The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1905-10-07
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN Il
" :. UNIONS DID NOT EXIST
Influence Of Higher Wage
Standard As Enforced by
Modern Trade Unionism. 81
American Standard Of Living
Set by Result Of Labor's
Work in Organization. Z, {

Set by Result Of Labor's
Work in Organization. Z,
Whenever 4 general improved wage
condition has been effected in any oo-
cupation aomng industrial workers dur 7
Ing the transition from small to great
enterprises in the last half century in 8
America, it has been brought about BY
the trades-unions.
Wher the wages Of non-union skill
ed workers have been raised approxi-E
mately to the same level as tho union
scale. 1t has been because tho nom
un1onists would join the unions and
strike II their wage rates were kept by
their employers too much below the
union SCALE r..
The wages Of persons, in domestic
service have risen principally because,
through the rise Of wages In industry
In general, the more active men and
women have loft the household class
to join the classes in greater or less
part organised. They have passed
within the influence Of the higher
standard enforced by the unions. In
household service the elementary steps
In education have had an effect In pro-
noting opposition to menial condi-
ttons. This opposition has been
! strengthened by the existence of the
opportunity to get into unionized oc-
cupations.
In tho absence Of unions, would the
| employers who have become great cap
| tains of industry have advanced COM
| mon wages in. their works and manu-
factories to anything like the point at
which they stand today1 Have not
wages for workmen as a class in every
occupation been advanced only as tho
result Of strikes or organisations which
could enforce strikes, or the oppor-
tunitfes created by these organizations
for the discontented workers Of the
! unorganized ocoupations7
In other words, the observer who
| speaks Indefinitely Of "a general i'm
provement In the condition Of tho
masses" in this country really, on
analysis, secs these main facts( aside
from the prosperity Of the farm
owning class. due to causes spe-
cial to that branch Of production): ::
| Union wages and hours. advancing the
welfare Of the body Of skilled workers
In industrial centers, and consequently.
LOT hsif, families, dependents and trades
lpsople. and, f,lrth hsrs of q part Or tho
il1ns1f fNed 4nds non-nnion 0lasss 4 = 3:
E q
"a ofa Ss3sS
land conditions from state or Federal
statistics. These have been partisan.
nnscientiflc. insufficient, superficial.
contradictory or uniform . inquiry.
Statistical Interpretation by officials
| has been, untrustworthy. The facts
published from the census of 1900, the
| most careful yet taken,~ destroy the
value Of all the oft-quoted previous
optimistic utterances of leading gov
ernment statisticians-in speeches,
pamphlets, magazine arttcles-relattve
to their alleged rise of real wages, fall
| OF commodity prices ana decline in the
| employment Of women and children.
On these points of paramount impor-
| tance to the working classes those
| spokesmen from government statistical
observations are now proved to be mis-
taken. The labor agitators, whose
conclusions were the opposite OF theirs
| and whom they long sought to silence,
| were right. - Z.
Due credit to unionism comes mex
plicity, ii not reluctantly, from those
| allied to the possessions Of the earth.
Writers who deride other government
and social statistics affect a credence
In its labor troubles If the conclusions
favor the social order for which they
stand as counsel.
Independent Investigations by COM
petent and conscientious private citi-
| Eens may bring out far-reaching facts
l h0, PS43o1 vxI~
| ruled by the bids Of party, the desire
to hold office. or the precedents OF.
functionalism. .e=>z
In forming his judgment, the wage-
! worker, Weighing unionism against
| non-unionism, may we'll heed the in
| tuitions and traditions Of his class and.
the sentiment OF his immediate fellows.
Lastly, he must depend largely on his
| own experience and deliberations
The counsel for the capitalists who
| complacently contemplate the New
and Improved World which they as
ssrt has gradually envelopsd Us, and
who describe wages in general az ad-
! vancinG. commonly 1mbed their ideas
in figures. They ever indicate the al
legged improved welfare Of the wage
workers by arrays Of statistics. But
they do not clearly point out any So
ciAl force working In it's self-interost
for the advance Of wages except the !.
labor union or the individual laboror's
petition to the employers. They fan to
summarize. definitely ana with partic-
ulArs. the various forms IN which, 10
they allsge, moro comes to labor, Can;
these mathsmatio obssrvers dssignaAs;.
men. motive ana process engaged In: