The weekly examiner., 1901-06-01

and the machinists of that corporation,
 but in no cases have any such at tempts at conferences resulted in any and still out have been law abiding and orderly in the highest degree-a fact greatly to their credit-and that they have thus conducted themselves in every instance without disorderly pro- ceedings of any kind have created feeling intensely in their favor which has been growing steadily and strong ly day by day. This favorable public
 opinion, shared by nearly every one in the community not directly interest ed with and in the manufacturers and their side of the question, is by far the
 most potent and important ally which the workmen could possibly obtain. Overbearing and arrogant capital may
 hold out against and bear up under a temporary financial loss of income
 which the strike engenders, but the chances of the ultimate success of our
 manufacturers in this contest is slim
 indeed, for the strike, now backed up
 and supported by public opinion, as it surely is, cannot be overcome. The
 strike, coupled with the pervading pub
 lie feeling that in principle it is just
 and right, is an all-powerful combina-
 tion and before it capital, however
 powerful it may be in other respects,
 must eventually yield.
 Indeed, it is now pretty generally un-
 derstoood that our manufacturers are
 generally, with but one or two excep- tions, in a shape where they are ready
 to accept the nine-hour demand of their
 employees. The chief hitch in the
 way of an immediate adjustment is the reluctance or refusal to the other de-
 mand of the machinists, viz: the recog- tion is of course meant the agreement
 by these employers of labor to allow none but union men in their respective shops. It is not the matter of the nine
 hours for working day-the practical
 side of the strikers-which is now
 blocking the adjustment and speedy settlement, but the refusal by the
 manufacturers to accede to the demand
 that they agree hereafter to recognize
 the Machinists' union and to employ
 only union members. This is what may be called the ethical, theoretic and
 morally underlying principle of the strike of which the nine-hour workday
 is but as a demand one single incident
 or outcome On their sidey however,
 the manufacturers urge,s as reason for
 their refusal, the considerations that
 it is their own individual money or
 capital which is invested in their es-
 tablishments and which in each case
 gives employment to the labor which
 they hire, and, that consequently they
 must insist upon the management *of
 their own money in their enterpffsesain
 such way as they see fit, and without
 interference or injection of any outside body or influence between themselves
 and their workmen whom such invest
 ment employs; and secondly, themanu-
 lecturers insist, further reason for
 their refusal to recognize the union to state it in a nutshell-the legal pro-
 position that the contract of labor, be-
 tween employer and employee is sim
 ply between themselves and their help that, from the nature of the case, a union is not and cannot besa party in law to a labor-hiring contract-that when labor contract is made between employer and employee, if either of them violates it's plain terms the other party alone has his redress legally in court for his violated contract rights against the party who violates such contract, and that the law recognizes no union or middlemen in a labor con- tract between the one who employs and the one who is employed. If manu- facturer violates h1s contract of hiring employee alone whom the law permits to sue for damages, and not a union or combination, to which such employee belongs, for the latter are in no sense parties to the hiring contract. And some manufacturers have hinted strongly that, on good legal advice, they are satisfied that, even if they made a contract Of recognition Of the union, such contract, even if. with an tem- ployee, would, in far the recogni- tion of the union is concerned, be void. as being without legal consideration as between the employer and the union itself, which is not party to contract l of hiring In other words, some nnanu- lecturers claim, that if, in a labor con tract between themselves their | employees, such clause inserted as a 1 recognition by them of the Machinists Or other unions would be as valueless and unenforceab1e as if they inserted in such contract one of it's condi- tions of hiring that from that date they