The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-11-15
Store oil Zah Sah Moo.
LEGALITY OF LABOR UNIONS.

LEGALITY OF LABOR UNlONS.
The chief contention in the coal
miners strike was the right of the
miners to unite into labor organiza-
lions not merely for self protection
against existing injustices, but for the
attainment in the future of healthful
| living conditions that have been de-
MED them. The operators denied the
| miners the right to organize. In their
| interview with President Roosevelt
they spoke of the ''illegality" of the
miners organizations. They refused
! to arbitrate with any representative of
the unions. They would not see Mr..
! Mitchell nor any one who came in his
name. The only terms that they would
! agree to at all were the individual set
! Element of grievances before the super
| intendent of each colliery, or before the
| judges of the court of common pleas.
| AS to the legality of trades unionism
there can be no manner of doubt. 1t is
admitted on all sides; it is denied only
| by those whose purpose seems to be
to reduce honest labor to CALLING
slavery. Leo XIII, in his historical en-
cyclical on the condition of labor, not
only teaches the right of labor to or
ganize, but he urges organization after
the manner of the medieval guilds as
means of self protection. 1t is only
by combining that the miner in Penn
sylvania has secured even the shadow
of a decent livelihood. Any one at all
familiar with the conditions in the
mine regions knows what hardships
labor there has been subjected to-
The greed of capital has nowhere been
so evident as in the anthracite coal
mines. When it was found that the
American coal miner would no longer
submit to CALLING conditions, the oper-
ator invited to the coal regions hordes
of European peasants whom centuries
of wrong had debased to the lowest
stages of mental and physical squalor.
and he tried to lower the scale of
wages and break the power of the
unions by pitting these human slaves
against honest labor. Labor Commits
sioner Wright says of this move on
the part of the coal companies:
'It was a little short Of an outrage
that the operators had attached to
their pay roll, on the piece basis, al
most twice as many men as they
needed from among the swarms of
European immigrants. This redund-
ance in the labor market was doubtless
intended to avert labor troubles: but
instead of that by reducing the an
nual income far below what it might
normally be, and its invitation to idle
ness, had nursed the grievances. The
low average of income from this sys-
tenn had also brought in class of
labor far inferior racially to that which
had once operated the mines; this has
exhibited its native crudeness in the
brutality and violence of the recent
weeks"
The time is not far distant. it is
hoped, that employers will find il to
their advantage to cultivate trades
unionism. Undoubtedly there have
been many abuses connected with labor
organizations, such as the leadership
of rash men,Ainterference with the lib
erty to work; and petty regulations in
fringing on the rights of ownership. In
time, however, and under intelligent
management these abuses will be elm
mated.
In the meantime the employer may
find it to his advantage to establish a
community of interest with a trades
union. He will get better work and
more responsible service. Labor, in
the majority of cases, knows where its
interest lines, and if the employer will
make it the interest of the employee to
serve him well he will find that he will
get that kind of service. In the coal
strike contention it was undoubtedly
the influence of the labor organization
that preserved the peace of the coal
regions. We have witnessed the spec
tacle of 100000 men, many of whom
are of the rougher sort, thrown idle on
a community for six months, and dur
ing all this time there was not as
much law breaking as one would find
in any of our large cities-reports of
certain papers to the contrary, not
withstanding. Moreover, there was
every incentive to Iawlessness; the
presence of armed deputies, and the
irritating parading of the soldiery, and
the daily defamation of the good citi-
zenship of the striking miners by the
capitalistic press. 1t was only the
splendid organization under good lead
ership that secured this state of affairs.
All this is one of the best arguments
for the labor organization. The militia
could not have secured it, nor could |
the federal troops, nor could any other |
power but the labor union.-CathoIic |
World.