New-York tribune., 1903-07-29
AN "npENv GnEERNMENr SHOP

The bOokbinders of the Government Printing
Office have announced that they will do moth
ing in violation of the laws of the United States,
which, il must be admitted. is very handsome
of them AS a matter of principle it may be
that the laws Of the bookbinders' union are more
sacred and worthy of obedience than the Con
stitution and laws of the United States But
when so small a dog as the local union Of book
binders has so large tail as the United States
of America some Inconvenience is likely to re-
suit from the dogs exercising its undoubted pre-
rogative of wagging, and its self-restrant in this
instance is highly to be commended. If it
should once get that tail in full swing the mo-
mentum might be so great to sweep the dog
off the earth Therefore all wellwishers of or
ganized labor must feel that diplomacy is bet
ter than stern adherence to the principle OF
labor union sovereignty and rejoice that the
United States is not by the infeXibility of the
bookbinders to be under the necessity of sub
mitting to their laws at the expense of its own.
The magnanimous bookbnders have decided
not to strike against Mr.. Miller, who is by the
Civil Service law protected in his Office, not
withStanding the ban Of the labor union which
has been put upon him. They are seeking to
secure his removal by proceedings in accord
ance with the United States law through charges
preferred in the regular way. These charges
are, however, so evidently afterthought,
made to accomplish Indirectly what was not
achieved by the expulsion from the union that
the bookbinders themselves do not seem par
ticularly hopeful of ridding themselves of the
foreman who made himself obnoxious by insist
ing that the government was entitled to as much
work for its money as any private employer
According TO a high labor official the chief eff
fort of the union will be to induce President
Roosevelt to modify the phraseology of his re-
cent order so as not to make the Government
Printing Office absolutely an "open shop" For
a long time union card has been q prerequisite
10 employment in the Office, but by their at
tempt TO openly dictate who might and who
might not be employed by the government, the
bookbinders succeeded in drawing from the
President what amounted TO a declara ton that
this practice was wrong and that non-union
men must not be Disseminated against by the
government. Having thus made their own bed
they do not want to lie on it.
We believe that the bookbinderS' union is the
only one in the organization of the allied print
ing trades which in its constitution forbids
working with non-union men. Its laws, never
theless, we suppose, ought to be superior to the
laws of the United States which declare the
equal rights OF all citizens. Methodists or Pres
byterians. labor uniOnists or "scabs" In that
the modification they ask, since otherwise the
Government Printing Office will be run Illegally
SO far as their statutes are concerned. Yet
we should not be surprised If they failed
President Roosevelt is Just the sort of a man
TO get it into his head that the laws of the
United States are superior TO those Of any other
institution, even a labor union It would he
just like him to stand by the old time American
theory of equality, and refuse to see that it has
been modified by the rise of trade unionism
Appealed 10, he will as likely as not come out
with another ringing declaration that the Gov
ernment Printing Office is not TO close the door
of opportunity on honest 'scabs" who will give
days work for a days pay. and who have
just as much right to employment by the gov.
ernment as anybody else. If this happens. the
last condition Of the labor union constitution
may be worse than the first Perhaps the book,
binders, if they want practical monopoly Of
the government work. had better be content
with the existing declaration and one "scab"
They may provoke stronger ruling and invite