The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1907-03-09

! cause or constitutional limitations We
| are unable, because of our so-called
fellow-servant laws, to collect damages
or to punish negligent employers. The
workman who, through no fault of his
own, is killed OR MANNED or perma-
nently disabled in an industry, should
receive from the industry or from the
state-e1ther directly or through his
| heirs - suitable compensation,
| whether the injury is due to the neg
| ligence of the employer Or not It is
| 1nhuman to permit disabled workmen
to starve; it is inhuman to permit
| widows and orphans of men who have
| died in the performance of their duties
to be left without suitable provision
for their future maintenance. What
| the workmen desire and demand. how
ever, is not so much compensation for
injury as prevention Of injury. It is
! well to receive a thousand dollars for
the loss of an eye or aleg, but It is
better by far for the man-as for So
c1ety-that the leg be not lost. Hence
the demand-justly and strenuously
made-that all possible measures be
| taken to prevent accidents
Must Depend on Unions.
There is nothing which so iustif7ex
the existence Of trades unions as the
work they have done and are still do
ing IN improving the sanitary cond1-
IONS OF the Workingman and saving
MIN from premature or violent death.
Inc solution of these problems, in SO
1ar as the state does not take the direct
initiative, can be left to none better
organizations of labor.
There are at present from two and
half to three million trades unionism
IN the United States. This great new
TACT OF American labor is its organiza-
tlon. The workingman has risen from:
his knees and
Now Stands u pom His Feet.
He has Joined with his fellow-work.
man and has obtained as riKht-not
as privilege-higher wages. shorter
hours and better conditions of life and
labor. Finally, through the trade
agreement, he has secured the right to
ne consulted as to the conditions under
which his work shall be carried on.
Inc union has meant an improvement
IN the manner of life Of the workman
an da revolution in the conditions Of
industry from autocratic to democratic
government. But trades union1sm will
not cease when conditions are i'm
proved. It is not a thing by itself.
with Its own beginning and its own
end; rather, it is a stepin a. long de-
velopment which began MANY thou.
sands of years ago and which will nor
have ended many thousands Of ve.r.
hence q OH IT.
long as the history of humanity ITSELF.
single act In the uplifting Of the hui
man race. We are told that man rose
from a lower scale of existence: that
at a certain time he was tapped upoon
the forehead and it was said. "I,et
there be light" There was a gradual
rise OF man from the savage to the
barbarian, from the barbarian to the
sena4 -c1Vlllzed, from the semi-civilized
10 tne civilized man. The evolutionary
ana educational forces which have
oeen at work for thousands Of vearx
nave not spent themselves, but still
continue, so that the least civilized man
Oh future age may be higher in the
scale than the noblest, purest and best
man that lives today.
Wnae tho Future May Hold.
There may come a time when the
generations for whom we are strug-
glng will look upon us as barbarians
out little removed from the cave dwell
ers or the prehistoric savages who
ranged the dense forests There may
come time when labor viii be .nos
longer degrading, when the last vestige
OF slavery Of any sort will have disap-
peared, when work will be a pleasure
and an honor and ana mbition When
that time comes, when men will have
advanced from and evolved out of the
present degrading conditions, the gem
erations to come win look back with
gratitude and approval upon the insti-.
tuition Of trades unionism, which has
contributed and will have contributed
20 much TO the ultimate goal of society
the ascent ot mar.