DR. LYMAN ABBOTT contributes in the November Century an article on the labor problem, entitled, "Danger Ahead," in which he says: "I wish I had the ear of the working-men's organizations. I would put these figures before them, and then I would address them in some such terms as the following:—
“Do you not see the fatal defect of all your organizations? You combine only that you may not work. In one summer's telegraphic strike you spent $400,000 for the right to be idle. Why did you not expend it for the right to be independent? Half a million dollars, plus all the telegraphic talent in the United States, with the sympathies of the nation as a reserve, combined to establish postal telegraphy, might have given you success instead of failure. Strike, not for better wages in servitude, but for independence. Organize not to be idle, but to be busy. Combine not against your employers, but that you may employ yourselves. You battle not for the rights of labor, but for the right not to labor; it is a barren, fruitless right not worth fighting for. Victory is as bad as defeat. For combination put co-operation; for few hours and fair wages put independence; for the right to be idle put power to work. Make yourselves capitalists; combine your capital with your industry, and add to it by your credit, and so become your own masters.”—Sel.