Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1906-02-07

ployer, his superintendent and foremen
are carefully excluded.
With the open shop the labor union IS
a good thing-it brings men together,
and that which cements friendships and
makes for brotherhood is well.
But the closed shop creates a sharp
line of demarcation between labor and
capital and between union and non-union
men. Ii says: "Once a laborer always a
laborer." IL stops the law of evolution;
throttles ambition; stiles endeavor; and
tends to make tramps of steady and hon
est workingmen. Workingmen who own
homes cannot afford TO join unions, and
men who are in unions cannot afford to
invest in homes. Because to strike is not
a matter of choice; they have to throw
up their jobs at the crook of the finger Of
a man who, perhaps, has no home, no
wife, no children, no aged parents.
Men over forty who 80 on a strike do
not get back. Strikes are ordered by
young men who have no property inter
ests; no family ties and nothing to lose.
For old men who cannot earn the scale
there is no work. Men with children to
feed and clothe had better not forfeit the
friendship of their employer by disre-
garding or opposing his interests
When the unions have power to die
tate a closed shop, they have reached a
point where they say; "You must join
our union or starve.' That is, Join our
church OF you shall not live in this COM
munity.
When unionism reaches a point where
it dictates to the employer whom he shall
hire, and decides who shall have the right
TO labor and who not, then unionism has
become un-American-a menace too
great to overlook
Unlimited power is always dangerous
when centered in the hands OF few men,
The American Federation Of Labor is con-
trolled by eleven men.
These men are not workingmen.
They may have been once, but now
they live on the labor of others. They
undertake 10 manipulate and regulate
the lives of those who toll, and take toll
for their services. The result is, that
being human, they are drunk power
crazed by success, and arc attempting to
run an engine fitted for fifty miles an
hour at a speed of one hundred IL is
the working out Of the Law of Diminish
ing Returns. From being a benefit, the
labor union has become a burden The
few men who control the labor unions
have created a phantom in their minds
called Capital" which they think is
after them and is going to shunt them
into the ditch. They have frightened the
laborers so long with ghost stories that
they have come TO believe their lies.
What shall be done about this insane
clutch for powerl Must we forever en-
dure the rule Of the Demagogueg
Who is right in this question of labor
versus Capitalg"
III tell you; both sides are right and
both sides are wrong. The capitalists of
this country, for the most part, were
once workingmen, and many are work
ingnen now. And any laborer who owns
q home and has savings bank account
is a capitalist.
The open shop means liberty. The
closed shop means slavery. Moreover. il
means faction. feud, strife. violence.
The open shop will make EMPLOYERS
considerate, and labor unions cautious.
Employers are not base and qrasping
any more than men who work for WAGES
are truthful, trusting and intent on civ
ing honest service
Men are men. and safety lies in the
balance of power.
Henry George, one Of the sanest men
that America or any other country has
ever produced, a workingman, and for
many years a member Of a union. and
the Labor Union candidate for MAYOR of
New York in 1856, says, in his ~Open
Letter TO Pope Leo XIII;p while with.
in narrow lines trades unionism promotes
the idea Of the mutuality Of interests
and often helps 70 raise courage and fur.
ther political education, and while irhas
enabled limited bodies Of workinomen hi
improve somewhat their condition. and
again, as it were, breathing space. VET n
takes no note Of the general causes that
determine the conditions of labor. and
strives for the elevation of only n small
part Of the great body bv means that
cannot help the rest. Aiming at the re-
striction Of competition-the limitation
ct the right TO labor Its methods are like
those OF the army, which even In n
fighteouYeause are subversive of liberty
and liable TO abuse. while ita reanon
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