The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-09-01
Labor Day Reflections.

men and therefore should be
& N in sympathy, one with an
other. Each group of work
ers with special common interests acts
within it's right and generally wisely.
in combining for the advancement of
those mutual interests. Our day is one
of co-operation: and labor which is the
foundation of prosperity, and morality
a.: WE'LL has no occasion to apologize
for organizing. But things which are
wrong when attempted by an individ-
ual do not become right when prac-
ticed by crowd. Just as each work.
man has the right to better his per-
sonal lot in life when he can do so
Without working an injustice upon
others. so, subject to the same restric-
tions, has the union the right to agitate
for reforms beneficial TO it's member
ship; and in each case the existence
of the right carries with it the duty.
He who will not provide for his own
family, the Scripture tells us, is worse
than an inldcl; and the duty of making
good provision includes the duty to
non beneficent end.
But a union is no more infallible than
is an individual. 1t can do wrong as
easily as it can do right. and if the
good men in it are not careful it can
dc wrong more easily. No individual
has a right to say to another who is
not in his employ and not voluntarily
under his guidance where he shall or
shall not work or how much he shall
he willing to take for his work. When
one individual undertakes to exercise
this authority over another without
warrant, we call it dictation and our
sense of justice and fair play condemns
1t and it is soon done away with. Now,
ii an individual may not dictate to
another without his consent, so a
union may not, except by virtue Of
force alone. And when force tries to
do in free country what the common
instinct pronounces wrong. it generally
encounters an opposing force which is
too much for 1t.
1t is said by those who especially
SPEAK for the mine workers now on
strike that there is no intent among
them to compel men TO belong to the
union, and no purpose to so beyond the
law, either while striking or while
working. AS a statement of what
should be, this is irreproachablc, and
1t is the duty of the laboring sentiment
OF cur valley 10 make it true In fact.
q lr hnl
great deal of turmoil The present
strike should he the last for many a
day. But condition of peace cannot
be realized except upon q basis of fair
dealing between man and man. The
employer must be fair to the employed.
The employe must be fair to his em-
ployer. And, just as necessarily, the
member of IA labor union must be fair
to the worker who exercises his moral
and legal right not to belong to the
union. good union permanently
benefttinG its members will survive
any attacks that employers may make
upon il and solve the non-union prob
lem by absorption; but one which has
to be recruited through machination
and pressure and held together by fan
ming OF, prejudice and systematic in
t!midation Is as sure to go to pieces in
the long run as water is sure to find It's
level.
No man who looks without prejudice
upon the situation today presented in
the anthracite coal fields can fail to be
impressed with the solidarity with
which practically the entire number of
workers In the anthracite industry, at
a given signal, laid down their tools
and entered upon the foreseen priva-
tions of an indefinite strike. Nor have
the resolution with which this combat
has been waged by the men and the
exceptional good order maintained for
the greater part by the English-speak-
ins element among them been lost
upon those who have watched from
afar. The sincerity of labor unionism
ana the loyalty of its following have
been demonstrated even to those who
do not yet concede that the game Is
worth the powder. But this admirable
impression wrought upon public opin-
ion cannot survive the licensing of
lawlessness amongst camp followers
and sympathizers hence 1t is the fore
most concern Of the labor hosts on