The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1907-06-13
QUESTION OF POLICY.
Why Trades Unions Insist on the
Closed Shop.
A LESSON OF EXPERIENCE.
IL Has Been Demonstrated That Union
lot and Nonunionist Cannot Work
Together In Harmony What Open
Chop Means to the Union Man.

| lot and Nonunionist Cannot Work
Together In Harmony What Open
Shop Means to the Union Man.
| In an address delivered recently at
Los Angeles. Clarence barrow, the
Chicago lawyer, discussed the open
shop. He said in part:
Employers ceased long ago to fight
tho unions directly. They loudly pro-
claim that they believe in labor
unions. but they object to the way the
labor unions are managed. That Is,
| they believe in the organizations, but
| they object to everything they do. If
the men would organize and appoint
the employers to manage the unions,
| the latter would have no objections to
trades unionism, but, of course, such
an organization would be futile for the
purposes for which it is intended. The
last device Of the employer has been to
stand for what they call the "open
shop" with a right to hire whom they
will, regardless of whether they are
members Of tho union or not. AS n
matter of law and n matter Of right,
within the meaning that is commonly
understood. the employer has q perfect
right to say that he will run an "open
shop" that he will hire union men or
both or neither, as no sees at. On the
other hand, the workingman has an
equal right to say he will not work I'M
less he belongs to the union and he Will
not work with anybody who does not
belong to the union. and then 1t is q
question of strength as between the
two.
The only legal way tho worlsingman
can enforce the "closcd shop" Is by re-
fusing to work with q nonunion man,
or, in other words, by u "strike."
There can be no gainsaylng his right
to do this. The employer loudly pro-
claims that q man has an tnalienable
right to work for whom lie pleases and
for such price as he pleases. There
never was any inalienable right to
work, and there never can be any in
aliennble right to work under the pres
ent Industrial system. If there were
an inalienablo right to work. then there
ought to be an inalienable right to get
n job, and every workingman ought to
have tho right to go and find that job.
All the tnalienablc right n man has is
to get n job If he can.
The question Of IN open" or "closed"
shop Is not a question Of law or a
question Of right. 1t is a question Of
policy alone. Labor unions have never
insisted upon the "closed shop" Ms
matter of caprice. 1t has come from
experience and from reason. The I'M
lon man and nonunion man never did
and never can work together In peace
and harmony. The interests of the en-
ployer and the employees arc antago-
nistlc. The employer and his boss are
naturally against the union because
from their standpoint tho union IS
against their business. They Interfere
with wages, with hours, with condi-
lions. They are q nuisance to tho
business.
Put the nonunion man and the union
man together in the same shop. Every
place Of advantage is given to the non
union man; every place Of disadvnn-
tage is given to the union man. The
places of danger go to tho union man,
the places of safety to the nonunion
man; the extra holidays to the nom
union man, the hard task to the union
man; the highest wages to to the nom
union man, the lowest to the union
man.
When times are hard the union man
Is the first to walk the plank" If he
becomes too active In his union-that
Is, too Industrious over his own af-
fairs and not Industrious enough over
his cmployerS-he IS at once discharg-
ed He holds his position Mt his peril
from the moment he takes it. He is
working in n shop where the highest
premium Is placed upon II man who
does not belong to the union and where
the union man Is living upon suffer-
nnce. He knows that under these cir
cumstances he cannot maintain his un-
lon. However much workingman
may disbelieve in the union, the un-
lon man knows that. If he undergoes
the hardshlps and dangers and OK
penses of strike and succeeds, the
nonunion man is the first to ask for
the Increased pay. He understands
that the trades unionist undergoes all
the dangers, expenses. hardships and
privationS incident to unioniSm while
the nonunion man reaps all the re-
wards. No workingman will pay dues,
Will suffer privation, will take chances
of placing his job in jeopardy, while
the nonunion man, and he alone, profits
by his sacrifice.
The open shop" is really mis-
homer All 1t ever meant or can mean
| under present industrial conditions Is
IN open back door through which the
union man can be turned into the
street at the employers will.