A Letter From Syracuse

Philip Fieg, age 26, attending Syracuse University after returning home from World War II, found himself at odds with the dormitory proctor.

In letters to his girlfriend and future wife, Jean Davie -- letters now re-examined after more than six decades -- Philip philosophizes about the age-old conflict between labor and management.  Noting the differences between their backgrounds, he and proctor John Owens took their positions.  Wrote Philip, "If our backgrounds were exchanged, we would be arguing on opposite sides, I know."

He continued, "[It] is difficult to separate your logical thoughts from those which are the result of personal experience.  It takes a pretty great mind to see outside himself and desire what is best for all, rather than what is best for himself.  John thinks he is liberal enough to desire the greatest good for the greatest number, but what he really wants is the greatest good for his class -- even as [do] I."

In an attempt to offer a foundation for his views, Philip mused,  "(My father)...came to Oneonta with the desire to be his own boss, so he invested his savings, put two mortgages on his house, borrowed money and announced to the world that he was no longer Lothar Fieg, carpenter, but L. Fieg, Builder.

"He worked and worried through many years, maintaining a high order of honesty and integrity.  He attempted to do always the best job possible.  He was not afraid to work with his hands himself.

"... In the last half of the nineteenth century the wages his father earned as a stone cutter barely provided food and clothing for a family....  [Lothar] went to work when he was ten and worked for the rest of his life.

"He was intelligent enough to learn, though, and he taught himself estimating, construction formulae, the characteristics of wood and steel beams, concrete strength and the thousand-and-one things a builder must know.

"He could get along with ditch diggers and bankers, immigrant railroad workers who wanted a room plastered and the town's richest man (Edwin W. Elmore), owner of a feed mill, for whom he built a mansion on a hill.

"His work was enough for him, and as long as he could put food before his family and shoes on their feet (and socks three sizes too large for them, so that they must be turned under), he was satisfied.  He made no attempt to get rich.  He never drank when his children were small.

"The only recreation he allowed himself were occasional weekend motor trips.  He had no car.  When the family went on a trip they rode in the back of the truck on benches.

"Now he is 63, and he is beginning to wear out.  The machine was a good machine and it was kept in good running order by never being allowed to stop so long it got rusty.  But a machine must wear out.

"He is a Republican and a free-enterpriser, and the new government regulations and forms are an abomination to him.  Every year there is another form to fill out every month and another tax to pay.  Every year it becomes more difficult to operate his business, and more involved.

".... So the father becomes more petulant, more easily angered, more tired.  He feels that the government is taking away from him what he gave his life to.  He has loved his work and been proud of it.  His aim was never to make money, but to do what he wanted to do and do it to the best of his ability.

Phid reveals the meat of his argument:  "But now he is lumped together with all employers, and is subjected to the same treatment as what are referred to in campaign speeches as 'The Wall Street Interests.'

"A few men have worked for him ever since he went into business for himself.  They ... could have set themselves up as employers instead of employees.  But they lack something he has -- they lack the willingness to take the risks....

"Must he then be responsible for their being born less endowed than he?  He makes about $5,000 a year.  Must he charge higher prices so that he can support a pension program for his employees?

"Perhaps the answer is yes.  Perhaps those who are more fortunate than others must take care of those less fortunate.... Such is the attitude of the young liberal -- John Owens.  His desire is 'to make my small contribution to the community.'

".... What I am suspicious of is his method -- government intervention.  So far, few of the government's efforts have been anything but wasteful and confused.  Turn something over to the government and it becomes immediately unprofitable and twisted up in reams of red tape.

"I am also repelled by the attempt at leveling -- putting everybody on the same plane ....  Men are not all born equal, and to make them all equal will always be an artificial equality."

Ed. note:  The preceding opinions, observations and sentiments are not necessarily those of the Fieg Family News,  its staff, management and stockholders,  nor the Fieg family.  They were condensed from one of three letters sent to me by my mother, Jean Davie Fieg.  She thought it would be good grist for the mill.  It was a great pleasure for Greg and me to collaborate with my father post mortem.