The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1900-12-15
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PROSPERITY AND UNIONISM.
Many Railroad Men Work Sixteen
Hours Per Day,

Hours Per Day.
A railroad man who fails to take into.
account the hours of service rendered,
contents himself with the assertion
that the railroad men of the United
States and Canada are enjoying() UNI;
precedented prosperity, says the Loco!
motive Firemen's Journal. While the
coal miners boast that they have won:
the eight-hour day, many railroad men
point with pride" to their sixteen-hour
day. Coal miners receive pay by the:
ton of coal mined and locomotive fire.
men are paid by the mile Travelled.
Both are "piece-work'' systems. The
coal miner demands that the eight
hour day be established for the follow
ing reasons:
Wages are regulated (a) by the num-
Der of idle laborers; CO. by the greatest
amount earned by the worker; Co. by
the resisting capacity Of the trade un-
ion.
1t is principle of unionism that an
injury to one is the concern of all, and
no fraternal organization can approve
a system that permits portion Of it's
membership to greedily grasp more
than their share of employment. Fra
ternity becomes mockery when one
worker seizes the opportunity to earn
double pay, when by so doing his
'brother' is deprived of an opportu-
| nifty TO earn anything.
! When one worker is employed six
teen hours, he is presumed to perform
the labor Of two workers employed
|eight hours, and thereby displaces one
man. This displaced idle man becomes
a menace to the employed man. The
4 idle man is often forced by want and
Idestitution to eagerly accept the en-
Fployed mans posi- ton for less pay, and
in turn the employed man falls from
his privilege of reaping his sixteen
hour harvest to the ranks Of the unem'
ployed.
If among thousand workers it car
be shown that some are earning very
high wages, there is an incentive for a
wage reduction. The public lauds the
employer who pays such high wages
without giving a thought to the fact
that those who receive the high wages
had by their greed performed the labor
of two men, and that one of the mer
had earned nothing.
The strength of a trade union to re-
lsist wage reductions depends not only
on the capacity of the union itself, but
on the number of unemployed in thai
trade. If there be no unemployed tt
take the places of strikers against wage
reduction, the strike will be won, OF
I the plant permanently closed. If there
be as many unemployed seeking en-
ployment as there are strikers, the
strike will be lost and the plant will
be operated with scab labor.
A locomotive fireman should receive
good and sufficient wages to support E
family by running 100 miles per day
for thirty days, in the month. If he i:
not now doing this, then there is some.
thing wrong with this prosperity talk
If the prosperity is to be shared witt
the workers as we'll as the employers
wages should be increased per mile.
Union men in nearly all trades ex
cept that of railroad service are cut
ting down the hours of labor and there
by giving employment to idle unio1
men of their respect crafts. When thu
carpenters, bricklayers or Topographic
cal union secures an eight or nine-houl
day they also secure employment fol
their idle members. The same usage!
prevail in numerous other trades
Should the railway labor unions Sc.
sure a shorter workday without some
provisions for the employment Of theil
idle members, they would not succeed
in reducing the number of idle men Of
their respective crafts, and half the
benefits of shorter workday would be