Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-09-03
PUTS YOUNG men AHEAD
OF VETERANS IN Navy

o'clock in the evening, that |, with all
| fair men who We're at one time enroll
| ed in the great army of American
| craftsmen, have ever reioiced in the
| successes of our fellow workmen in the
several crafts, TO amcliorate their con-
| tition. To accomplish the results re-
lerred to, required patience and edu-
cation. When | was a young man it
would have been regarded as a heresy
| 70 assert that Il man can do as much
work in eight or nine hours, and bet
| er work, than he could if his daily
| toll extended over a period of ten or
even more hours. But there is now no
| longer any dispute on that score. 1t is
acknowledged to be fact by most en-
| Dloyers of labor. and is recognized by
| the labor laws of most of the states
and the federal government. This
question of the shortening of the hours
of labor, while maintaining the scale
| of wages, We all know, has ever been
| the most fruitful cause of disputes be-
tween employers and employees. In the
/
these improvements in the conditions
| Of employment were attended by a
| display of TancOr on both sides, which
| happily is giving away more and more
to the spirit of cOnciliation and arnity,
as the fact receives more general rec
| ognitiOn that the interests of capital
land labor are identical-that one is as
Essential to the other as the right hand
is to the left in nearly every task which
man has to perform. Great labor dis.
putes are carried on these days in a
manner which would have been un.
thinkable % or so years ago. Men in
these days when they appeal to labors
last weapon for the enforcement OF
their demands. know that the strikers
lose the sympathy of the public, which
lis not directly concerned in the pend
ing dispute, but whose moral support
is essential to the winning of strike
the moment that any. of the strikers
resort to any but strictly legal means
to win their contest. The conduct Of
union men in conducting their strikes
in recent years illustrates what | said
in the beginning about our workingmer
taking advantage of their opportunities
for enlightenment.
Il Conservative Policy.
"They have learned to conduct theil
unions along conservative lines. They
have acquired self-control and the abil
ity to see question from tfie employ
ers standpoint as well as their own
, Their course, on the other hand, ha.
reacted on employers, and has had al
|, educating influence upon them result
ing in the general recognition by them
and that labor must receive and have
fair consideration. Hence the posi-
bility of trade agreements affectinz
thousands of worllingmen in wide scat
tered sections of the country. as. foI
instance, the mOlders, and the various
branches of railway work.
|, 1T was this self-cOntrOl and reliauc,
upon the justice of their cause. which
a few years ago enabled the miners
under the leadership of John Mitchell
, to carry their great strike to a sue
cessful conclusion. The miners has
the sympathy of the public. which i:
always fair, and it is a fact tha
throughout that long struggle. entail
ing much hardship upon the men VIII,
, were fighting for conditions approx
lmatlnS those in other great indus
tries. nothing transpired to depriv;
the miners of the support of the pub
lie