250 The Labor Question 



try districts the surroundings are such that a man 

 can usually work out his own fate by himself to the 

 best advantage. In our cities, or where men con 

 gregate in masses, it is often necessary to work in 

 combination, that is, through associations; and here 

 it is that we can see the great good conferred by 

 labor organizations, by trade-unions. Of course, if 

 managed unwisely, the very power of such a union 

 or organization makes it capable of doing much 

 harm ; but, on the whole, it would be hard to over 

 estimate the good these organizations have done in 

 the past, and still harder to estimate the good they 

 can do in the future if handled with resolution, fore 

 thought, honesty, and sanity. 



It is not possible to lay down a hard-and-fast 

 rule, logically perfect, as to when the State shall in 

 terfere, and when the individual must be left un 

 hampered and unhelped. 



We have exactly the same right to regulate the 

 conditions of life and work in factories and tene 

 ment-houses that we have to regulate fire-escapes and 

 the like in other houses. In certain communities the 

 existence of a thoroughly efficient department of 

 factory inspection is just as essential as the estab 

 lishment of a fire department. How far we shall 

 go in regulating the hours of labor, or the liabilities 

 of employers, is a matter of expediency, and each 

 case must be determined on its own merits, exactly 



