years ago, first in the great Calumet & Hecla Copper Company,
and then in some of the larger railroads; and was on the point of
meeting general acceptance when it evoked the hostility of organized
labor, which secured legislation in Ohio and other States making it
a crime, or at least unlawful, for either side to make a contract
whereby any part of the wages was taken or withheld for such purposes.
The German theory of old-age pensions is based upon this principle;
but it is so unpopular in America that frequently in the South, when
things are done for the workmen, they are hardly permitted to know it;
a pretence, at least, is made that their own contributions are the
entire support of the hospital, library, reading-room, or whatever it
may be, when, in fact, the lion's share is borne by the company. There
is no doubt that the American laborer resents being done good
to, except by himself; and is organized to resent any system of
beneficence to the point of making it actually prohibited by the law.

Much of the legislation described in this chapter is wise, and
probably all of it is wise in intention. Yet, in closing, one cannot
resist calling attention to the unforeseen dangers that always attend
legislation running counter to the broad general basis of Anglo-Saxon
civilization. One need make no fetich of freedom of contract to
believe that laws aimed against it may hit us in unexpected ways. For
one famous example, the cash weekly-payment law in Illinois existed in
1893. In that year there was a great panic. Nobody could obtain any
money; mills and shops were closing down, particularly in Chicago.
Everybody was being thrown out of employment, and distress to the
point of starvation ensued. In the very worst days of that panic
some of the largest and most charitable employers of labor met their
employees in a monster mass meeting, and reported that while they
could not pay in full and nothing apparently was in prospect but an
actual shutdown, they had succeeded in getting enough cash to keep all
their employees, provided they would take weekly half what was owing
to them in money, and the short-time notes or obligations of the
firms, or even of banks, for the remainder. The offer evoked the
greatest enthusiasm, was unanimously accepted by the thousands of
employees, and amid great rejoicing the meeting adjourned;--only to
find by the advice of their counsel next morning that under the laws
of the State of Illinois suc