The Red Cloud chief., 1903-09-25
NOT BENT ON CRUSHING UNIONS.
Omaha Business Mems Association
Corrects a false impression.

ly Organized In omaha, Is bent on crushing
OUT the labor unions of this city and II af.
fliated In SIme way with a national body
similarly inimical to organized labor. y
statement recently issued 10y the authority
of the Omaha business Mems association
denies this completely, and further shows
that even in the closed meetings Of the as
sOciatiuu the speeches of mcmbrrs have nj
ways been marked by the most respectful
attitude toward thr labOrins man, and not
o void has been said that would suffer
from public repetition.
The conference between the labor lcal.
ers ami the special of the Bust
ness Mems association taut was called by
Governor Mickey brought out Il clear uud
cmylH,i' statement " the position
of the two bodies. as shown hy tho
stcnograpric report, which has Just been
transcribed. 1t haS been claimed iu auur
quarters that this conference was barren
Of results, but the exact alignment Of posi-
tious obtained through ii should afford con
Siderable satisfaction, even If no advance
was made toward arbitration Of the dis.
pute.
This conference seems early to have set.
tied down to an effort on the part of Hon.
4. j. MahOney. the attorney of the nusi
ness Mems association. to pin the rcprcspn.
tatlyes Of labor to Il definite and explicit
statement Of the position and aims Of the
strike then on In Omaha. In this he seems
to have succeeded very well. though at
times calling upon himself cxpostulatlous
from Mr.. l.elk the president Of the Central
Labor union, who insisted that he was not
u witness to be cross-qucstioned and that
Mr.. Mahoney used very harsh terms In de.
timing their position.
In the first place Mr.. Mahouey stated to
the conference that the business Mems as.
ISOLATION had never questioned the right Of
the laboring man to organize In unions, nor
did they now question the rights Of such
unions To exist, but he wished to establish
the cOrollary OF this by asccrtaining
whether the representatives of labor there
present would also acknowledge the right
Of existence to unorgnnizcd labor. This
right was thcr"upOu admitted by Mr.. Bell
and his associates, but they stoutly main
talned the union men could not be expect.
ed to associate with or work alongside Of
nonunion men. They would not deny the
right Of employers to hire nonunion men,
but they would insist that such men al
once make application to enter the union.
Asked IL that did not result In forcing all
employees into union ranks, thus In reality
driving out the nonunion men, the reply
was made that they had no desire to crush
him. they only wanted to get hold Of him
and talk to him and make u man Of
him."
1t was finally brought out, however, and
In most unequivOcal terms, that the repre-.
sentatives Of the labor unions present
, would never be willing to submit TO arbi,
|, ~tration the three salient points Of the dis.
pute: ID The right Of the employer to
hire both union aud nOnunion men with
! out discrimination % the use OF the boy
colt, and 81 the ~ mpathetic strike. They
, insisted that these were their weapons
land perfectly legitimate weapons In theii
> warfare against the n0nunlon man; ~ they
!, expressed II. warfare against the msr
who resists the onward march Of organized
. labor" 1t was further maintained with
considerable show Of enrontery that In tn,
laboring world the majority Is to rule ana
{ the minority must eventually yield. Final
Q ly Mr.. Bell declared, quite holly, '"Th,
time has gone by In this community whpi
the individual has any very material right
left"
j ON the part Of the Business Mems associa
q tion, on the other hand, the point was yer
clearly made that they do not refuse q
y grsrA to the unions that much sought 10
q recognition" II such recognition implic
( simply an acknowledgment of their icga
q existence. or even an agreement to settl
questions affecting wages and hours wit
49,, !" u
such unions; but the association. In con
mon with similar bodies Of business me
In Denver, Kansas City, Chicago. Ne,
York and other cities. does refuse to ''rct
h ognize" the unions II that recognition ca
" be accomplished only by signing contract
In which the employer IL pledged to on
!, plOy union men exclusively and to refus
- supplies. merchandise or service TO any II
dtvidual. hrm or corporation that may 4
pronounced at any time unfair by III
s. unions.
The kernel Of the whole dispute seems I
lie In this. The union men believe, or pr,
q tend they believe. that their unions are
danger OF disruption II they cOncedc thcs
principles to their employers. The latte
q while absolutely refusing to surrender
such Dictatorship. have cndeayored to poll
out that there will still be left much {,
[. organized labor to accomplish In this wor
, without trying to run on union lines bot
y the employees and the employers ends
the entire business of the community.
This position was voiced recently by
~ well known business man OF Omaha. wi
~ said Where would this sort Of thin
lead us. were the unions TO win out In the
y" strike 1t would result In u form Of %
gnrcly. In which the dictators would be-
few men sitting behind n table IN Lab
Temple. II little government within the go
ernment. issuing their mandates to Il
business men. the professional men, q
- '''f 80 VI !
Not II laborer could ind work who did n
belong TO n union; nor could he. on q
j. other hand. belong To n union unless til
union saw ut to elect him. Nor could al
" employer offer work unless he agreed
abide by all the rules that the union mig
create, OF the justice and equity of viii
~ the union should hc the sole arbiter."
"a The daily press Of Omaha has attempt
to cloud the issue. by skillful use Of hea
lines aud juggling with the fncts the
papers have given out the Impression, {
reasons best known 10 themselves, that
many cases the strikes had been won
" the men, ana that In other Instances I
NJ scale had been signed up' 10y the q
L. ployers such defcctious have only
CURED among the smaller os,ablishncr
| ana have not In any way affected the e,
At eral result. The terms IN which the ~
majority Of strikers have returned to wa
u" In Omaha indicate n complete surrender
pat their demands. Indeed, there have be-
90 no terms nj all, except that the men "a
w. their places and continue their emp,,
ment as before. wages not having seem
10 cut much figure In this alteration. 7
Business Mems association has not be
yer Jared In the least. II Ii by all odds I
= most representative body Of employers e,