The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1903-07-15

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duction when large numbers OF men
are thrown out of employment, then
the great strain upon trade uniOnism
will be felt. 1t is comparatively easy
to organize wOrkingmen when all are
employed, or while work is plentiful.
1t is difficult to sustain this organi-
zation while many men are living on
the verge Of starvation or want.
The great growth of trade unionism
has caused the workingman to feel
his power; it has necessarily made
many of them arbitrary, unreasOn-
able and unjust in their demands.
This has, in many places, awakened
a sense of resentment among a large
class who otherwise would be sympa
thetic towards the unions. For in
stance, in the late strike of the an
thracite coal workers, the sympathy
of the whole country was with the
miners This was due not to any
special knowledge on the part of the
public Of the condition of the striking
men but to their hatred against the
coal trust which had mOnOpOliZed and
put up the price on necessary pro-
duct. The growth of these great in
dustrial monopolies, whose business
has been to take as much from the
public as the public would stand, has
set against them the great mass of
the common people. These people
have been sympathetic to trade
unions, not so much because they I'M
derstoOd trade unions, as because they
hated the mOnOpOlies.
AT best, only small proportion of
the real WOrkingmen are reasonably
eligible to trade uniOnism- Farmers.
small merchants and many others
composing the great middle class do
not belong to the unions and cannot
reasonably be expected to belong to
the unions. This great middle class
which really creates the sympathy for
the common people, which, in fact, is
the common people, have believed
that they were plundered by the
trusts and corporations, and have
given aid to the trade unions When
hey imagine that the trade unions are
making unreasonable demands or IN
fair conditions their hostility will be
turned against trade unionism as it
is turned against the corporate con-
troll.
Consumers Are the Real Arbiters
The friendliness of certain great in
situations towards trade unionism is |
not altogether a hopeful sign. The |
more progressive of the mOnOpOlists, |
without any real sympathy for the
wOrkingmen, are beginning to feel
friendly toward trade uniOntsm. This |
friendship comes from the belief that
they can deal with large numbers of |
men easier than with individual men, |
This leads them to tempt the trade
unions with prospect of higher |
wages, to gain their sympathy and
their support: but the public will |
not long be willing to be ground to
pieces by the monopolies on one hand |
and the trade unions on the other
The great class of men who are the |
the relation of monopolist or trade |
uniOnist will insist that through the |
evolutionary movements of society |
their condition shall be made better !
To put up the price of commodities |
and the cost of labor means little to |
the wOrkingman. but it means plumber |
to the great mass of men who cannot |
be placed in either camp
Trade uniOnism cannot afford to |
arouse the hostility Of the public !
It's very strength will prove it's great |
est weakness. 1t must learn that In |
order to achieve anything permanent |
it must stand for such laws and con-
ditions as will tend to the permanent
elevation of the common man. This
trade uniOnism has done through all |
its past; this it must do in the future, |
if it shall succeed. For a movement |
that is not founded on sound princf- |
pies and sound ethical conceptions
cannot survive.
Raising of Wages a DeIuson.
Many trade uniOnistS seem to de-
vote their whole time to the question
of raising wages. The raising of |
wages in and by itself is simply a de-
fusion and snare. For instance: a |
carpenter raises his wages; this
makes it necessary for the small mer-
chant to raise his prices; this makes
it necessary for the clerk TO raise his |
then in turn the butcher must raise |
his, while the carpenter finds that he |
has things he buys, and in turn he |
must raise his wages again. When
the work of trade unionism is done
uniOnism will disappear Trade union
ism deserves to live, as it has in the
past, because it has stood as the pro
lection of the common people. The
permanent protection of the common
people can only come by permanent
changes in laws and institutions.
So, above all things else, trade
unionism should turn its attention to
political action, not necessarily this
party or that, but toward the solution
by law and industrial chances of the
problems of the day. For in the end
natural laws must prevail.
Neither the trust nor the labor Or
ganlzat1on can arbitrarily fix prices
for a long period of time There is g
tendency in things TO come back tc
natural laws, and unless all agitation
and energy tends to bring about such
natural conditions that all labor be
employed and all labor will receive
the full product of its tools without ar
tfcial aid, then such agitation shoulf