TEE STRUGGLE FOR EQUALITY 59 



can bring such pressure to bear as to secure demands far beyond their 

 just deserts, and part of what they are able to extort is at the expense 

 of their less fortunate brethren. • To those who have more is given, 

 while from those who have not is taken away part of even the little that 

 they have. The rules governing apprenticeship sometimes aim at mo- 

 nopoly. The stay-at-home vote is as fatal to competent leadership in 

 the labor world as in politics. The sympathy of the public with labor is 

 sometimes so strong that it condones acts of violence. On occasion the 

 demands of labor are so immoderate as to threaten the goose that lays 

 the golden egg. It is possible that this condition has about been reached 

 in the case of railway labor. The professed object of the militant branch 

 of the Industrial Workers of the World is to take over the capital of the 

 country by destroying the business of the employer. To this end, costly 

 strikes are precipitated, materials and machinery wantonly damaged, the 

 good will of the business wilfully injured, and inefficiency on the part of 

 the workers openly encouraged and practised. The fact that organized 

 labor, in general, is seemingly so indifferent to increasing the efficiency 

 of the workers and so largely contents itself with strengthening their 

 bargaining power is to be regretted. It unwarrantedly interferes at 

 times with proper discipline by the employer. The shallow view that 

 the way to make work and raise the general level of wages is for every 

 man to confine himself to a minimum stint is unfortunately too fre- 

 quently a fundamental article of faith in labor circles. Organized labor 

 less frequently aims at increasing the efficiency of production than 

 organized capital. 



IV 



There are some indications that private property, far from being on 

 its last legs, is taking on new life. At any rate, it is showing symp- 

 toms of great vitality. Man has an incurable desire for property. This 

 is nowhere more conspicuous than among a large portion of the for- 

 eign born. The industry and thrift of the German immigrants are 

 proverbial, and much the same thing is true of the Norwegian, Swedish, 

 Italian and Jewish immigrants. The Poles in the Connecticut Valley 

 work from early dawn till dusk at weeding onions and practise the 

 strictest economy. They are buying farm after farm and are noted for 

 meeting their obligations on the dot. The yearning for one's own is so 

 deep and strong that in many Polish boarding houses each man's meat, 

 potatoes, etc., is purchased for his individual account and cooked in 

 separate vessels for his personal use. If some portions of the population 

 are given to extravagance, other portions carry the practise of thrift to 

 an excess, in many instances going without things necessary to health 

 which they are abundantly able to buy. 



