The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1909-10-02
COMBINATION TO
BUY SUPPLIES
PIONEER PRESS STANDS FOR
COLLECTIVE BARGAIN ING -
GIVE THE EMPLOYEES SAME ADJ
vANTAcEs AT OTHER CLASSES
3 SAYS ST.. PAUL PAPER.

4
st. Paul Pioneer Press The Pioneer
Press is a. Arm believer in the principle
of collective bargaining for the adjust
Ement Of wages and conditions of en-
lpIoyment between masters and men
Employers pretty generally adopt this
principle for themselves in adjusting
their transactions rot only with their
workmen but with the public. Witness
the remarkable uniformity of prices on
pretty nearly all kinds of goods in all
the stores why should not employees
have the same privilege? Why not
let them select their smartest men to
represent them in conferences, II there
by thy can make arrangements most
satisfactory to the whole number? The
opponents of collective bargaining seek
an unfair advantage when, having
agreed among themselves, they would
deny to Others the same privilege.
There Is nosrecessary antagoRism be-
tween collective bargaining and the
open shop. Nom union men may CO.
operate, as was seen in the recent
strike near Pittsburg, where, dealing
with arrogant employers through a
committee, they won a decisive victory.
Suggestions to Housekeepers.
But the purpose Of this article is to
suggest to housekeepers collective
bargaining as a means Of lessening
the cost of living. 1t Is a discredit to
the business acumen Of our usually
bright American people that they
tamely submit to the establishment of
scale Of prices to city consumers
living so close together that united re-
sistance should be easy--so. vastly be-
yond all reason when compared with
the price paid the original producer.
Take the instance quoted on this
page a few days ago, where the editor
| of Farm, Stock and Home found he
must pay 20 cents pound for a loin
OF pork, while the farmer who raised
the animal from whoch it was cut, re-
ceived only about cents a pound for
the dressed carcass. The farmer may
have lived only short distance from
| the twin Cities and the porker could
certainly have been sent to the butcher
for a dollar, adding, say half cent a
pound to the cost The remaining
13h cents went to the men standing
between the farmer and the consumer,
MGSt tFuSG bnG AauSSs
The butcher didn't get ii all, how
ever. He is usually afraid, we are
told to buy meat from any other
source than some big packing house in
the meat trust. The farmer sold his
hog to the trust, the butcher went to
the trust for his stock We are told
that much of the meat consumed in
Minnesota is first sent to Chicago and
then sent back agail-alI because of
the power which the trust has come
to exercise over the retailers
Now, why shouldn't housekeepers
form a union and do some collective
bargaining" through an agent, with the
farmer direct-get that porker for 6H
cents pound, and. after allowing
something for the wages of their agent,
smack their lips over luscious loin
which has cost them only Z or cents
a pound?
The same principle Of collective bar
gaining could equally be applied In the
purchase of fruits vegetables and gro
ceries-one agent acting as buyer for
all. If only fifty families should unite
in such an arrangement the saving to
each must be very large.
They call this plan cooperation in
England, and cooperative stores have
there obtained an immense growth. Up
1860, 100000 in profits to their mem
bers. Yet they had their origin in the
combination of thirteen families, with
small incomes, in plan OF collective
bargaining such as is outlined above.