The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-08-31
FIGHTING TIE INEVITABLE.

YACHTING THE INEVITABLE
 There are always to be found those who are ready to stand in the path of progress. Any departure from the old rut meets with opposition, and every man who points or prepares the way for improving on old methods may expect to fight for his ground.
 When the first saw-miils were erec- ted in England they met with the most determined opposition from thsfwhip- sawyers whose work was all done by hand. Those first mills were rude af- fairs and would be laughed at now. Their clumsy. upright saws would cut only few hundred feet of timber in q day. but they were great advance on the old whip-saws. and those who worked with the latter pretended to see in the new machines the destruc- ton of their craft and their opposi- ton was carried to such an extent that mob of them actually destroyed one of the mills as late as f76s. What those people would have thought and done if they had seen one of the pow erfui mills of the present day can hardly be imagined.
 This is only one instance out of number that might be mentioned to show how advance and improvement. especially in industrial affairs. are re- garded by those who have become habituated to certain methods. It is almost discouraging to find such an evidence of it in the present day as is shown in the opposition to concrete as building material. As all are aware if they have kept up with late meth ods, the use of concrete blocks for buildings is getting to be quite com- mon. For number of reasons 1t is preferable to wood. brick or stone. and in some places it is fast superceding those materials in the building trades, and if all that Is claimed for it is justified we may expect it to take the place of all other materials. to a great extent.
 It would hardly be expected that in this enlightened day there should be organised opposition to the use of con- crete. but so 1t Is. The brick-makers and brick-iayers profess to be much alarmed at the danger of their busi- ness being paralyzed or destroyed by the use of the new material, and If there should be ge1herai strikes against the use of concrete it will not be sur prising. Tn fact. the President of the International Bricklayers' and Masons' Union has already sounded what we may regard as the keynote of his kind by saying: Unless this is stop iously menaced. Concrete buildings have become sort of fad. and unless, the style is killed the Brickiayers' and Masons' Union must die."
 This somewhat dfreful prediction and threat--has very familiar sound. For it is threat, thinly yelled though it may be. It is virtually saying to all the people: Unless you stop using concrete no more houses shall be built" The declaration shows the blindness of those think they can stop the march of progress and improve nAentb anu IL Skuab1ta lne AusuiAGEADAc arrogance Of modern Enionism. These unions believe, or pretend to believe, that they can buIldoze all the property owners. the. employers and~the money ed men of the country and force them to abandon the new building material under penalty of seeing all building operations stopped throughout the country. The yelled threat is as im- pertinent as 1t will prove ineffective.
 We shall not be at all surprised to see combined effort on the part Of the laborers' unions to prevent the use of concrete, but 1t will be like pitching straws at a cyclone. Of course they can cause trouble, delay and loss. and may have some temporary success, but such a movement will be the most disastrous and ineffective that the Unions have ever undertaken. They may with equal prospect of success try to stop the use of iron and steel for building purposes. If all the claims made for concrete prove well founded, as now seems probable, the only ef- feet of a light against 1t will be to down those who engage in it. The combined building enterprises of the country will not suffer themselves put out of business by the dictum of any union orroni0aftar