which far surpasses any pecuniary ad?
vantage which could arise from the labor of
children during the years from six tb fourteen.
So universal is this opinion that schools are
provided at public expense and attendance is,
in many places, made compulsory. Some com
munities furnish the text-books at public ex
panse, other communities furnish conveyance to
and from school, and tnere is na doubt that
public sentiment1 would support the proposition
to furnish board and clothing to any whose par
ents were too poor to supply them. In fact, this
is already done in the case of the blind, the
deaf and orphans.
Another illustration may.be cited. While
a child can earn money ,in a factory or in a
mine, and while the parents may, in some cases,
need the earnings of the child for the-support
of the family, still public sentiment supports
measures making it absolutely unlawful for the
children to be employed'1 Tfie anti-child labor
laws all rest upon the theory that the future
advantage of education to the child and to tile
country more than offsets any temporary ad
vantage that could come to the child, the home
or the country from employment that would
deny to the child the opportunity to attend
school.
So with labor-saving machinery. If there
is any suffering or injustice caused by new in
ventions it Is more than counterbalanced by
the gain that nltimately comes to society from
the improved method.
It is possible that society should in some
way assume a part of the burden where the
transition from the old state to the new bears
with especial severity upon a few ' or upon a
class, butmodern society encourages, and will
still continue to, encourage, the cheapening
processes,
, The labor-saving machine ought really to
be the labor-multiplying machine, for the actual
effect of an important invention is to Increase
the total amount of labor employed, rather than
to decrease it. While in a particular case the
post is reduced, the invention itself craates new
demands for labor by enlarging the, field of
human effort.
One of the earliest labor-saving inventions
was the sail. The first man who raised a sail
for the propelling of his canoe doubtless caused
consternation among the oarsmen, for would
not the strong arm of Boreas displace the puny
arm of man? It might seem so to one wjho took
a -short-sighted view of tho subject, but it is
safe to say that more men have found eniploy
J ment on ships than could have made a living
paddling canoes. The sail brought into use a
larger ship than the oar could propel and made
international commerce possible. Steam has
in like manner, supplanted the sailing vessel to
a considerable extent, but only .still further to
augment commerce and knit tho world imre
closely together.
What an interesting study the evolution
of the land vehicle presents! Each change has
displaced some simpler carriage with a nioro
perfect one and the result' is that more people
ride than ever before and more people are em
ployed making the carriages and wagons of va
rious kinds. The electric car has superseded the
mule car, and the interurban line is rapidly
obliterating the boundary line which separates
the city from the country, but the demand for
labor has increased-
The railroad brought quite a loss to those
who freighted across the desert and interfered
to a very considerable extent with the river
steamers, but it multiplied the number of per
sons engaged in transporting merchandise, it
is safe to say that because of the commerce
brought into being by the railroads many times
as many men are engaged in hauling freight
and passengers to and from the depots as would
have been employed in teaming if we had no
railroads, not to speak of the men employed
on the railroads and the men employed in
" wholesale and retail houses that could not ex
ist without the railroads.
'One more illustration. The printing press
was ruinous to the copyists, but what a small
proportion the copyists would, today, bear to the
number employed In typesetting, presswork and
bookbinding, without considering the number
employed in collecting material for newspapers
and books and the number' engaged in distribut
ing them. If we attempt to measure the in
fluence for good exerted by the printing press
or to estimate the condition of the world today
if copying were still done by hand, we can form
some idea of the" advantage of the labor-saving
machine.
Machinery has not only multiplied the de
mand for labor, but it has raised the grade of
labor by calling the mind to the assistance of
the hand. The men who manage the ships
command Jb4gher wages than the oarsman ; the
engineers and conductors draw higher salaries
than the teamsters on the plains and the rates
of a typographical union are better than the
wages of the copyist.
All enlightened governments encourage in
vention today, giving to the originator of an
idea a monopoly for & limited period. While
he thus secures compensation for his service to
society the public at large enjoys the greatest
benefit, for, in a little while, the improved ma
chine is working for all.
OOOO
OUR EXPERT STATISTICIANS
The government statistician, whose duty it
is to give us figures every now and then to
prove that wages are increasing faster than liv
ing expenses, has been at it again. By carefully
averaging things up he has demonstrated beyond
a peradventure that wages have advanced at a
more rapid rate than the cost of living. It was
so easy, too. Having demonstrated to his own
satisfaction that wages have advanced about ten
per cent,he proceeds to show that while meat
prices have advanced some fifteen per cent the
price of nutmegs or maybe It is pepper has
decreased about thirty-five per cent. Now meat
and nutmegsror it may be meat and pepper
are necessaries, and the easiest thing in the
world is td show by their average prices that
the necessaries of life have actually decreased
something like twenty-five per cent. We may
not be exactly accurate in these figures, but the
expert government statistician shows a healthy
decrease in living expense and a healthy increase
in wages. Ihat is to say,' he shows it by the
figures. Every, wage earner and every housewife
in the land knows better, however.
OOOO
' WELCOME, OKLAHOMA
The Commoner extends to Oklahoma hearty
congratulations upon the decisive vote cast in
favor of the constitution and Immediate state
hood, and it also congratulates the state upon
the election of the democratic ticket. The new
state enters the sisterhood of states fully pre
pared for the responsibilities which she assumes.
Her constitution the best in the union was
framed by democrats and her government is
placed in the hands of democrats. She starts
upon her career under favorable conditions.
Now let the president bow to the will of the
people expressed at the polls, and say the word
that makes Oklahoma 41 state. Welcome
Oklahoma 1
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