Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-06-08
ADVICE TO LABOR UNIONS.
Attorney for Anthracite Miners on Or
ganized Labor.

From the Philadelphia North American.
In many of the controversies which have
tied up building enterprises of vast pro-
portions in this city it is virtually impossi-
BILE for impartial Investigator to dis
cover what are the real merits of the case.
The quarrels are not between capital and
labor: no principles governing the creation
and distribution of wealth are at stake or
even mentioned 1t is all chaos and empty
strife, mere weller of industrial anarchy.
Labor is possessed by the demons of aim
less organization and selfish jealousy and
is running down steep place.
Now, these words of Clarence barrow
are eternally true as the axioms of
Euclid:
when all is said and done the power of
public opinion is the one controlling power
in the world. sufficient public opinion
will preserve trade unionfSm. A strong
enough hostile public opinion will destroy
it. Trade unionism has fought it's long bat
tie and won its well-earned victories be-
cause 1t stood for something more than in
dividual selfishness; because it really
meant the upbuilding of the race If it
should lose its moral force and descend to
pure sefishness it is bound to fall to
pieces.
No strike important enough to attract
general notice ever was won in defiance of
public opinion, and no great movement OF
labor toward betterment of it's lot ever
failed when supported by public sentiment.
The great coal strike succeeded because
the public recognized the justice of the
miners demands and supported them as
against one of the strongest, richest, most
arrogantly obstinate combinations of capt.
tai and corporate power in the country.
Without that support the anthracite miners
would have lost the greatest battle ever
fought by organized labor. That they know
and freely admit. Whoever does not recog-
niZe and admit that fact Is unfit to counsel
or lead any organization of labor.
Public opinion has not found full and
q
fantastic muddle which union-mad labor Is
making of Industrial conditions. but it is
distinctly not sympathetic with frivolous
strikes and reaSonlesS Squarrels of warning
unions. When trades unfonism perverts its
power to the promotion of wasteful strife
and ceases to be a constructive force in the
development of the country. public opinion
will declare the situation intolerable and
find the way to end 1t.
Until labor realizes that Organization
means something more and higher than
mere agglomeration of units: that it means
adjustment of parts, regulation of move
ments of the Industrial mechanism eff
cheney in production equalization of oppor-
tunity and unity of effort to establish
equity in distribution of products. it will
waste its strength in futile scuff1ing over
non-essentials, and remain at the mercy of
brains more cunning and more intelligently
selfish in counter combination.
A crisis in the life of organized labor in
the United States is impending. 1t is fore
Swallowed in aimless strikes, in irrational
unrest. in the seething turbuIences OF
masses of men who can give no lucid rea-
son for their turmoil in the defensive draw
ing together of harassed employers, in the
growing hostility of public opinion to pur-
poselesS disturbers of business The need
for sane counsel sharp rebuke and earnest
remonstrance against foolish action is
great, and the man who supplies that need
takes his courage in both hands if he values
the friendship of those whom he would save
from their own folly. Clarence barrow has
dared greatly. Will organized labor under
stand him and heed him? viii its leaders
stand by him and tell their followers that
faithful are the wounds of a friend?"