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Senator Mark Haniia on Signs of the Times j I (Copyright, 19M. by Frank O. Ca-jenr.) WASHINGTON, Jar. t. (Fpeilal Cor respondence of The Bje.) "Is the country going to the dogs in the l"15Sm I""-'n struggle between capital " and labor?" I atked this ques Ion of Penalor Marie Hanni an we chatei tjgether In his room at the Arlington hot 1. "N." was the tcp'y. "There is only ft halt In our march of uii' ounded prosperity. We ihall have a llmlte 1 prilol In which but Ire mut run ut a sliwer pice. Mmy factories will cut down their force, and In some wages will be necessarily reduced. As to the ctuntr, It Is In a healthy condi tion. The it ps are go'if. the pe pi are wll oft enl the out ook is t ot rerious." "What is the cius of the hail, a n .Vor? IX es It not c me fron tie IncreiseJ Wiges demanded by and the other exactions of ur gai Ize 1 lub r? ' "I do lot think so," rptd Senator Hanna. "In New York nnl dlcago and One or two other ptaccs a depression has leen created by the t:0Jbles In the build ing trad:?. Thi e have been nearly settled and I loo'i for b. tier times there." Then I s-pposo it comes fro-n organized op tal?" "No; It does not. The ch'ef reosin are the natural ones of oversupply and under dtmunl. You remember the business situ ation of from lk93 to 1 9. We had been overproducing and the market was glutted. Business came a'mo. t tf a standstill and tin jeip'.e lost confluence In everything. Kveiy one bought as llttla as he could, and the facto; l-s Old Ut lu more than manu fac ure to order, wlillo a.l enterprises, In- cluclng the r.llroadp, cut their purchases ' to the minimum. "At tho same time capital becamo timid ; and the savings were stored away In the safe deposits and In low Interest-bearing securities. Then, In 1W)8, wo woke up to the fact that we had excellent crops, vast . material resources and at the same time a market which was out of everything. The ; financial sky brightened. The demands came In like a deluge. Money crept out cf the banks, the factories and mills went to work and prosperity, like a snowball run ning down hill, gathered at every turn, un til it seemed that the powers of adversity would be crushed by it. The great de mand brought about combinations of capi tal to supply It. New Inventions created to save labor in the hard times increased the capacity of the factories and the new forces of modern Industry produced in quantities unknown In the past. ' At the same time the confidence of. the people ran neck and neck with the times. The home market sprang into such enormous proportions that raw materials and manu factures were brought in from abroad In vast quantities. This was especially bo of iron and steel, the supplies of which, then ordered, are still being delivered. "Then all at once it was found that the home demand whs satisfied. The more conservative business men, Including small merchants all over the country, saw there must be a turning of the tide, confidence wavered, and the result Is the condition of today." "How about the future?" "I have no fear of that," replied Senator Hanna. "Our normal condition is one of good times, and tho present depression will soon pass nwoy. We always move more slowly during the year of the presidential elections. As to the country, we have the same musclo and brains that have suc ceeded In the past, and we are as good as ever In times like these, however, the enslhlo man trims his sills and keeps close to the shore. I began to do so more than three months ago." "Hut, senator, do you think great com binations of organised capital are good fur the country?" "Yes. Tho great Industries of the world can be carried on In no other way. This Is an age of organisation. Such combina tions are among the evolutions of our in dustrial development and they aro to the Interest of both laboring man and capital ist. They havo increased trade and In creased wages. "A few years ago tho balance of trade was against us and especially so In the Industrial lines. It Is largely owing to or ganised capital that we are now not only able to manufacture for ourselves, but to export to all parts of the world. This ex port trade will Increase and we shall ho'd our own as tho greatest Industrial nation on earth by our combination of capital and labor. "I am not afraid of such combinations," the senator went on. "If they abuse their privileges competition will regulate them. Every field of Industry in this country Is open to all and extraordinary profits will lead to new organisations. Our only monop olies are those protected by the patent laws." "You occupy a peculiar position on the labor question, senator," said I. "You are looked upon as the representative of Voth capital and labor. What do you know about worklngmen?" "I have been associated with them all my life. I have been a large employer of labor for more than thirty years and I am MARCUS A. HANNA. FROM now Interested In enterprises which give work to ' many." "What kind of enterprises?" I aMud. "Various kinds," was tho roj