The Impending Conflict: Labor and Capital in Snohomish
An urgent editorial from 1876 calls for the wealthy to heed the growing unrest of laboring men before the struggle turns from strikes to bloodshed.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
It signifies that the great mass of laborers, the poor employees of the rich, are beginning to get their eyes open to the unjust relations of labor and capital; that their helplessness and ignorance are taken undue advantage of, to the enriching of their employers, and consequent impoverishment and degradation of themselves. They feel that a great wrong exists, of which they are the victims. The true relations of labor and capital must be based on the principle of justice as proclaimed in the so-called 'Golden Rule.' If the great men in intellect and knowledge were as commandingly great in moral character, they would give their less fortunate brothers the benefit of their superior intellect and business management. But this character is not yet developed in our intellectually great men to the degree to cause them to act out the 'Golden Rule.' The masses of the laborers of the United States are not, thanks to our common schools, going to submit to the grinding to which their brethren in Europe have for so many long centuries been subjected. In view of the late strikes, which are only the beginnings of the impending struggle, what may we prophesy? It becomes our great men to look this matter squarely in the face, and be prepared to graciously concede justice to the comparatively ignorant millions of wealth producers, and avoid the impending bloodshed which otherwise is bound sooner or later to come. A word to the wise is sufficient.
“The masses of the laborers of the United States are not, thanks to our common schools, going to submit to the grinding to which their brethren in Europe have for so many long centuries been subjected.”
This 1876 editorial reflects the same anxiety regarding economic inequality and the 'impending conflict' between labor and capital that defines modern discourse. Just as Snohomish transitioned from a timber-driven labor economy to its current state, the core tension—whether the wealthy will voluntarily concede to the needs of the working class or face social upheaval—remains a persistent American rhyme.
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