The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1905-09-16
AN APPEAL TO REASON.
What Organized Labor Has Done tor
tho Cause Of Humanity.

Two intelligent, glfted ana well euu-
Gated women recently asked me, with
more or less agressiveness in voice and
manner, how l could approve Of the
labor union organizations in America.
Look at England" they said. land
see what disastrous conditions the la
Dor unions have brounght about In
that country"
For the benefit of the women and the
class they represent, will give the
following facts, which are authentic:
In the early part Of the last century
the factories and mills throughout
England employed child labor.
Boys and girls six years Of age were
lowered 600 feet below the earth, into
the coal mines, and to work, alone and
In the darkness, for II hours day.
During the first few weeks candle
was given the terrified young children:
but after their eyes became accustomed
10 the darkness, this unnecessary ex-
pense was avoided.
There were no sanitary conditions
provided; the food was poor, the air
vitiated, and early in the year Of our
Lord 1900, the laborers alarmed the
mine owners and aroused them to some
measure Of reform.
The public was awakened to the ex-
listing conditions, and, for the first time
in history, asked parliament to pass
protective laws for women and chill
dren. 49,;
Now. listen to the laws which result
ed, and imagine what the situation pre-
ceding this meeting Of parliament must
have been-labor for children was re-
stricted to IL hours a day. No chill
lren under nine years of age could
be employed!
Yet this was declared to be IAN elys-
ian state compared to that prior to the
interference of the law!"
Remember, it was the force Of law
alone which brought about even this
small Improvement Capital felt no in
terest. and made not the least effort
to better surroundings Of labor until
it's interests were threatened.
And history. states that prominent
Christian people denounced the action
Of the government for interfering with
the liberty of the employer
Speaking of the condition of England
at the time, Walter Beasant has said:
'"rhere Is nothing in the whole history
of mankind which shows more clearly
the enormities which became possible
when men, stirred by the desire of gain,
are left uncontrolled by laws or TIE
weight Of public opinion" and placed
in a position of absolute mastery over
their fellow men. The recort. of the
English mine and mill is blacker than
the record Of any other slavery the
world has known"
For the women and children are in
articulate, and In the dark places the
hand of the master is armed with the
scourge of the scorpion, where no light
Of publicity penetrates."
The evidence before the Royal Com
mission showed that the children who
worked IL hours In the mines were
when drawn up, heavy and stupefied
and cared little for their food"
your six or eight-year- old children into
bed, fearing lest they have overplayed
during the day! And then, madam,
ask if you can what good the labor
organizations have done the world!
And censure, if you dare, in the face
of such facts as these, the American
newspapers which. as you love to ex-
press it, "create dissatisfaction between
capital and labor"
But try and exercise the undeveloped
gray matter in your brain, to UNDER
stand that it is because of the organic
alton of labor and because of the free
dom of the press that such conditions
as existed in England less than one
hundred years ago, are not now prev
alent.
God knows our child labor in the
South and in the mines, is bad enough
| today. That 1t is not in any degree
| so terrible as the facts related above.
and that it is growing less terrible year
| by year, is due to the agitation Of the
press and the organization Of labor.
Inform yourselves upon these sub
jects, my dear women. before you un-
dertake, parrot-like, to repeat what you
have heard your capitalistfc husband
| say.
Read the broad, both-sided history
of organizations, by Ray Stannard
Baker.
Hear how labor union $4,000 strong
| (the United Mine Workers Of America),
| refused to strike, agreed to accept lower
wages; and learn the fact that there
are "watered unions" like "watered
stock of capitalists, and that both
must give way before the protest Of
! the American public.
And as you recount the evils and un-
disputed tyrannies of organized labor,
do not ignore ITS part in the progress
| OF the world toward higher standards
| for labor and better conditions for toia-
| ers, nor forget the source from which
it learned tyranny and oppression.
Learn to be just before you become
| voluble, madam.-Ella Wheeler VIII
COX, in Houston Labor Journal.
GREYHoUNDs As sTEEDs.
From the Detroit Free Press:
Ethel White is Pittsburg girl who
| has succeeded in training pair Of