The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1900-05-19
WHY We ORGANIZE
UNIONS ARE THE BEST AGENCIES TO
SECURE LABOR's INDEPENDENCE.
What LII lDOr Must do to Secure the
Product Of it's TOil-OrGan nize and
Work In Unison to Secure the
Greatest Good for the GreHteSt
Number-'rrndr Unions nre Pro-
sressive mud at the Same Tine
are. Slow.
(By Aug. McCraith.)
q II. ~ r. 3!.ii:.'.:.., =.

(By Aug. McCraith.)
We unite because we must. 1t is not
a matter of sentiment, or charity; 1t IS
one of business. True, the blood tin
giles on beholding the brutalities OF
our industrial chaos, but while this is
an incentive it is not the foundation Of
our trade uniOnism. We are trade
unionists because there is no other
agency that will secure for us good
wages, short Workday, partial inde-
pendence in the present, and. some
time, we hope, complete.
No other agency! A bold statement.
Can we prove it?
Problem: TO secure the product OF
our labor
Not a school of economic thought,
and there are many, but acknowledges
the necessity of union to attain a we'll
as union to hold when attained. One
Individual cannot lift ten hundred
weight; ten individuals can do so with
ease. History avouches it. All evil
dence and experience make the claim
of unity automatic.
In this instance. then, union Of
bankers, lawyers, manufacturers, mer-
chants, wageworkers, such as make up
q political party? No: the first two
exploit us-we cannot unite them. The
third is Il tool of patronage, on sale;
he will tear a passion to rags" for
pelf-him, too, we must exclude. The
fourth and fifth, fellow sufferers of ours
with them we would combine against
the first: but they will not. They think
they can get more by keeping us, their
patrons, down. Are we left then, to
unite with our fellow wage worker?
But wait! We overlook the profess
sions-ministers, physicians, scholars,
editors. Capable men! Intelligent
conversant, select! But, with credit
able exceptions, lukewarm followers;
not leaders. Men of bottled opinions.
Sewage workers! And they? Rob-
bed, deceived, damned! Scoffed at
shot at. Jailed! Unanimous, of course?
Men Of similar ideas, purposes and
means? Hardly. Rather, men of vast
ly different ideas, purposeszand means,
Ito be similarized in action. Men-pro-
& gresive, tardy. commanding. resisting,
q liberal, dogmatic, heretical. orthodox,
s.sI
ali shades SlTi on of all sorts ana
conditions Of men 4 II III !
E@a5 Manifestly it. is impossible to unite
these on any composite program. AS
we'll talk of an equilibrium of faculties,
as Andrews puts it, despite the law of
Individuality. Impossible in any event
but for-self interest. The powerful
lever of mutual want, the product of
their labor. There is no diversity of
opinion on this. To secure it they will
combine on certain methods within GER
tain limits. Such methods must neces-
sarily be simple, and the limits narrow,
but not incapable of expansion. They
will not be as narrow as the narrow
est, or as broad as the broadest. They
will be average, with an upward ten
dency. due to the education which must
follow exchange of ideas and contact
The standard will be continually ad-
vanced by the dishonest yielding to the
honest, in Difference to that natural
law, the sense of right; the enlightened
will elevate the ignorant; the bark OF
the radical, answered by the growl OF
the conservative, will modify both; the
arbitrary, the resisting, hereto and or
thodox, will temporize, agree to dis
agree on cherished views and work on
common ground. Any attempt to over.
step this limit by force will result in
lukeWarmness, will break the bond OF
union. Conscience will go on strike.
CIT is safe to say that had it beer
possible to enforce all the resolutions
adopted by the trade union we would
have 'all sorts and conditions" of or.
ganizations. AS it is the individual is
partly contepted by his protest.)
The ma Aum of organization, o.
'"aniversal variety in unity" can onl,
be secured by the minimum Of coer
cion; and no matter what the organiza
tion may be, it can accomplish but lit
tie without numerical strength Th,
mass will rule despite tangents, Sucl
is the liberty Of society. That is no
progress which breaks from the mas
because Of its hardness. 1t may b.
magnificent, courageous, but it is no
war. Sooner or later the retreat mus
be made. The folly of such is apexe,
when they attack masses of their fel
low sufferers, as do some anarchists
state socialists and others. The mos
they can do is to disrupt. defeat union
and then later, when wiser and explo
ded, get off the union track; or bac
into the fold and teach, If their fool
hardness has not discounted their use
fulness. This ability to break shoul
only be exercised when coercion is at
tempted.
So, then, we must have union, whic
must be numerically strong whic
must be Of average desire, and whic
will be educational, flexible, and henc
progressive. Such is the highest for1
Of organization that man can achiev
built upon common ground, alon
which its pathway must be traced: an
such is the-trade union.
We will secure the product of OF
labor by the progressive trade union.
Trade unions are progressive? Ye,
both progressive and slow. Slow b,
cause they have the mass to educat
and progressive because Sof their educ.
tiOn. During the paat f7acade tho +ro1