The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1900-12-01
THE ETHICAL SIDE
OF TRADE UNlONISM IS ABLY DWELT
on by PROF. BEMIS.
Unions Resemble Trusts in Many of
Their Aims and Objects. Yet They
Differ in Many Essential Points
Unions benefit MilliOns-They Help
the Poor Who Need Help-Have
Improved Condition Of Labor.

The trade union has been compared
to the modern trust. 1t is strikingly
like the latter in some respects, but
! different from it in others. Like the
| typical trust, many trades unions seek
! to obtain a. monopoly and secure mo-
nopoly prices. Sidney Webb designates
the principle as that of a compulsory
| maintenance of the standard Of life -
It might be called both the compul-
sorry maintenance and the elevation Of
this standard, so far as that is depend
ent on wages, hours of labor and other
industrial conditions.
Under the present economic organi-
cation Of society the vast mass of work
men who have no special individual
reputation, as has the lawyer, the ply
sician, the teacher, the artist and tie
writer, are in fierce competition fer
employment. Those who will work
the cheapest are likely to pe hired.
Assuming that the many claimants for
employment have all a passable know
ledge of their trade, those that will
, work the cheapest are likely to be
hired. Under these circumstances Z
| species of cutthroat competition arises,
and workmen, weak individually, with
out much financial resource or know
ledge Of trade conditions, are under
the temptation to work for less
| than it is to the advantage of society
that they should receive. Business
prosperity is advanced by high pur-
chasing power among the masses. To
develop this power is vastly more inn
portant and permanent in it's effects
iS01, 1,1Ct1ei io1 ifry +ho~ h.
crowding upon foreign markets of the
so-colled surplus products" of our
factories. Under any rational distri-
button of income our industries would
never have much unstable surplus
product, even if there were no foreign
trade whatever.
1t has been likewise conceded by
most investigators that a high pur-
chasing power among the many in
creases home decencies and comforts,
morals and education. Sometimes the
saloon is chiefly benefited by high
wages and short hours, but usually
the reverse is true. In. the light Of the
experience Of England and America,
rev ar Us US rs deny sthd tie
trade union movement has to some ex-
of labor. AS result have come the
social and ethical advantages Just men
toned. Just as the trust, however,
often refuses to deal with any who will
not confine their trade to the trust, so
| the union often refuses to work with
non union men. 1t is a policy of force,
| not very pleasant to contemplate, and
| yet I believe entirely defensible, and
even necessary, in the present social
conditions, so far, at least, as the un-
| ion is concerned. If it is a good thing
to raise wages, and if refusal to work
with a nOn-uni0n man increases the
power of the union in this direction
and II such refusal is not inherently
sinful, it may be defended as an inter-
ference with ons freedom of action in
order to secure greater freedom from
poverty for all, since any general rise
in the wages of trade secured by a
! combination Of workmen is likely to
raise the wages even in establishments
where only non-union labor is en-
ployed.
! While the union resembles the trust
| in many of it's aims and methods, it
| differs from it in the following essen
| tial points, The labor organiza ton
benefits millions instead of thousands:
| it aids the poor who need improved
social conditions rather than the rich
who do not; it is far more democratic
! in it's organization, for the labor union
| usually admits to it's membership at
any time all good workmen of the
trade who wish to join, and on terms
F., of perfect equality, with equal chance
with old members to secure the Off
cial positions of control and emolument
, We are all familiar with how, when
, the financially weak are taken into
the trust, they are usually given only
subordinate positions, and if allowed