The Grit-advocate., 1902-11-28
ELIOT ON LABOR UNIONS.
Harvard's President Comedies That
They Are Useful.


address at a private meeting of the
Colonial Club of this city. President
Eliot OF Harvard made comprehen-
sive statement of his views on labor
unions He said that the work of the
labor unions must be counted among
the efforts to make the lot of man
kind more satisfying and happier. and
that their strength lay in their belief
in this work as their mission.
He then enumerated the conditions
which he designated as humane condi-
tions OF employment-those to which
laboring men may rightly aspire. First
was rising wage. based on increased
experience. attainments and age; sec
ond, steady employment after ade-
Guate probation; third, the opportuni-
ty for the working man to establish
permanent home; fourth. conditions
which enable him to give his employ
er generous service and to take pride
in it: fifth. the right TO. pension on
disability. which gives throughout life
relief from one great anxiety, and that
public consideration which goes with
steady job and self-respecting
though humble career.
These five conditions Of humane en-
ployment, President Eliot said, were
realized to-day in Harvard University.
Plainly they were not realized in the
great American industries employing
unskilled labor. where the terms Of
service were often those Of instant
dismissal" Another serious difficulty
with American employment was that
1t was spasmodic. Complaints from
employers were often made the ground
for dismissal.
The present antagonism of employ
ers and the unions was the fault of
both parties, but on the whole the
former were more to blame. because
their situation was more comfortable
and their education superior. The in
dustrial community was under many
obligations to the unions for the evils
they have mitigated, such as poor san
itary conditions in factories. an un-
reasonable number of hours work,
child labor and the company store.
The oligarchy of capital had COM
bined effectively and the corresponding
combination of laboring men was
wholesome check upon that oligarchy.
There was no question that the labor
union had come to stay On the other
hand its cause was injured by certain
fundamental doctrines of American lib
erty One of these was the limit put
upon the number Of apprentices in the
learned professions. where encourage
ment was given to the training of nov
ices.
Another condition was the limiting
of output which destroys the self-re-
spect of the efficient workman, and the
uniform wage. which has a cruel reac-
tion on the less capable workman, be-
cause with uniform wage he loses his
job at every slack in business, whereas
if he were paid according to his earn
ing capacity, his employer could afford
to keep him the year round
A fourth evil was the violence which
was an inevitable feature of every
strike in industries employing un-
skilled labor. The unskilled laborer on
strike had no other weapon unless it
were the boycott. which was cruel.
cowardly interference with the rights
of all the people.
President Eliot declared that he saw
grounds for hoping that the relations
of capital and labor would be i'm
proved in spite of their present unin-
telligent antagonism, partly by frank
public discussion Of abuses. partly by
prearranged agreements for conclia-
tion or arbitration, and partly by the
service which labor unions would rem
der to capital through their constant
command of the labor resources of
which capital comes in need.