Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1901-08-22
LABOR
Organized and Unorganlzed.

NO 4
In former article we promised to
speak of the middle ground of the
employer and the employed.
Every one who employs help of an!
kind, whether one or ten thousand
persons, is an employer of labor
Every merchant who employs clerk
every laundryman who uses hired help,
and every tradesman, or builder who
has one or more persons in their en-
ploy, is an employer of labor, and it is
between these and the giant corpora
tions employing tens of thousands.
where we find the various conditions
of labor, ranging from the recognized
rights OF both parties. to absolute ser.
vitude on the one hand, and tyranical
domination on the other. The man
who has in his employ only few men
and who is Immediately associated
with them, performing the same labor,
naturally feels that he is one of the
men. Each feels a mutual interest in
the other and should any difference
arise, or should either party fee! that
there was grievance between them,
they meet and talk the matter over as
men-equals, each recognizing the
fright of the other to presentation of
his case.
Let the same man advance in bust
ness, until his employees number suf
licient to necessitate foreman He
finds his time fully occupied with the
details of his business and his en-
ployes are left to the direction of the
foreman lie loses interest in thu
1 personal welfare of his men ard deals
+ only with the foreman. A barrier is
erected between the employer and EN-
! ploye which widens and deepens with
each successive stepin the growth and
extension IF the business. Should the
employe feel aggrieved he can no
ployer but must needs 60 to the fore.
man. The foreman feeling that he is
paid for looking after the interests
of his employer, and also having n,
direct personal interest in the matter,
is all too apt to brush aside the mat
ter as trivial, when had the case been
one of his own he would not hesitate
: to present it at once; and too often
the idea of superiority enters the brain
: of the foEeman to such an extent as to
cause him to show his authority"
upon every occasion until the mel
under him grow to hate the employer
through the foreman, just as the en-
: p.oyer's authority is exercised through
3 the same person, when, could the mat
5 ter have been presented direct it could
) have been adjusted at once.
But we take another step and we
have business employing hundreds
of men, divided into squads or gangs,
< each under foreman and these fore
z men are in turn under one general
5 fireman. Here a complaint must first
= b. brought to the foreman, by hin
< presented to the general foreman, ant
s ii he considers it of sufficient import
IS ance, it is presented to the head of tn,
4 concern. Should the one making tn,
z complaint go direct to the genera
s foreman, he is referred back to his in
x dividual foreman, and if he refuses O
< neglects to take the matter up, the ag
8 grleved party has no recourse and SO
IS second barrier is erected.
z Again: The business has grow
9 until there is included under one man
6 agement several establishments doin
& 9 similar business. A company j
< formed, president and general man
9 ager is chosen, and then comes Ion
e line OF assistant managers, genera
< foremen and foremen, until it seem
6 to the men who do the work, that look
6 ing down, or rather up along the lint
< that they are so far removed from th
g source of authority that it would l.
s useless to even try to ge. hearing
x and it is too often the case that thos
< who are thus placed in authority, ar
s those who from education as we'll q
< from inclination look with conteml
& upon one who labors; and when sue
& is the case hearing is next to an in
& possibility. Many strike and man
< q lock out could have been avoide
% had those Intermediates condescende
to give matters submitted to them du
consideration.
Along this line organized labor ha
N accomplished much good. Teachin
Id as it does the dignity of labor, thu
Of placing the laborer higher in his ow
y estimation and forcing these barrier
al, by the strength of numbers. A grie,
.ae ance real or imaginary can be sui
!: mitted to body of men who wor
under similar conditions whosa hons