ly. "Cnl mines In Ohio, Iron mines in Michigan, ves sels and shipbuilding works on the lakes, street railroads and various factories ar.d foundries." "How about strikes, senator, have you had many?" "None of Importance, and none which were not amicably settled, " was tho reply. "The first strike of which I had any ex perience was that of the coal miners of the Tuscarawas valley. It occurred In 1874, about thirty years ago. At that time I went to Masslllon, near where the mines were, and lived with the people. The strike wis a hard one, and It caused great suf fering. In trying to settle it, It seemed to mo the situation was all wrong, and I there got the Idea about such matters upon which I have acted ever since. It Is that upon which the Civic Federation is based, and is that all such things should be set tled by conference and mutual conciliation between the workmen and their employ ers." "Was that strike- settled in that way, senator?" I esked. "No; it was fought out to the end. Not long after It was settled the representatives of the bituminous coal mining organiza tions came to Clevolund and asked me to organize the operators In order that we might co-operate together and avoid such troubles In the future. I old form an or ganisation, and as long as it continued, which was for several years, all our dif ficulties were settled by arbitration. Since then the same principle has been adopted in connection with the national organiza tion of the Unit;d M n Wjrke.s. They combine with the operators, both meeting t gether once a ye.tr to fix a settle, wich is in the nature of an annual agreement, and foms the scale of wages for that year. Thlt po Icy has proved rros. si'l fa tory to cmp'oyers and employe." "But do the men keep such contracts?" "Yej," repll-d Ee.-ator Hmni, "eipec'ally In the old anl well-orga lzed unlms. Take the cose of the Unlt;d Mine Workers dur ing the great anthracite strike of last yeir. You wl'l rememter the situation. One hundred and fifty thousand men were out of work, thi famtl'es of many of them were on the edge of statva'lon, the mlnei were closed down, and the whole country was In the throes of a coal famine. Now, It Is a law of the United Mine Workers that if five of the different organizations com posing It demand a national convention it has to be called. Five did call for it, in cluding some organizations already In volved in the strike. "As a result a thousand delegates rep resenting the vast army of bituminous coal miners met at Indianapolis with John Mitchell as their president. They had a contract for the year with the operators as to prices and wages and the question was whether they should break this and Join lu the sympathetic strike to help their A RECENT rilOTOGRAPH. brothers, the anthracite miners of Penn eylvanla. "At that convention the awful condition In tho anthracite mines was explained, the terrible want and suffering set forth and a general strike demanded. Had they granted the demand and broken their con tract with the operators they wou'.d have inflicted incalculable loss to the United States. MoHt of our Industries would have come to a standstill. Within a short time the coal on hand would have been used and every factory would have had to shut down. Every car upon the railroad, except perhaps the mnils, would have had to stop, and cold and want would havo dropped upon a majority of the homes of the United States. "The public did not fully realize It, but the situation was a terrible one. John Mitchell saw It and in connection with the other leaders of the United Mine Workers brought forth the sentiment which pre vented the strike. The question was re ferred to a committee of twenty-nine, who strove one whole night us to Its settle ment. In the morning they brought forth a resolution which was adopted by the con vention. It was that the United Mine Workers would stick to their contract, but also that they would give 10 per cent of their wages to help their brothers In their strike in the anthracite mines of Pennsyl vania." "How about organized labor, senator? Has it come to stay?" "There Is no doubt of it," was the reply. "It Is a condition and should be treated accordingly. The trades union Is not an original creation of the United States. It was Imported from England. It is now being Americanized and it is better in every way than the English union. It does not believe In the restriction of output and in the limitation of Individual effort." "Yes, said I, "but it does believe In a continuous shortening of hours and a con tinual Increase of wages. Can this go on and our Industries continue?" "Such things regulate themselves," re plied Senator Hanna. The movements are perfectly natural ones. The capitalist tries to get all ho can nut of his share of the business end so does the workman. With our enormous immigration and re stricted supply of work there have been plenty of laborers until within the past three years and the capitalists have had the whip hand. They could fix the wages, and I don't remember that they voluntarily raised them. Within