The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1908-05-16

many trades the earning value OF q
mechanic almost ceases at As. Unless
promoted to supervision, he must de-
Ncend at old age to the wage of the:
Ewatchman and the day laborer. Tbs
freight trainmen seem to have noth-5
ing so surely before them as manned
hands, missing feet and a dollar q
day at grade crossings, and in old
age not that. =
Matter Of Accidents. 4.
ITO those Of us who are secured
from accidents by the nature of our
employment it seems as If it would
be difficult to find men to meet tho
dangers of railway work. Informa-
ton direct from the Interstate Com
merce Commission shows that in the
quarter covered by the latest acces-
sible bulletin 519 employees were killed
and 8273 injured. Making large al
lowance for the penalty Of individual
recklessness, we shudder at the cost
in life and limb Of our railroad trans
portation.
''The case is as bad, If not worse,
among those who provide the fuel for
our homes and factories. Men die by
hundreds In one explosion.
"A poorly-ventilated mine, from
which economy fails to drive out the
explosive gas, in some cases, permit
ted an ignorant and careless miner to
open his safety lamp and blow into.
eternity the working force of an en-
tire village. So far as greed makes
such things possible, the Master
whom we serve demands from us the
protest of His church, and for the
sufferers the tenderest sympathy.
Plea for Protection.
*The love we owe our brother-man
warrants, yea, compels us to plead for
greater protection against accident
and the greatest mercy of justice.
even to care, in old age for the
wounded and crippled from our in
dustrial battlefields.
while preceiving the dangers 10
American civilization and especially
to the wages of the laboring class, If
the immense population Of China and
Japan were free to enter this coun-
try, with habits Of living which arc
hardly possible to the last extremity
Of American poverty, we claim for
the immigrants from Eastern Asia
. who are already here and for those
who lawfully come the most just and
equitable treatment Especially do
we insist upon protection for them
from the mob spirit, so often inspired
and led by those who are themse elves
new arrivals upon our shores.
Principles Of the Church.
1T Is impossible that the Methodist
Episcopal Church, under the COM
mand to love and serve all, appealing
throughout her history for Moses
and composed in large measure Of
working men, can be opposed to the
working class. We admit the right of
these workingmen who. desire to do
so to form labor unions for the ad-
vancement of their interests, even as
we hold the right of individual labor
'ers. who prefer. to do SO, to keep the
control OF their own labor. -. We are
confident that a closer and 'unpre-
JUDGED study on the part of the labor
unions Of the aims and principles Of
the church will convince those who
exalt Jesus at the expense Of His
church that the difference in America
between the Master and His disciples
is much less than they have been
taught to believe. The church an1
the trades unions should seek each
others help for the uplift of mankind.
Church Welcomes All.
"There is one point especially in
which the labor unions, as commonly
voiced, mistake the church. The
church is not museum of perfected
specimens, all ticketed and labeled
and shut up in a stained-glass case
for the world to admire. It is a work.
shop to which all who are willing to
work out their own salvation with
fear trembling must be admitted. The
church cannot refuse it's help and
countenance to anyone who processes.
to accept it's principles and to seek 4.
better life, be he either capitalist or
laborer. BY so much as a capitalist
is selfish, mlserly, exacting, oppres-
sive, the church has business with
him. The church cannot throw him
off and away until the last day Of his
desicated and shrunken life brings
him before God. She must hold, If
she do her duty, before him the image
of the unselfish Christ in the hope
that in the light will see ow far he'
is fro mthe Kingdom Of God:
Just as the church must welcome
those whose chief capital is their
muscular strength. If ignorant, she
must teach them; if drunken, she
must sober them; if improvident, shs
must bring them to Christian thrift.
She can ignore no souls. Whatever
the future. may promise of g. different
system, or the dream Of social phil
osophers may phophesy, the present
system Is likely to outlast our day.
and we must penetrate it with the
Christ spirit on both sides, or leave
the employer in an insecurity which
paralyzes and the workman in a help
lessness which degrades.
Answer to Critics. =,
"Some labor critics of the church
have said that the church is a CLOSED
shop and only those who comply
with certain obligations are admitted
to be foremen and workmen therein.
To this it Is to be answered that it is
no more closed as to it's foremen than
io no1osSor1> ~ k1.s.