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

| Should own his own home. There are hun
| dreds of toiers in this city who have been
! for years paying landlords enough money
| to have bought them half dozen homes
| and yet they do not own even a single
| 'rlck II stands to reason that there must
J b2 a profit in renting a house-that is for
| the man who owns it. There are ample
| acres in the suburbs, it is pointed out for
! the erection of hundreds of more pretty
| homes, where the toiler when his work is
! done could rest and recuperata and where
| ~ owning his little home his living expenses
would be greatly reduced. Rents in the
city increase every year. while in the coun-
| try-just outside the city limits. maybe-the
taxes ar low land is cheap and peace and
! plenty ab.des for all
/ \ western paper has just ended a discus
! SIGN OF the old, old question: What pro-
! PORTION OF In. husbands income should be
gwen TO the wife, Here is the letter
JIde'd 10 be the best of the hundreds sub
, mittcd:
J Here's our plan. l am a machinist, SIS
per week. and We split il up this way: Five
upiIalS saved, IS for rent and living ex-
7 i!SeS S1I0 allowance for wife, $50 al
! !o"dhc= tor husband Total, SIS. We have
tfltd all methods of dividing our income but
| TINS one Is the best of all, after nearly six
. years experience of married life. 1t gives
80 "a q NEi tam amount, ana no question
ask q as TO where it went. Result is we
nave no squabbles over money affairs Each
has good clothes. We live we'll and are
I h"Ppy. Now, for wages and salaries higher
/ ana lower than mine, | would split them in
proportion. The right sort of a wife does
not wish to have all her husbands in
| come. bC- she does wish a certain amount
10 be hsr own. to spend as she pleases, and
IN T-Sht sort OF a husband will see that
sh1 gets it. | hope that this article will
| help some couples to settle their financial
troubles"
The Carpenter, labor paper, says:
/ ne UNION Is necessary to the Iaborer for
Aiuch tha same reason that army is to a
I I'd'loh' lh"ush we may admit that the
nearer humanity approaches its ideals the
more OF justice and the less of burdens
there Will be for all. Those who believe in
union should therefore study its principles
ana WORK Tor their realizaton-for world
Wide peace and eternal justice. In the strife
Ter LrSad in the struggle for better condi-
ions, In which the union is so closely con-
cefHeu' these principles are apt to be for
gotten.
Though union is primarily a business
or trade organization, it is as such nothing
more than tool and like other tools de
pendent on the man behind it for the quail
lty ana results of its work
The man behind the union consists of
lis general Intelligence and a few chosen
leaders, and though democratic in principla
us aHalrs are shaped by few who are the
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
ana seI1-cOntrol who does the thinking in
advance of his fellowmen, who announces
Cohcluslonsr 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 far as lie. oyercOmes II in
himself, he overcomes 1t to his emnlover
by doing in the most effective and available
manner what he can do to make the masses
OF the 4aboring people more unselfish and
OF nIsLler mental power.
1t is safe to say that not one victory Of
llle union has ever been gained because the
capitalist responded to an appeal for Justice
ohIy. victories were won because it was
maze TO appear to the employer that his
financial interest would suffer if he did not
grant the demand. Indeed it is quite pos
slgle that upon this principle an employer
Will grant unjust demands of labor-not in
terest.
1T is certain that the future of unionism
ana any real good that it can do depends
upon public opinion. Public opinion has
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 il has done
In the past-not only the man who repre-
sents It, 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 uDon
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
"a a limos cd,
the idea and stand for the principle of the
unquestionable 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 labor
trust. as some unfair and unthinkinp nor
sons contend. We maintain that whom or
ganiZed laborers receive the highest award
TOT their labor and skill they become a
factor for the public good; business is ac-
CELEBRATED and not retarded; peace and han
pness reign"
Colorado, always coming to the front with
something new-sometimes startling-in the
labor held, now proposes the organization of
a state building trades council. Building
trades councils covering city or the cities
limits are quite common and some wears
ago national building trades council was
organized. though il was not very success
lul. But Colorado unionists are the first to
tiy 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
absence 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 equalize
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 mel bers can be recruited
and attached to The nearest union
To limited degree the plan has already
been tried in Colorado. Several trips have
been made over the state by business agents
L l.x.,- vF,,S.,