The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1908-06-15
UNION OR OPEN SHOP
Question Discussed From We've
point of Labor.
ORGANIZATION BEST FOR ALL

Trades unfoniSn Projects the Inter.
esss Of Employer as Well as Worker.
Weakness Of the open shop Propa-
sanda--Tends to ssrfdor.
Discussing the open shop and union
ism iii tne Washington Star. III. b.
Grady of the Bricklayers and Masons'
international union defined the two
aystems, He said:
The open shop, or. as II should be
termed, the nonunion shop, as applied
to the bricklayer Or mason Is fmpossi-
Die OF realization, and the employers
who profess the intention Or applying
Ii to cur trade we'll know 1t cannot Do
applied.
The nonunion shop theory 10 one Of
those elusive chimeras which bob up
from time to time and gain their adj
herents because of novelty. 10 the
practical man. be he employer Or work.
man. it ii fraught with great danger
lib speaking 0f 1t its advocates point to
the arbitrary actions of trades unions
and seek to Justify putting II into aper-
alton by criticising an Institution which
the leading men of the nation have
come to regard as necessity indus
trIally. While they tell you OF certain
actions 0f trades unions which the safe
ii or All, even of the union guilty or
the overt action, demands condemns
ton, they fail most pointadly to tell of
the many good features iuseparable
from the trades union movement.
Nothing Ii said on the fraternal spir-
IT engendered. no reference made to
the sick and death benefits paid by the
unions. The unity and brotherliness
brought into activity BY the union are
passed over. ana the continued and
concentrated efforts To improve the
conditions III the toiier are ignored.
who are promoting the agitation TOR
the abolition of the sweatsliop. of the
regulation of children's employment of
sanitary workshops and the many other
measures looking to the material ele-
walton of the race? IN ii fair To con.
denim the trades union movement.
whose ayowed object Is the raising OF
the standard Of American citizenship.
because one or two of Its many branch.
eli have wandered from the direct
nath7
As d rule. large employers Of labor
welcome organization among their EN-
ployees, for experience has taught
them it Is safer and better to deal with
an organization than to deal with In
diyidnals The Individual may break
his bargain and escape the conse-
auences, but to the credit Of the trades
union movement there Is hardly case
on record where an organization failed
to carry ont its part Of bargain to
the letter. This is d statement THAI
cannot be contradicted. Trades union
ism, properly understood, Is not alone
protective to its own members, but .
distinctive factor In securing better
conditions for all, even for the nonun-
ionist, and II makes for higher citizen
ship and incidentally the perpetuation
OF the republic.
SO much for trades unionism. Now
let as see what the nonunion or open /
shop propaganda offers. It means en-
ployees will be dealt with individually
destroying the guarantee that agree
ments be not violated. while the ad-
vocates Of this system loudly profess
their patriotism to the nation. they are
trying to bring about q condition of IN
dustriai serfdom. they insist the
workman has the option Of belonging /
TO the union or not. as he sees 1T, but
are they consistent when they make it !
so that all IN their particular line Of /
have membership IN their or.
ganization? It's a poor rule which
won't work both ways. Why don't
they go On as individualsg
The time IS past when any preps.
ganaa having for It's object the lower
ing of mans dignity or his Industrial
can succeed. aud. logical
Is reduced. this IS plainly the mission
of the open shop. Suppose this system
% be il operation. How would en-.
olexers know the waze scale af aaS