Part 1

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The Negro Laborer:

A WORD TO HIM

--BY--

WILLIAM H. COUNCILL.

PREFACE.

Many friends have invited me to deliver addresses at various points upon the LABOUR QUESTION. Being unable to attend all the appointments, I have concluded to reach them through the following pages. The LABOUR QUESTION is one of vast importance to all good citizens, and continues to increase in magnitude with the growth of population.

I claim no superior foresight or wisdom, and ask only a careful reading and that appreciation which the following remarks merit.

W. H. COUNCILL.

HUNTSVILLE, ALA., December, 1887.

R F Dickson, Job Printer. Huntsville, Ala

I. THE LABORER.

1. In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread.--GEN. III-19.

2. Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth and subdue it.--GEN I-28.

3. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.--GEN. XI-7.

Nothing in the Holy Scriptures is more prominently set forth and persistently impressed than the duty of man to labor. In the quotations above made, it is clearly seen,

1. That labor is ordained by God, and therefore dignified. There is nothing dishonorable about labor. The man who is ashamed to put his hand to any kind of work which will bring a support to his family, has the wrong idea of labor, and will soon or late come to poverty or the prison. None are exempt. All are commanded to work, and the idler is an enemy to the state, a burden upon society, and a dishonor to his God.

2. That the labor of man is to be methodical--with an object in view, viz: building up the earth for pleasant abode of man, increasing both animal and vegetable life, and reducing wild nature--animal, aerial, mineral and plant life--to useful and comfortable forms for the children of men. This is a grand work! He is to be a constant builder! No where is he told to be destructive and cruel. But he must be fruitful, and multiply, replenish and subdue the things on and in the earth. The great God never gives a command _to do_ without conferring the ability to do. The command is to every man, from the lowest to the highest--not to lawyers, doctors, philosophers and great men only, but to all men, and God has given every man the power of performing his part in this great work of multiplying, replenishing, subduing and making the earth more fruitful. And that great, wise and good God will hold each of you as much responsible for the exercise of your physical powers, your working powers, as for the exercise of your intellectual and moral capacities in the replenishing and subduing the earth. How many will make up your minds that you will go forth in the strength of heaven and endeavor to do your full duty in the great and grand work which God has given to man?

3. That misdirected energy and inordinate ambition are displeasing to God, and will surely be punished by Him in His own time and way. The people who set about building the tower of Babel had been told by God to be fruitful, multiply, replenish and subdue the earth, and He gave them the power to do it. But they misapplied that power, and let their unholy ambition lead them in the wrong way. Hence God came down from heaven and scattered them abroad, thus setting his everlasting law against such folly: for bad ambition and power misspent are the same thing as destroying property, and God abominates such. Then it is our duty to see that our abilities are not only employed, but usefully employed, not only to our advantage, but not to the detriment or hurt of any other person. It is cruel and wicked to seek riches, or fame, or honor by destroying the property or the reputation of another person.

Having advanced these preliminary ideas, I shall now proceed to say some things further in regard to the Labor Question.

II. What is Labor.

Let us define Labor, that we may have a clear conception of the import of the word, which is so often used and so little understood. It means

1. Muscular effort directed to some useful end, as agriculture, manufactures, mining, &c., &c.

2. Intellectual exertion, mental effort, aimed to develop and elevate the human race in mind, morals and religion.

You will observe that there are two general classes of laborers, viz: Manual laborers, or those who eat bread in the sweat of their faces, from hand toil, as the merchant, clerk, carpenter, farmer, cook, washerwoman, chambermaid, etc.; and the professional laborers, or those who eat bread in the sweat of their faces mostly by the exertion of the brain, as the school teacher, minister, physician, lawyer.

These two classes will serve for our present purpose. Of the good citizens in this country, all must belong to one or both of these classes of laborers, or be put down among the idlers who are condemned by God and man as worthless beings. I will remark here that it is a part of the duty of every good citizen to persuade his neighbor to engage in some useful employment, or see that he is punished as our vagrant laws provide.

