Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1903-10-23
]. ! /

]! VI. Nv J! s I. /! y
Says John Mitchell 4 lhill
Considering the Good
s.., Done By Unions. "
From the beginning Of the -iabo,
movement for more than 200 years la
Dor organisations have been ATTACKED
upon one pretense and then another. ,
says John Mitchell, In discussing
''Trade Unions and Strikes. " r.. ..
''They are first attacked beoaus,
they are unlawful, because they ar,
created In violation Of the laws. Tn,
laws 200 years ago pro vided that i
was unlawful to strike; they provided
that q man might be sent to prison il
he asked for higher wages. About 20(
years ago wages were fixed by statute.
In England the law provided thai
some class Of workmen. il they asked
for more than one cent q day, should
be sent to prison.
II want to repeat statement that
I have frequently made in order tina
you may in a measure know what has
done, by contrasting it with the con-
ditions that prevailed some time ago.
There is nothing in this world that
can be properly measured unless it is
measured by comparison, unless by
contrast. As Bishop Spalding has
said. if one thinks Of success, 1t is
contrast with failure. If you
speak Of light it is in contrast with
failure. If you speak of light, it is
In contrast with darkness. If you
speak Of good, 1t is in contrast with
evil. If you speak Of happiness. it is
in contrast with grief. So in this in
dustrial movement. If you speak of
conditions today it must be in con-
trast with conditions that prevailed
five, ten, fifteen and a hundred years
ago.
las said before, this trade union
unconventional it is not perfect by
any means-has been attacked for
many causes, by many people and for
many reasons. In the beginning trade
unions were attacked becuse they were
illegal; they have been attacked be-
cause they are national. They have
been attacked because they have been
raising wages, and because they have
not raised wages; they have been
attacked for reducing the. hours of
labor and for not reducing the hours
of labor. ; they have been attacked
for raising and elevating the whole
human family, and for not doing so.
It seems that there is nothing they can
do, that they have done or will do in
future, that some one does not find
cause to attack them.
In these days men attack unions
because they strike. Some of the
friends of organized labor-that class
of critics who cav they have nothing
against trade unionism, except that
they object to it as it is at present
conducted-are. I, presume, good
deal like keeper Of turnpike who
said he had no objection to railroads
if they would not run trains; So 1t is
with the critics Of trade unionism.
They have no objection to organization
but to what it does I presume that
if we were to constitute ourselves a
society that hod FOR it's purposes the
passing of resolutions of coincidence or
occasionally. going to a dance or q
funeral the critics would have noting
to say.
'Some Of our critics say that Or
CARNATIONS Of labor should be- con-
demned ;that they should be abolished
because they are nothing more
or less than machines organized for
the purpose Of going on strikes.
Now it would be just az logical to
say that the United States government
was organized for tho purpose Of 60
ing to war because it has navy and
army. Labor unions were not organ.
lied for the purpose of going on
strikes, but they believe that it is
right to strike and the exercise of
that right is one Of the methods of
redressing wrongs. Sometimes labor
organization strikes when it oug ut
not to, sometimes a man drinks
more than he had ought to, some
times a citizen votes twice in day,
sometimes paper prints what it
ought not to: but there is no one of
common, ordinary sense who will say
that the right to vote should be abol-
ished because a man votes twice that
press should be suppressed because
it prints that it ought not to, or that
the right to strike should be abolished
because some organizations strike
foolishly.
II am a striker. I believs in q