The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1906-02-03
FOR PRACTICAL
THINGS WE ORGANIZE

advancement and mutual help. BY as
sociating together they protect their in
dfvidual rights and promote their COL
lective welfare. Left alone, each to
struggle for himself against the bru-
tally of the labor market, the ten
dency Of wages would be ever down.
ward. To partly make up for the
shortage to pay which would be- the
inevitable consequence, the hours Of
labor would be greatly increased in
order to satisfy the greedy. Thus: with
more work per day and less wages, the
number of unemployed would contin-
ually increase and the corresponding
cycle of lower conditions would find
no limit.
In this way the public welfare would
be impaired by lessening the home
market and domestic consumption Of
the necessaries of life. In such UNI
healthy competition both the inferior
and superior workmen alike suffer.
The merciless and cruel rule of COM
petition among employers :on jobs or
contracts leads them to seek the cheap
est labor at the longest hours OF toll:
Excepting a few Instances, no con-
sideration of justice, equity or philan-
thropy enters into their dealings with
those who toll without Organization.
At haphazard rate they estimate *on
work wherever there is no trade union
to check them. In slipshod manner,
by rule of thumb, they take work at
rates which are perilOus to the best
business interests of the community.
AS it is at present they must pay trust
prices for all raw material and for all
structural iron, brick, stone, lumber,
nails, paint and countless other ma
terials, and in so doing they yield to
power.
But how stands it with unorganized
labor? Beggarly, with hat in hand, it
seeks the privilege to toll With bent
shoulders and submissive head, humble
and plain, it oftimes sinks it's man
hood for the sake of a job. When at
work each tries to outstrip the other
to keep favor with the "boss." Some
grow so mental under such depraved
conditions that they become toadies
and lickspittles and play the sucker
act with the boss"
With the organization of labor, how =
ever, the scene changes. Manhood is
asserted. the weak are upheld by the
strong; the individual workman is no
longer left alone to make mis- own bar
gain with the employer Or contractor
| under depressing disadvantages. BY
organizing with his fellows in union
of his trade, collective bargaining for
! the mutual good becomes the rule
| Then the "boss' can no longer say,
Take what I give you or you can go!'
Workmen in union have the power
when conservatively and discreetly
! used, to make joint agreements with
their employers and avoid strikes, lock
| outs and all unpleasant feeling That
such is not the case is largely the
; fault of the men who remain outside
Of union who hamper the unions
! efforts and trust to their own insignifi-
cant personality or meretricfous chance
to pull them through. This latter class
invariably are aids and abettors tc
Parry, the Citizens association, the
! Anti Boycott association, ana the Other
organizations Of employers, who mas.
querade as upholders of "individua
liberty and are the industrial debaoeh.
ers of the workers.
In these days of gigantic industrial
strides with machinery, electricity, and
other labor saving forces, with comb:
| nation of moneyed men and trusts, with
the machinery of law and the subtle
influences of manifold political cor.
ruption in varied forms, the workman
who travels in the old stage coach OF
individualisn is certainly an indeci.
! pherable back number.
| We organize trades unions for 8
higher manhood; for the protection OF
the lowly and the humble; for better
! homes and longer and happier lives;
for the possession of the full fruits OF
| out. toll, and against all forms of in
! dustrial robbery, social injustice anG
political sdepotism. :. Ef.iF a.,.'t,:.:
The trade unions are far from per.
feet, but they are an agency for good
! ever eager and more. eager to attain
perfection. In some cases they have
und ohbtedly made lamentable mistakes
They have at times entered into hasts
and needless strikes. but with are and
discip line they enter Into fewer strikes
again, OCCASIONALLY, they have INDUCED
s. sympathetic strikes. SO did France