The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-10-03
SKILLED LABOR
The Negro Has Been a
MiII-St0ne Around the
Neck of Industry.
Labor Organizations are Here to Stay.
Foreign Labor Has Shown its
Worth in Rhode Island and
Minnesota.

Mr.. Thomas M. Robertson, formerly
member of the House of Representa-
tives from Randolph county, who has
held an important and responsible pO-
sition for twelve years with the De-
partment of Labor and now with the
Department of Commerce. is in the
city on business connected with the
investigation OF the Department. His
son, Mr.. Wade Robertson, is a senior
in the A. & M. College, and by invi-
tation Mr.. Robertson ("the old man
delivered an address to the boys in
the A. & M college chapel yesterday
morning. He gave them wise coun-
sci and his speech made great
hit
This institution has always been
very close to my heart because it
trains young men to do something.
From the time that men in this State
did nothing but plough and hoe until
the present, when men must be train
ed to use the best farm machinery to
put the raw cotton into the finished
product, to convert the timber into
the best furniture, to run the machin-
cry of every description, we have had
to deal with labor. Labor is the
most vital problem that confrOnts. us
today. 1t has not been q problem but
it is now a problem and a serious
problem. The day has passed when
skilled men can be picked up at any
time. We have been cOnsOling our
selves of the false notion that we
had the best labor but we can't con-
sole ourselves any longer. The great
reason for our slow progress in agri-
culture is the poor quality of milestone
about the neck Of every industry of
the South and the time has come
when the rope must be cut.
THE next question is what KIND OF
labor must the industries have? Any
kind of white laborers are better than
the negroes. Take the Italian, French,
or any other kind if you want just SO
it is not the negro. | want you, young
gentlemen to study the influence of
the foreigners. Rhode Island has more
than so per cent. of its population for
eigners who were born outside that
state and there you see every indus
try developed to it's highest degree.
is great agricultural state
and more than so per cent. of its pop
ulation is foreign. Some people who
do not know what they talk about say
that all big strikes and riots rise from
but this is not so and it
can't BE- proven.
Problems That Confront Us.
Labor organization. 1t is growing
stronger and stronger each year and
we must inform ourselves of it's prin-
cipIes and deal with it accordingly 1t
is here to stay and it ought TO stay.
| am not an alturist-belicve in TAX
ing everything from one man and Civ
ing it TO another-but l do believe in
giving the labOring man fair show.
have the right 10 organize to
protect themselves from their super
iors in wealth and Intelligence. Labor
organizations have done more to ed
ucate themselves than everything else
combined. Before there were any la
Dor organizations men did not have
time to improve their intellects. Work
from sun till sun makes man an an
imal Labor Unions say that men
shall not work more than eight and
nine hours per day. and by this sys-
tenn men have some time to read and
study. The best educated working
men are those where labor orga MIA
tons exist. The Hon. w. l.. Douglas,
now the Governor of Massachusetts,
was one among the first, if not the
first, man in the United States to adopt
a nine-hour system of labor on the
that his laborers were to
organize themselves for social and
other benefits. And it was his feeling
loi IIle IdDoIinS CltlSS tIlit is RESPONSE
bic for his election as Governor. Labor
organizations do not always do right
and there is often turmoil and strife
but these can be controlled by a board
Of arbitration.
Labor is more profitable at the
North than in the South because it is
more intelligent. 1t costs more to spin
a pound of yarn in North Carolina
than it does in New Epdland, while
the latter gets more for his product
because he has efficient labor. our
labor is not skilled and never will b.
until we have ahor organized. a
bale of cotton manufactured in North