The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1906-10-11
LABOR UNION FUNDS.
GRow-14 or THE HIGH DUES AND
FULL WAR CHEST IDEA


vaIue Of Out OF work Dement'S ms a
Means of strengthening Trades TN
foniMn--Aida In Maintaining stand
ard Rate Of wages.
10 tile series Of Johns Hopkins
studies in historical and political sci
ence Or. A. NJ Sakolski has recently
contributed a monograph on "The FL
nanees of American Trade Unions,
which discusses III very practical
wayIheir activity on Its financial side.
Tie history Of American trades union
ism. as he shows, has been d slow but
Hteady progress from nominal dues and
small benefits toward the high dues
and large benefits which have long pre-
vailed la the English unions This has
been accompanied by a slow process of
Of the Iron Molders union. where only
Of the % cents weekly dues Ii re-
tanned by the local The amounts
handled annually by some Of the ma
tional or International unions have
grown 10 large proportions. The
United Mine Workers raised S2,225,
STOPS for the strike of 1902, this being
supplemented by $419.954.14 contrib
uted by other unions and the public.
This latter sum, by the way, is said to
be the largest ever raised for strike
purposes outside the trade Immediately
affected. The Glass Bottle Blowers and
the Brotherhood Of Locomotive Fire
men, among others, maintain regularly
defensive funds Of S250.o00
The value and Importance Of out OF
work benefits as means of promot-
ing the aims Of trades unions and Of
strengthening their Ties has not been
lost sight Of 1t has been constantly
urged by those who advocate this form
of relief that nothing Is more effective
for maintaining a standard rate Of
wages BY Offering member suffi-
cient relief to maintain him while un-
employed the motive which impels him
TO accept a lower wage than the stand
ard rate is removed and his desertion
made less likely. "a starving man"
wrote President Adolph Strasser Of the
cigarmakers union III 1879, has no
conscience. He VIII accept any pay
menf fer his work lib order to pro
vide FOR his sustenance" And former
Secretary Treasurer Mcguire nf the
brotherhood OF Carpenters urged The
adoption Of the out Of work benefit on
similar grounds The wages Of those
who continue in employment" he said,
can only be kept up TO living stand
ard by strong organization and the
payment Of an out Of work benefit
Unemployed men cannot live OH senti-
ment However strong unionism may
he, self preservation is the first law
Of nature and must be recognized as
such. =
In general the per capita expenditure
for strikes during the last twenty five
years has decreased. Mr.. Sak0lski's
figures show that this expenditure was
highest In 1894. when It ran up to
$1200 per capita, due to many I'M
wisely lnaugurated strikes against a
reduction Of wages during season Of
trade depression. Since then rule
has been adopted restricting the power
Of local unions To inaugurate strikes
and fhe greater influence exercised by
the international officers In settling dis
putes has reduced the expenditure con-
siderably.
The result Of this policy was shown
IN the period of depression between
1898 and 1889. when. although the out
put Of cigars fell or rapidly and wages
were reduced IN number Of localities,
the average per capita cost of strikes
was less than during any similar
period in the unlon's history Unfavor-
able trade conditions. instead OF re-
sulting in larger number % strikes
than formerly. led the international
union to discourage trade conflicts. so
That. as FAR as possible. the funds might
be used iu The payment Of out OF work