Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1901-09-05
LABOR
Organized and Unorgan,xed.

Organised and Unorganlxed.
NO. 5
+ That there is dangerous element in
labor, none will deny, and that some
of this element finds its way into labor
organic atoms is true. This element is
composed of several classes.
1 First, we find class Of men who are
never satisfied, who are continually
growing, aud who by their assiduons
fault finding create discomfort IN
others These men, when they solicit
membership Ill their organization, do
SO along the lines of retaliation. for.
getting any moral, intellectual or
social benefit to be derived from the
organization and thinking only of the
additional wages which may be gained,
Justly or uujustly, ut matters not to
them They forget that one of the
principles of organized labor is to pro-
mote proficiency, so that when the
union issues card certifying that the
bearer is proficient in his trade that it
can be relied upon, both by the future
employer and by amy kindred organl.
cation. 1t u man were TO come to me
seeking employment and bearing u
card from Il labor organization, should
employ him or lind him employment
and nftayyvur1 reoortoi,, tl,.,t W.. ,l;,l
not understand his business, or that
he was wlllfully negligent or untrust-
worthy, it would naturally create a
distrust of the organization issuing
the card. And were the principles
taught by the labor-un faithfully
carried out, q card would be an abso-
lutte guarantee that the bearer was
sober, honest and Industrious, as we'll
as proficient; for the man who will not
give an honest days work for days
wages, is on exactly the same ground
with the man who will not pay an
honest days wage for days work.
These GROWERS are of the same class
of men who so,netm IS make such ex-
pressions as these: III wish the factory
would blow up" OF 81 would like to
see the old shop burn down or blow
away" and sometimes when hearing
such expressions we can only credit
them to disordered brain or feeble
mind, for, would the laborer but stop
to think, he must certainly know that
while the shop, the factory, or the
mine represents the capital of the en-
ployer, it also represents his own
source of income, end while its de-
struction would mean temporary en-
barrassment to owner, or perhaps his
financial ruin, it would mean to him
self the loss of employment; often
want and misery both for himself and
family.
These men are menace, not only to
the employer, but to society and to
organized labor itself. For express
sions similar to the above, when made
in the presence of those who arc not
familiar with the teachings Of organ
lied labor, are very sure to be set
down to the D1sCREDlT of labor. 1t
brings labor, both organized and UNI
organized, into disrepute and is in a
great measure responsible for the
secOndary position in which labor finds
itself socially.
There is another class who push
themselves to the front as leaders, or
aspire to be such; men who without
any special adaptability for leadership,
must either "rule or ruin" and if their
ambition is gratiiied and they are ele-
waited to some position of responsible
ty, they become pompous and die
tatorial, and endeavor to fill position
in exactly the same way that they
blame their foreman for filling his
position at the shop or factory. They
seek notoriety, and heed all too little
how that notorlety is obtained if only
they can "show their authority"
There is another, and by far the
largest, class of this danger element,
and that is what we will call the ruilian
element. When we hear the word
rutlian, we are apt to picture man of
crude manners, armed, staggering
and insolent. but this is not always the
case. A ruiiisn may be in the GARD of
a laborer. or the tailor made suit of a
nabop. You will find him among the
millionaires as we'll as in the ranks of
labor, or the chain gangs of our prisons.
He is among the educated as we'll as
among the ignorant. Among the en-
|ployers as we'll as among the employed.
The man who being in position
over others, Will take advantage of
that position to brow. beat, TO bully, to
abuse or to Cypress, thereby exhibits
the brutality in his nature and be-
comes the rutlian. And the employer,
overseer or foreman who will abuse
the men in his employ, is just as much
ruflian as the renegade who will GAL
lOp through the streets shouting and
shooting, just because he has the ply
steal ability to do so.
Most of the rufiian class in labor are
of those who do not properly belong to
our population, and for whose pres
ence the employing class is almost
wholly responsible They are what
are often called contract laborers;
men who have been brought from for
eign countries to surplant American