the past three years, however, there have been two Jobs for every man. The laborer has taken advan tage of the situation and Increased his pay, and I don't blame him." "Hut will he not have to come down now that the times have changed?" "Yes. In many places." "Will he not strike?" "I don't think so without there Is some other reason than the reduction owing to the- hard times." "If you were a working man, senator, would you belong to a union?" "Yes, I would; but I would do all that I could to bring about a closer relation be tween my union and my employer. The; sooner the laboring; man and the employer corao together the better for both laborer and employer." "That Is what the Clvlo Federation Is trying to do, Is It not?" "That Is what the Clvlo Federation lfl doing," replied Senator Hanna. "We hava settled a great many labor disputes and prevented many strikes by bringing tha loaders of the union and the representa tives of employers together. Both are beginning to understand the other. The laboring men are becoming more conserva tive and the employers more ready to recognize labor organizations. Strikes In most cases come from misunderstandings, and some of the most serious ones from trifling disagreements. The employer and the worklngman stand face to face, each with a chip on his shoulder. The employer feels determined not to make an advance toward a settlement, and the worklngman Is too proud to do It." "Has the Civic Federation any special rules of action In such matters?" "None except the golden rule," replied Senator Hanna. "We do not believe In sympathetic strikes, nor In the boycott, nor in the restriction of production to en hance values." "How about the man outside the union, Benator? What ore his rights?" "He has the right to work and to exer cise his individual rights granted by the constitution of the United Btates, and he Should be protected in those rights." "But, senator," said I, "if labor and capi tal are, to combine, will not the public be ground between the upper and nether mill stones of high wages and high prices?" "Tho public!" trald Senator Hanna. "What Is theoublic? In our country it Is made up of capitalists and laborers. With the exception of a very few every man In th'j United States Is an employer or an em ploye. .We are all worklngmen. Some of us work wUh our brains and the others with our hands, and . the employers, as a rule, work the hardest." . At this point I turned the conversation to personal matters and In answer to my Questions Senator llama gave me much Interesting information about himself both as a laboring man and a capitalist. He re ferred to certain rules of his buslners life which have undoubtedly contributed to his great success and gave me other matter which would be of value to the young men of the United States. This, however, on account of the innate modesty of the sena tor extraordinary, in a public man I am forbidden to use. In closing I would call attentlQn to Sena tor Hanna's peculiar position. He Is the earnest friend of both capital and labor and Is doing what he can to bring the two together. Indeed, he might be called our great national peacemaker and he U Buch from the standpoint of his honest convic tions. He recently said that he wou'd rather have the credit of ending such trou bles than be president of the United States, and that If he could moke successful the plans of the federation by resigning h's seat In the senate he would be glad to do so. Nevertheless Senator Hanna has more than 10,000 men nt work In the various in stitutions In which he Is interested, and their pay roll Is Bald to be about $3,0U),0:0 a year, or in round numbers $10,000 a day. You will see from this that he has a pocket book Interest In the questions which he here discusses and that his words should have weight. - FRANK O. CARPENTER. Pointed Paragraphs A woman without Jealousy Is like a kite without a string. Happiness seldom comes to those who seek it on the run. There Is too much charity In this world for worthless people. When a woman reads a historical novel she skips the history part. Ignorance of the law should excuse a lot more lawyers from practicing It. If a man Is bent on committing suicide ha can afford to be familiar with a mule. A man doesn't need a pass in order to enable him to pass by an opportunity. Many a man who Is offered the chance of a lifetime for a mero song can't sing. Why Is It that babies are always conspic uous by their absence at a "mothers' meet ing?" Few physicians are equal to the task of curing patients who have nothing the matter with them. Though the average man laughs at his wife when she goes shopping and doesn't buy anything, he kicks Is she does. Chi cago News. Presence of Mind Turkish baths were a luxury entirely beyond their limited means. "Do you know," she said to htm sud denly, as he was shaving and she was dressing her hair, "I weigh only 100 pounds without any clothes on." "Where were you weighed?" She was a young woman of great pres ence of mind. "Oh, at the meat market," she sal4 airily. Town Topics,