Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-06-26
P[R|LS Of UN|)k|SN
Statement Is Made That Trad
es Unionism Is an Artifi-
cial Institution
Clarence S. barrow Asserts That 1t Is
In the Necessities and Comforts
Which Are Obtained. and Not in
money-Labor Unions Accomplish
ments Mean Pain and Trouble.

i'o'tS "cdH ram anG trouble.
Nhlcaso, June 26.-Promiscuous hov-
cottlng and strikes. the mad rusb n,
crafts 10 Increase their own wages
without thought or care for the res. nj
mankind, and the limiting of nroduc-
'ioh by trades unionsts, are given hv
Clarence Darrow as the present nari,s
OF trades unionism. ANY system of or
ganization or invention which u.i,, ~
crease tne production, or anything that
tends toward the equitable distr;bution
o. wealth, are the suggestions he makes
ioi the AIMS of unionism. which shall
make it lasting and triumphant in the
END instead of dissolving. as he pre-
diets it Will. when the bubble of snao,-
latlon IN this country bursts.
speaking before the Henry George
society last evening. Mr. barrow said.
Trades unionism is an artificial in.
stltution, built by man to countaract
some natural law When the opnor-
lunlty was plenty there was no need
Tor trades unions but when the country
became settled ana monopolies fenced in
large portions of the earth. and began
the traffic in men. then trade union
ism began TO grow here as 1t did in
Europe. Trade unionism is in the mir.
the people have caught 1t, and MANY
men are joining the movement who
Know nothing about its usage or what
itS functions are. Many men ioin un-
ions who do not believe in the principle,
because they think that they can get
on better with their fellow working
men.
Every step In trades unionism has
followed the steps that organized cap
ital has laid down before it, and ii is
fundamentally monopolistic. In the
United States there are millions OF
work!ngmen who have no other thought
than how to get more wages. and they
care for nothing else in trades union
ism.
No thinking man will deny that the
Workin2men are not getting anywhere
near the wage they should get in COM
parison with the amount of their pro-
duction. But wages are not measured
in money, but in the necessities and
which are obtained.
Trades unions must find out why
wages are not increased instead of
seeking arbitrary methods of raising
wages in one craft without relation to
any other craft or to their fellow men.
The mere question of raising wages
accomplishes nothing in the end, and Is
burdensome. 1t is simply weary trav-
cling around in a circle. Not only that
out the raising of wages is often mis- |
and interrupts the economics |
If the business world and leads to |
nothing. If the carpenter secures an
Increase of his wage. then the grocer |
because he has to pay the carpenter
Will demand an increase, and soon the |
miner will need an increase to meet !
he demand of the grocer. SO it goes on
Until it gets back TO the carpenter
again. and no one has benefited, for no
me can get more comforts and neces,
titles for their money.
Whatever is accomplished by labor in
aising wages is done with endless pain
nd trouble, and then when they get
My a fraction of what they expect.
nd the capitalist with a stroke of the
zen. can increase the profits twice as
asst to keep up with their raise, and
y a simple stroke of the pen. The Z
urden falls on the middle class, the
arge majority have no way of increas-
1g their wages or their labor. and in
his mad rush the middle man and the
onsuner is forgotten and he gets ,
he worst of 1t.
II view with uneasiness the friendly
ceiling that some of the big corpora
ons are expressing for the trade I'M
ms. | always feel that trades union
m is safer when these gentlemen are
n the other side. When see men who
re in political life like Mark Hanna /
nd who are also allied with the big .
protesting love for trades
| am apprehensive. When l
nd men who all their lives have b>rn
,terested in trafticing in men, suddenly g
)ming to love the workingmen, | know
hat it means.
"Of course j. P. Morgan believes in
g things He sees that it is economy L
deal with workingmen as body
,ther than individuals. He doesn't
ire how much he has to pay because II
. understands that you can't mark up
lc price Oh ldDOI DIS ldSt AS ne can / =
ark up the price of his steel. But the
lblic is really paying for it, and they
re getting nothing in return. 1t is the
me in every line where labor and
,pital are getting along peaceaby.
'Workingmen may organize until the
,ws come home, but they can never
orst the man they are trying to beat
his own game. l sometimes think it >
ould be better If laboring men had
led to decrease wages, for then they
ould at least have increased the pro- :,
lction, and in the general grab they !
light have obtained little more. But
~ movement directed alone toward >
e raising of wages will fail because .
the raise is equal it will do no one -
Nv good, and if it is not equal then '
, Injustice is worked, because the man
ho controls the production gets the :,
st of it," 4