266 LAND AND LABOR. 



A manufacturer of rubber goods : 



( a ) " Moral influences and forces must be left to work out 

 questions relating to the welfare of the employed, rather than 

 legislation affecting the time they shall labor, or price they 

 shall receive." Page 154. 



A textile manufacturer writes : 



(h) "My opinion is, that legislative interference in regard to 

 the hours of labor is unwarranted and uncalled for, and can 



only bring further distress upon the laboring classes, 



and, to my mind, legislative interference will not only increase 

 their burdens, but be a direct blow to their rights and liber- 

 ties." Pages 160-61. 



Such are the arguments that are used by those op- 

 posed to legislation in the matter of labor. One 

 writes that it is a matter to be settled by the self in- 

 terest [selfishness ? ] of "business men," just as if the 

 whole difficulty had not grown to its present magni- 

 tude under the fostering care of this very quality of 

 "self interest." Another says that he can not see 

 how to adjust this matter except by mutual agree- 

 ment ; a thing which has obtained from the first to 

 the present time. One party agreeing to work any 

 number of hours that can be legally demanded, and 

 for any wages that may be offered, to save the family 

 from starvation ; whilst the other party is sure to de- 

 mand the largest number of hours that the law will 

 allow, or nature can endure, and the least compensa- 

 tion that can be imposed for the work done. This is 

 the only kind of mutuality that is as yet discoverable 

 or proposed. 



Another writes that " moral influences and forces 



