The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1909-04-22
(BY Hen,lrickl

Paris, France. April 20.-The strike
of French telegraphers, which was re-
Gently resolved in favor of the strik.
ers. offers an interesting study for the
people Of the United States, who re-
Gently also faced a similar strike from
similar sources. Both were tests of
the strength OF labor unionism. But
unloniSm mas so far advanced in
France beyond the situation In Amer
lea as 10 give the Americans an OBJ
ject worthy OF deepest study lest tho
American system ultimately become
the French.
Labor unlonism as ii exists in
France would be called Socialism In
Amerlca-chiefly because we are in
the habit of calling everything VIC sus-
pect Socialism" But unionism in
France Is, as a matter of fact. strictly
opposed to Socialism. The French
word for it is "syndicatisme 1t has
no property theories whatever 1t
seems to be merely a reformed Repub
lioanism having for its chief aim
change in methods of representation
Here Is the aim of "Syndica;isme"
in nut she'll The American unit of
representation is the precinct and the
ward "Syndicatisme" argues that we
arc advancing into an age of industrial
ism and that therefore industrial units
should succeed political units as
basis of legislative administrative rep
resentation. In otner words. they in
sist that the trade shall succeed the
precinct as unit Government would
under their theory be of the strictly
- lnl IL 10
would be made up of iron workers.
weayers. printers, railroad men and so
on ad infinitum
This suggests In paragraph the ad-
vanced idea of French labor unionlsm.
Strange TO say its evolution is not
among the lmpossibillties, for accord
ing to all appearances the striker In
France is today well nigh supreme In
his authority. M Barthou, minister or
labor in the cabinet of President Fal-
Heres, can bear striking testimony to
this conclusion for II is his bureau that
has been forced to deal with the con-
tinuous and continual labor disputes
that have disrupted Paris for the last
many months. The success of the
Paris strikers is due more to the easy
going nature of the Frenchman than
to the power of the union. The strike
Of Parist telegraphers, telephone op-
orators. postal clerks and postmen has
probably seemed a far more disastrous
thing abroad than 1t has here been
realized to be. Taking the postal
strike as an example, degree Of for
bearance hard for a foreigner to un-
derstand was manifested alike by bus
iness houses and private persons, The
French public was more uninterested
in the event than anSered OF even an
noycd by the inconvenience to which
1t subjected them. 1t is no small thing
TO have your communications stopped,
your postoffices and telephone ex"
changes abandoned and your telegraph
wires cut For days Paris was COM
pletely shut off from the outside world
and this at a time when the peace or
E,lrope hung in the balance because
OF the pending struggle which threat
ened TO involve the entire continent,
In America such a situation would
have aroused charges, even OF treason,
against the strikers. but apparently
the government of France Is much
more matter Of convenience and
much less sacred institution. Tho
Frenchman worships his native land.
but his government is something he
made himself.
The postal strike In France would
have been an impossibility in America
because the American government has
definitely frowned on the unionizlng OF
government service. But the United
States has never faced the situation
which resulted in unionizing many gov