The labor world., 1900-09-08

and desirable for it's elevation and i'm
provement. Human nature is much
the same everywhere and under ali
circumstances, and in this day of vast
Accommodations of capital it is natural
for these combinations to wrest from
! labor more than their share of the
| wealth which labor and capital have
jointly produced. It is impossible for
| the individual laborer alone and single
handed to maintain and preserve his
rights against the power of combined
| capital. Alone he can accomplish
nothing, but by cooperation with his
fellows he may hope for a more just
division of the wealth produced. And
if through the trades unions the Ia
borer succeeds in securing a fair divi-
sion of the fruits of labor, he not only
| benefits himself individually, but raises
| the condition of the wealth producing
| class to which he belongs, and helps to
| create d prosperity that is enjoyed by
all alike and not by few only La
Dor has it's rights, and capital has it's
rights. Each ought to respect the
rights of the other.
"You will doubtless agree with me
that trades unions have not always
| resorted to the fairest means for the
righting of their wrongs; for to err
is human, and they have doubtless
made mistakes both of the head and
the heart, but these errors can be re-
duced to the minimum by placing the
best men at the head of the trades
unions and by following the counsel
and advice Of those possessed of sound
Judgment and the highest appreciation
of justice and right ~
"One of the aims of the trades unions
is to bring about the eight hour work
day. 1t was my pleasure at the last
session of the legislature of this state
to vote for an act whose object it was
to make eight hours a days labor for
all employees of cities and other NUM-
cipal corporations of this state, and I
voted for the bill after careful con-
sideration of the subject. Eight hours
day of honest, cOnsciensious labor is
enough for any man. The creator
never made man to be mere ma
chine. He made. his a rational being
capable of intellectual improvement
and of enjoying association with his
fellow men and the works of nature
and art which surround him. The
day should be so divided as to give to
the laborer an opportunity for recrea-
tlon and mental improvement as we'll
as for work. BY almost universal Gus
tom the teachers in our public schools
and the judges on the bench work but
six hours day. If six hours is full
days work for the teacher and the
judge, surely a third longer is enough
for the man who works at his trade.
1t one should say to me that the
teacher and the judge should work
shorter hours because his work is more
wearing upon him, I might appropri-
ately reply that the mechanic or arti-
zan of today who is abreast of the
times and who is skillful at his trade
works with his head no less than with
his hands. He must keep posted in the
sciences at least SO far as they apply
to his particular trade and he must
know how to adapt and use in his trade
new inventions and new appliances.
He cannot stand still while the rest of
the world moves onward. And to the
and works more and more with his
brain, to that same extent should the
day of labor be shortened. He cannot
work all the hours which are not abso-
lutely necessary for sleep and at the
same time reach the highest degree Of
proficiency in his trade
Speech by Attorney McKeon.
The last speaker on the list was At
torney McKeon. The crowd had grown
somewhat restless by this time and
evidently was bent on participating in
the athletic program.
Mr.. McKeOn said in part:
1 believe in the wisdom of union and
cooperation among WOrkmen. 1t is but
simple justice or the natural impulse of
humanity to ameliorate as far as pos
sible the condition of labor. 1t has a
burden heavy enough to bear. TO realize
this we have only to consider how fierce
competition usually is for employment,
wages being brought down by the very
effort to secure work; how generally
machinery is used-machinery with
which one man may now do as much as
ten or twenty men formerly could; and
how dangerous has become work with
machinery and on railroads and in the
by which as many use
full men are disabled, crippled and killed
every year as die under the Haunting
flags of war. T.
I regard it as the right of toilers even
in the humblest walks Of employment
to count and insist upon a wage rate
sufficient to support in comfort them
selves and their families, to educate
their children and to lay by something
for the prOverbial rainy day. I am per-
suaded that there must be screw MISS
ing or very loose in the economic ma
chine, when Workmen connot do this,
and do it in their own honest labor.
AS I understand 1t, labor is united
and organizer simply for the protection
and maintenance of the rights Of those
that work for a living-the honest
toilers Of this mighty earth. This is
eminently proper. It finds sanction
even in the history of remote times.
In view of these facts it must appear
almost supertuous to state that the
progress made since then is extraordi-
nary. No precedent or parallel for it
can be found in other countries. Thou
sands and hundreds of thousands of
persons then poor are now comparative
ly wealthy. Indeed the workmen Of