The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1901-02-16
|bRlBE MEN TO W0lkI

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FOUNDERS ASSOCIATION USE Bril-
ERY TO DEFEAT A UNION. ~
Union MOlders Went Out on Strike.
| Men Could Not Be Secured to Take
| Their Places, so the Employers
Offer a Bribe of $2 Day Over
and Above Their Wages to Get
Men to Go to Work.
Since rabid and bigoted opposition to
unionism became bad form" among
employers and the capitalistic newspa-
pers, the favorite distinction has been
between conservative" and radical un-
ions; between sensible and practical
labor leaders and "agitators'' who seek
to foment strife from low motives of
vanity, pride or personal material ad-
vantage. To "good" unions, safely and
wisely guided, no objection has been
alleged; and only to "bad'' unions,
recklessly managed, has hostility been
avowed and manifested. To this dis
tinction organized labor would take no
exception were there recognized test
of "goodness' or "conservatism'' and
did public instructors always abide by
has been adopted, and wherever par
ticular action-say strike or boycott
taken by union is not liked, the en-
ployers and their friends or the press
denounce those responsible for it as
dangerous agitators, enemies Of "hon-
est labor" betrayers Of unionisn, etc.
To such accommodation they always add
the profession of entire approval of the
'principle'' of labor organization. This
produces the impression of exceeding
fairness and obscures the injustice Of
the assaults upon the particular union
for doing particular thing as to the
rightfulness and necessity of which
there may be no question whatever.
But we do not observe that employ
ers are treated in the same manner.
They are not divided into conservative
and reckless, sagacious and fanatical,
practical and arrogant. They are sell
dom, if ever, ccused of provoking trou-
BILE by declining to treat labor fairly
and decently; by ignoring proper de-
mands for rectifcation Of abuses; by
denying fundamental rights and maxi
ing absurd claims that society has long
since repudiated: Who has never heard
of an employer being called danger
Gus agitator'' in behalf of his class by
any considerable number of neWspa-
pers? Are employers always prudent,
1 conciliatory and reasonable?
To those who think that they are, We
beg to commend for earnest considera-
ton the extraordinary mode of war
i fare which the National Founders AS
ISOLATION has adopted against the Mold
ers' union. We have seen but one pro:
4 test in the daily papers. yet Il ever
i sitHa ton allied Tor Wraln
Tor lgorous advocat faser VAT 's SIT SIT
that created by these FOUNDERS Waal Wall
such a one. Ihe facts are simple lea any :
lnd1sputaple. IneanVe* *huliureu orf'a.ii
) zed moloers OF cleVelalio. ono ue
manded an advance ol ten cen.s uas
) In thelf WAGES. -ihey were se'lins S1.''
but that dld not represent tne'r snare
OF the general prosperity VI tiie 11luus
try, ana tney naue TIE aAoiesalu i1'oo
est demand. The Cleveland tounoer'
tried to- put new men in the vacated
places, but could find none.
Now, on every principle of economic
that the molders had pressed thei
: claim to the advance. If there be an!
meaning in the claw of supply and de
exnediencv and business sense thu
founders wore hound to acknowledg
: ,,ond"-uh;cb all emn]overs are $,
, onx;o,,s - h.1o ,,b;or ohsorve and ar
ao,,+ 49, o1,,,a ~oo,+ro;,ors1, ,fford
; :.4oao. - ;+e ro,.foa+ onot;on
~, ~ ~ t'1l 80 -. ~.
: tneie "ei ~ "pcyI - W
: Iouiiolns lnuustry, tne .auppis ol''i"oo
was equal. to the demand perhaps ou
, it was not greater. The employees Wer
: thus in a position to force a reasonable
request, and certainly cessation of wor]
: was a legal and moral way of doin!
this. Prudent and fairminded employ
2 ers would have gracefully yielded t.
r the victorious strikers.
: But the cleveland founders were no
, in the mood for anv such rational ar
, tion Thev were determined to defoa
| W. S->-~N