The Montgomery tribune. (Montgomery City, Mo.) 1892-1910, 1907-08-30

Sl1plOy lhtul was put q tVlhpcioiy -"
pedient, from which they would be re-
leased by marriage. While this
must continue to be true of a large
number of women workers, still as a
class there can be no question Of the
permanence of their position in the
Industrial world or of the necessity
of developing the higher altruism
which shall prompt temporary work
ers to guard the interests of less for
tunate sisters, whose lives depend en-
tirely on their conditions of work.
Notwithstanding these drawbacks to
organization on the part of the women.
their influence has not been entirely
wanting in the organizations of the
past. They were admitted on equal
terms with the men in the old English
crafts guilds, and seem to have re-
ceived full recognition, both in the con-
troll of the affairs of the guild and in
the consumption of ale.
Women's unions were not unknown
in the early annals of the English
trades unionism. We hear Of them as
early as 1888. To quote from history
by Sydney and Beatrice Webb: Nor
we're the women neglected. The grand
lodge Of Operative Bonnet Makers vies
in activity with the miscellaneous
grand lodge of the Women of Great
Britain and Ireland, and the Lodge OF
Female Tailors asks Indignantly
whether the Tailors' order is really 60
ing to prohibit women from making
waistcoats. Whether the Grand Ma
tional Consolidated Trades Union was
responsible for the lodges of Female
Gardeners and Ancient Virgins, who
afterward distinguished themselves in
the riotous demand for An eight-hour
day at Oldham, is not clear"
While women have been admitted
to membership in the older, more con-
sentative mems unions for v e 20
years, their greatest advance in num-
bers and influence has been during
the last ten years. To-day women not
only sit as members in the central
labor unions of the great cities, but
also exercise the full rights Of dele
gates in the American Federation of
Labor. They have not received such
recognition in any other national or
ganization of men.
That this great central body has
complete faith in a wise use of what
ever power they may help put into
the hands of ONE is proven by the
adoption of the following resolution
in favor of woman suffrage, which
was introduced by Vice President
Duncan at the 1903 meeting:
Resolved, That the best interests
Of labor require the admission Of
women to full citizenship as a matter
Of justice to them and as a necessary
step toward insuring and raising the
scale of wages for all"
The labor organizations have dis
covered that the principles of union.
ism are as applicable to consumption
as to production; they are trying to
influence the demand for the finished
product, as well as the condition I'M
der which 1t is made. They hope to
do this by mean of the union label.
In the recently published prize essay
on the subject Macarthur says: "The
union label enlists and arms in labor's
cause those elements which determine
the issue Of every cause in civilized
society, namely, the women and chill
dren.
In many places there are women's
union label leagues organized to pro
mote the demand for union-made
goods.
"The instincts Of woman and the
interests of labor are ~conjoined in the
union label. Both stand for cleanli
ness, morality, the care Of the young
the sanctity of the home; both stant
against strife and force. The uniol
label makes oma the strongest, al
she is the gentlest of Gods creatures.
One has only to look over the rec
ords of the American Federation O
Labor to realize that the labor organi
cations are unqualified in their con
domination Of child labor. Over tel
years ago President Gompers declare'
"the damnable system which permit
young and innocent children to hav
their very lives worked out of ther
in factories, mills, workshops an
stores is one Of the very worst Of labo
grievances, one which the trade union
have protested against for years, an
in the reformation of which We shaI
never cease u agitation until W
have rescued them and placed ther
where they should be. in the schoo
room and the playground" Sine
then the president and delegates hav
repeated and Endorsed these sent
ments SO often that they are mo-
looked upon as automatic, the la
committee on the presidents repel
r remarking, "that the child belongs
the school and on the playground II
stead Of in the workshop and factor
I. is as we'll known and recognized b
: those not blinded by personal inte
ests az -fs the multiplication table,"