III. The Proportion of the Two Classes.

The United States census of 1880 gives 265 occupations, engaged in by 17,392,099 persons 10 years of age and upward. Of the 265 occupations there are only six which I consider purely professional, to-wit:

Lawyers 64,137 Clergymen 64,698 Journalists 12,308 Physicians and Surgeons 85,671 Authors, Lecturers and Literary Persons 1,131 Teachers and scientific men 227,710 -------- 455,655

This is about 2½ per cent. of the persons employed in the various occupations; or to put it more plainly, about 5 in every 200. The per cent. of persons of the colored race who are engaged in the professions is five times smaller. It is about ½ of one per cent. or one person in every 200. It will be seen from these figures that at least 97½ per cent. of all races are engaged in personal service and manual labor. The old expression "There is Room at the Top" has misled many a youth, and consequently many a man has found his way to the poor house or the felon's cell. Public speakers and lecturers have done much to give a wrong impression of the meaning of this famous sentence uttered by Mr. Webster. They hold certain positions, or occupations, as being at the top. Such an erroneous idea never entered the head of that great statesman. He simply meant that whatever you engaged in strive to reach perfection in that. The blacksmith may climb to the top in his occupation, the washerwoman may reach the top of her art, for washing is an art as much so as music or mathematics, and so with the carpenter, the mason, the hod carrier and the common laborer. Each may obtain such a degree of skill as will render his services indispensable to his employer. Did you ever think that there is art in the use of the pick, and that it may be cultivated with high satisfaction to the employer and employe?

This leads me to remark upon

IV. The Morals of Labor.

You often hear lawyers and doctors speak about the ethics of their professions. This means nothing more than those rules which should govern the lawyers and doctors in their relation to each other and to their clients and patients. Now, every occupation has its ethics. The workmen are bound by moral obligations to have regard for the interests of one another; i. e. they are morally bound to give one another equal chance in the great race for bread. Then they must observe all the rules for the government of their relations to the employer. This is very important, as the good of society depends entirely upon the faithful observance of the laws of reciprocity. The Great Teacher has laid down one infallible rule which is ample for all the transactions of life, viz: "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." I would like for you to regard this divine injunction as your constitution, and then adopt the following by-laws:

1. Decide what you are going to follow for a living.

2. Select an occupation in keeping with your abilities and capabilities.

3. Thoroughly qualify yourself for that calling.

4. Always have a plain understanding with your employer as to wages and hours of work.

5. Carry out your part of the contract "though the heavens fall."

6. Be at the place at the time appointed, do faithfully your work in a good spirit, not grumblingly, and then your employer will meet you in a like spirit, and your life will be one of happiness.

7. Consider that for the time being you are the property of your employer, and faithfully obey his instructions and requests.

8. It is better--more honest--to give him an hour or two of labor than to cheat him by idling or work poorly performed.

9. Avoid intoxicants, especially while you are at work, for as your time belongs to your employer, you should strive to render faithful, intelligent service, which can not be done under the influence of liquor. Besides, you endanger your own life and the safety of the property you are paid to protect.

10. Be frank, and never under any circumstances deceive your employer. If you have done wrong, or made a mistake, own it like a man. He will respect you more for it.

11. Treat your employer's property as you would your own; and if you are a careless man, treat it better.

12. Be polite and gentle to your fellow workmen and your employer, as coarse jests and ill temper are out of place even on the rock pile, as well as in the parlor. Remember the street scavenger can be a Chesterfield as well as the gentleman of fashion who graces the richest drawing room.

"True politeness is to do and say The noblest things in the kindest way."

I shall next consider

V. Labor, Capital and Wealth.

1. Labor has been defined.

2. Capital is that which is employed to produce wealth.

3. Wealth is accumulated capital at rest.

Society can no more be in a healthful state without the harmonious working of these three elements, governed by ethics, than the human body could without the united action of heart, arteries and veins influenced by the lungs. Let me go a step further and say that labor is capital, or labor and capital are one. Labor is power. That power produces wealth. That wealth in action is called capital, and thus the work of labor, capital and wealth goes on subduing the earth. Every individual with all the powers and capacities of his constitution sound, is a capitalist to the extent of the exercise of those powers. That which such exercise produces and he accumulates is wealth, and if he wish to employ it to produce other wealth, it becomes capital.

The peanut vendor is a capitalist to the extent of his investment in earth nuts, roaster, pans, baskets, etc. The little girl who peddles laces, or newspapers, or pins around the streets, is as much a capitalist to the extent of her investment as Mr. Vanderbilt or Mr. Gould. Mr. Gould and Mr. Vanderbilt have simply by the exercise of more economy, sagacity and energy accumulated more wealth than she. But the peanut vendor may become a greater capitalist as he accumulates more wealth and employs it. It is folly to point the finger of prejudice and envy at the very rich people and cry: "These men oppress us; these capitalists are sharks; these wealthy people have our earnings." It is not only folly, but it is unjust. I see many of you with watches and chains, rings on your fingers, and pins on your breasts. These articles are wealth. They represent so much capital--labor or money--at rest. The man who owns the watch worth $8 and the one with the $100 watch, are men of wealth to the valuation of those useful articles. The poor laborer, who, by industry and frugality, after the exercise of his capital--his muscle--accumulates enough to buy an acre of land and erect a small cottage for his faithful wife and little ones, was in turn a laborer, capitalist, and is now a man of wealth to the value of that happy little home, where peace and virtue reign and upon which the blessings of God rest. Mr. Vanderbilt is a man of greater wealth than this man, but it is because he operated a larger capital. Some times a spirit of envy creeps in between these two capitalists and then both suffer--each in proportion to his wealth. This brings me to consider

