fessor remarked on his monthly report, "doing nothing," andthen, to soften the blow to his family, added, "but doing thebest lie can."It is difficult for us in the agricultural South to realize theantagonism of labor to capital, but if one should go into any greatindustrial center, as Pittsburgh, it will be found that the kindlyrelation between employer and employee is almost unknownand often the air is charged with the electricity of human passion.To understand this never-ending conflict ,in the industrialworld let us first examine the conditions of the small plants ofover a century ago. Here the apprentice lived in his master'shouse, was taught by him and, if he made good, was promotedand, perhaps, eventually succeeded him in the business; further,the human relation between employer and employe was establish-ed from the start.Contrast this primitive state with what we find in later yearsin a large manufactory which employs thousands of laborers.The owner is perhaps unknown kV sight to any of his men; thelaborer is possibly put at one tool or machine for a lifetime, withbut small chance for promotion; his housing may be bad andhis hours of labor long. Worse than this, the capitalist engagesin the industrial enterprise for all he can make out of it, withno concern for the welfare or uplift of his employes, hiring menas cheaply as he can and discharging them at will when it suitshis interest, the discharge being permanent when the men areworn out.The effect of such a system-treating labor as a mere com-modity, to buy at the lowest market price and to deal with with-out the human element of sympathy was to create an antag-onism between the capitalistic class, the bourgeoisie, and thewage-earning class, the proletariat such as the world is experienceing today.The introduction of each new piece of machinery was resent-NI by the laborers, for it resulted in laying off men; besides liewas entirely dependent on the capitalist for such implementsof work, which dependence he regarded as the basis of his ser-vitude.The inevitable result of inaugurating larger plants withmore machinery was that the capitalist grew stronger and thewage-earner weaker; the former exploited the latter to the ut-most and, in turn, was heartily hated by him. Further, the9
