The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-05-08

the halt and the weary at the expense or the really competent.
 The Union Has Come to Stay.
 "Divested of all claptrap, the union is simply a means of averaging wages, and an employer views 1t as such. It is de- vice for making those who are willing to worn care for those who want to soldier.
 "On the principle that every man must have a living some how in place of mak- | ing the community contribute support openly, to which process there attaches some discredit. the really efficient work men of a class receive less for their ser vices and thus help support those who are unable to earn as much under normal conditions through establishing a scale of l averages.
 Now having hurt the feelings of some of you by the foregoing, I am going to surprise you by saying that I regard the unions as a condition that has come to stay; that I have no prejudice whatever to properly conducted ones. and express my wish that our men generally would join them
 Not that would run a union plant as such. for I would not coerce my men or consent to discrimination as between but I would wish to htaoihrdluhrdu those who were and who were not mem Der, but l would wish to have in the un- ion the conservative influence of many of the good men who are out, to counteract the f1oater, the anarchist, the man who has nothing at stake in the world, who works with his mouth more than his hands
 "The trouble with unionism is it's in- tolerance. To succeed in this world one must bear and forbear. The same spirit of intolerance that fills the union man toward the non-ttpiop ie what history shows us to have prevailed ages ago in religion. in race prejudice and in other ways. The cry of ''the union of the hos pital' has it's counterpart in that of the older one of 'the church or the stake
 Unions Brought About Trusts.
 'It is through the elimination of the feeling that physical force is necessary to the accomplishment of results that real progress Is made. The time when brute strength shall rule Is becoming thing of the past. You hurt immeasurably your cause when you descend to violence in l language or action The rule of seniority l is bad one. It is most discouraging to men of ability. Ii is repressive and op- pressive, and puts many of little wit, and 1 less ability into positions they are unfitted for and keeps out those who are more de- serving and competent. It deteiorates the service.
 q fail to understand why young men assent to a rule that requires them to grow old in one line of employment be- fore recognition become possible, no matter how well deserved. The result makes for dissatisfaction for change and for the large floating class in each grade of employment, with the responsible posi- tions filled by old men.
 "No one interest has done more to pro- mote the trust or combination, the larger corporation, than organized labor. It has forced them Into existence for protection from exaction And to what does it all tend? Given all your hotheads seek and there will be no one to employ you, and public corporations must be run by the government Capital will not seek in- vestment where nothing but loss and con- troversy is to result. The rule of the radi- cal will not prevail. The hothead must be retired, or in the contest in which he feat. The contest will not be determined by numbers. Education and brains will outweigh numbers and brawn The spec tacled student is to be the general of fu- ture armies; captains of industry may not always be those who have worked with their hands.
 Resort to force gives the brute that is in us ascendency. You may achieve the temporary success at the cost of perma- nent loss, for you cannot drive a bad bar gain with the man who knows his busi- ness and to force for your services more than they are worth Is to invite ultimate disaster.