Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1882-08-12
The Trades Unions

SanlZeu OStenSlbly IN the interests of labor
have made in their methods and demands
within few years is sufficient to startlc
every thoughtful mind. The workmen in
separate establishments at first banded to-
gether for single occasion and :'struck'
for higher wages. If their employer could
find enough unoccupied laborers or crafts.
men content to accept the old wages their
strike was Il failure. If he could not. then
he was forced to concedc the advance and
the workmen returned to their service.
When they were victorious the men would
then insist that any laborcr who had ac-
ccpted the old terms and taken employment
While they wore out, should leave on their
return.
Later on the associations became more
permanent; the members paid regular dues
to accumulate funds to support any of the
craft or guild who should be idle through a
revolt, and different trades extended their
organizations through the country, so that
IN case of trouble in one place they might
nave assistance and cooperation from their
brethren at Il distance Members of these
unions began to favor each other, to assist
those on their roll to get work, and very
soon to refuse to work in al Office or shop
employed.
When their right to dictate who should be
employed with them was conceded in. any
establishment, then they proceeded to draw
up arbitrary rules and regulations for the
conduct of their employers business. Those
who have not been familiar with the inside
working Of union shops" have little idea to
what an extent this dictation has been car
rcd. \ committee" was named, and no
one could be hired OF discharged except up
on the approval of the chairman. The en-
ployer who submitted became so trammel-
ed that nc could not select any man even
among those in his employment for anv
special description ofwork ,orrecognizing one
as more skilled than another, avail himself
OF the fact in any particular job requiring
extra expertness or superior intelligence.
TO keep down the number of skilled work
men the instruction of apprentices was for
hidden in all the trades except on IL limited
scale and under the supervision of the un-
ion. A smart, active youth, desiring to
learn any particular handicraft, ought, in a
free country, to have that right beyond
question. Especially if many employers de-
sired his services, and were willing to teach
him, there ought to be no further hindrance.
But the boy, willing to learn, and the mas
ter, anxious to accept and teach him, were
poweress in the presence of the union.
These men wanted few or no rivals they
were unwilling that more than very limi-
ted number should come into the same trade
on any terms, and were to the master and to
thc boy who attempted to defy their regula-
tions
In all communities where it has been safe
to carry out their rules, they have not ONLY
in
work except Oh their own conditions. but TO
prevent by intimidation, and by force and
violence ifneed be, any one willing to ac-
ccpt the terms they refused from ayailinr
himself of the offered opportunity. IF there
is one right more sacred than another if
Is that OF a freeman in free country to con-
tract his own labor Oh terms acceptable to
him and his employer. This has been
trampled upon everywhere, and often with
the most brutal tyranny.
when the strong arm of the law backed
with sufficient police and military force has
prevented the resort to violence, u later
measure, none the less indefensible, has been
adopted, by which the force is applied in
another form. 1t has borrowed an Irish
name and is called "boycotting." A brewer
has misunderstanding with his hands, and
they leave him in body. If others are
willing to work for him, and they dare not
assail them by force and drive them from
the place, they apply themselves to his Gus
toners No one must sell his beer. They
mark every shop where a package of the
fluid has been taken, and ruin the custom OF
the place unless it is surrendered.
So of starch factory which has dared to assert
| It's independence. No grocer, under penalty oi
losing his custom must sell pound of that starch
The product of soap factory is interdiccd in tho
same way, and the sytem is extending to all the
industries oflife. The coercion began with theil
own employers. Take a very common illustra
tion The proprietor of an establishment whcr,
hands had struck paid for an advertisement at the
counter of city newspaper asking for workmen
1t was simple notice under Wants." rejecting
upon no one, and could not have been more un.
cxceptionable in language and spirit. It did moi
appear the next morning, and it was found that
| the printers that being union Office had refused
to bring out the morning issue unless that advcr
tisement was left out They declared that NJ
man whose hands had struck should advertise fo]
help in that paper!
| The latest form Of the demand is the position
taken by the trades unionists and their allies il
the working classes against immigration The,
will not allow native boys to learn their trades
and now they have associated with common labor
ers to prevent if possible any further addition t.
the working force Of the country, no matter how
unSkilled it may be.-N. J. Journal of Commerce
THE POWER OF CHLoRoFoRM.-Prof Pau
Bert, of France, has made experiments t.