Morning journal and courier., 1883-08-20
taouruaI aro GOarisr.
Monday, August 20, 1883.
ABoUTTRADEs UNIONS.

ABOUT TRADES UNIONS.
 Trades unions have existed for long time, and their supporters cldm that they have done great deal for honest labor. Whether they have done more harm than good more justice than injustice, would, we think, be hard to tell. But there are certain things which they have done and are doing that are so clearly wrong that they cannot be defended. .The tyranny of capital Is bad,
 but the tyranny of trades unions is quite as objectionable.
 The tyranny of trades unions Is sharply illustrated by the operations of unions of workmen engaged in building in New York city. These unions comprise about nineteen thousand members, divided as follows |: Bricklsyers 4,eOo men; stone settlers, 128; i; derrickmen, 450 bod hoisting engineers, 14O; fathers, 75e; plasterers, 1,6OO plumb CTS, 300; gas filters, 800; steam filters. 425; stair builders, 360; carpenters, 5000; tin and slate roofers, 800, and tinsmiths, 750. It is desired by the unions to force every man working at these trades to become a member of the union of his trade, and it being thought that the unions are strong enough to carry the point it has been decid ed not to allow union men to work on any job where non-union men are employed. A lot of ''walking delegates" have been going about from place to place and ordering the discharge of all non-union men under penal ty of strike of those belonging to the un- ion. The coercion is exercised upon em- ployers and workmen alike, many of the latter not wishing to join the union, but be. ing compelled to do SC or lose their work. The activity of the building trade has enabled the mechanics who constitute the union to get steady employment and high wages. Not satisfied with that, they are forcing all men in their trades to join them or to quit work. Many of the contractors being under heavy obligations to complete their buildings as soon as possible are obliged to yield, and the ''walking delegates are quite successful in their mission 4
 This kind of thing is wrong, and cannot be productive of any permanent good, even if it is apparently successful for time. Work men have a right to combine in order to bet ter their condition, but they have no right to force other workmen to join 8 union. When they do this they commit grave wrong as well as grave mistake. The kind of strike engaged in by the New York build ing.strades unions ought to fail if it ought not to be summarily squelched. It will ultimate ly prove an injury to those who are carrying it on, even if it succeeds now.
 Trades unions have their legitimate field, but, considering the facts of their history, it may well be doubted if they ought to have much more to do with strikes of any kind. A strike is dreadful thing if it is D failure and bad thing if it is success. : It might peehapa be profitable for the trades unions to turn their attention to other means than strikes for improving the condition of their members. We find some very sensible sug- gestions concerning what might be done in the Springfield Republican. which says: 'sIn the first place, there should be thorough inc vestigation by the laborers' committee, or whatever it may be called, of the rate of wages paid, as compared with previous peri ods and of similar service in different fields of industry; second detailed comparison of the service rendered, it's quality, the amount of training necessary to acquire skill, and the length of time which an average man can give to it daily and at what period his power of practice is superannuated; third, a statement of the relative profits of the employer at diff ferent periods" Upon this basis the Repub- lican thinks that trades unions would be able to make strong demands for redress of griev- ances, and by resort to reason and argu- ment instead of strikes, to publicity instead of secrecy, and to continuity of service in oR &o a1a way in bettering the condition of their mem bers, These suggestions are well worth the attention of the leaders of the laborsrsin in this country, who must be aware of the general futility and waste of the strike system.