The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1904-11-26

N@~~o~o ~"~~~~
d1tions of toilers;, and =: not : a1nong=E
workingnen alone, but in AL classes. !,
To be known as" a :."scab' brings to- :
the one known: to bear. that term Of +
reproach the. contempt of. all with |
whmom he comes in contact. Not |
withstanding the organized warfare |
being: made BY: capital. In all lines Of
business, under the demand for the |
"open shop'-which means the 'scab"
shop all the time and is intended so |
to mean-there, is not a. trade union |
which Is not growing in membership |
every year, while, occupations are be-
ing organized into unions that had |
never been thought capable of being |
so organized. !
The habit Of thinking for themselves
Is being developed among workingmen,
and their thought is taking the form of
figuring how best to make the right
of suffrage useful to them. There is
daily getting to be less blind adherence
to political parties and more DISPOSE
ton shown to ask the que stion, What
does the victory Of either Of the great
political parties mean to me and my
interests?" The public acts Of can
didates for political office are being
more closely inquired into, with
view to rewarding or Furnishing them,
according as they have been friendly
or inimical. The votes Of legislators,
| in Congress and in State legislatures,
with regard to their friendliness or I'M
friendliness to labor, are being more
! closely watched than ever before, with
| organizations to inform the immediate
! constituents Of the legislator Of the
! position he has taken on legislation
affecting the interests of workingmen.
While the daily newspapers are, as
rule, unfriendly to the cause Of labor,
multftudes Of labor i nall sections of
the land have sprung up to give the
facts Of labor matters and to undo
the harm Of the Misrepresentation and
suppressions Of fact Of the pluto
cratic PRESS" and though many of
them have a hard struggle for ex1s-
tence and are unable to make the ex-
penditures necessary to properly gath
err and set forth the news, there Is
manifest improvement in both the
support given the labor press and the
fullness and completeness with which
it covers the field of labor. The daily
press is also growing fairer in it's
statements Of the facts Of great labor
troubles, with a few Infamous ex-
amples to the contrary, and the" out
RACES Of the military in Colorado and
the bad faith of the beef packers in
Chicago and other points in the West
are so well understood that they are
held in adherence by all classes ex-
cept those who desire the defeat of Ia
Dor unions by: any possible means. All
[ that is needed to right the wrongs of
the working men and women of the
country is thorough understanding
of what those rights and wrongs are
A much smaller understanding of the
evils and horrors Of human slavery
was sumficenti from the capital OF
was sufficient to array all mankind
against It who were most. clamorOus
/ for their right to- hold slaves forty
years ago would fight equally as hare
against the restoration Of slavery as
| they then fought against it's abolition
| Mankind as a whole is fair minded
I and all that Is necessary to have any
/ wrong righted is to have it known an(
| understood.
| The growth Of labor from the time
| when all labor meant slavery is mos
/ interesting study. The most intelligent
: the members Of the learned profes.
sions; for in the middle ages thu
lawyer, the doctor, the schollmaster
the clergyman, were to all intents ant
purposes as fully the slaves of thu
feudal lord, to whom they were at
tached, as ever the African was t.
the slave owner of the Carolinas
I knowledge enabled these to breal
{ | 1>o;,,
( emancipation they became, not the ad
vocates Of their fellow-slaves Of lowe
I degree, bu their oppressors, assisting
in frightening the bonds by which the!
were held. 1t was not the slaveholde
who abolished slavery; it was tn
Z disinterested men of the North, VIII,
! had been brought to realize it's hor
I rors and injustice. It is said, will
! possibly some show Of truth. that tn
Northern man did not become al
= abolitionist until slavery had prove
Improbable in the North, after hun
\ dred years of experiment; for ther
were slaves in every state in the unto
in 1880, with one exception. But tha
makes for nothing in our argumeI
that mankind will right al Wrong
surely, as soon as they are understood
1t is the hardest thing in the wor]
| to. convince g. man that that thing
to his interest which appears at fir
glance to be against his interest
Rarely will he look below the surfac
Low wages are never to the advantat
: Of the employer if he has competitio
for his competitors can produce
). cheaply as he, an dthe only ones WI
= are apparently advantaged are tt
- community at large, the consumer
n who are in turn and to: a greater e:
Il tent disadvantaged by the small
- amount of, money which the workin,
man, the foundation on which tt
whole industrial fabric stands, w
have to spend and thus keep in eli
culation. If any be permanently a.
r vantaged by low wages it is the cor
kSI partively small class who live on Il
interest of their money. not investe
but lent.