Iowa Wesleyan College - Croaker Yearbook (Mount Pleasant, IA)

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r Y AFTER THE VICTORY olumg Principle of Industry dfeuiell Two powers preside over the productive world; Capital and Labor. These two agents, preeminent, and all powerful in the realm of industry, have undergone a marvelous transformation in the past fifty years. America, once a simple agricultural nation, is now a throbbing center of industry. Mechanical invention and business efficiency have transformed the simple life of our fathers into a complex industrial civilization. Our factories have been consolidated, our industries have been centralized, and the wealth of our nation has been largely appropriated by a few captains of industry. While Capital, the propelling power of industry, has been growing steadily, Labor, the other great agent of production, has not been idle. Men of toil have lost faith in the benevolence of the rich and look with disdain on the crumbs of concession which fall from the tables of luxury. The common man has realized that the only way to cope with combinations of capital is with a combination of labor. Monopoly of money must be counterbalanced by a monopoly of work. To meet this situation the labor union has been organized. In the last, decade uncounted thousands of humble toilers have fashioned themselves into a mighty weapon for social protection. On one hand, America has called into existence great combinations of capital; on the other she has raised up a transcendent host of industrial workers who are now demanding justice. Capital and Labor have built transcontinental railways, pierced the heavens with towering structures of steel and spanned the mightiest waters with herculean bridges. Capital and Labor have tunneled mountains, harnessed rivers, and with the Panama Canal, cut in twain a hemisphere. Yet these two powers which should be co-partners in production are now bitter adversaries. Instead of cooperating, Capital too often scoffs at Labor; too often Labor employs professional bomb throwers to enforce her mandates. Strikes and lockouts are frequent, riots a common occurrence and every legislative act seems only to widen the breach between Capital and Labor. How shall we conciliate these two opposing forces? This is the great and vital question of the hour. This is the bounden duty of responsible government. j “s...............................

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 STANLEY NEWELL Tho Croaker should have assigned a special reporter to keep track of all the victories and contests with which Stanley has been connected during the past three years. He has skipped around over the state from one “speak-fest” to another and each time after all the “fuss and fume” has cleared away, we see him emerging from the scene with a new forensic honor for old Iowa Wesleyan. In his freshman year, he was leader of his class debating team, which met the strong Simpson freshmen. As a Sophomore he led the intercollegiate debating team to victory in the triangular debate, also with Simpson. However, it was not until the fall of 1913 that he entered the field of oratory. His thorough analysis of subject and straightforward presentation easily won for him the local oratorical contest, a distinction which every student covets. Later in competing with the eight strong colleges of eastern Iowa, he was awarded fourth place, a still greater honor. But it was in the State Contest that Mr. Newell especially distinguished himself for there he met the most powerful orators from fifteen different Iowa colleges. And yet in spite of such competition, he conclusively proved to the judges that Wesleyan again had the strongest orator in all the colleges of Iowa. Before the publication of the ’15 Croaker, Mr. Newell will have represented us in the Interstate Oratorical Contest, which this year will be held at Earlham College, Ind. We feel confident that our representative will rank very high in the final markings and that he will bear the interest of the Purple and White with credit both to himself and to Wesleyan. s

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' V % ■'O Once it was believed that the mere organization of labor would in itself solve the problems of industry. Economists declare that if a combination of money brought about high prices, then a monopoly of labor should bring about high wages. If capitalists have succeeded by controlling the supply of wealth, then the laborer should prosper by commanding the supply of labor. Monopoly of labor is the insistent doctrine of the hour. Does a man not belong to the Union? He shall not work! Does an employer not hire union men? His workmen shall be struck down and his wares boycotted! Monopoly of labor must be preserved at the expense of convenience, at the loss of production, even at the sacrifice of human life. Because of these conditions we are tending toward an era of lawlessness. Unionism sounds her mighty trumpet and in stentorian tones demands a better wage for the working man, forgetful of the tragic law of industry, and unmindful that when labor forces a higher wage, capital retaliates by setting a higher level of prices. Higher wages—higher prices, these are the upper and nether millstones between which labor is ground to dust. “But more tragic still, labor striving blindly to free itself, proposes, not freedom from bondage, but merely a higher price for its bondage. This is the cruel paradox of industry.” Important as it is, this question of wages and prices is not the dominant issue in the labor situation. A spirit of class hatred is abroad in the land. The great mass of toilers are filled with bitterness toward the rich. The professional organizer has poisoned the mind of the laborer until he counts all employers, just or unjust, his bitter foes. This suspicion breeds distrust between employers and laborers, and a malignant spirit of class hatred threatens our country’s security. The bitterness engendered by the struggle between Capital and Labor is more dangerous to America than a foreign army encamped within her borders. On the day when the poor entrenched themselves on one side of the street and the rich barricaded themselves on the other, Athens was at the zenith of her splendor. After the battle the city, once the pride of civilization, was a waste of ruins. Class hatred partitioned Poland and dashed to pieces the promise of a mighty empire. Today in America class hatred has reached a crucial climax. Beneath the outward calm of society may be heard the deep toned muttering of a dis- A YEAR AGO