Connecticut workman., 1901-10-24
Organization of Labor is First Step Toward
 Improvement.
HARMONY MUST
 BE OBTAINED.
EmpIoyers Should Welcome Unions. Some Unwise Leaders, Who Don't Last Long. Permanent In-
 duStrial Arbitrator.

James B. Reynolds, author of the fol- lowing contribution to the New York Journals labor and capital reconcilia- tion symposium, is head worker of the University Settlement society of New York:
 : desire to offer from my Own expert ence and personal observation brief statement of what regard as the chief benefits of trades unions to their mem bers and to employers. I would specify dhree classes of benefits which unions give to their members. The first is the immc diate material benefit for which fhe union is rganized-namely, a fair working day and as high wages as pos sible. If you find trade with short hours and good wages, you may be sure that it is trade whose workers have been organized into a union.
 If the hours are long and the wages small, you may be sure that the trade As unorganized or only weakly organ ized. The only exceptions are few very highly skilled trades where organ ization may not be necessary to secure a monopoly of labor.
 Those who call themselves the advo- cates of nonunion labor should also re- member that the union secures the hours of labor and the standard of wages by which the nonunion man is benefited as much as the union man. know no means by which reasonable hours and fair rate of wages can be secured and maintained in trade ex- eept by organization, and regard the realization of the value of organization as fair test of the intelligence of men engaged in any trade.
 Organization for the protection of common interests and common rights IS product of civilization.
 Iflunians are sometime n6w or arbitrary, the remedy is - the aboI- sshment of the union any more than anarchy is the remedy for bad govern nent. The remedy for bad govern ment is good government, and the remedy for bad unions is good unions.
 In any case organization is the road to improvement and progress for the wage earner.
 Further material benefits from trade unions are found in the efforts of the union to protect the safety of their members. in the use of dangerous ma- chinery, in the maintenance of good sanitary conditions under which the work shall be performed and the grant dng of out of work, sickness and death benefits.
 A labor union is also an employment bureau, and it's officers spend no little part of their time in securing work for members out of work.
 The second benefit of trade union to it's members is that the union seeks to maintain permanent employment. A we'll organized union is always oppos- ed to strikes except as last resort.
 The strength of q union can be judg- ed in accordance with the frequency of strikes in the trade. Labor leaders As class are opposed to strikes and prevent many labor difficulties of which employers are not aware and for which the leaders receive no credit.
 This statement may be surprise to some and may be denied by the enc mics of trades unions, but it is never theless a fact. As union officers are not connected with the shop in which difficulties arise they are usually free from it's prejudices and irritations.
 Hence they frequently keep men al work when "hotheads" would have caused strike, and would have in yolved their members in loss.
 Employers who indignantly resent what they call the intrusion of outsid CTS in the management of their own af fairs would do we'll to consider the truth of this statement.
 This service of labor leaders is nei finer known nor appreciated as it de serves to be. The unreasonable de ' mands and everbearing manner of { few are taken as characteristic of thu
 class.
 The third benefit of a trade union tt lis members is the moral benefit. Un Hons in the technical trades demand fests of efficiency from their members. .s- Some also demand the maintenance
 of q certain standard of technical eff
 ciency, and many scrutinize mora
 character. H in any case the officers of uniol eswllo find a member repeatedly out 0 [, lwork. and. constantly coming to then
 for another job are sure to advise hin j ,kedo better work and warn him agains
 the results of dissipation.
 : 2 Hence the union relationship, whil
 mot encouraging competition betweel ' tfhe members, does encourage goo
 character and good work.
 The benefits of a trade union to tn
 employers have been recognized by ssHew. grud dgingly admitted by some an
 doubted by many.
 Lam, however, firmly convinced tha
 . whole 1t is. as certainly to the. ai