The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-07-06
ORGANIZATION Promises Peace.

A ye,-v interesting step In the evolution
NJ the relations Of capital Is now oeins
+akan bv the employers. No one VINO mas
ra.a tho naners can have failed to notice
the tendency Of employers 10 10TH 1851
Citations which are nothing more tnah en-
Movers unions. These ASSOCIATIONS are
genuine organizations or federe11ons "
the proprietors Of separate enterprises
They have nothing in common with truS's'
1,hev are no more trusts than labor unions
are socialistic groups. They are nothing
but associations Of independent employers
for mutual protection or benefit. Inc
process Of evolution has gone so lar IN
giving labor its due that 1t Is no longer
the employe but the employer who Is on
the defensive.
When labor unions were first formed
n,If,lio, opinion and the law were on the
side Of the employer. The employe in the
mass was not worth giving thought TO-
Fortunate men took it for granted that
others, unfortunate, were doomed to pass
their lives in unrequited toll. The laborer
had the misfortune to be born into the
world in a. hard luck caste-that was all.
Then the laboring man began to organize
for mutual benefit, for protection and for
aggression. Later on many of the large
employers came together and formed
INSTRUMENTATION which threatened to
monopolize the opportunity for employ
ment as we'll as products. This concen-
tration Of capital caused a further con-
centration of labor. The great trusts
found themselves confronted by a national
organization Of labor. But this complete
organization of skilled workmen bore so
heavily on employers that were not IN
trusts and had no idea of entering them,
that they were compelled to form unions
to protect themselves and contend for
their rights, and that is the movement
that Is going on today. This time the
employer. no longer the favorite Of pub
lie opinion, no longer master OF the STU
alton, but struggling to hold certain posi-
tions, finds himself confronted with a
maze of organizations. compact and as
well -disciplined as the Macedonian
phalanx, flushed with success and &C
claimed by the public.
the members Of the employers unions are
often disposed to regard each other a:
the very incarnation Of greed and ruthless
arbttrariness. Each thinks that the wei
fare of society demands the destruction O.
the other. But the outsider sees in thu
conformation Of organization with organi
cation the beginning of a more peaceful
era In the industrial world. The NOR
powerful nations have become, the fewe
the wars. On the continent Of Europe tn
maintenance of great armies Is litt
more than insurance against war. TIL
than suffer the destruction Of war. TIL
British navy Is the and-centere
world empires insurance policy agains
destruction and against danger Of de
struotion. A powerful American navy in
sures continued peace for US. So it
confronts strength prudence appears. ]
the Transvaal had had the army Of Franc
there would have been no Boer war-prob
ably there would have been none If tn
British had realized in advance what
really formidable adversary they ha
aroused. When organized and unite
capital opposes organized and united labo
each side, nervous over the possibl
struggle and fearful of the outcome, wi
welcome peace negotiations. So indus
trial organizations mean industrial peace
Charles A. Towne was the Tamman