The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-06-03
ABOUT TRADEs-UNIoNs.
An Exposition of the Sort of "Protection
They Give the WorkinGman.

An Exposition of the Sort of Protection
They Give the Workingman.
Editorial in Puck.
Mr.. John Smith, Central Labor Union: Dear
Sir-Last week l ventured to address few
remarks to you on matters of business The
fact that you have not taken the advice of GER
tain gentlemen from foreign countries. and have
refrained from Furnishing me with the rifle or the
dynamite cartridge for my audacity in taking an
interest in your affairs, embodens me TO speak
to you again. think if, after listening to
what | said last week, you we're to ask me
question, it would be: do you not
belie,gain trades unions2" Certainly, "helieve
in" trades unions. Emphateally l believe in
trades-unions. But believe in the trades union
that protects the trade-not in the trades union
that destroys it. believe in the trades union
that makes honest faithful and capable work
men, giving fair work for fair wages. l do not
believe in the trades union that makes idlers and
brawlers and drunkards; that sends men out on
strike without good and sufficient cause that
encourages boycotting and other forms of law
lessness Such union is a curse to the com
mnnty; curse to the men who compose it
Let me tell you something about trades unions,
Mr.. Smith. have been studying some of the
official reports of Typographical Union No 6
choose this union for an illustration because it is
the largest, and one of the oldest, solidest and
| most conservative of it's kind Now let Us sit
down together and study over these reports. Let
us see how the managers of Typographical
| Union Nc are conducting the business in
| trusted to them by Its members. Understand,
| we are to take only the figures furnished as by
the officers of the Union. Their reports most
| unbusiness-like documents; but We will accept
| their statements as correct
This union is a protective association. 1t
regulates the dealings of its mem bers with their
| employers, supports them financially IL the
| strikes it orders, and, at the death "f member
| in good standing, paws his family $3.50 There is
| an initiation fee of So. and the monthly dues are
| 90 cents. The report issued in 1885 gives the
annual receipts for 1883 and 1884 These were
respectively 4027 So and $26, 3l3 63-together,
| $50 BAL Is. The expenditures for these two
years were 500 500 So. This is not good show
| ing-$l96 81 to the bad. But let US see
what these expenditures were. We will
/ take the two years. For funeral benefits and
| expenses, the union paid So, l2l g. For the re-
| lief of members strike, SD, 800 98-n all
1923, 9226 6 All the rest of the money went for
| the expenses of the management On the face
OF it. this shows that it $26 398 81 to handle
I 500, 942 60. This does not show very we'll in a
! business way. Bnt let us so a little further and
| look at some of the items among the expendi-
! lures. For donations. dues and taxes to other
| organizations, we find So, 1913 IS. For committee
| service and strike arcount-that is for manag-
ing strikes, not for supporting strikers-$6
800 20 For publishing The Boycotter-a paper
which incites workmen to illegal vioience-$l,-
| 902 93
| But let US dive a little deeper, Mr.. Smith, and
| look at one or two particular items among the
| expenditures On sept oU 1854, S4Zo.UU was
| paid for expenses of secret committee on Com
| mercia Advertiser and Tribune" This means
| that $42o. 90 was paid to spies and agitators to
| stir MP strikers in the Offices of those papers.
/ The strikes were made. They cost the
union $5,483 Ga There is no way out CT
It, MIR. Smith, this is bad business for any
| union These men did not strike Of their own
/ accord; they struck because they were practical
" forced to by the union And, by its own show
| ing, the union did not pay the strikers the full
amount of their wages during all the period that
! they were out of employment So we must add
/ to their account the amount that the men them.
( selves lost. Are there any means of computing
| the losses that idleness entails2
We could go much further into these reports
Mr. Smith, but this ought to be quite far enough
/ to show that the worklngmans interests are not
always hest protected by those who make pro-
fession of serving as his friends. The reports
| are loose, inadequate, and often cOnfessedly in
correct In the statement of the auditing COM
mittee | find the following paragraph
''ln fact. the constitutional check system pro-
vided by the union seems 10 have afforded little
or no check. the committee finding lao evidence
that n thorough examination Of the receipts and
expenditures at the sacretary'e office was made
by any officers committee"
''In fact" Mr.. Smith. the whole business has
been grossly mismanaged. We do not say that
| the union God forbid that we should think
that one workingman eonld rob another. but was
ever $50 600 so frittered awayf Nine thousand,
one hundred and twenty one dollars in payments
/ to the families of dead mem6ers-over forty -one
| thousand for eating mn and sustaining
conflicts between employer and EN-
ployed AN1 at the end Of all