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Presented are transcripts of radio broadcasts by R.L.D.S. President Frederick M. Smith in 1938 on pertinent topics that continue to be of considerable interest in this 21st century.
IX. Problems of Capital and Labor The ruthless competition which has been so large a factor in what has been termed the capitalistic system, or was some years before capitalists learned to avoid so adroitly the effects of competition in regulating prices, has been responsible for bringing into industry a spirit of bitterness which is anything but fraternal in character. Organizations of capitalists, countered by those of labor, have not improved or eliminated that spirit. The Weakness of Capitalism There are persons today who are still devoted to the doctrine of competition, though they fail evidently to recognize its mercilessness, as it drives to despair and distraction not only the laboring man, but the man who employs labor as well. The evils of competition have augmented the bitterness of the struggle that is being waged between the laboring man and the employer. Living without labor has become a false idea of success. Only a short way from here, there occurred an incident not long ago that will illustrate what I mean. A man who had been making a comfortable living by selling stocks, writing insurance, etc., said that as a young man he had completed learning the trade of shoemaking and one day he was boasting to a banker that he had learned a trade. He had evidently been reared among those who held it out as an ideal to be accomplished by an individual that every man should have a trade to fall back on if necessary. The banker who was listening ridiculed the idea and said, “That is all right to have a trade, if you haven’t brains enough to get a living without work.” The man boasted that he had taken that statement to heart, that he hadn’t worked since, although he had secured a living. The idea of living without labor recruits the army of idlers and dependents, as does the idea, “The world owes me a living, and I’ll take it,” recruits the army of robbers and criminals. These ideas have left their impress upon the world, and have been factors in contributing to the uneasy and unfortunate conditions existing today. The deplorable condition existing today {as of 1938} increase the burden of those who labor, because for every man who is deflected, from any cause, from the ranks of honest labor means an additional burden placed upon the shoulders of those who work. The Burdens of Labor Of course, not all laborers do their work with their hands. Ceaseless toil for the mere privilege of existing has brought weariness and despair. And that functions to make conditions even more critical. The fear of dependency through disability, has added to the gloom. A man who feels that he has years of service before him, who goes to work rejoicing in his physical powers, whose muscles work without painful tension or ache, whose joints are not “rusty,” who is robust in health, who can breathe to the bottom of his lungs, who feels that he can do as much work or more than those who toil beside him has constantly the fear over his head that a misstep, a miscalculation in movement, might result in loss of hand or foot and leave him disabled for life, and his family, who depend upon him, left without their means of support. The fear of dependency in the laboring class in this day functions in adding to the gloom that exists, and is a factor in impelling organized labor toward further conflict. The fear of debt through sickness adds to the despair. Any man who has had experience through sickness in his own family, or has seen what has come to the family of a friend under those conditions, knows that the small savings, or even large ones, are dissipated as snow before the June sun when the doctor comes into the house, when medicine must be purchased, when the sick must be nursed by trained hands. The fear of sickness adds to the despair that creeps over job holders. Ad fear of still another kind adds and intensifies the bitterness of the struggle for gain, and that is the fear of old age without means of support. One of the most dreaded things in the life of the average man is the advent and advance of senility, and the fact that he has to rely upon others for his support. This embitters and intensifies the struggle for gain. Poverty, looking through the mists of misery, glimpsing the luxurious extravagance of opulence, has in resentment engendered hatred, jealousy, and smoldering desire for revenge. Class consciousness, aroused by the evidences of disparity, is easily fanned into class hatred by the efforts of those deliberately attempting it, especially when the pinch of poverty, the hungry cry of loved ones, the moan of the undernourished, unsuccored sick augment the efforts toward discord. That is the purpose of creating class consciousness, and the realization of the disparity that exists in society creates this class consciousness and sets it on fire as nothing else can. And when to this effort to arouse class consciousness and class hatred there is added the pinch of poverty, the hungry cry of loved ones, the moan of the sick, the efforts toward discord are tremendously augmented and multiplied. A Word Picture Let me paint you a word picture. Some bright morning we see a man whom we recognize to be in the prime of physical condition and apparently is in good health. He is going into the factory to his work, and yet he goes droopingly, no spring in his step. His shoulders are forward, and when he looks up toward the building he is about to enter, no joy is reflected in his face. He approaches the machine almost with hate, for he feels that he is tied to it, and almost as mechanically as the machine he operates he goes through the movements of the day for