The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-02-21
4 lions under which he will work and to re-
main out of a labor organization if he so

I. I
tions under which he will work and to re-
main out of a labor organization if he so
elects.
A Many Sided Problem:
THE problem before organized employ
! ers and organized employees to-day IS
many-sided. It is not dependent upon the
/ conditions that Immediately surround IN
| dustry. These are unusual. Ihey nave
resulted in a very rapid growth of labor
organizat lions and the sweeping IN OF many
/ clements that are destined to make trouble
unless they can be assmilated and imbued
/ with a better sense than they now have
/ Of the responsibilities of powerful lOoar Or
/ eanizations The most common mistake
that win be made is accepting as estab-
4 lished principles some features Of present
/ conditions that are simply the ma shirts
4 of a time in which work is plentler than
jlaborers Many unjust demands nave
/ been granted because employers could not
/ stOp to contest them, In such a time, OF
| ali others. employers organizations should
| be STRENGTHENED for the campaign OF edu-
! "a tion and sober second thinking that IS
4 ahead of us.
/ "Labor unions were influential long be-
fore the day of great manufacturing cor
po,ations but their power was pro
lnounced in a comparatively small num-
i Der of trades. To-day labor unions are
1 everywhere, and the craft in which their
i influence is not strong, often dominant is
the rare exception. This chanse mas
| been simultaneous with the d1llt Oh ~
Il dustry into the hands Of large corpora
tions, and it is 1abor's answer to the I'M
4 heard of concentration of capital. With
out the consent or cooperation OF ndus-
trial capital, labor has made 1T neces-
sary for large numbers Of employers to
bargain collectively with their workmen
Not only have many unions had their
way to this extent but they have turned
the tables on proprietary interests and
have themselves fixed wages and prac-
t tically all the conditions under which
manufacture is carried on. The ANAL
gamated Association of Iron and Steel
Workers for years determined wages, out
: put. works regulations and substantially
i every other condition affecting labor, in
81 the great majority of the iron and steel
works Of the United States. 1t under
took to suspend the law of supply and
5 demand, to set limits on progress, and to
make iron and steel works labor indie
pendent of forces to which its employers
. were subject every moment they were in
c business. 1t required time and an or
s ganization of industrial capital stronger
e than any the world ever saw to put an
: end to this autocracy Of labor. But the
e end came, as 1t was bound to come, anC
r the vicious principles which the Anal.
: gamated association asserted as cardina.
;, in the days of it's power can never AGAR
g gain foothold In the iron industry Of the
n United States.
u Problem a Mast One.
q Manufacturers are seeing clearly II
the light of recent history that the prob
X lem presented by the union is not one
n to be solved by single-handed effort. /
q looms up greater with every day. 1t il
v no longer a. matter Of choice with the In
is dividual manufacturer whether he will
,. have a hand in it's solution. It has beer
- literally thrust upon him. The question
= is simply whether he will try to work !
e out alone or whether he will make hi
l. influence count by giving it expression
l. through an organization. Many employ
If ers with whom the writer has discussed
IS the question speak Of these industrial
le issues as Of such overshadowing impor
Is lance that they regarded it nothing shor
$, of a. duty to unite with their fellows i
re the effort to establish a better under
,e standing between capital and labor.
j. ''It is not to be inferred that the educa
tional work Of employers organization
like those Of the coal operators, the foun
drymen, the metal working concerns, tn
employing printers, or the vessel and doc
owners of the lakes, is confined to mod1
flying the practices of the unions. Man
. employers have changed their views undo
the contact with other minds and tn
clearer understanding of the condition
throughout their industry that come
3. through associated effOrC On the u1lO
side it is not supposable that a relatio
Of concila ton and conference with OF
a ganized employers can long be maintaine
~ without some changes in attitude an
e practice. Willingness to confer Is itse
~ a long step toward the right settlement {
}, questions that can never be permanent
adjusted by force. We can no more cor
a ceive of the unionism Of twenty veal
hence retaining certain crudities and ii
justices that are part and parcel of unior
ism to-day than we can think Of mani
facture turning back to the crude implt
ments of forty years ago. Unions mu
not attempt to block the wheels of pros
ed ress, for the wheels are bound to tur
:. whatever becomes of the obstacle. II
IT advance may not be continuous; the
may be setbacks, and intervals in whit
ultimate solution will seem hopeless. 3
whatever is done, the history Of the a
ISOLATION movement thus far goes to she
that united effort is the most effecti
means for it's accomplishing TO lla
done what they have, with so many er
ployers on the outside, is strong test
mony to the vitality of such organic
tons and prophecy of commanding i
f1uence with their ranks strengthen,
as they will be under the ambitious pla
recently set on foot"