The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1904-12-31
TRAD / 1 I i UNIONS AR 4. ! u
AGAINST FEUDAL|sM.
Trade Unions the Potent Power
Which Has Quickened
Spirit of Labor.
Capitalists Cling to the Feudal
Habit Through Selfish
Interests.

George E. Mcneil. writing in Ameri-
can Federationist, says that trade
unions stand for the opening up of
opportunities for men to exercise their,
right t olabor." Mr.. McNeall con-
tinues:
1.-THE trade union is' an organized,
peaceful revolution against feudallsm.
The capitalists and the laborers are
living in historic feudal relations to
each other and to society.
Trade unions are the most potent
power to interrupt the historic sue
cession Of the feudal spirit and to
awaken the democratic spirit latent
in humanity.
"Capitalists cling to the feudal habit
through selfish interests and class
pride.
In the first half of the nineteenth
century the spirit of our free institu-
lions acted upon the native born to
stimulate them to protest against wage
labor conditions. Complaint was often
made that the American wageworkers
We're too independent. It was said of
them, as it is said Of all people when
they begin to assert their rights, They
do not know their place.
THE almost unlimited opportunity
for emigration from the older to the
newer states and territories provided
a way Of escape from servile to more
favorable conditions, sometimes to
free labor and self employment The
cheaper laborers Of Europe flowed in
as the native born flowed out The
Americans who remained as foremen
and overseers were more independent
and better paid than the foreigners.
Soon the inflow of foreign people
greatly exceeded the outflow of the ma
tlves into the other states. The ma
tlves found cheaper laborers as COM
retitors at many of the doors Of oppor-
tunity.
Occupation after occupation was de-
serted by the American born workers
and after a. time was again deserted
by the English speaking peoples who
took the places of the natives. The
order in some Industries was about as
follows: First, native employees; Sec
ond, English, Scotch and Irish; third,
French Canadians; then, according to
locality and industry, came the Ar
mentan, Italian andBohemian and in
some instances the Polish and Russian
peoples.
"The first trade unions were COM
posed almost wholly of American
workmen. Their ideals were American
and their methods true to their ideals.
When the avenues Of escape were be-
to the unions, following about the line
fhnfv {r1fv S~,$~
tons and industries.
Today the trade unions include near
~ all of the"races and languages that
1nhabit the country, yet nearly all of
the officers Of the trade unions are
English speaking.
"The high ideals Of the trade unions
have not been lowered. The president
of the American Federation of Labor
is close student of the ethical and
economical philosophy of the labor
movement. His ideals are high, his
integrity is unchallenged and his in
tellectual ability undoubted. The la
Dor literature, however it may be lack
ing in scholarly diction, is as virile as
virtue and as high in its ethical spirit
as the literature Of any othehr class
or movement.
'The trade unions have cpoken in a
tongue easily understood except to
those who will not or who cannot I'M
derstand the history Of human develop
ment Or the revolutions Of the indus
trial conditions.
tits leaders understand that their ef-
forts against the feudal system have
not fully emancipated the white wage
y01NlJn +Ioo
proclamation of emancipation to the
black race in our own country has
yet made that race entirely free.
1.-THE trade unions do not seek re-
prisals for past losses. They seek,
first, to secure freedom of contract,
not only the right but the power to
make and keep a contract; that con-
tracts ought not and practically cannot
be made with mob, a disorganized,
undisciplined, unassociable body of
people.
"Union is not only strength; It is
order; it is discipline.
TRADE unions furnish an orderly
method by which the feudal spirit may
be eliminated from the industrial world
without destroying past achievements
or retarding future progress. They
seek a better distribution of oppor-
tunities and things for today, tomor-
row and forever. They do not seek a
redistribution.
They seek liberty and peace. not
by the sword, but by increase of wis.,
dom.
1.-THE day of servile labor is passing
from English speaking people. Ger
many and France will follow when the
confusion Of theorists shall be replac-
ed with the order Of true trade