The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1904-07-02
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small concern
say that bribery sof= 81 liG unions has
become the Volunta ry method. Il pre-
sferred and agreed upon asss a regular
system among the giant q enterprises |
for their own advantage,sand to in"
*clude the running of all s.Icompetitors,
is to: launch a. terrific Indictment
against the character Of our leading
business men as a. class, which: needs
far more proof thanh vet appeared:
Certainly in any such wholesale cor
ruption exists It reflects such a moral
rottenness in our entire Industrial life
that the wonder is. how the fabric has
held together thus tar or how it con"
tinues to hold together. -
Some Evidences TO tho Contrary.
There is no sufficient evidence for
any such general charge. On the con-
trary, the facts weighing against it are
by all odds the stronger. If the very
large employers are actually in cor
rupt league with the labor leaders,
they are getting painfully little out of
their end of the barbain. The kind
Of labor peace they are supposed to
have bought is not exactly the kind
| a practical outsider would suspect
them Of paying anw exorbitant price
for. It was not worth much to the
steel: corporation. thes greatest Of all
as recently as 1901, TOE to the "coal
barons" in 1902: Few railroad or street
railway companies would ever think Of
| including it as a permanent asset in
| their report to stockholders.
Even in the building industry the
very large company which was. most
| freely credited with "owning'' the
labor leaders, getting full protection
from strikes all through the late
building paralysis in New York, while
rivals were tiled up," proved to have
been one Of the chief victims. 1t had
no strike on the man department of
! structural work. to be sure, but wher-
ever it had sub-contracts placed in the
hands Of firms that were connected
with the local employers association
it was In constant strike difficulties,
| and SO long as these related parts of
work were unfinished it was quite as
impossible to complete contract,
turn it over and collect the price, as
if the strike had been general. The
result was that this company had to
reduce its force radically, withdraw
from the bidding on certain l1npor-
tant contracts, cut down it operations
more heavily than any Of it's import
ant rivals, and, finally this chief of
conspirators, which was supposed by
it's intrigues to have forced the other
employers to make a last desperate
stand against it, itself joined the as
ISOLATION of these employers and made
common cause against the very labor
forces it was believed to control.
Systematic Bribery Would Defeat it..
+ self.
!. The truth is, the corrupt system SO
wildly pictured once become a "sys-
tenn" would defeat itself. There is a
limit to, what a .;Venal delegate can
!; and will demand if the way is pre-
pared. Let it become the understood
thing that cash price will be paid
; for peace, and ssWho can imagine a
, Sam. Parks. or: a, Lawrence Murphy
falling to demand the full amount and
= promising the saline old penalties If
J the.rate4is not lnereased?.< The large
4 interests won very soon find that
i they sSfoinly 1hcceeded aisine
i the expense mar \. fof trouble to -
:: higher point; nofs.in getting rid of II
, by any means. Y: In other words, these
deals could prosper only as they We're
strictly individual and infrequent and
7 mot parts Of a. general system. What
: man ever done to Justify the belief
: that he is so devoid of ordinary "horse
sense" as not to realize the folly of let
ting such practices become the reg
ular thing" as links In chan of per-
petual blackmail by his own invitation
and permission?
The Root Of the Trouble.
No; we must have more reason
: able accounting for: the employers, as
r sociations than this The real root
: Of the trouble seems to lie in the fact
| that during the last two or three years
a powerful element Of the organized
= labor army, flushed with power. has
fairly lost it's head. Success in many
l directions has been too much for it
The temptation to test this new power
:, wherever a chance offered to strike q
blow was too strong for many to resist
And so agreements and contracts have
T been recklessly violated, non-unior
5 men maltreated openely and brutally
t intolerant demands made for contro
Of shop rules and methods, innocent
, parties forced to join in boycotts ir
f quarters where they had no grievance
1 while coarse ruffians and "grafters'
> have ruled here and there with high
Y hand.
S A.:LAROR LEADERS, WARNING.
3 There is no denying that these
!. things have cooled public sympath,
> and invited just the sort Of combined
' attack which the unions are now: fac.
2 ing. One Of the sanest leaders in the
}. labor movement today has not beer
. faraid to sound the warning. eve
$ have seen union after union destroy.
ed" says Henry White, "after reach
ing the:szenith OF power. All the strug.
, giles made to gain that point have beer
3 lost through lack Of self-restraint. 1
l is idle to pooh pooh the organized op'
e position to the labor movement. :. It ii
e growing with: startling rapidity al