OUR POSITION ON THE UNION QUESTION.
By Editor
We have received a letter from a man in Colorado, who says he is not a union man, but a “Seventh-day Adventist.” He finds large fault with us, because of our “condemnation of organized labor,” and he thinks we say “very little, if anything at all, against organized capital.” And then he says:— “Where, in all the Holy Scriptures, do you find anything in condemnation of the laboring class? The facts are, my brother, there is no such a thing as the tyranny of organized labor, even tho they should demand all of the profits of the capitalist class. There would be nothing unjust about it; for it must be remembered that labor, and labor alone, produces all wealth. There is no other source of wealth.” Let us say again, as we have said many times before, that we have the greatest sympathy and respect for the laboring man. Of all men he is worthy of pre-eminent respect. The editor of the SIGNS is a laboring man; he has been a laborer since he was old enough to labor. He has worked on a farm from starshine in the dawning to starshine in the gloaming, twelve, fourteen, sixteen hours a day. He has worked in the forest, the factory, the mine, the mill. He has taught school. He has attempted, in a modest way, to preach the Gospel of Christ. He has endeavored, as best he could, to edit Christian papers, and by pen publish the Gospel in both England and America for a score of years. During all this time he has labored, but he never labored as hard behind the plow or scythe, or in the mill or factory, or with the pick and shovel, as he has labored in the ministry or at his desk. Body sweat is not as hard as brain sweat. There is nothing he enjoys any better than to lay aside all intense mental labor and work with his hands in the garden, or at the bench, for a few hours a day, or a few days, if he can get the time. Therefore, he sympathizes with all laborers, physical, mental, and spiritual. He knows that there is a difference in value of labor. He knows that the brain labor of some men oftentimes furnishes physical labor and wages for others, which they would never get but for the brain labor. An author writes a book that the world needs or wants. He was at his desk from one to four hours a day while he was writing it. The mass of the people counted him working only during the time spent in the actual writing. But after all, that is the least part of his labor. He was working hardest when he seemed to be idle. It is so with some of the rich men, who, in long hours of intense study and planning, have evolved mighty schemes, given employment to hundreds of men, and greatly enriched themselves with small profits. For it is often true:— “The heights by great men reached and kept
Were not attained by sudden flight,
But they, while their companions slept,
Were toiling upward in the night.”
So much for the question of labor of itself. The rich man in his palace may be a very much harder worker than the man in his mine, or in his factory. One of the great evils the world has ever been burdened with is the use the rich man has made of his wealth and his talent and genius in producing it. Instead of recognizing it as a gift from God, to be used to His glory for the good of humanity (Deut. 8:11-15), he has taken the glory to himself, and used both power and wealth in the oppression of humanity. That which might have been a great blessing has proved, in many cases, a great curse. Through it directly and indirectly many have been enslaved; and many more, if not enslaved, are laden with heavy burdens and grievous to be borne. Often human nature has rebelled, and endeavored to throw off the yoke. In many instances it has accomplished the task. Christianity, perverted tho it has been, is a mighty power which has been used in lifting the burdens. But they are not all lifted. The oppressed are not yet free. Combined capital would bind still stronger the heavy burdens, and place all the world in bondage. To meet this we have combined labor. Both have the same rights to organize. Labor has the stronger temptation, because for centuries under “the rights of property” laws have favored the rich much more frequently than they have favored the poor. The thing has been placed before the man. The commodity has been counted of more worth than the soul. Man has been counted of worth according to his land, his bonds, his coin, instead of his character. One rich man, in the balances of Cæsar’s court, has outweighed many poor ones. The great giant wage-worker has looked upon the injustice, has bowed under its burden, has felt its iron in his soul, and has rebelled. In these latter days he has organized both wisely and unwisely. He has broken confidence with his employer, sometimes a friend for years, and thrown himself with all his power in the arena against capital. In the struggle, led oftentimes by ambitious, unwise, unbalanced, unscrupulous, sometimes shrewd and crafty, leaders, he has forgotten what is just, what is due the rich man,—often a much greater slave to labor,—and has even overridden the rights of his poorer fellow-laborers, who do not, and sometimes can not, join his union. Men have been forced out of business and ruined by labor unions. Men, again and again, have been deprived of the opportunity of earning a livelihood. Personal friendships of years between employer and employee have been sacrificed and ignored at the behest of the union. Men have not been allowed to employ their own sons because of union dictation. Houses have been burned, and wives and children beggared by union men, who claimed to be friendly to labor. Men have been hunted, and killed in cold blood for daring to assert their manhood and independence. But, despite all this, our correspondent declares, “There is no such a thing as the tyranny of organized labor.” Does he know what the meaning of the word is? Toward the last of his long letter he seems to get out of the fog a little, for he says:— I do not wish it understood that I am in favor of the means employed by organized labor to attain their ends; that is, I am not in favor of using the strike and the boycott against the capitalist class. But shall we suppose he is in favor of the strike and boycott and violence against unorganized laborers, who believe in the right to labor when, where, how, for whom, and for what they will? Yet he tells us that “they [organized labor] should demand all of the profits of the capitalist class, there would be nothing unjust about it; for it must be remembered that labor, and labor alone, produces all wealth.” But does unorganized labor—by far the largest multitude—have no part in this? If it is not unjust for organized labor to demand all the profits, where is there hope for the capitalist or the non-union man? In the eyes of our correspondent, and he echoes the thoughts of unionists, none outside of the ranks of unionism have rights worthy of respect. “All the profits!” Here is an instance in fact. Two brothers, working at the repairing of watches, eking out a bare existence. One said to the other, “Will, we must get out of this ten-cent business and make something.” “All right,” replied the other, “if some one would tell me what to do, I would do it.” Responded the first: “I saw the other day that there was a fortune to a man who would make a successful nut lock.” Will replied at once, “I can do it.” In a short time the drawing was made, and pronounced a success. A few days later a model was forwarded to the Patent Office, and patents were secured. The first offer for the patent was several thousand dollars. We can easily see scores of workmen employed in the future because of this device. Does the profit all belong to them? One of the results of organized labor is the forming of the majority of the people into citizens’ unions and employers’ associations, which will fight the union with its own weapons, and the end is strife, confusion, trouble, and greater poverty and sorer suffering. We are sorry, sorry that our correspondent and other laboring men can not see in the light of all history and the more sure Word of prophecy, that man’s hope, temporally even, does not lie in the strength, the chicanery, the tyranny of men, but in the living God. There is more power to right matters in the Golden Rule to-day, than all the unions and trusts and politics of any sort can furnish. We have no plea to make for overreaching, oppressing wealth. It is selfish and must perish. We would do all in our power to save working men from the same spirit. This life, at the longest, is but a moment. There is a life that parallels the life of God. Better to suffer injustice in this than to lose the other, and in the effort to ruin in this, lose both.