Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-08-19

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providing no man is discharged for mani
resting an interest in union matters, and
.nat any difference arising shall be sub
mitted to board of arbitration, composed
OF TWO representatives named by the union
ana two representatives of the employers
II is also pointed out in the agreement that
II the four arbitrator fail to agree they
shall elect a fifth. who shall be chosen
unanimously by the joint committee of four.
The fifth member must be disinterested and
snail have the power to cast the final vote,
Wmch Will be binding upon the parties to
the agreement.
Messrs Hugh Doran of Chicago. ILL.,. E.
L. Tucker of this city, James A. Reynolds
or Cleveland. Ohio; Henry F. Garrett of
Atlanta, Ga, and NJ. J. Ford of New York
city, N. Y, composing the executive board
of the International Association of Machin-
ists will leave Washington late this even
ing for New York, to confer with party
of manufacturers of that city, with view
to framing several new agreements and adj
Justing number of grievances of minor
Importance now pending.
Since the adjournment of the conference
with the representatives of the Interna ton
al Union of Allied Metal Mechanics and
the United Metal Workers international
Union yesterday at noon, the board has
been occupied in placing official con-
struction on several of the intricate sec
tons injected into the constitution of the
association at the last convention in Mil
waukee, Wis.
At Mondays session of the convention
of the National Building Trades Council at
Denver, Colo, a resolution was adopted
indorsing the Stone Masons' Interna tional
Union of America, which is an affiliated
body. and condemning the Bricklayers and
Masons International Union of America
because of the latter's alleged action to-
"ard the dfsrupting of the stone masons'
organization with view to absorbing it,
The convention declined to give the car
penters the work of installing channel iron
studding and brackets, which, it is said
comes within the jurisdiction of the lathers
Cnth the United Association of Plumbers.
Gas and Steam Filters Helpers defines its
jurisdiction the convention will reject it's
application for membership in the council
IF we are to believe certain newspapers
ana some panic-Stricken business men, a
terrible crisis confronts the country" states
PRESIDENT Gompers of the American FEEDER
atlon OF Labor in discussing the alleged
false alarms about organized labor. "Dis-
aSter threatens us. Our prosperity is at
an end. Industry may as we'll be suspended
and capital locked up in vaults" continued
the labor leader. UNLESS we do this. that
or the other thing. say the solemn and wise
men, including professors of geology and
astronomy, revolution or civil war is
unavoidable.
Now. what has happened? Why do the
V
What Is the trouble?
Unionism is the trouble answers the
plutocratc chorus. Labor, says an east
ern paper, which is doubtless astonished
at Its own moderation. is literally crazy
IL mas become intolerably arrogant. tyran-
meal, reckless and aggressive, and it's
mad career must be checked at once
But what has unionism done?
Has 1t attempted to confiscate the prop
erty of the employing class2
Has 1t defied law and order and commit
ted high crimes and misdemeanors?
Mistakes have been made. no doubt but
are they of so grave a character as to JUS
tify this talk about a crisis and a revoiu-
ton?
Let us consider the Indictment in detail.
In many instances organized workmen have
demanded an increase of wages. There is
assuredly nothing criminal or morally
wrong in such demands.
The law allows such demands; morality
has no objection to them and political
economy does not condemn them so long
as they are within the limit of the ability
of capital to meet. Has the limit been
passed? The question cannot be answered
off hand or dogmatcally.
The employers assertion that thew can
not afford to pay more is not always con-
elusive for they are neither disinterested
nor infallible. Besides, employers are often
able to pay wage after a strike they vo-
ciferously declared before the strike would
be ruinous. What we know as facts bear
ing on the situation are these: That the
country has been prosperous beyond all
presidents; that the price of every or
nearly every commodity consumed by the
workman has been steadily rising; that
the employers very rarely make voluntary
advances in wages. and that. as a rule.
the workman who does not demand an in
crease never gets it.
How many well meaning persons forget
that the bigoted. obstinate, unreasonable
employer is responsible for more strikes
than the much-abused unreasonable
w n < n MT ind han,
Of this important truth, though it processes
to be fair and impartial.
Suppose that labor is not always the
pink of propriety; that it may ask more
than it expects to get; 1t is still true that
in the great majority of the cases labor is
ready for compromise from the first mo-
ment 1t Is anxious to meet the employer;
to consider his objections; to discuss the
issue with him. There have been excep-
tional cases of impracticability on the part
Of raw. immature, inexperienced unions,
which we deplore and endeavor to remedy,
but it is ridiculous to exaggerate the sig
nificance of these exceptions.
Where Is the law of nature ordaining
that employers shall have all the comforts
and Injuries and the workmen the bare
necesSaries, and not always even those?
What is too much?
What is the average rate of weekly
wages in the country under our 'boundless
proSperityY
Let those who talk about the insanity
of union labor honestly consider whether he
who gets $40, SO. or even $50 a week really
threatens the industrial and social order
when he demands a ten or twenty per cent
increase, or a reduction of hours that would
enable him to live. and work to live instead
of living to work and being a beast of
burden.
IF we are so wonderfully prosperous and
progressive, the workman is entitled to a
fair share of our prosperity. Even when
he demands more he is within his rights
and there is sense decency in de-
nouncing him criminal or an enemy of
society.
THE charge of contract breaking like
that of refusing to arbitrate is somewhat
novel. There is a basis Of fact for it, but
a very narrow one. Contracts have been
disregarded in some cases. and none have
protested more earnestly against this bad
and indefensible practice than the repre-
sensatives of organized labor. To hold all
organized labor responsible for the short
comings of few of the youngest unions
is obviously unjust. Are all merchants and
manufacturers condemned when some of
them break contracts?
LAS to lawlessness, the truth is as every
impartial man must recognize, that there
is less of it than ever before Compare
the worst of the present-day strikes with
those of the seventies or nineties of the
last century The stronger the unions
the. more peaceable are the strikes which
they, as a last resort, are compelled to
undertake.
There has been marked improve
In ha cit