Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-01-17
striker. If President Eliot and those


like him really knew more Of the char
acter Of the ''scab," knew more about
the actual kind of laborers that become
'scabs," they would hesitate about
calling the modern "scab" "a very
good type of a hero" AS a matter OF
fact, in probably 80 per cent of the
cases he is really loose, Irregular
disreputable, quasi tramp laborer. BE
is the kind that seldom works regularly
and is almost never a good workman
"Scabs' are essentially camp followers
of labor disturbances. President Eliot
is probably not aware that in case OF
strikes the chief object of the employer
to the public that there are plenty OF
men who are willing to work on the
terms offered. In order to demonstrate
this they send out into the highways
and hedges and offer exceptional in
ducements for men to come to work
simply to make showing. The writer
knows of several instances Of the kind
where the wages offered have been SO
per cent more than the strikers were
asking. In addition to this they often
furnish board and lodging. They sci.
dom expect to keep these workingmen
permanently. They know in advance
that only few of them will prove
competent workmen. But these men
serve the purpose for the time being
as instruments to break the strike.
Moreover, in most industries it usual
ly happens that they spoil as much as
they accomplish. The writer remem-
bers one instance where the incompe.
tency of the "scab" laborers was such
as to render them actually worthless,
and in order to make a showing the
material was taken out of the ma
chinery which stood round the outside
and the machinery was run empty,
the "scabs" simply moving the ma
chimes as If they were working, so that
the passersby, hearing the noise, would
think the factories were running, and
the newspapers would announce with
faring headlines that the mills were
rapidly filling up and would have no
use for the strikers If they remained
out little longer. OF course there are
exceptions, but in the main there is
really no heroism in the "scab." And
he doesn't come as hero. He seldom
comes because he wants to work. He
usually comes because there are ex-
ceptional inducements offered and be-
cause he is made an object of consid-
cradle attention.
Now, as to the right Of the "scab''-
this sacred right" which seems to be
more precious than the right Of any
body else. OF course the idea behind
the eulogy Of the "scab" is that he is
man out Of work, seeking to sell his
services to the best advantage, and
that he has a right to take every op-
portunity that presents itself and that
he should be regarded as hero and a
social benefactor for so doing. Before
we accept that view the case should be
examined little further. Here are
hundred men out of work. It is i'm
portant to the welfare of society that
they be employed. But it is not i'm
portant that a hundred other men be
discharged in order that they may be
employed. The economic and social
and moral condition of the community
is not improved by any such process of
swapping places. What is really want
ed is that the hundred men should have
employment. Now, when the strike
occurs a hundred vacancies have not
been created in any true economic or
been temporarily created are really in
state of negotiation. Those who have
vacated their jobs have done so with a
specific purpose namely, to improve
them. If they succeed in improving
these jobs, whether it be by securing
more wages, shorter hours, better SAM.
tary or moral conditions or whatsoever,
those places will be better for whose.
ever fills them thereafter.
If the "scab' takes that place which
was not normally for him, which would
not have been vacated but for the fact
that the other man was willing to un-
dergo sacrifice to improve it either for
himself or others, he not only does not
lessen the total Of unemployed, but he
defeats the effort of the other man to
improve the condition Of his whole
class. He makes the job worse for him
self, for everybody else and for those
that come after him. Is he benefac-
tor? To the extent that he succeeds
he prevents improvement. His only
contribution is to the forces that make
it impossible for the laborers in that
group to get better economic or social
conditions, and he is used specifically
for that purpose.
From the viewpoint of the progress
of society the "scab" is an injury. He
lacks every element that goes to make
hero. His whole attitude is that of
the sneak and the camp follower; of
the man who robs the corpses on the
battlefield or attends fire for the sake
of the pickings. He contributes no ele-
ment either of personal honor, public
spirit or good workmanship and adds
nothing to the forces which make for
the social betterment Of anybody. There