The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-08-27

tion of labor or person who has no aff1iation with labor unions. But prac- tice does not always accord with ab- stract conceptions of right and wrong.
 It would be easy to show, for instance, that dozen average citizens, who, as consumers, are interested in securing a low tariff or the abolition of all tariff tuties would not have the same status
 before the senate finance committee as dozen manufacturers interested in re-
 taining high tariff duties and willing to contribute handsome ly to political cam- paign funds. Government by party, while best adapted to the genius of the American people, has it's weak points, not the least of which is that statesmen
 in power, in order to retain control, will sometimes ignore a fundamental princt- pie for party advantage. 1t is assumed
 that President Roosevelt, in ordering
 an investigation to ascertain whether,
 in respect to Federal employment, non- union labor is discriminated against, is
 actuated by disinterested motive-by
 sincere desire to protect every Ameri- can citizen ill his right to obtain gov ernment employment if he possesses the necessary qualifications and the gov ernment employment employment if he possesses the necessary qualifications and the government has need of his ser- vices.
 Organized labor can present no valid objections to such an investigation, if
 the principle is extended not only to la
 bor unions but to combinations of all kinds with which the government has dealings. As an abstract proposition,
 not even the most ardent and aggres-
 sive champion of trades unionism will
 deny that the government has no moral right, in distributing it's favors, to make, a distinction between any classes of its citizens. The government ought to be interested, of course, in everything which makes for the welfare of the peo- pie. Those toilers who believe that combination improves the condition of the vast army of labor are entitled to
 hold this opinion and to put it into practice. The government should not and will not interfere with them in the exercise of their right so long as this l right is exercised without detriment to other classes of citizens. Those who do not acquire membership in labor organ I izations have the same status. In such 1 matters every man has the right to | shap his own course. It is not for the government to say that because a man | is or is not member of a trades union therefore he has stronger claim upon
 its consideration than the person who l nY1o n1- 3fn other If
 these qualifications. So when President
 Roosevelt asserts the principle, as he is
 reported to have done recently, that, all
 things being equal, no distinction must be made between the trades unionist and the non-unionst, he prescribes a
 sound rule of action, and one to which organized labor should give ready and \ cheerful assent.
 If organized labor will heed the ad-
 vice of it's best and most disinterested | friends, it will pursue conservative
 policy in this as in all other matters.
 It will not be led astray by extremists
 or idealists, who seem at times to for
 get that the American people are emi-
 nently sensible and practical. A Wash | ington dispatch published in the Sun
 yesterday stated that there is move-
 ment in progress to organize the negro
 workingmen in the south. It is we'll
 known that the most far-seeing and dis
 eliminating labor leaders do not ap-
 prove this plan, and for reasons which
 must be obvious to ny intelligent per-
 son. It would be grievous mistake for 1 trades unions to take any step which
 would demoralize labor conditions in the
 south. Such policy would cause labor 1 organizations to be regarded with sus- ! picion and resentment in quarter
 where there is now little hostility to-
 ward them. Such progress as trades
 unionists make in this country, in
 which they constitute relatively to the
 whole population, only a small propor-
 ton of American citizenship, must be
 achieved by the exercise of common
 sense, by the avoidance of friction as far as possible with other classes of cit-
 izens. and by liberal and intelligent
 recognition of the right of Il men to
 equal treatment. If organized labor pursues this course it will gratify it's friends and disappoint it's enemies,