The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1905-09-16

been accomplished in the same man.
ner. Organized labor does not exclude
the non-unlonfst from membership, but
seeks to exclude him from the exercise
Of those non-union liberties which in
terfere with the material progress and
common liberties, interests, rights and
opportunities of the workers. Unre-
strained individual liberty Is oblivious
of the liberties and rights Of others.
1t is this form of liberty which or
gained labor seeks to curtail in the
interests Of the common rights and lib
critics which all workers should enjoy.
These are not and cannot be enjoyed
while that form of individual liberty
which organized labor seeks to repress
Introduces every known form of evil
arising from cut throat competition.
The workers for centuries have been
struggling for that form of liberty
which holds out hope Of higher plane
of living; not that form Of liberty
which tramples one down while the
other uses him as stepping stone
to his own ends, but that form of
actual liberty which best promotes the
common welfare Of all workers and
relieves all workers from the weak
nesses and evils of the individual. That
form of liberty which, when secured
TO the Individual obtains higher order
Of living is the highest form of liberty.
In industrial life it must come through
organization of the workers. The ma
terial well-being of the workers is one
of the highest forms Of liberty and
the one perhaps above all others they
most desire. A comparison Of the con-
ditions of the non-union and union
workers in any trade fairly we'll or
ganized, or the workers in an unor-
ganized and organized trade, without
exception proves the well-being of the
organized workers to be better, and
better protected and maintained. Where
unionism predominates conditions Of
the workers have been improved, and
improved conditions certainly promote
the highest form of liberty for the
many. Unions are not monopolies and
do not aim to be. The restrictions
they impose are not for the purpose Of
securing rights privileges, liberties, in
!erests or opportunities from which
others are denied or excluded, but have
for their object the subordination Of
individual license to collective WELL
being. Unions are monopolies only tt
the extent that non-unionists main
them SO by striving to exercise the
liberty to lower wages and conditions
Of. employment and standards of liv-
ing, and by the restrictions imposed
by trades unions and made necessary
by the conditions prevailing in the
trades are essential to the preservation
Of decent living conditions for the
workers, non-union as we'll as union,
in those trades. These restrictions In
some respects resemble the operations
Ut monopolies or trusts, but differ In
principle and objects. The individual
worker standing alone before the en-
ployer is powerless. Even If the en-
Dloyer did not take advantage of this
helplessness the workers without the
sustaining power Of unionism would
after time be trodden down by their
own unrestrained competitions. In no
trade in the country in which the
workers are effectively organized has
their condition, been lowered by that
organization. Unionism stands between
the best Industrial conditions possible
and the steadily lowering conditions
that would:be tablish4ds by the works.