Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-02-28
DOrland Believes That Trades I'M
+ AOns Must Take Advantage OF, Cor
: 1Orat1on Laws to Successfully Con-
tend With Capital
Especial Correspondence

am DeneVer IN incorporation, ana
40 not believe the last word has yet
been uttered on this question.
Workingmen should not permit their
well founded prejudices against corpo-
*rate methods of warfare to blind them
ITO the inherent strength Of the corpo-
rate structure itself, and they may we'll
ask themselves, III the corporation has
proved itself such an effective agent in
sperfecting and consolidating the power
~ capitalists, why would it not prove
S9qually effective in consolidating the
spower of workingmen and enabling
tBuch power to be used to the greatest
ndvantage?'
There are great many reasons why
t4he existing form of labor organization
sfs incompetent to successfully cope
with the united power of corporate cap
IL now very marked to make the settle
ssnent Of labor disputes purely a ques-
ton of law. The courts are almost in
5variably appealed to to take a hand in
esuch matters and always in such a way
seas to practically destroy the old time
sighting power of the union, and it may
sbe safely asserted that no great strike
tcan ever again take place in this cOun-
Stry without the courts being called ON
efo render decisions on points which will
spositively settle the matter in dispute
zone way or the other. 1t is not necessa-
ay that these points submitted to the
courts should have any bearing on the
real merits Of the case itself, but they
will nevertheless, as in the past, have
:such bearing on the main issue that
Ia court decision will effectually tie the
hands Of one or the other party to the
.dispute and render submission on the
merits of the case inevitable.
Now, in considering this legal aspect
OF matters Industrial it must not be
forgotten that the corporation-not any
particular corporation nor any particu-
lar association Of individuals, but the
corporate structure itself-is solidly in
trenched in our laws. The highest le-
,gal and legislative ability in the nation
has been for years devoted to perfect
ing corporate methods of conducting
business and bringing the laws of the
country into conformity with such
smethods Practically speaking there is
no longer any branch of law that is
worth serious attention from an able
mind save corporation law. A thor
-Ough knowledge of corporation law is
the very highest accommodation to a
splace on the bench. and our higher
courts are almost invariably presided
sOVer by former corporation attorneys
! "hof
parties appearing in court for deci-
sion on matters of vital import to each
: one party being a corporation and the
other merely a private individual or
ordinary partnership, the corporation
SHOULD get the better Of it? 1t is not at
all necessary to assume the judges to
>be venal or corrupt or even blindly
prejudiced. 1t is only necessary to con-
slider their habits. modes of thought
and the environment in which they
have been nurtured, together with the
aact that the laws which they must ap-
sply to the cases on which they are
asked to pass judgment have been de-
v1sed and passed at the instance of cor
operations and for the express purpose
aof facilitating the corporate admins
tration of trade and industry
The corporation furnishes the most
sperfect machinery for the conduct Of
large undertakings ever devised by
.man, and it is strongly intrenched in
:@Our laws. These are the leading facts
(which should commend the principle of
incorporation to labor organizations as
81 good one to follow. 1t being practi-
scally certain that the disputes. between
NVorkingmen and their employers are in
s4he future to be decided in the courts,
t1vorkingmen should put themselves in
20 position to maintain the same stand
ang in court as their opponents, as we'll
us to take advantage of laws which
have been enacted in the interest Of
4heir opponents. It is we'll known that
a1bor organizations as such have been
absolutely denied the right to appear
and maintain proceedings in court Of
equity as against a capitalistic corpo-
Hation for the sole and only reason that
Ahe labor organizations were not incor-
aDorated, the court holding that an un-
incorporated association has no stand
ing in court. Incorporation would GER
give O1SdulAdtlOuS I'LL uu-
questioned legal standing in the courts
sand to that extent would enable them
Ito meet their opponents on equal foot
ing. If their present disabilities are Of
smother nature, that fact would then
quickly disclose itself.
*ss3 Another feature of Importance is that
incorporate would enable the unions
10 better control the conditions of COM
petition than at present. Owing to the
consolidation of industry and the con-
Btantly decreasing number of corpora
dons workingmen are compelled to
Beek work from constantly <lessening
number Of employers. Thus while the
cOmpetition for work in the ranks Of
workingmen is as keen as ever the
competition for workingmen in the
ranks Of employers is growing less
een every day, and il the present de-
velopment proceeds unrestricted it is
l. 10 Al L