The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1900-04-28
TRADES UNlo!|VSM
A WORD AnOUT UNIONS AND THEIR
ETHICS,
They Stand Today aS the Most I'O-
tent Factor in the Worldwide
Struggle for the Fuller Enamel.
patton Of LabOr-They Have Tenn
pered Race and Religious Preju-
dice and Practiced Fraternity
and Charity.
(By Frank X. Foster.)

(By Frank X. FOster)
In the philosophy Of the universe
there is no such thing as an accident.
Things may happen out Of the ordin-
ary course of events, but back Of each
circumstance there is directly respon-
sibIe cause, motive and impelling force.
The
'Divnity that doth Ahape our ends.
Rough heW them as we may
is as manifest in the world of social
reform as elsewhere.
The union men of a trade for the
purpose of protecting their interest in
that trade is the direct Outgrowth of
certain various elements Of human ma
ture. That is, if all men were fair, just
and honorable, restrictive or coerclve
agencies of any sort would be SUPER
tluOuS.
But there is nothing more apparent
within the range of everyday observa-
ton than the fact that all men do not
possess these qualities. Some are GRIM
inal. many are greedy and avaricious,
most are selfish. The police depart
ments and armies, the reforma tories
and prisons are all evidence as to this
state of affairs.
History records no period when it
was not the tendency of the strong to
oppress the weak, of the cunning to
despoil the trusting, Of the rich to
mulct the poverty-striken.
Social inequality springs from this
basis in the human makeup: the social
problem is born of mans inhumanity to
man.
Great ethical forces, embodied in the
religious and moral monuments of
many centuries, have appealed to the
subjective side of human nature for it's
upliftment. The masterminds, such as
those of Christ and Budda, have taught
the gospel Of love and brotherhood;
philosophers, such as Plato and Spen-
Ger, have, reasoning from diverse prem
ises, drawn the conclusion that even
self interest is promoted by the prac-
tice of the law Of equity-but men go
on scrambling, wrangling, struggling,
fighting to overreach each other, striv-
ing to reap where they have not sOwn,
to eat when they have not titled.
.- The social order, with it's millionaires
and paupers, it's palaces and novels, it's
il hungry wolves prowling by bursting
ssansssss. sa.ss sss;as; "a .stsas
aper world Of light, leisure and Iuxurys
and it's neither world where the Sub
merged tenth" wallows in mire, marks
the object-lesson in the extremes which
arise from the defects in the human
! nature. Animalism is not confined to
the brute kingdom. Every species has
it's prototype among men, and the hu-
man fox and tiger may pluck the geese
and rend the lambs quite as effectively
as their alleged soulless kin of the low
er orders of creation.
The interest Of self preservation
teaches the weaker portion of the ami
NAL world that there is strength in
numbers. The little fishes go in shoals,
the sheep in flocks, the cattle in droves,
and men have partly learned the same
lesson of combination of the weak
against the strong.
Social progress has been marked by q
general trend toward voluntary asso-
citation and individualism, as disting-
ushed from compulsory government
and dictatorship.
While the average man may not be
said, even as yet, to own himself-to
be his own master-yet by. contrast
with his ancestors he is a freeman.
For illustration it is not so long ago
when the stake and rack stared in the
face those who questioned the truth of
theological tenets advanced by author
ity. Now, in civilized countries at
least, the individual may choose and
practice whatever creed he elects, and
no one shall say him nay.
Once it was treaon> to hint that the
king could do wrong. Now the car
toonist and scribe may hold up the
chief ruler to the mirth of the masses.
Once the English-speaking workman
wore around his neck the collar Of his
master-was his thrall and slave. Now.
the collar is not visible 20 the outer
eye, and he has the power in his own
hands to remove it entirely by the
agencies within his grasp.
The trade union has gradually eyol-
we'd as the principal of voluntary asso-
citation has been developed, and stands
today as the most potent factor in the
worldwide struggle for the fuller e.
Emancipation of labor.
It is the method which has been
found most effective in dealing with the
tigers and foxes who are buyers of la
bor,-and it is against them that it's ef-
forts are directed. 1t works no hard
ship to the fair and just employer; it's
coercion is not felt by the fair and
just employee.
1t is sometimes asserted that the
trade union is narrow in it's scope and
limited in it's purpose. It is true that
trade unionists are oftentimes narrow
and limited, even as other men, and
water does not of itself rise above it's
level.
But, by the achievement accom-
plished, the trade union need not fear
comparison with any other form of hu-
man effort.
1t can only broaden as men broaden.
Its ideal can be but the ideal of the
common sense and aspiration of its
membership.
In it's natural field Of work 1t has
done much and will do more, for its
history is not yet written, its potential
possibility hardly yet conceived even
by its leading minds.
It teaches Its membership. "a, subor.