The Advocate and news., 1898-08-17
The EmpIOyIng PrIntsr and one WOrL-

efS.
In the Inland Printer, under the head
OF "The Employing Printer" Mr.. Che
rouny's views are given. BY way Of in
PRODUCTION 1t Is stated that 1t may bC
doubted whether in the ranks Of trades
unionism there can be found one more
enthusiastically in favor Of trade organ
ization or more hopeful Of good from
such sources than is Mr.. II. w. Che
rOuny, the New York master printer
whose views upon the subject have, on
two recent occasions, found expression
In these columns. Mr.. CherOunys Opin'
ions, while not those generally held by
employing printers, are entitled to every
consideration. They are, as heretofore
stated, the outgrowth of long years Of
experience and of the successful man
agement of extensive interests In the
printing line.
Mr.. Cherouny says:
Those who favor unlimited competi-
tion as the rule Of business intercourse
often say that trades unionism, with its
tendency to limit competition, rests on
foreign ideas of business life, saVoring
of socialism.
Does 1t not take much presumption to
assert that the fifteen millions OF Amer
lean laborers now struggling for busi-
ness equality are so weak-minded as to
allow foreigners to lead them astray
and to forget their allegiance to what is
proudly called True American Business
Spirit?"
In order to see clearly II there Is any
groundwork for remarks Of this charac-
ter, I have tried to grasp the American
spirit which, If anywhere, must be
found In the works of the Federalist
fathers of the Republic, and, indeed
these ancient writings manifest spirit
which seems lost to our present genera
tion; yes, there is craftsmanship second
to none in the world and philosophy
that does not clash with pure and re-
fined sentiments Of pious hearts; and
political economy which begins and ends
with the rule: Live and let live
But nowhere in the fundamental laws
Of the nation, or in the commentaries
thereon, have | seen anything to give
ground for the arguments Of trades In
dividualists denying to organized work.
ingmen the right OF reforming the la
Dor contract system by the institution
of new business customs. Nowhere
have l seen fixed law Of God or OF the
nation forbidding two, three or more
citizens to agree upon living price for
whatever they have for sale. Neither is
there any injunction against trades
uniOnism, nor command to make and
enforce so-called conspiracy laws. Yet,
employers have from the beginning to
this day spoken Of trades unions as
schools Of murder and anarchy. They
have told their working people In a
thousand ways that resistance against
the abuse Of industrial liberty was apos.
tasy, nay, high treason, tainting the
American citizenship with something
indescribably detestable. The worm twist
ing in agony under the heel Of the mas
ter was stigmatized as sociallstic leader,
and the capitalists forming associations
to save their property from destruction
through competition are treated by the
press and many legislatures as highway
robbers.
What caused the growth of such SEN
tlments? The economic works of Adam
Smith, Ricardo, Mill, etc, have inspired
covetousness with the presumptions of
PhAAOOOPiAyl NhNJ bAVVA W bAOCu
the haughtiness Of that knowledge
which shall vanish away, and which
Carlyle calls "the dismal science" And
as the propensity Of men, cutting the an
chors of ancient authority, is toward
licentiousness, which the ambitious call
and the ignorant believe to be liberty;
SO most people Of our age think that the
right to drive hard bargains everywhere
is the essence Of American liberty-the
goddess herself, incarnated. OF course
II this be true, then trades unions and
producers associations who say to com
petition, So far and no farther! must be
considered as dangerous institutions.
"One Of the weak sides Of republics is
that they afford too easy an inlet to for
eign corruption. Hamilton, Federal
ist, XXI.