"I'VE got a few words to say to you to-night, lads. I'm a plain-spoken man, as you know, with no particular gift for speechifying; so you'll have to bear with me, if I blunder, and put things badly. I'm one of yourselves, and you'll just take my blundering kindly, and look beyond it to the root of the matter. It's as one of yourselves that I want to talk to you."
"There's been a lot said already, as to whether you should or shouldn't go on with the strike. Some are for one side, and some for the other. Well, I s'pose you all know pretty well which side I'm for. But maybe you don't all know so well what's my reasons, nor why I'm for that side."
"Now you needn't think I'm going to pretend to settle the whole question for you in a dozen words, and expect you all in a moment to follow what I say. That wouldn't be fair nor sensible. What I want to do is just to put the thing before you in a reasonable light."
"It seems to me that a deal of nonsense is talked, and a lot of mistakes are made, in these days, through men not looking on both sides of a question. You've heard the old story of the shield, and the two knights looking upon it. One said it was made of gold, and the other would have it was made of silver; and words ended in blows, and if I'm not mistaken, one wounded the other to death. At all events, it wasn't till after there'd been fighting, that somebody passing by showed them how the shield was gold on one side and silver on the other. So both were right and both were wrong; for it was gold, but it wasn't all gold; and it was silver, but it wasn't only silver: A little patience and common-sense were wanted there, weren't they?"
"Folks do much the same now. One is on the masters' side, and he says the shield is all gold. Another is on the men's side, and he says the shield, is all silver. Neither of 'em has the sense to walk round, and take a look on the other side."
"There's the masters' side of the question, the side of Capital. There's the men's side, the side of Labour. Each has its rights, and each depends upon the other. It's all very fine to talk of independence; but I tell you, men, you can't be independent. There's no man living who can stand alone, and do for himself without help from others. You're dependent on others for the food you eat, for the clothes you wear, for the houses you live in, for the tools you work with."
"Aye, and more than that; when you buy, you're among the capitalists. Others have worked for you, and you pay them for their labour. There's no such sharp division as many make out between capitalists and labouring-men. It's a question of degrees. The working-man spends less money, and works more with his hands; the capitalist spends more money, and works less with his hands. That's the distinction. But they're all members of one community, and each depends upon the other."
"To come back to the common view of the matter; the greater amount of capital is in the masters' hands no doubt, and power goes with money. Yet, if the masters couldn't get hands to work for them, much use would their wealth be to them. The men do the work, and power goes with labour too; but if there was no capital out of which their wages would come, they'd be badly off too."
"Fact is, there's power on both sides, and there's dependence on both sides. It's the few with capital to balance the many without capital. More truly, it's the few with large capital to balance the many with little capital."
"Now you mind one thing that I have to say. Capital is your friend, and not your enemy. Some among you are given to talking about the tyranny of capital. Well, I don't say capital is never tyrannical when it gets a chance, just as I don't say labour is never tyrannical when it gets a chance too. But the 'tyranny of labour' may be as true a phrase as the 'tyranny of capital;' and all the while, each is the friend of the other. Capital is the friend of labour, and labour is the friend of capital. Capital can't get along without labour, and labour can't get along without capital. A man 'll sometimes act tyrant to his own friend, if he gets a chance—when he's thinking too much about his own pocket."