St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1886-05-30
ST R X Il :.
why Union Men Cannot work with
NOn-UniOn Men Explained.

! why Union Men Cannot work with
NOn-UniOn Men Explained.
To the Editor of the Globe:
am tired of lectures to the laboring classes
about the folly OF strikes. am astonished at
the ignorance and stupidity with which the
subject is dscussed-no, that is not the word
| -dogmatized on by capitalistic writer's of
considerable ability. Some OF these men hold
up their hands in affected horror at the idea
of union printers, for example, refusing to
work with non-unlon men, when they know,
or ought TO know, that the right to DO just
that wicked thing, and the stern necessity of
doing 1t, have been demonstrate by a hum
dred years Of battle. One non-union man in
an office opens the way for another, and soon
| it is complete disunion. And what does that
word mean to workmen OF q little experience
or very small modicum of common sense?
| They know it means defeat in detail, and
wages eternally growing lower. They know
that divided they fall-united they have
good chance to stand, and therefore, they feel
Justified i'll saying to the mean or the weak
brother who will not join the union and stand
up for his own rights and that of his craft,
1--WE will not work with you Do you say
this is tyranny" Certainly it is. But there
is great deal of justifable tyranny in this
world. War is full OF tyranny, and society
is war. This is the great fact of the case
one not to be ignored or evaded. You capit-
alists are at war with each other. You are
ready to take all advantages pos sible. If one
man gets labor for 10 cents a day others must
follow suit. If great capitalist can ruin
his small competitor by putting down his rate
Of profit, that is considered right-no matter
what the consequences may be. But look at
the other side of the case. The wOrkingman
can make the most serious charges against
these self-righteous lecturers, and do so in
the words Oh men of the highest authority in
the land, or the world-from Adam Smith
down to the present day. For example, take
t.rv1IN Tod xf T-,,1
the historian, ''the only really dangerous
class in this country is the selfish rich This
sentiment, recently quoted and Endorsed by
President Hitchcock in his lecture on Social
ism before the alumni of Union Theological
seminary, New York, was vigorously pre-
sented by DR.. Howard Crosby of New York,
as truth of prime Importance in this dis
cusson. The Illustrated Christian Weekly Of
New York, a conservative and able journal,
| in its last number says:
Labor feels, and feels rightly, that it does
not have its fair share of profits I'm
| general, it may be said with exact truth, that
| it has been the habit of capital to Cypress
| labor. There is, moreover, the fact that the
| capitalist has treated the laborer too much as
| mere machine" These are facts Endorsed
| by every great writer on political economy The
| fact that labor is treated as a commod1ty-a
| thing to be bought aud sold according to the
| law of wages, at the lowest possible rates,
without regard to the comfort or welfare of
| the laDOrer, is one that not even the StentOr-
ian lungs of Hon. W. S. King can prevent
from being considered. OF course, enthusi-
astic, half-mad coyetousneSs gets III rage
| when the mud-SillS do not consent to be dis
| united and run over without resistance.
| That is natural.
| But it is equally natural for the mud-sil to
| grumble, write and act to prevent being
| crushed, and he is very foolish specimen of
| his tribe if he does not see that union is his
only hope. AS for the teachings and eXhorta-
tions OF philosophers and preachers to the
4 rich to be good and kind to their operators
| all that is bosl. The lowest price rules the
| market and il one mean man in hundred
takes advantage of the poverty of his work.
4 men to get his products into market at lower
rate than others who pay fair wages, even
| these philosophers and preachers will patron
| iZe him. They should refuse to touch an
article of his ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS stock, but
| they will not; they will rush eagerly to his
cheap store, and thereby be as mean as he is,
or meaner, for he may be driven by neces-
| sity. But if they refuse to deal with him that
| is the dreadful thing called the boycott"
which some people propose to make illegal
| and punishable by fine and imprisonment
Gentlemen lecturers, take the huge beams of
| selfshness, cruelty and hypocrisy out of your
| own eyes before telling u.s. in lordly, infal-
| lible way, what we should do. We have Or
| ganized, we will organize; we will not give I'D
| our unions that have made you wake up,
| whimper, howl and dogmatize. That is better
| than contemptuous silence, and we shall try
| to keep you from going to sleep again.
| SANCTIFIED COMMON SENSE,
| Minneapolis, May 20.