The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1904-10-07
Penalty of Unwisdom.

SulCdSO L eueidIlOu OI hdDOT, WuO KEEPS
the per-capita tax accounts Of the labor
organizations Of that city, says that
the membership in the unions which a
year ago had reached 100000 is today
less than $50 900. Unsuccessful strikes,
the stand for the "open shop by some
of the employers, and the offers Of en-
ployment by employers who agree to
hire men as individuals, is having
weakening effect upon the unions. So
cialistic agitators are making much Of
the situation, claiming that trade union
ism is not the remedy for what they
call ''wage slavery and urging the
members Of the unions to put on the
badge of socialism, an example of which
is said to have been recently set by
President Donnelly Of the butchers or
ganization.
If unionism in Chicago is suffering
depletion, as indicated by this state
ment, it is due more to bad management
than. to anything else. The butchers
union, while still in existence, is inef-
fective and has been reduced to its
present condition by the unwise action
of it's leaders, particularly its president.
In the butchers strike, the working.
men had the advantage when they went
, back to work under the agreement tc
| have points of difference arbitrated anc
, old men restored to their places within
| forty-fve days. The strike was prac
) tically lost the day that President Don
: nelly called his men out again unde
sudden impulse, believing that tn
3 employers were not disposed to carr,
r out their agreement with the men. TIL
employers had not yet had an oppor
e tunity to show good faith or bad faitl
}. conclusively.. No fair test had yet beer
c made of their Intentions. The mem
o bers Of the union knew it, and whel
J. their families began to suffer for foo
/ they could not be held in line in sup
: port Of policy of which they coul
) not approve. ILL., ..s
}, If labor organization is less prospe,
VI GUS and successful today than it wa
. a short time ago, the fact must be at
u tributed more to injudicious manage
Il ment than to anything else. The nee
l. of organization and the effectiveness
: of organization as a means of gainin
2 the ends aimed at are just as real toda
: as they ever we're, and whatever de
- moralization may exist in labor's rank
is doubtless but temporary and capabl
} of being corrected with a return
N wiser and saner methods. In no plac
1T in this country has organized labc
In lacked so much the conserving inf1
enee of moderation and wise leadershi
as in Chicago, 49,.
Dawson, Yukon Territory, has ne
81 Carnegie library and among the recel
10 additions to the bookshelves were Ii
Nv Of President Roosevelt and Booker
~ Washingtons autobiography, entitled 'I
* from Slavery" In a portion Of this cou
A' try the man whose story of his own Ii
Ill is regarded highly. enough to secure
~ place in a library which cannot affo
-. any but the best books is regarded wi
-. such disfavor on account Of his color tn
gu the president is spoken Of insultingly +
no having broken bread with him. The pu
90 chase Of Mr.. Washington's book by t
: Dawson library indicates the existence
~ a much higher and more correct standa
of true manhood in the great mini
"o camp Of the north than prevails in
:, "solid SOUTH"
so In his speech at Glenwood last mig
Tut Mr. Dunn said that he had always be
he opposed to the merging Of parallel a
competing lines Of railway. Then J
tn, Dunn did not mean what he said in
oW interview of Jan. g. 1902, altho no la
nd than last spring he made statement
us: peating it, and declaring that he stt
tn; by what he said. Mr.. Dunn's antimer
~ statements have been growing a Iii
stronger every month as election
on, proaches. The question to be conside
at is not what he says. when seeking vo1
can but what he has said when not rum
on for office, and what he Is likely to
ne again under the same circumstances.
one -------------- - -------------
ra- The big Hotel St. Regis in New y
tho has been straining its air. From outs
TO air pumped into the hotel In one we
Of which was without rain, one barrel
dust was obtained. In the same week
in automatic sweepers in the hotel gathe
ada two and one half barrels of dust. The
ade drawn into the St. Regis passes t