The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1886-03-18
TO FIGHT UNITED LABOR.
CAPITALISTS PROPOSE TO CON-
TINUE f THEIR ORG CARNATIONS.
The Much-To-Be DeplOred Conflict Be-
tween La Dor and Capital is Near al
Hand.-Organization v. Organization.

Editorial in New York Star
\ few years ago there was not a single
trade union in the country able to stand a
protracted strike. Skilled labor had partly
organized, and unskilled labor was at the
mercy of rapacious employers The con
dition of partly skilled labor ten years ago
was illustrated by the mill operatives of
New England and the miners of Pennsyl
vania
Adjoining each factory, in such cities as
Fall River, Lowell and Worcester, there
stand the many peopled tenement houses
and the companys stores, living witnesses
of the way in which the employer in the
mill was the landlord, the butcher, the
banker, the clothier and the shoemaker of
the men and women at the looms.
Every operative was forced to live in
tenement house owned by the factory, and
to buy provisions at factory stores. Books
were given them, and over their sigma
lures they were permitted to have as
much as their wages would pay for, minus
the amount of their rent. They were
ground down as fine as the corn in the
mill. Petition after petition was sent to
the great men who lived in the grand
houses near them. Legislative committees
were appointed to inquire into their griev
ances, and laws were passed to right their
wrongs. But wages fell lower and lower,
owners came to be envied by the work
men. They were bound tighter each year
until it was so that the labor of their life
times would not let them save enough to
exist single week unemployed The fac
tory rents and the factory butcher bills
took all.
The factory and mine barons had fOrg
ed stronger chains than the old feudal
lords who killed their serfs at will. III
~, l, ~eN M for
ries were built and gigantic tenements
were raised in their shadows Cigar max
ing became one of the greatest industries
of the country, and there was not room
enough in the factories for the hands. The
tenements became the factories. Fathers,
mothers and little ones turned from their
chairs at the breakfast tables, and toiled
on the piles Of tobacco at their sides. All
day long they worked and far into the
night, and left the nauseOus heap of un-
worked leaves by their bedsides Each
day was like its predecessor. There were
in these tenements no school books; only
yellow faced men, haggard women and
children who had never laughed. They
grew older, married, lived in other tene
ments, and continued the lives Of their
childhood. The other tOilers in the city
We're like them. In some of the tenements
fathers worked in the smelling works with
their sons and mothers and daughters in
the shirt and cloak factories. There was
no redress for them. The foot of capital
held them down, and pitilessly ground out
the love and JOY of their lives.
In other States it was the same. Boys
went down into the coal mines of Penn
sylvania and their bodies came up to be
buried not quite so deep. They lived and
labored, and in the evening Of their lives
| their hands were as empty as IN the morn
| ing Here, too, were the coal mine butch
er shops, the coal mine clothiers, and the
| coal mine shoemakers. They We're hardy,
stubborn men, and now and again when
they came into the light OF day they heard
men speak Of the dignity of labor, and
! that the workman was worthy OF his hire.
SO they reb He'd. They met in the mines,
and at the same time their brothers met
in the factories and tenements. There
were disorganized, dissatisfied bodies of
men This was the infant child trade un
ionism. The capitalists determined to
strangle it in birth. A black list was Gre
ated, and it was decreed that any man or
woman who complained should be dis
charged, and that discharge from one
mine or one factory meant discharge from
all mines and all factories. This was the
other infant organization of capital. Soon
every factory had black list. Every rail
| rOaO udu one, duu every LIIue ouC
Discharge in those early days meant star
vation.
There came a break in the labor ranks.
The most skillful resolved on organization.
| Engineers the building trades, machinists,
better paid and better skilled workmen,
everywhere united and prepared These
unions grew slowly but strongly Skilled
men were few, better educated, more
thoughtful and more apt to assert their
rights. The engineers formed their broth
erhood and the bricklayers and stonecut-
ters their unions. The men in the lower
strata could not see how the grand idea of
malgamation was working for their
benefit. They saw the men above strike
for higher wages and fewer hours of toll
and win, but their lot was the same, and
the shadow of the factory grew larger and
darker. Time and again the skilled men
struck and failed They discovered that
the factory pool could afford to allow one
section of its factories to be idle if the
others We're at work and the men on top
called on the men below to join them.
The unskilled then formed into distinct
bodies. and hence came the car drivers
organizations and kindred bodies. But
capital was all powerful still.
But one day man came before all the
workingmen with new gospel and said
''the injury to one is the concern of all ,
: 1t was new idea, born of truth and ex
, perience. The Knights of Labor were its
fruits. Every workingman in the land was
: called upon to join one great body and tt
4 stand shouldex to shoulder against the
: allied capital Of the country There the
: weapon of success was fashioned, and il
e time it came about that if man was un
justly discharged from railroad another
4 man wearing the blouse of labor could b,
lifting his hand stop every car wheel OF
V the road. Soon so perfect will be that or
ganization that the unjust discharge of
girl in New England factory car. resul
in the destruction of the offending com
pany. Single organization has failed. Tn
Western Union telegraph operators lef
S their batteries one day, but were force,
back to them.
!, !; A few days ago the Pennsylvania Rail
+ road tried to make the men insure them
selves in the Railroad insurance Office, an
L said if they didn't theywould be discharged
Chief Engineer Arthur told the road to re
y scind the order He was a single mar
r but behind him was organized labor. Th
order was countermanded before the bio
a was struck. Several weeks ago the ca
"A drivers on the Third Avenue line demande
twelve hours work and the same pay &
i, for fourteen hours. They got it. Men o
j. one road after another demanded the sam
-, thing.
p, The demands of the workingmen al