The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1903-06-25

LABOR in America owes it's position to trades
unionism. But the oft quoted adage, .In union
there is strength is true only when such organiza
tons are led controlled by Of character and
strength. The circumstances surrounding many of
the great movements for wage readjustment de-
plorabe in their manifestation of bad Judgment and
wrong feeling None can censure labor for using all
legitimate efforts to enforce reasonable demands; but
when the demands are unreasonable, ill-timed and
senseless in the extreme-as appears to be the case
in the New York carpenters strike-forbearance
ceases to be virtue.
Owing to the fact that the carpenters have or
ganzed two rival unions-namely, the United Broth
erhood of Carpenters and Joiners and the Amalga-
mated Society of Carpenters and Joiners-for many
weeks past building operations aggregating millions
of dollars have been completely tied up. It would
appear that the action of these unions has been lit
tie short of idiotic No doubt the trouble originated
through the petty ealouses of the leaders who
willing to sacrifice the interests of their blindly zeal
GUS followers in order to exalt themselves. Unfor-
tunate indeed is the union that will submit to such
leadership!
The anthracite miners in their long strike had
some permanent principle at stake The building
trades of New York have not been striking for any
principle whatever They have sacrificed public
sympathy and have come to be regarded as a nui-
sance They have prevented thousands of honest
men in other trades from earning their daily bread,
while they have walked the streets in arrogant idle
ness. The inevitable result has been the organiza
ton of business men, contractors, dealers in build
ing materials and employers of labor, who have been
forced to combine for self protection
The public is at all times an interested party in
labor disturbances and their interests are too greatly
affected to allow them to longer tolerate such methods
There be instances when the unions are justified
in striking, but the carpenters strike in New York
was not one of them.
The increasing number of exhibits of leather
work, basketry, handmade furniture, pottery and
other kindred products of the handicraftsman, now
being held throughout the country, prove that the
"arts and crafts movement has taken firm hold
on the people. There are g hundred amateur book
binders basket-makers and woodworkers today where
there was one few years ago, while about half a
dozen magazines devoted exclusively to the cult have
ia wide circulation. How long will it be before the
craze wears out? Not many years probably. It can
not last because in the first place it has become a
fad and because it has already been carried beyond
reasonable bounds
The demand for durable and artistic furniture
/,
machine made articles At the time William Morris
established his shop excellence was sacrificed to
cheapness in the manufacture of all house furnish
ings and cultured people had grown tired of trivial
pretty things of weak limitations of Chippendae and
Sheraton furniture, of ornaments that didn't orna-
ment but fell apart soon the glue dried; and
when the shrewd and farsighted Morris introduced
genuine artistic and durable articles he met with
immediate success. But the host of imitators who
have followed Morris lack his artistic sense to say
nothing of his genius. In their hands the move
ment started by him has become somewhat of farce
With them massiveness appears to be the end in
view. They to have lost sight of the fact that
furniture which is appropriate for mansion is out
of place in ordinary dwelling house, that chair
or table too heavy to be moved easily is nuisance
in small house and absurd in fat-and most
Americans live in small houses fats. They insist
that all the books they turn out shall have rough
edges because books made by the monks of old had
rough edges losing sight of the fact that book with
the leaves trimmed is easier to keep clean and
convenient to handle. A basket or rug made by
hand is in wise better than equally strong bas-
ket or rug made by machinery.
Where the arts and crafts people are making
their mistake is in going back to the days before
machinery for their models Old furniture books,
etc. interesting but the best of the modern pro-
ductions quite durable and quite as artistic
The members of the new-old craft would find more
lasting success if they turned out thorough work
talong modern lines and adapted their products to
the requirements Of the present age, instead of
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