The wageworker., 1906-05-25
Some Union Literature
Well Worth Reading

Some writer's and orators, who
Aknow less about the labor question
than they do about the north pole, de-
clare that trade unions destroy per-
sonal liberty and keep all the workers
down to "a dead level of sloth and in
competency ...' ..
This is just as true as to say, that
the seats in street-car destroy the
liberty of the passengers to stand up.
There never was a more shameless
fraud than this right to work" prop
osition, in the way that it is being put
forward by the trusts. The right to
work for nothing is not right; it is
wrong.
When a body of workmen are being
treated with gross injustice, when
their employer contemptuously refuses
to arbitrate, and when they choose to
be strikers rather than slaves, the
"scabs" who take their places are NOR
ally criminals.
1t is legal to be "scab" in such a
case. There is no law against the
'scab" any more than there is against
the monopolist or the Wall street
plunger. But the harm wrought to
the nation by these three is as great
as that done by burglars or counter
feiters.
No man has a right to make himself
menace to the community or nation
in which he lives. The man who Is
beastly enough to be satisfied to live
in a pigsty has no right to endanger
the public health by his unclean hab-
its.
In everything else except money
making and the labor question it is a
principle of law that no one has a
right to be public nuisance or a
public menace.
Do We not quarantine a mans pri-
vate house and violate it's privacy in a
dozen ways if he or any of his family
has a contagious disease?
What becomes of the sanctity of the
home when the home contains case
Of cholera?
= How long would we permit a man
to play a cornet in an apartment house
from midnight until 2 o'clock in the
morning?
Would he not hear the peremptory
knock of the janitor and policeman
in less than half an hour? And how
much would his plea of individual
rights" amount to?
do not mean to say that worker
who tries, ignorantly or deliberately,
to break up trade union should be
treated like cholera patient or a
drunken musician, but only to show
that the rights of the individual stop
where social injury begins
OF course, there should be no vio-
lence. Violence is advocated only by
anarchists and military generals, and
neither of these are to be found in the
membership of labor organizations.
But there should not be either any
public commendation of the "scabs''
who place themselves directly in the
path of social progress, and who, If
successful, make liberty impossible for
their fellow workers.
There is vast difference between
the "scab" and the mere non-unionist
Non-unionists are those workers who
drudge along like dumb. driven cat
tle," taking no part in the great indus
trial struggles that are being waged
around them; but "scabs" are those
who take an active part in the fight
against the workers of their own
trade.
The "scab" in nearly every case Is
like the horse in burning stable, who
not only refuses to come out, but
kicks and bites the brave fireman who
goes to his rescue.
The union is battling to benefit
every one in the trade, "scabs" includ
ed The increase in wages obtained
by the coal miners will be paid to the
1900 "scabs" who tried to break III
the strike, as well as to the 10000
strikers who went through povert,
and hardship for five months to Obtain
it.
The activity of the "scab' is suicidal
He Injuries himself as well as hi.
mates All the millions of the corpor
alton are not as deadly to the uniol
as his obstinate traitorship. If thi
fact is kept in mind, the hatred of thu
trade unionist for the "scab" can b.
seen to have some justification.
What are trade unions organized
for, If not to obtain more personal lib
erty for their members? Can any on
seriously imagine that body of mel
will stand together and pay dues TO