The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1905-12-16
LAB0R'S WEAPON NOT
NOISE AND VIOLENCE
The Patronage Of Fair Con-
Germs a Most Effectual
Way to Win.
Those Who Use the Union
Label Are the Friends
.: of Labor.

Is= Izs IT. has. been the custom of Iaborifig
people that. whenever conditions have
become so oppressive they could toler-
ate no longer, to strike" for improved
conditions. Today an time strike
is met in new fashioned way that
makes the path of the strikers a thor
ny one. In many cases the employer
shuts down his works and waits
patiently until hunger and want force
the strikers into submission. The
close relationship now established be-
tween employers and the concentra-
ton Of many establishments under
one management permits them to work
the blacklist to perfection and bu-
reaus are established throughout the
country that furnish accurate inform
alton about workingmen, and woe to
the labor agitator who has to hunt
a job" under these conditions.
Professional strike breaking associa-
tiors are being organized and when
a strike is declared in any part Of the
country sufficient force of exper-
fenced men can be hurried there on
short notice to break the strike, and
it is now common incident for one
employer to lend another part of his
men to help him out Of strike diff
ficulty. Business men in lines not di-
rectly affected by organized labor are
forming associations to assist their
fellow capitalists in "downing' Or
that has not its "Citizens' Alliance
under some name. They may not be
as active as the Cripple Creek Alliance,
or so open in their law-defying ac-
tions to crush labor unions, but the
spirit is there just the same, and only
waiting for an opportunity to manifest
itself. Then there are the injunction
proceedings, most easily invoked wnen
labor is to be the victim, and it does
net need an extraordinary cause to
bring the militia to the scene if capital
invokes their aid. Then, to say nothing
of the army of detectives that are
trained to shoot strikers when the boss
says fire.
And yet the working people have the
situation completely in their grasp.
We argue, plead, threaten for closed
shop. Millions Of dollars are lost an
ludIly Wy SlIlNcS \duu WHO can say no"
many lives are lost directly by them)
and want, misery, woe. follow closely in
their wake. The improved methods of
warfare by the employers must be met
by improved methods of offense and
defense by organized labor. Not that
We counsel warfare between employer
ard emplcye, but as 1t is claimed by
governments that standing armies and
powerful navies are necessary to pre-
vent war, so a well-equipped labor or
ganization thoroughly prepared for at
tack or defense, is the best means to
prevent imposition upon it's members.
Now the most powerful weapon in
tho hands of labor organization today,
the most convincing in Transforming
| open into closed shops, in turning nom
| union men into good union members,
in breaking up strike breaking gangs,
in disbanding Pinkerton thugs and
disrupting Citizens Alliance and other
Parry ORGANIZATIONS. in placing labor
organizations within impregnable fort
resses, 10 by the union label.
| In this country are many employers
that hire only union labor (closed
shops). many more that employ union