VI. Agrarianism.

This form of ownership originated in bloody Rome. It was tried among the early christians. Wherever it has been introduced failure and crime followed. The population of the United States and Territories is 50,155,783; the value of real estate and personal property is $16,902,993,443. Divide this according to agrarianism and each person would get $337, which by trade and speculation would soon again be in the hands of a few. And thus with each day we should have to re-collect and re-distribute. Out of such a system no good could possibly come. Nature everywhere teaches that differences and distinctions must exist. Why has she been more lavish with the peafowl than with the crow? Why has she bedecked the gold finch or the bird of paradise more gorgeously than the snow bird or the hawk? Why the lily more fragrant and fair than the sun-flower? Why the difference in the magnitude of the twinkling stars? Why the dissimilarity in the talents of men? Why are some men born idiots and others with the sparkling gems of genius shining in their souls? Why do some mountains possess millions of dollars of the precious or useful minerals and others only sandstone or lime rock? The answers are secrets locked up in the mystery of the Almighty. The man of talent, of push, of energy, frugality and sagacity can not help accumulating more of the results of labor than the individual of opposite qualities. Agrarianism is a foe to thrift and activity, and encourages idleness and stagnation. It would paralyze business and cause the wheels of industry to hang dry and still over the stream of progress.

Agrarianism is a hydra-headed monster. It has presented itself in many forms and at various times. To-day it breeds discontent among the common people which to-morrow bursts into rebellion and revolution. Lawlessness prevails, property is destroyed and bloody murder stalks boldly abroad. Is anything gained? No! as loud as heaven's loudest artillery can sound it. All classes of capitalists are weakened, wealth is destroyed, and fond Hope, the bright anchor of the soul, sits dark and gloomy in the ashes of ruin.

Communism. Saint-Simonianism, nihilism, anarchy, socialism, Henry Georgeism, are all dangerous forms of that hideous monster, agrarianism. Every capitalist--every man of wealth,--whether his muscle is his only stock in trade or not, or whether he counts his capital and wealth by dimes or by millions--should seize the bludgeon of reason and justice and strike the monster--the common foe to the progress and happiness of man--a deadly blow. It is true that laboring men have their grievances, but

VII. Strikes

are not the means by which these wrongs may be set right. The appeal to strikes is an appeal from reason to error, from justice to injustice, from order to disorder, from law to riot, from morality to immorality, from virtue to sin, from innocence to murder. The strike is a foe to the infant at the mother's breast; it is an enemy to the happiness of home; it is the howling wolf at the door of the humble cottage; it is hostile to personal liberty; it is an enemy to religion, it is the embodiment of riot and murder striding through the land stamping out the life of the nation, crushing out the manhood of the citizens, setting a premium upon crime and outlawing virtue and honesty. I wish I had the power to represent it in its true light. A mass of grumbling, dissatisfied men who will not work, by desperation and lawlessness deterring others from honest toil. Business is paralyzed and millions of dollars sunk. But this is small compared to the suffering and misery and want in the homes of these frantic men. Could we but lift the curtain which hides their dark homes, a picture would be presented which would cause the blood to chill and sicken the soul. These men hang around the saloons and stifle the cries for bread from their homes by liquor and beer--a morsel of cheese or a cracker answering for food. But what about the wretched wife and starving child?

But they do not stop there. The torch, pistol, the knife, the bomb and infernal machines are brought in to play their deadly parts. Then the fire fiend with his angry tongue laps up wealth and happy homes, the knife and the pistol start streams of human gore down the gutters of the streets, and the hellish bomb brings massive edifices cracking, crumbling to the earth.

