trained, as lie generally is, hardly capable of immediate satisfactory work on the improved plan, our poor fellow is thrown out of employment; he generally undergoes untold misery and suffering before being employed at something else. Of course, strikes and other labor combinations may, to a certain extent, extort from capital some extra allowances. Organized labor may command a higher price, may even go so far as to form an insurance fund for the unemployed; but neither legislation nor organization will ever root out the evil, because they do not destroy its cause. After all, out of the total capital employed in the industry of a given country, there is only a certain percentage to be spent in wages. As soon as capital can not obtain its economical due, it flows into other channels, often outside of the country itself; and as there is no friction possible without material wasted, it is for a short time only, economically speaking, that there can be found an apparent redress for labor through the terrorism of labor. Ultimately it will turn out against it, as the stoppage in the industrial wheel occasions a loss to capital and labor that both are sure to feel, and which generally is felt more harshly by labor.
Co-operation is a magnificent theory; indeed, it reminds one of the golden age; but, practically speaking, it will, like any other scheme, be subject to considerations of profit and of remuneration, pro rata of the intellect, work, and capital (money) employed; and no ism, notwithstanding its popularity, or even its majorities, will destroy this horrible pro rata distribution. Besides, any co-operative scheme needs genuine abilities, not found in a fossilized mentality of a one-sided training and more than one-sided occupation. The change demanded, therefore, has to be of another nature than can be brought about by organization, legislation, isms, etc., which by their very presence eventually demonstrate the necessity of a change. It has to go deeper; its workings will be a matter of the future rather, and the result of a systematic and well-calculated movement in the right direction. It simply aims at a regeneration of our workingmen of the future.
An educational regeneration, an increase of their capacities, their initiative, their artistic taste, and their power of invention—such elements, once present, would augment the value of our industrial products. They would allow us successfully to compete in the foreign markets, not by lowering prices, but by the superiority of our articles in quality, durability, finish, and elegance of design, and would thus increase and not diminish the share of wages. France, England, Germany, even Russia, have actually accomplished this by introducing schools of design, modeling, etc., alongside of their various special industrial centers; but France and England had their traditional specialties centuries old. In this country, with so many more industrial facilities, with so
