The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1907-03-23
LABOR WANTS JUSTICE;
WON'T NEED CHARITY
"Welfare Work" Would Not Be
Necessary IF Labor Was
Paid Well.
Bathroom Not Wanted in Work
shop-Laborer Wants it
in His Home.

Representatives Of the National Civic
federation have been visiting various
cities lately for the purpose Of showing
how the conditions that surround em-
ployment in the country's mills and
factories may be improved, writes
Joseph r. Buchanan in the New York
Journal. The methods advocated for
bringing about this desirable result
have grown out Of Investigations and
experience Of the federation's welfare
department.
Anything that will assist in making
the toilers' lot more congenial, provid-
Ing it does not debase the toiler, is to
be commended and is worthy Of the
support Of all good men and women,
including the workers themselves.
That the surroundings Of employ
ment are in many instances far from
harmonious with the spirit of Chris
ton civilization and repugnant to l1u-
manitarian instincts is evidenced by
the constant demand for more drastic
factory laws and more rigid enforce
ment of existing laws. The full en-
forcement of sanitary and life pre-
serving regulations has not yet been
attained by any state department in the
country.
Welfare Work Voluntary.
But the "welfare work. Of the Civic
federation deals not so much with
such matters as with voluntary actions
upon the part CT employers. Fancy
rotions,' one w0rkingman called the
proposals Of the welfare department.
Libraries, reading rooms, recreation
lots, bathrooms and the like are in its
list Of advantages which employers
should extend to their work people.
It may rot be their fault that the es-
timable ladies and gentlemen of the
welfare department do not understand
that under right economic conditions
the working people would find all those
things for themselves.
AS Bill Mahon of the street car men
said at the meeting in Mrs. Potter
Palmer's Chicago mansion recently,
what the unio1i workingman wants
is not a bathroom in his workshop but
in a. home OF his own.'' @
Justly entitled he will have the
santt the tiie An hs q
|5of his. heal place in
which to work, an eight our day, fall
wages and an even show. No charity,
If you please.
Miss Helen Varick Boswell, lectur-
ing under the auspices of the welfare
department in Washington the other
evening" said:
Men Want Steady Work.
"A living must be made for the en-
ployer and for the employees, because
no welfare work is appreciated or is
wanted by any employee If he him..
self has to pay the price. The first
requisite of employment is steady
work and living wage, and the en-
ployer, having accomplished that for
those working in his factory and shop,
can then set about raising the standard
of their working conditions and giving
them an impetus for a better social
life"
If the lady meant that tho employee
objected to welfare work. only be-
cause he had to pay for It. she was
mistaken. The American workingman
is willing to pay for all he gets, but
he wants to do his own selecting. He
objects to the employer withholding
part of what is his due and then pre-
tending to make good by devoting a
part of the amount withheld to estab-
fishing clubs and bathrooms.
Miss Boswell probably means all
right, but she has travelled only half
the road to economic justice. The un-
ion American worlkingman knows just
what he wants, and he is going the