The fiend having sated himself in gore and ruin, surveys the field of desolation. What has been gained? Nothing. If permitted he returns to work with a weakened constitution, less respect of his family, kept under the watch of the law, without the confidence of his employer and with the curse of his own conscience. You ask: "If strikes are not the remedy, what is the remedy?" Have a clear understanding with your employer. Try to enter into his interests and feelings. Tell him plainly that you can not afford to work for him at present rates. If he can not or does not raise your wages, give him notice that you will quit at a certain time, and then do not interfere with the person engaged in your place. All parties will feel better, and your employer may soon be able to grant your request and recall you. You certainly have no right to interfere with others who are willing to work for him.

The colored laborer can neither afford to strike nor encourage strikes. He has felt the baneful effects of them. He has time and time again seen white labor organizations resort to this method of getting colored men out of employment. If it is right against the employer for higher wages, it is right against a fellow-workman on account of race or color. But it is not right at all. This is a country of law and order, and the negro's salvation lies in his willing obedience to law--fairly and impartially administered.

VIII. Labor Organizations.

I do not deny labor the right of organization for the advancement of its interests. This is legitimate and highly proper so long as the general interests of society are protected. There is, perhaps, no country upon the globe which extends greater liberties and protection to labor than the United States of America. In Alabama and many other states of the union, the mechanic's lien enables him to compel the employer to fulfill his obligations, but the employer has no remedy against the mechanic except in rare cases where bonds have been given by the contractor.

The cause of the laboring man has kept pace with the march of civilization and progress, until the order of government has been reversed and the laboring classes have become the rulers. However, they are threatened with great danger growing out of the slavery entailed by labor organizations. Few of them are for the real advancement of the interests of labor, but mere machines for the personal aggrandizement of the politicians who stand behind the scenes. The laborer, in attempting to avoid the imaginary Scylla of capital, may dash his life out against the terrible Charybdis of demagogy. Our laws all favor the laborer, and I make this assertion regardless of statements of those who see gain in keeping labor in a state of excitement. In Egypt, many hundreds of years ago, the poorer class could not be anything else. They were not permitted, under heavy penalties, to change their occupations or locations. A hod carrier was doomed to that work during his natural life. Other countries more recently oppressed labor just as severely. I mention this in illustration of the depths from which labor has come. To-day the laborer may not only change his location but may change his occupation, and ply a dozen if he choose to do so. An organization which has for its object the moral and intellectual advancement of its members, as well as their financial welfare, is not objectionable and should be encouraged. But where prejudice is aroused against other forms of labor (as capital, banking, etc., etc.) they are lawless, dangerous, and should be shunned by every good laboring man. No organization outside of a benevolent institution should be secret, and I doubt the propriety of all secret societies. Secrecy is too often the cloak for evil and scheming. The dark clouds of secrecy have ever been the means of over-awing or misleading the lower classes. Permit me to introduce here the following extract from an address bearing upon this subject. It is so excellent that I will be pardoned for clipping at length and endorsing it _in toto_:

"The twenty-fourth annual Grand International Convention of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers was held in Chicago on the 19th October, with delegates present from all parts of the Union. The Grand Chief Engineer, P. M. Arthur, with his usual rare good sense, said in the course of his annual address: We are enemies only to wrong in its various devices and garbs, and can assuredly say that political schemes and aspirations have no place nor part in our association. A mighty army of men, representing 365 divisions, has gathered about a nucleus of 12 men who, 24 years ago, assembled in the city of Detroit and started an organization destined to be more than they knew or dreamed. To-day we number 25,000 men, and while our numbers are great, we would not have you consider only the quantity, but the quality as well. To be a Brotherhood man, four things are requisite, namely: Sobriety, truth, justice, and morality. This is our motto, and upon this precept have we based our practice. Taking all things into consideration, our relations, both to ourselves and with various railroads, employing Brotherhood men, are amicable. When we consider the dissatisfaction which is everywhere manifest about us, our few troubles pale in insignificance. There have been times and incidents when the 'strike' was the only court of appeals for the workingman, and the evil lay in the abuse of them and not in the use of them. The methods used to bring about a successful termination of strikes, the abuse of property and even of persons, have brought the very name into disrepute, while the troubles of the laboring man are receiving mere cant, and sympathy for him is dying out. More and more clearly defined is the line becoming which divides the honest man, satisfied with a just remuneration which he has truly earned, until by his own effort he can rise to a higher position in life, and the loud-voiced 'bomb thrower,' who scarcely able to speak the English language, seeks to win his own comfortable living from those who have worked for it, presuming upon the imagination and arousing false hopes in the hearts of those who are still more ignorant than himself. Among sensible men the day for all this is past. Let 'mercy season justice, and justice be tempered with moderation.' A wise arbitration looks to a long result rather than to immediate satisfaction, and accomplishes more than intimidation ever can hope to do.