Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 11.djvu/629

Rh violence, to maintain high prices upon their wares. No more have working-men this right when selling their labor. When they find it necessary to employ each other, they are just as exacting as the capitalists in demanding well-done work at low rates.

The capitalist will gladly welcome all unemployed laborers when the prices of his goods can be regulated by the demand for them, instead of, as now, by the high wages he is compelled to pay his men and high prices for his raw materials. He will have no fear of overstocking the markets of a world where men's wants are so numerous and insatiable. But it will not do to let him toy with men's wages at every whim he has. Men must seek for the highest remuneration without combination, compulsion, or restriction. Business-men must seek the highest prices in the same way. Excessive selfishness on the part of employé, as well as employer, lies at the root of the matter. When this is toned down, and each works for the other's interest, things will go better with both. Till then we may expect to see misery, and hear the wail of want from many quarters. Relieve this by giving the laborer something to do, however trifling, and not by alms. Ask the state to do nothing, or you will impose extra burdens upon the worthy, and sink them to pauperage. Teach working-men to live more economically, and practise self-restraint. Advise them to compete with each other in doing the most and best work they possibly can for their employer while in his employ. Teach them that they bring down their own wages, and that this is not their employer's doings. Show them that, if the wages descend slowly and steadily, it will avoid a crash of business, and, making goods correspondingly cheap, do them good rather than harm in the end. Train them into that true spirit of freedom and faith that will enable them to allow fellow-workmen, who are in need, to sell their labor for what they choose. Teach the employers to work for the interests of their men. Teach them to be less avaricious in demanding high profits for themselves. Teach them to give the working-men the highest wages the market will allow. Teach them to be honest and truthful with each other, and the public. Teach each class these points, and the highest substantial advantages to the working-class will soon be realized as a living fact. The present and past troubles are the legitimate fruits of our social immorality. The poor are not the only sufferers. Things, as they now exist, are about the best possible to our present stage of development. With improvement of men's natures will come a corresponding improvement of society. All that we can do is to search after the laws governing such matters, and remove obstructions from the way. With this done, leave all else to the vis medicatrix naturæ.