The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-07-23
A Question Asked OF Bishop Potter.

The Hod. Hoisting Engineers Union has
introduced a new problem for religious dis
cussion in this question, which it has pro-
pounded to Bishop POTTER:
"f . church or cathedral DO built by non. union
mon. should Il be attended by union worshippep1"
The occasion for this consultation Of the
Bishop Is the circumstance that upon the
Cathedral of ST. John the Divine, now
in course of erection, n%on-union men
are employed. The union requirement
is that union workmen must refuse
employment wherever non-union men are
accepted, and it would carry its prohi.
bition 80 far as to make the purchase or
use Of any product Of %on-unio labor a
cause for discipline. Some OF the greatest
and bitterest strikes that have ever &C.
CURED have not been for higher wages.
but against employers simply for en-
ploying other than union labor. Many
thousands Of men hav thrown up their
work and seriously retarded or incon-
venienced important enterprises merely
because a few men not included in a labor
union have been found at work in them.
Perhaps it may have been a single man only.
If, then, that principle Is sound and de-
fensible in morals and public polity, Its
corollary that the product of the non.union
labor is vitiated also must stand In reason.
The old Abolitionists of the more extreme
sort refused to use or consume any product
of slave labor. For instance, they would
not eat sugar made from the sugar cane of
slaveholding countries, c%ontenting them
selves with the maple sugar of the free
North, for then beet sugar had not been
introduced in this country. They did not
use cotton cloth and would nave no part
nor parcel with the accursed institution Of
human slavery. II, too, the labor union
plan is to be carried out thoroughly, there
must be q similar refusal to make any use
of the product of labor not unionized.
On that principle, obviously, union men
must refuse to attend a church or a cathe.
dral built by non-union labor. They can
not attend ii without violating the spirit
of unionism and without lessening its
power. They must demand that churches
shall be built by union labor only. under
penalty of their boycott If the demand is
not gratified.
Bishop POTTER has obtained distinction
as an arbitrator between the unions and
employers, and in his decision in the case
OF the photographers he took the ground
that the general social well being properly
governed its righteous settlement. But how
will he do with the question submitted
to him by the Hod.Hoisting Engineers
Union2 A cathedral, of course. Is erected
on the theory that 1t is necessary for the
spiritual welfare of society. Thu more eco
nomically it can be built, other things being
equal, the more likely it is to be put up for
the worship of GOD. Such economy may be
secured by employing cheaper labor than
that of the unions; but the unions rules may
compel it to stop work, or may put in its
way obstacles which will increase the
cost, and, therefore, prevent It's compile
ton. II, then, the union can righteously OBJ,
struct the erection of the cathedral, why
is it not equally justified in refusing to at.
tend its services when it has been built by
non-union laborl
Bishop POTTER cannot answer the ques.
ton Of the Hold Holsters without tacklina
a profound principle against which the
labor organizations offend; for, whatever
may be said in defence Of the labor union
as an institution made necessary by the
cruel competition Of our civilization, it il
indefensible under the law and the spirit
of the teachings of JESUS.