The Conservative *
gant profit. If it be , they at once de
mand their share , and the employer
mast , and inevitably does , succumb. It
is thus that wages always tend to a
maximum , and profits to a minimum.
The maintenance of the high standard
of wages now paid in the United States
is absolutely dependent upon our real
izing the advantages which come
through superior organization. We are
today shipping manufactured goods to
countries where the rates of wages aver
age 40 % less than our wage-earners are
receiving. Of our exports of manufac
tured goods 80 % are produced by large
industrial corporations. Articles of
manufacture which we do not produce
through consolidations are being almost
entirely supplied to the neutral markets
by the cheap labor countries Germany ,
Belgium and England. The centraliza
tion of manufacture and consequent
use of special machinery have emanci
pated the slave have raised the Amer
ican workman to the position of over
seer , not of pauper labor , but of its pro
ductive equivalent , machinery. And
he is receiving , and is entitled to , the
wages of superintendence. Note the
continuous substitution , through the
use of larger capital , of mental labor and
manual skill , for pure brute force.
Nothing illustrates this better than the
evolution from the galley , where the
sole power is muscle at the end of the
oar , to the modern steamer. Notice
also the moral difference. The man at
the end of the oar was a slave. The
modern engineer is a freeman of the
highest type.
Labor to bo Uplifted by Evolution , Not
Revolution.
Now , the intelligent labor leaders un
derstand this perfectly. It was my
pleasure to entertain at my home some
of the best known of these. Speaking
of labor conditions , I asked one of them
to define the difference between his or
ganization and that of the professional
agitator. He replied : "We hope to
bring about by evolution what they
claim should be accomplished by revolu
tion. " They said that they welcomed
new machinery , because it did the work
which had heretofore degraded labor.
The wage-earners of the United States
are today enjoying a higher standard of
living and a larger measure of well
being than wage-earners have ever be
fore enjoyed in the history of the world.
They are the real money power. The
railroad managers have rails and rolling
stock ; the miner has mines ; the manu
facturer has bricks , mortar and machin
ery , and most of them have debts , and
many are mortgaged to the banks for
savings ; but the wage earners in the
United States have on deposit in cash
in the savings banks , subject to call ,
two thousand five hundred millions of
dollars.
Thus through cooperation and com
bination every interest is being bene-
fited , but labor most of all. As wage-
earners become more intelligent , as they
become overseers of machinery , they
better understand these conditions.
They have the intelligence to recognize
that their greatest comfort and happi
ness is in furthering the industry of
which they are a part. Today one of
the great advantages that the United
States has over Europe is that its labor
ers are the more intelligent , are the
healthier and happier. The European
wage-earner , instead of welcoming
labor-saving machinery as our work
men in the United States have done ,
has tried persistently to retard its gen
eral use , and the result has been that
while wages have been lower in Europe ,
the American workman has received
more because he has produced more ,
and this is the great reason why , not
withstanding our high wages , we are
so rapidly extending our trade with
foreign markets. The best factory in
evitably gets the most work. There is
a continual struggle for existence be
tween good factories and poor factories ,
and the good factory invariably wins.
Quick Sales and Small Profits.
The law of consolidation of capital
and division of labor holds as good in
the field of distribution as in that of
production. It is inevitable and it is
profitable. The department stores and
the money order stores sell for 10 % in
stead of 80 % profit , and the consumer
thus saves 20 % . The profit thus ob
tained by the distribution of staples , on
the way from the farmer to the con
sumer , is less than one-quarter what it
was thirty years ago. The farmer se
cures a wider market , the consumer gets
his staples just so much more cheaply ,
and the enterprising middleman avails
of improved banking and transporta
tion facilities to do a larger business.
This is why he has adopted as his motto ,
"quick sales and small profits. "
The real benefits of "capitalistic pro
duction , " as compared with production
on a small scale , are twofold. The first
and greatest benefit of industrial com
binations goes to the whole body of the
community as consumers , through re
duction in prices. The next benefit ,
and that most largely distributed , goes ,
as I have shown , to the workers through
increase of wages , and thus it happens
that the workingman gains simultane
ously in two ways. He gets more
money for his work and more goods for
his money. * * *
Nothing is Stationary.
In life nothing is stationary ; contrac
tion or expansion goes on continuously ,
and if you don't expand you contract.
It is so with nations : Spain contracts ;
the United States expands. So it is
with industry. There are periods of
expansion when the mills are running
full , and there are periods of contraction
when the number of unemployed is
large. Confidence is at the foundation
of expanding business activity. The
amount of business transacted on credit
is over two thousand times that trans
acted in exchange for gold or silver. If
there is confidence , the manufacturer
employs many hands , the laborers pur
chase more , the retailer sends more
orders , the jobber orders more from the
manufacturer , the manufacturer to
still further increase his output , em
ploys more hands , and every man who
wants work can find it. This is pros
perity.
Confidence Essential.
Lack of confidence causes contraction
the manufacturer is afraid to make
many goods ; discharges some of his
laborers ; they purchase less ; the jobber
cancels his orders ; the manufacturer
must still further reduce his payroll.
The result is "hard times. "
During the past few months of politi
cal agitation , sufficient uncertainty has
existed to reduce business activity , in
spite of the country being in a most
favorable condition for trade. Nothing
better proves how sensitive confidence
is than this holding up of business be
cause of the remote possibility of legis
lation which may conflict with natural
laws. In 1896 the fact that a national
party advocated the undermining of our
financial , legal and industrial systems ,
created sufficient uneasiness to cause
our bank clearings to decline 12 % in
comparison with the corresponding
months of the previous year. It caused
our interest rates to advance to 25 % per
cent per annum , and threw out of work
a whole army of men and women. You
are all familiar with the change which
took place in 1897 when conditions be
came assured how renewed confidence
set the wheels of prosperity in motion ,
a result which every one familiar with
industrial conditions then predicted ,
just as we now know what will take
place as soon as confidence is again re
stored.
If the mere possibility of unwise and
immature financial and industrial legis
lation caused such a panic as that of
1896 , what a terrible cataclysm would
be occasioned if , instead of the possi
bility we were confronted with the
actuality. The difference would be
that between the storm and the cyclone.
On the other hand , remove all questions
as to the sanity and conservatism in our
laws , as to the stability of our currency ,
as to the continuity of our industrial
development in accordance with natural
laws , and we will have a condition of
prosperity such as no country in the
world has ever known.
SMYTH. SMITH. Thf
general of Ne
braska was born plain Smith but he
knocks out an "I" and sets ina"Y. "
His speeches lack pith for he spells it
His mind needs t-i-1-t-h which
.
p-y-t-h. - - - -
S-m-y-t-h calls t-y-1-t-h. What not , if
not f-y-1-t-h ?
