60 ]Visconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 



be acknowledged that tlirougli greater facility for organiza- 

 tion, through, false views which have gained acceptance in 

 the current usage of business and through mistaken legisla- 

 tion in some things, capital has been unduly favored ; it has 

 the advantage and inclines to opj)ress labor. Laborers have 

 some reason to complain and ask for relief. Justice and 

 philanthropy require that every man who fears God and loves 

 his fellow-man should consider the rights involved and lend 

 a helping hand to the weak. But admitting this, it is obvi- 

 ous, from the views we have considered, that any measures 

 which directly increase the antagonism between the parties, 

 any organization which contemplates open war between labor 

 and capital will only aggravate the evil and work damage to 

 both sides. Combinations of employers on the one hand to 

 set the j)rices they will pay — or of laborers on the other to 

 agree upon what they will demand, and, in general, strikes 

 and trades-unions are in this light positively mischievous. The 

 great interests of both are common, and the true relief must 

 come fi'om the better understanding of those common interests. 

 On the other hand, all measures which tend to increase the 

 intelligence and promote the thrift and independence of labor- 

 ers and so inspire them with self-respect and confidence as 

 they come into contact and union with capitalists are helpful. 

 Co-operative associations which gather up the scattered capi- 

 tal of many laborers, to be used in the employment of their 

 own industry, under their own management, may fitly be com- 

 mended and encouraged. If capital has gained an advantage 

 by special legislation, this is to be counter-balanced, not by 

 sjoecial legislation to favor the other side, by attempts to fix 

 the hours and the wages of labor, but by earnest united pro- 

 tests against all special legislation — by insisting on freedom as 

 the fundamental law of productive industry. From the study 

 of principles and the observation of facts within the range of 

 my opportunities I am convinced that prominent among the 

 sources of wrong to labor is the use of an unreal, ever fluctu- 



