The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1908-12-19
Trades Unionism q Practical
Organization Of Workers to
Solve Industrial Problems.
LABOR AND CAPITAL ARE
PARTNERS IN INDUSTRY
Equality in, Enjoyment of Their
Correlative Rights Is Aim
of Organized Labor.
Especial to Labor Worldly

Especial to Labor Worldly
MINNEAPOLIS, Dec. 17.-Upon in
Vitation of the faculty Of the state
university, w. E. McEwen, secretary
treasurer of the Minnesota State Fed
GRAFTON Of Labor, delivered an address
before the students Of the department
Of Economics last Monday afternoon
on Some Things in the Philosophy
OF Trade Unionism." Mr.. McEwen was
greeted by an audience Of over 500
students, VINO accorded him a most
respectful hearing. At the close of his
address a number of questions were
propounded to the speaker by several
OF the students, and the answers taken
as satisfactory. The address in its
entirety was as follows:
We are facing the third great prob
lem Of civilization-the problem of in
dustrial liberty. When one measures
the time, effort and sacrifice it re-
quired for man to secure the full en-
joyment Of religious and political in
dependence, we may have some idea
of what we must confront in the
struggle OF To-Day.
Oceans of blood were shed, and
myriads Of human lives were sacri-
f1ced In the struggles for religious and
political liberty, but in the evolution
ary process which distinguishes the
trade-union movement Of labor this
will be avoided in the contests for in
dustrial liberty, except possibly where
passions may possess men and unlaw-
ful means are resOTted to. This may
occur in the heat Of any difference
between men.
Preliminary Considerations.
Unless the legislature of courts
abridge or: destroy the present legal
rights of labor the orderly rise and
development Of the wealth producing
classes through the evolutionary edu-
cational process will continue. How
ever, recent ruling Of the supreme
court Of the United States, in the case
of Roelof VS.. the Hatters' union, has
somewhat aroused the fears Of trade
union advocates that an effort is be-
ing made to abridge rights heretofore
admitted, for by a peculiar construc-
ton of the provisions Of the Sherman
antitrust act, trade unions have been
placed on the some category as trust
and their acts in certain cases are
held to be In illegal restraint of trade.
The bench, the church, the bar, in
fact the whole fabric of society rests
upon the backs Of men and women
who work with their hands. I remen-
mer as boy, Of having seen a cartoon
In an English paper. It represented a
worklngman standing stopped with his
hands on his knees, under the weight
of heavy burden. Upon his back
was king. On the king stood a
soldier, and on the soldier was a
preacher. The latter said: II pray for
all" The soldier said: II fight for
ALL" The king said: IT rule ALL" The
Workingman said: "And I pay ALL"
Certain Error Controvertd.
= 1t is ridiculous to say that capital
makes labor. Just the contrary is
true. Watch the growth of a. new
community, there is first the small
shop of the mechanic. Gradually this
is enlarged into a factory, until it
becomes great industry. 1t is true
that capital is great convenience
but labor must come first.
believe that in our present civiliza-
ton the modern machinery of society
Is necessary, and if it was controlled
by justice no one would complain. The
trouble is the non-producers make all
the laws, all the regulations, and bend
everything in their own favor. AS a
result labor Is crushed beneath a load
of Injustice.
Before he asserted himself the Ia
borer had no voice in anything and
was reducd to mere beast of burden
he started as a slave attached to the
soil. It he ran away he was branded
or had his ears cropped, or was
hanged. Later he became a serf, and
later still-at the rising Of Free Cities
"a so-called free laborer; that is tc
move his body from place to place
and to offer his labor for sale where
he chose.
Labor's Former History.
In the primitive days Of industry
there was a distinct individualism fr
capital and in labor. The skill of the
laborer, with his hand tools Of produc-
tion, we're not the most potent factors
In an industry. If dissatisfied with
his employment he could take up his
tools and go elsewhere, or start in
business for hinnslf on equal terms
with his former employer. In those
days the possessor of skill enjoyed g
degree of economic equality with
capital.
With the Introduction of machiner,
the ownership Of the tools Of produc-
tton passed from the laborer who was
poor, to the capitalist who had none,
to purchase them, and labor found it.
self absolutely dependent = upon thu
owner Of the tools Of production fol
q livelihood. =
There is a school of though in anG
-Out Of the labor movement which hold.
that labor cannot enjoy full economic
freedom until society returns to frs
principles, and that the ownership O.
.f 1arnd11ct