The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1909-08-12
Best in the World, All He Asks of Capital Is
Clean Shop, Reasonable Hours, Fair
Wages and a Square Deal.
Equal Pay to Men and Women for Equal
Work-Prosperity of Whole Country De-
pends Upon Prosperity of the Work.
ers-By Rev. Chas Stelzle-

"All things considered, the American
workingman is as true a man, as moral Il
man as you can find anywhere Such
was the tribute paid the great body of ar.
tisans of this country by Rev. Charles
Stelzle in address in the Amphithca-
ter at Chautauqua, New York. Mr.. Stcl-
zle is man who knows Born in the
tenement house district, and living on the
East Side of New York City for twenty
five years, he is familiar with the social
conditions of the masses. For eight
years he was a machinist in the largest
shop in that city, where he had an un-
usual opportunity for studying the in
dustrial problems at first hand. Now, as
Superintendent of the Presbyterian De-
partment of Church and Labor, he is
probably doing more than any other liv
ing man to solve the problem of the rela
ton of the workingman to the church.
'America has learned,' said Mr..
Stelzlc, ''that the prosperity of the
whole country depends upon the prosper
ity of the workingman. We believe it
as matter of theory, but not always as
a matter of practice. Only too frequent
ly the employer acts as if he were in
business simply for his own interests
No wonder the average workingman feels
that he too must work for his own inter
ests. If the interests of employer and
employe are common the American work
ingman ought to know it in such a way
that there will be dispute about it
if their interests not common the
y,rl,;n e., -
The labor unions do not, the speaker
declared, as many employees suppose,
constitute all the labor question. If the
unions were wiped out of existence, the
question would remain in a more aggra-
waited form. The 25,0o0,000 Socialists
throughout the world, 100000 of whom
have cast their ballots for Socialist can
ddatcs; the 100000 trade unionists,
the Russian peasantry, tht movement
among the working people in France,
Belgium, Austria and the social unrest
in our own country, were cited as phases
of the labor question. "And they are
al,' said Mr.. Stelzle, ''fghting for in
dustrial democracy and they are going to
win.''
Because the American workingman has
caught the spirit of the democracy he
rcsents anything that savors of patronag ge
or Paternalism, thinks Mr.. Stelzle. "He
does not want social welfare work as
much as he wants a clean shop, reason
able hours, and fair wage.'' To this
Mr.. Sickle ascribed the failure of the
social welfare work of the National Cash
Register Co., and the Pullman Co.
The working man of America is or
ganiZed, and the labor unions represent
his sentiment better than other organiza-
tions, was the speaker S contention. He
showed that the labor unions constitute
one-half of those engaged in such trades
as may well be organized. If the farm.
/ ers, servant girls, professional men, and
those engaged in trade and transporta
ton be subtracted from the 90 9,OOO,O 600
wage earners in this country. only 7,O0o,-
600 will be left, and the labor unions
have enrolled nearly half of these, and
the most of the other half are in small
towns or otherwise situated that they
are scarcely able to organize.
| The speaker said that the American
workingman is the best workingman in
! the world; he has more comforts than
any other workingman; but he is not sat
isfied because he feels that he is not get
ting his proportion of what he produces
This battle for labor 8 fair share, thinks
Mr.. Stelzle, VIII not be fought by the
ignorant foreigner, but by the skilled
artisans, and the Homestead strike OF
the high-priced steel workers was noted
as an example.
''The American workingman is the
most temperate workingman in the
world,' said Mr. Steizle: and in evi
dence he quoted the testimony of Mr.
John Burns, of England, and his oUI
experience in the British Isle and on tn,
continent He declared that the day