Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-09-11

there Will be for all. Those who believe in
union should therefore study its principles
( ana work Tor their realiZatiOn-fOr world
Wide peace and eternal Justice In the strife
/ lcf Tread, in the struggle for better condi-
| TONS, in which the union is so closely con-
i cerAed' these principles apt to be for
| gotten.
Though a union is primarily a business
| or trade organization, it is as such nothing
more than a tool, and like other tools, de-
! pendent on the man behind it for the quail
| ity ana results of its work
| The man behind the union consists of
! It's general intelligence and a few chosen
leaders, and though democratic in principle
| It's affairs are shaped by a few who are the
natural leaders of the men who happen to
| he within its membership-aS Is the case in
| all affairs of mankind.
| 1t is the man of superior brain power
| greater endurance, concentration of mind
| and self-control who does the thinking in
| advance of his fellOwmen, who announces
| conclusions, or urges a course that guides
| the thoughts of other men; and they often
| accept his conclusion without thinking at
! all-espeCially if they see gain for them
| selves by doing So
Greed Is the real enemy of the working
man-greed In himself as well as in his en-
ployer-and as far as he overcomes it in
himself, he overcomes 1t to his EMPLOYER
by doing in the most effective and availa BILE
manner what he can do to make the masses
| OF the laborng people more unselfsh and
| OF higher mental power
IL is safe to say that not one victory of
| the union has ever been gained because the
| capitalist responded to an appeal for Justice
| only. Victories were won because it was
| made to appear to the employer that his
| financial interest would suffer if he did not
grant the demand. Indeed it is quite nos
slnie that upon this principle an employer
Will grant unjust demands of labor-not in
| the interest of peace, but in his own in
| terest.
| 1T is certain that the future of unionism
| and any real good that it can do depends
! liz 1lroin
| reached that stage where it is possible for
| a union to make great gains, and in the
| future the public will weigh the cause of
| union more by the man than ii has done
| IN the past-not only the man who repre-
SCENTS H. but the man of the ranks.
What. then, is the whole thing in a nut
| shell? 1t is, that the welfare Of labor and
| the requirement of its rights depend upon
| the moral and intellectual advancement of
! the laborer and that the union as a tool is
an indispensable agent to help along the
cause OF wage emancipation
/ The salutatory of the General Arbitration
! Magazine, which is published at Orange, N
| j., and edited by James H. Grant an
| nounces that it will at all times advocate
the idea and stand for the principle of the
! unquestonable right of man to own him
| self, that he has the right to sell his labor
! or skill TO the highest bidder. Recognizing
| the right of the individual is to admit the
| right for any number to combine and fix
| the price for their labor which consistently
| meets conditions. Denying labor this right
| would be denying them their individual
| ownership. and we maintain that organizing
| for their mutual protection such organiza-
| tons can in nowiSe be construed a labor
| trust, as some unfair and unthinkinp per-
sons contend. We maintain that whom or
ganized labOrers receive the highest award
| Tor their labor and skill they become a
| factor for the public good; business is ac-
| CELEBRATED and not retarded; peace and hap
plntss reign.
| Colorado, always coming to the front with
| something new-sometimes startling-in the
Iahor held, now proposes the organization Of
| a state building trades council. Building
| trades councils covering a city or the cities
! ana towns in Il compact area of certain
| limits are quite common, and some years
| ago a national building trades council was
| organized, though II was not very success
| fui- But Colorado unionists are the first to
! try to draw all the building trades unions
| INTO an organization which will direct the
| AFFAIRS of the many trades employed in that
| industry.
| In some of the towns of Colorado there is
! absSnce of organization in one or more of
| the building trades due to the small num-
! Der of men usually employed or to other
! causes. The proposed state council plan
| makes provision for dealing with all such
| conditions.
! The purpose is to send out from the state
council, which will have its Headquarters in
! Denver, business agents who will make reg
| Ular visits to all the cities and towns in
| the state. Efforts will be made to equaliza
wages and working conditions and to bring
| the whole state up to the Denver standard
! In this way the men who go from Denver
| and the other strong union towns can be
| kept in line. Unions can be organized where
| advisable. and members can be recruited
, and attached to the nearest union
! To a limited degree the plan has already
been tried in Colorado. Several trips have
| been made over the state by business agents
of the Plumbers Union of Denver, and in
every instance the result has been increase
| in membership, and in some cases wages
| and working conditions in the towns Wis
| tied have been improved.
The present plan is to get every building
| trade to cooperate and to contribute funds
to carry out the idea to its full extent. At
| least one business agent will be kept at this
| kind of work all the time.
The Metal Polishers held their annual
| convention In Cincinnati. Ohio, August 81
| CniOnism in Spain comprises 56 800 mem
beers. distributed through 1913 local unions
The Order of Railway Conductors has
voted to hold Its 1909 biennial convention
! at Boston.
About 500 men employed in the breweries
of Bothenburg, Sweden, have been locked
out.
The dock strike at Belfast, Ireland, is
causing factories to close on account of a
| scarcity of coal.
Wages of the Durham and Cleveland
(Eng) blast furnace men will be advanced
IA, per cent for the current quarter.
In the United States, the state of Pennsyl-
vania especially, there is no union label
counterfeited more than that of the cigar
makers
| The exhibition of union-made and union
label goods at the jamestown exposition is
said to be one of the most complete ever
made.
| Engineers in the lumber camps of British
Columbia are receiving $50 to So a month
with board. few months ago they re-
ceived but $50.
| The Amalgamated Society of British En-
gieers will, after this year, cease attending
the trades union congress, absenting
! itself for at least four years.
Record figures are presented in the last