United labor bulletin., 1909-10-08
UNIVERSITY YuOY OF LABOR.
BY III opdahl.

BY C. Il. opdahl
Do our universities give organized
labor a square deal? Is the teaching
biased in. favor d the employers and
capitalism do lot know what obliga-
tions some schoolS may feel toward the
employing class. but. as student, l
wish to give a fralsk statement concern
ing the attitudes of one university to-
ward union labor. can only speak for
my own school. bpt I can speak accur-
ately for it. believe 1t is typical. but
that leave to the reader.
In describing the course of labor
problems the catalogue of the university
says: This courSe is devoted to labor
organizations. their history, principles,
methods and TENDENCIES. Representative
cases are selected for special duty. The
work consists of lectures. library work.
and weekly reports ON labor topics
Students in this course are required to
make liberal use of the so-called capital
Istic and the labor3press There are kept
on file American Industries (for the en-
ployers), American Federationist (for
the unions). and 3Sout THIRTY other typi-
cal journals representing the side of
labor or capital"
BY this it can te seen that the main
object of the cdlrse is to study the
history. principles. methods, and tenden-
cies of labor organizations. and the eff
fort is made to have the student see
them from the ptints of view of labor,
caiptal. and the public.
At the beginning of the course a few
current issues are brought before the
student Some Of these are: Jurisdic-
tional disputes; limiting the output: in
corporation of unions: closed and open
shop: picketings boycotting; union
labels: position of the strike-breaker; use
of militia in -strifes; organized labor's
attitude towards pflitics: socialism: atti-
tude towardst Temperance. the church.
the courts.
These issues ars some OF the most i'm
portant things tha confront labor today.
and they are cor tandy kept in mind
thronshout the - re course It is the.
object 10 form. as sar as possible. some
definite conclusions OF our own concern
7 ing these problems
The work is divided into three parts,
7 (a) Lectures and outside reading; Oh
text and case work; (el labor press. The
/ lectures are given by the instructors two
days in the week and notes are taken
The lectures include such things as the
early history of labor organizations
their functions. policies. methods. and
legality woman and child labor strikes
boycotts, picketing, union label employ
ers' organizations. employers liability
trade agreements. the economic justifica-
tion of labor unions. few things re-
ceive special attention. such as the Le-
mieux act of Canada. The lectures seem
sympathetic towards labor.
The outside reading consists of four
hours reading each week from works
| bearing on the subject-matter of the
lectures. This reading is done from such
sources as United States Industrial
Commission Report Bulletins of De
partment of Labor.'( reports of various
bodies such as National Civic Federation.
National Association of Manufacturers.
and conventions of American Federation
Federation of Labor. Books such as
Hunters Poverty" Webb. Trade
Unions;" Mitchell. Organized Labor: "
Ely. Labor Movement" ''warne. Coal
Mine Workers." Kelly. Some Ethical
Gains Through 1.egislation:" Adams.
Newer Ideals OF Peace" adams and
Sumner, Labor Problems" and many
others. Notes are taken on these read
ings and the main points preserved in
permanent notebook.
The second part of the course is the
case work. The case book" Gas law
yer would say, Is Trade Unionism and
Labor Problems" by Prof John R. Com
mons. This gives an account of typical
cases of labor troubles, conditions, and
court decisions and endeavors, as far as
possible. to show by concrete cases of
possible. to show by concrete cases the
results of different measures anu poll
cies. Thus we try to get at 1ae facts
The third and Zaost important part of
the work is the reading of the capital
and the labor press. BY reading one or
more papers each week and giving re-
port in class on them. the student comes
into very close touch with the labor or
ganizations and the employers organiza-
tions. and so learns the methods and
policies of both. However. fewer of the
employers papers are read. and they do
not seem to have as much influence on
the student as the labor press. The labor
papers vary great deal In tone and
makeup. Some are disappointing:
some are satisfying. Too many are filled
with ideas rather than facts. Some of
them are extremely radical. and some
are quite conservative. Most OF them