St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-07-24


all. They have proved themselves wise
and conservative. Their aim has con-
stantly been to adyaace the interests of
the members bv every legitimate means
Ut hand. They have avoided and dis
couraged strikes, believing their inf1u-
ence TO be destructive and demoraliz.
ing. and yet they have never failed to
secure approval for all their Just de-
mands. Employers as well as worKmen
have been benefited. for they have been
able TO undertake enterprises of magni-
tude, assured that in their midst they
would not be confronted with walk.
out of their employees and sudden de-
mand for an increase of wages. Taking
the scale agreed upon at the beginning
OF each season, they could calculate ac-
curately their profits on contracts and
carry them through to completion. the
workmen, too. were benefited by know
lug precisely what they would receive
for their services. There was no danger
OF the failure of the bosses to paw, for
everything was based upon o mathe-
NAUTICAL certainty.
This is the system inaugurated by the
Federation OF Labor with the concur
renee of employers generally. 1t has
proved mutually advantageous and sat.
lsfactory. Ii there is an abundance of
work in sight at the beginning of any
given season, the employers are justl-
ned IN Offering larger pay than is Gus
toinary. and the employees may be war
rantad In asking it. If there is likely to
be dull season, the fact will Justify
employers In lowering wages and their
workmen in accepting a reduction.
The system is In effect that of profit
sharing. Ii the season is active and
profitable, wages are increased; if the
reverse, the contrary policy is pursued.
1t would be the height OF folly to ex-
change such benefcent organizations
Tor the American Railway union, gov
erned as it is by men anarchistic in
their views and destructive in their
tendencies. This order has never done
aught for the working men of which it
has reason to boast. The strike it has
recently conducted has brought untold
injury upon the public. Millions of
dollars worth of property has been de-
stroyed and hundreds of lives have
been sacrificed-the lives of innocent
men and women for the most part-and
what has been accomplished? The lead
ers are under arrest for conspiracy
against the authority and peace of the
United States; tens of thousands of the
strikers are out of employment, their
families suffering for want of shelter,
food and clothing, with greater hard
ships in prospect for the winter; the
members OF the order are in general re-
volt against the dictatorship of Debs
and his fellow incendiaries, and de-
nouncing them for Turing them into all
absurd strike, foreordained 10 defeat.
Do the leaders. with such record. ex-
pect that the laboring classes will re-
pose confidence in them? Do they
anticipate that old and tried unions,
under whose control labor and capital
have alike prospered, will be abah-
doned for such a diSorganizing eabalo
The thought is preposterous. and can
not be for moment entertained.
Railroad managers and employers
generally have no quarrel with the
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers
or the American Federation of Labor
as they are at present conducted. Every
one recognizes the right or classes to
combine for mutual protection and adj
vantage. and they will not be opposed
unless they shall. be perverted. as the
American Railway union has been per-
verted. into instruments of oppression,
outrage and anarchy. The Railway
union has proved itself to be an enemy
to peace and security, and instead of
absorbing other labor unions it must
give place to organizations that are
governed by men of higher aims and
purer motives.
The boast of the managers of the
American Railway union is mere bonn
bast. The workmen of the country
are not fools, and will not rush heed
lessly to their own destruction.