Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1903-01-07

great deal or falth in the prospects OF
the Civic federation as a peacemaker
between employer and employee. There
are those who say the Civic federation
Is one of the senator's little political
games. He didn't admit the soft i'm
parchment to me, though l was right
there in the hall for several hours, and
so l don't know for sure.
My opinion is, after sitting through
one of its sessions, talking with num-
Der of its members and doing consid-
erable thinking on the subject, that
the Civic federation furnishes an op-
portunity for the many sides of the
labor question to get together and dis
cuss matters; that 1t Is an educational
force. Therefore labor will not be
loser because Of the federation.
A great many editors and some of
the preachers and professors Of the
country have worked themselves into
frenzy over the action of the painters
union of Schenectady, N. Y, in ex-
pelling William Potter because of his
membership in the state militia. All
the facts in this case are not at hand,
Il
officially, but upon the question of un-
lon men belonging to the militia most
union men have strong convictions.
Potter has brought suit against the
union for reinstatement, and If there
was no rule of the union against
member joining the militia at the time
he Joined he has a shade the better Of
the argument from legal standpoint.
The Schenectady union is not the pio-
neer of the movement in which 1t is at
present so prominent. 1t has long been
understood that there was opposition
In the trades unions to members becom-
ing militiamen, and some unions have
constitutional provisions forbidding
membership in the militia to members
of the unions. | emphatically deny
that this implies disloyalty to the coun-
try, as some of our old-fag- -with-an-
appropriation editors assert, or lack of
patriotism upon the part of the unions.
During the past twenty years 1t has
become the custom to frequently call
out the militia in times of strikes. 1t
doesn't matter here whether this use of
the national guard is justifiable or not;
that it is so used is the point. Strikes
are generally the result Of orders issued
by labor unions and union men are
those sought to be intimidated by the
use of the militia. In what sort of
position is a man who has sworn to
stand by his union and who has also
taken an oath as q member of the ma
tional guard when his union is out on
strike and his company is ordered to
the scene of the strike? The unions, or
most of them, say that no man has a
right to place himself in such an awk-
ward predicament 1t Is asking little
too much of human nature to expect
union men to give the protection or
their organization to man whom they
have seen standing guard ut factory
door or mine shaft in time of con-
test between union labor and capital.
That is all there is to it, gentlemen.
You may get hot in the collar and rant
upon "disloyalty" and the like all you
please, so long as the national guard is
used as a means of aiding the bosses to
defeat the legitimate demands of union
labor Just so long will the man who
belongs to the militia be deemed unde-
sirabe material for membership In a
labor union.
AS to patriotism, every well informed
man knows that when this country
needs real soldiers 1t can get them,
as it always has got them, from the
ranks of the workingmen, especially
union workingmen. The editorial and
professional patriots are good at shoot
ing off their lead pencils and their
mouths, but that is about all they ever
do shoot off in defense of the old flag.
Grand Army buttons are not uncom-
mon sights at meetings of American
labor unions.
am afraid there is trouble ahead for
the labor movement in this country,
and it makes an old timer sad to con-
template the threatening outlook. AT
the recent session of the American Fed
GRAFTON of Labor there We're signs of
impending doom. Yes, sir, doom is the
word. If the spirit of controversy over
jurisdiction is allowed full sway, the
labor movement will suffer as it could
not be made to suffer through any other
means. Strikes, lockouts hard times,
panics, the united opposition of every
employer in the land, could not do the
union movement one-half the harm in
a quarter of century that this inter-
necine strife can accomplish in one
year. Gentlemen Of influence in con-
fiicting unions, let me urge you to be
cautious in all you do. Avoid friction
and be willing to give and take. In
some cases it might be better if kindred
employments were amalgamated in one
organizatio in other cases the autono-
my of each separate branch may be
preferable, but under no circumstances
will a fight that may disrupt union
be desirable. know all the butts" that
this statement will provoke, and | have
one but" to answer them all. 1t is bet
ter that the present subdivision in or
ganizations should continue and all set
Elements of differences be arranged
through the American Federation of