wages—a mere chance to live. He leaves his machine in the factory when the whistle blows, and drags his weary muscles across the street, coming close to being hit by a rapidly moving motor car. Can you not see the strong inclination to raise the threatening fist of hate when he sees within that car his employer riding in ease to his home, while he is left to walk wearily the long distance to his? Joy in his work has long been taken away from him. Can you imagine how his despair and bitterness will be augmented if on coming to the place he calls home—a mere hovel—he finds that in his absence, while operating the merciless machine, disease has stealthily entered his house and stricken one of his family? Can you picture the despair when he sees in imagination the small savings account disappear, and in place thereof come the burden of debt? I can picture him telling his troubles to a fellow-laborer, and I can imagine somewhat his surprise when he learns that his fellow-laborer is also a fellow in misery, and this bond of sympathy between men in misery is bound to expand its circles and draw together the laboring men until they can remove the conditions against which they revolt and protest. And the employer, the one who was riding home in the machine, apparently in luxury, what of him? Is it as well with him as the laboring man judged? I suspect that in nine cases out of ten if you were permitted to scan the face of such employer, you would find there the lines of care; and if he would unburden his heart to you he would tell of hours of meditating, contemplating, and studying in trying to solve the problems presented to him—problems everywhere, problems of maintenance, problems of machinery upkeep, repair, and replacement, problems of raw materials and cost, and of the cost of converting into the finished product—always the problems of cost—and finally a whole cluster of problems connected with marketing the products. Costs as offset against profits. The Evil of Competition And why profits? Trying to protect himself, perhaps, against the same dangers confronting the laborer—old age dependency, family failure, sickness, and to pay interest to creditors; profits for mere gain for selfish purposes to protect himself and loved ones—his dependents—from the fear to which all seem to be heir. Of course in the foregoing I have depicted one of the smaller capitalists. I am not here discussing the great corporation. And so the struggle goes on and on toward the inevitable, vital and even sanguinary clash of interests. Let me put it in the old trite form, the conflict between labor and capital. This conflict is broadened in scope, deepened in bitterness by the clash between more powerful corporations and stronger labor unions. Now I fancy I hear some of the more optimistically inclined say, “Why ring that old cry in our ears? Has it not been in the world almost since the introduction of steam and power machinery, when it became impossible for one man to own and run machinery by himself, when companies were organized to carry out these operations?” Yes, that is true. But let me earnestly ask: Has there been a time in all history when conditions were riper for a serious and wide-spread war between labor and capital than today? Higher wages, higher costs, higher costs, higher wages. Reckless extravagance on every hand. The government plunging into debt at a rate unheard of in times other than war times, and developing a spirit of “I don’t care.” Labor is expanding its organizations almost as recklessly as the government is spending money. Walking delegates (business agents) everywhere are not only watching the interests of labor, but are constantly on the alert to stimulate the laborer to anger, if you please, and to resentment against the conditions under which he is laboring. The attitude of labor is changing dangerously. What is the answer to all this? It is useless for me to add myself to the hundreds of others who are calling attention to these conditions unless we might offer some solution. Social reformers have given many answers to the question, but frequently the answer is too simple, due to inadequate analysis and therefore simple in the application of the remedy. It is difficult of course to put your hand upon any one thing that might offer the remedy, unless that one thing is so constituted that it becomes fundamental to the whole social organization, that will constitute a basis on which this thing is built. If one is going to maintain the basis of competition, then one has a most difficult task in presenting an economic theory that will eliminate all the evil that exists in the world today and bring about the good condition we desire. But if the whole situation can be so analyzed that we can find what are the foundation stones on which the superstructure has been wrongly built, and then passing down to those foundation stones see to it that the proper basis is put in, then our superstructure will carry its own weight. The Interest of the Church And a question of equal importance to this is one that we as a people should ask, “What is the church going to do about these conditions, and what has the church to offer?” It seems to me that the church today should be alert to the appealing invitation of the Master, “Come unto me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden.”—Matt. 11:28. It did not stop at labor, it did not mean to say, Come unto me all ye who labor and I will teach you to work without labor. But Jesus said, Come and I will give you rest—that which will relieve weariness permanently. And I think Jesus meant to say, “If ye come unto me, and adopt my plan, then he that labors will do so joyfully, and without burden!” And everyone must labor—there is no room for the idler. We as a church must institute a system which will make work a joy. What is it? |
