Barre evening telegram. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-19??, 1902-11-29
IN The WORLD
OF LABOR.
The Week Among The Work
ers,, And Items Of Interest
For Working Men.

Prof. Eliet of Harvard has on two
occasions given his Impressions Of Ia
Dor unions and in no stented manner
be has discussed them and their
works
In his first speech he denounced
labor unions alone without any quail.
ficstions. In bis second one which
was intended to be q sort OF an ex-
planstton Of his first, he denounces
them again, and adds q sort Of q gen.
eral regret that conditions are not the
same throughout the industrial world
as they are at Harvard College.
Many other men have expressed re-
gret concerning the thing, but it
seems Prof. Eliot's remarks are to be
considered Of much more value.
l cannot tell how this should be SO.
II the professor had given an opinion
on some subject on which he Is quail
fed to teach l could have understood
it's being OF special value. I never
was aware the gentleman claimed to
be an authority on labor questions.
We are told that combinations of
laborers are an evil; strikers are an
evil and scabs are heroes. He also in
cidently remarks that the man who
does not work as long as his strength
holds out is too contemplate for notice.
Then there in his explanatory adj
dress he thinks 1t wrong that employ.
ers should dismiss men 80 readily, and
not give a pension as they do at
Harvard.
These speeches are from one who,
unquestionsbly, knows nothing OF the
conditions Of the workers and who
does not understand the economic
conditions governing industrial life.
In the less important industries,
where the trust system has not laid
ttS sUufcrushin;Za a1sudsc scsnpstIsi0n n -
keen that no employer, however kind
at heart, can afford to-. do Otherwise
than as the rest do. ss
In other worts the employer who
discharges every nan that cannot
'.come up to the sofa 5ch," and who
grinds the most out Of the men, can
work cheaper than the man who takes
mpassion on the feeble and pensions
of his old employees.
II other employers did not run the
same kind Of business the bad man
would get all the work. The only
way to prevent bad conditions, then,
is for laborers unions to compel good
conditions from all alike. and the only
weaponsithey have to do with is the
strike OF Iegislative enactment.
The prSiessor says the man who does
not wot6 a. long as his strength holds
out is contemplate.
Isay the man who wants to work aa
long as he can when hundreds of other
men are eagerly looking for the same
kind Of work and cannot find It, is
disgusting hog He says the moderr
scab is hero.
When men who have spent tin,
and money organizing themselves Il
secure conditions, which even th'
professor considers desirable, come
out on strike to enforce such condi.
tions and a scab goes to work to earI
money for himself regardless Of its Of
feet upon the class to which be be.
longs, call him selfish coward and
traitor to his class just as much as th
man whs sells mis- country is q traitor
Prof. Eliot cannot claim tnat h'
was speaking in an impartial way G
labor matters. He attacked the un.
ions when the coal strike Wis al 1t
worst and /. Is scarcely possible hi
mind could be altogether clear Of 1t
II he would tahe six months labo
In the mines at nine hours day, hi
ideas VI uld change mate rally I think
The professor. believes arbitatiol
should be instituted as means
settlement.
The miners proposed arbitration .
the commencement Of the struggl
and the employ ers would have none o
| IL, and yet he denounces the union
and says nothing derogatory Of th
capitalists who refused his own scheme
And so there seems to be somt lit
tie Misunderstanding amongst th
coal operators at present.
f seems the railroad companies wh
own mines, against the state law III
not over anxious to court investiga
ton.
They, however, calculated withou
the independent operators who don
own railroads, and 70 they got LET
II The secret OF the thing seems to b
| this: the railroads run their mine
Ut about cost to squeeze the mine owl
} err who have no railroad. They the
! make up for 1t in coal freight. Lei
4 their practice should he shown up b