53 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



There is a feeling that the working class will use its power with less 

 moderation than the capitalist class. It is doubtful whether this feeling 

 is well founded. There is no force in mere numbers unless they act to- 

 gether, and there is little reason to suppose that the working class is any 

 more nearly united than the capitalists in our politics. The demands of 

 working people sometimes appear more brazen than those of capitalists, 

 but this is an element of weakness rather than strength. So long as the 

 political activities of any faction are not insidious, society has little 

 to fear. 



There is a good deal of dissension in the ranks of labor. Dissim- 

 ilarity rather than similarity of interest between trades is the basis of 

 trade-unionism. The downfall of the Knights of Labor is commonly 

 attributed to disregarding this basis. By admitting workmen of differ- 

 ent trades into its local organizations, the seed of dissolution was sown. 

 Many workingmen, such as those in the building trades and the railway 

 trainmen, have more in common with their employers than they have 

 with the great mass of unskilled labor. The railway trainmen are not 

 affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, and the latter is on 

 unfriendly terms with the Industrial Workers of the World. The po- 

 litical or parliamentary socialists in turn differ with the I. W. W. on the 

 important matter of tactics. Moreover, socialism as a political move- 

 ment is divided into the orthodox followers of Marx and the reformists 

 or possibilists, a line of cleavage destined to become much more marked 

 the moment socialism captures the reins of power. 



Men's economic interests are rarely single; in the complexity of modern in- 

 dustrial society their relations are not confined to a single group ; they can not be 

 classified solely from one viewpoint. The strata are many, the cross-sections in- 

 numerable. Geographical division, occupational interest, color and racial differ- 

 ences cut athwart the symmetrical lines of the class-struggle theorist. Not 

 merely do the interests of workmen and employer diverge, so far as the sharing 

 of the product goes, but the German agrarian struggles against the manufacturer, 

 the small shopkeeper against the great department store, the independent manu- 

 facturer against the trust, the white bricklayer or fireman against the negro, the 

 American trade unionist against the immigrant, carpenters' against woodwork- 

 ers' union in jurisdictional disputes. Employers and employed unite in a closed 

 shop, closed-masters' agreement to prey on the consuming public; trade unions 

 back trusts' demands for more room at the tariff trough. 18 



It is only fair to say, however, that certain aspects of the labor move- 

 ment can not but excite the apprehension of the disinterested observer. 

 For one thing, there is serious ground for regret that the different 

 classes of labor are advancing at such unequal rates. On the one hand, 

 there is an aristocracy of organized labor that revels in prosperity. On 

 the other hand, there is much unskilled labor that gets less than a liv- 

 ing wage. There are labor monopolies which by threatening to strike 



18 0. D. Skelton, "Socialism, a Critical Analysis," pp. 112-113. 



