Signs in the Industrial World by L. L. C.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 20, 1916

Signs in the Industrial World

By L. L. C.

Signs of Christ’s Coming—No. 7

Signs in the Industrial World

SPEAKING of the last days, the apostle James says:—

“Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasures together for the last days. Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you.”

“Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.”

One of the most significant signs of the present time is the struggle between capital and labor, the employer and the employee. The desire of the former is to obtain large dividends on the investment, while the latter wish better pay for their labor.

The “moneyed interests” have organized their forces into great trusts, whose control within legal bounds taxes the ability of the greatest lawyers and statesmen. The difficulty arises in knowing just where property rights end, and

when the rights of the community at large are invaded. One hears much these days of illegal monopoly of trade through various devices, one of the most recent of which is the interlocking directorate.

The workmen have organized their forces into large labor unions. This makes possible great strikes to enforce their demands for better wages or fewer hours. The most casual student of current events has noticed the great increase of strikes in the last few years. Many of these have been marked by deeds of violence. “It was shown by a report of the tenth census, that in 1880 there were 610 strikes. In no year prior to that was any considerable number of strikes reported.”—Nelson’s Encyclopedia, art. “Strikes and Lockouts.” Since 1880 statistics of strikes and lockouts occurring in the United States have been collected by the United States Bureau of Labor. From the table of statistics for the period 1881–1905, we summarize the following to show the increase in the number of strikes:—

Period	Number	Establishments	Employees out of work
1881–1885	2,491	12,443	823,714
1886–1890	6,682	33,358	1,636,927
1891–1895	6,884	33,380	1,824,352
1896–1900	6,736	38,328	1,920,701
1901–1905	13,964	63,898	2,598,130

While the deeds of violence accompanying these strikes were deprecated by most of the strikers even, there are some labor agitators who justify them. Mr. Vincent St. John, of the Industrial Workers of the World, is quoted in the Washington Post, May 22, 1914, as saying:—

“The point with us is to gain our end. It does not matter to us how we gain that end. If violence against human life is necessary, all right; the end justifies the means. If it means the ruin of property, all right; again the end justifies the means. If it means the isolation of a factory, the ruining of raw or finished material inside the factory or outside, all right; again it is a case of the end justifying the means. Do we believe in agreements between the members of the locals of the I. W. W. and the owners of industries?—No, we are against working agreements of any kind, for any length of time. That is where we differ from the trade unions. We are a step farther. It is our belief that the workman loses by making a contract as a member with the owner of a mill, factory, or other plant.”

The author of one book even goes so far as to justify robbery of the rich if it can be effected with advantage to the poor:—

“The all-sufficient warrant for any effective governing power in the social group doing whatever it thinks best, is the welfare of the group. Right is transfigured might. ‘Let him take who hath the power; let him keep who can.’ That is property, is it not? Suppose the many, it will be asked, finding themselves poor, take it into their heads to expropriate the few, what then? Well, why not? If it can be shown that robbery of the rich can be effected, and effected with advantage to the poor, I cannot see for the life of me why it should not be done. It is contrary to morality? But unfortunately, hifalutin abstractions ‘butter no parsnips.’ Besides, I deny it. Morality is coextensive with self-interest. If anybody disputes that, he is wrong. It is rude and dogmatic of me to say so, but is a short answer, and I am not going to discuss the first principles of ethics here. I repeat emphatically, If the poor and the many can see their way to dispossessing the rich and the few, and to reap advantage from the process, then they have a right and a duty to do it.”—Wordsworth Donisthorpe’s “Individualism,” pp. 257, 258. Quoted in Nelson Somerville Rulison’s “A Study of Conscience,” pp. 21, 22. George W. Jacobs & Co., Philadelphia, 1901.

“It is not our purpose,” as another remarks, “to attempt to pass upon the merits of the controversy between the employers and employees, between capital and labor, but simply to emphasize the fact that there is between them an irrepressible conflict; and that it is, according to the Scriptures, a most significant sign of the times.” L. L. C.