The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1906-06-07

VI lSiNSOIlS [llSluttS-
.nnionism must learn is patience.
5lmpatienee means defeat i'll every
instance where it is allowed to pre-
dominate, and it. is only by calm.
cool, deliberate waiting and work.
ing towards the end that is desired
that victory Will ut last perch on
the banners of organized labor.
lmpatience has done e;incilculable
harm towards rctarding the prog.
ress of the workers to Industrial
advancement. Many union men,
despite the fact that they organ
lied for, protection and advance
ment, carry the Weallnesscs, which,
aS unorgani2ed workers. denied
them improved industrial con-
editions, into their union. Their
banighted senses can grasp only the
fact that they organized against ain
enemy. However, they coniine
that enemy to unjust employers,
overlooking the fact that these
weaknesses and follies, which for
almost a lifetime kept them non.
union workers, are their most
deadly enemies. After almost a
lifetime of disorglnization and non
#unionism, they finally comprehend
the necessity of organizing, but i'm
mediatc1y begin or attempt to
apply the tactics which, as nom
unionists, kept their industrial
conditions at the lowest level The
records of defeated strikers and
disrupted local bodies show many
examples of inpatient, hasty, i'm.
pulsive action. These members
demand immediate action and inn
mediate results out of all proper
ton to plain, every day common
sense. Men who were largely re-.
sponsible for making intolerable
conditions :iiif. :iiiii;sSiziup the ef-
forts of uiiionism to mitigate them;
men, the result of whose follics
actually bounded them into unions,
Immediately after their advent in
to the union demand an advance
i'll wages, strike, changes in the
conditions of their employment
and charges in the unions policy
of officers. Their demands are
usually impossible of Immediate
execution and often impossible Of
execution at all, or at least until
such time as they take a common
sense view of the necessary work
which must precede them. They
denounce unions and their officers
for failing to conccde impossible
demands. Where they dominate
the affairs and policy of union,
they are certain to destroy it and
sink back to their former disorgan-
ized state and continue under con
ditions which their folies have de-
stroyed all hope of improving, and
which are certain to become worse
if they have not already reached
the lowest level.
Impatient, hasty and ill-advised
action is deadly weapon that the
workers are constantly using against
themselves. Even members whose
understanding is clear on the ex-
periences of the past, who have
actually seen the result of impa-
tient action and been its victims,
exhibits tendencies to employ the
same self-destructive action. They
patiently bear wrongs, but have no
1ducHCe VIII CoIhlnOH-SellSe ellOTGS
to remedy them, which do not
promise immediate success. II
this class of members and workers
would give one -hundredth part OF
the trial and patience to unions
that they give to non union con-
ditions they would be rewarded
with speedy union success. Unions
must be more than mere associa-
tionship and disjointed action.
They must embody thebest thought,
best Judgment, best laid plans,
best policy applicable to existing
conditions, and the efforts and un-
divided support and loyalty of the
i membership in order to secure even
a small share of the Improvements
/ demanded by the workers. It re-
quires none of the characteristics
essential to make union success.
ful to make the sort of union the
impatient member or worker ap.
parently wants.
/ Evils are never eliminated mol
wrongs rightcd by impatient, hast,
or impulsive action. Every detail
of grievances or contemplated rem
edieS should be discussed in ad