The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1909-12-10
DEVOTION OF LABOR.
Its Loyalty to the Cause Must
Accomplish Results.
SACRIFICING FOR PROGRESS.
Gives Freely the Best That Is In IL
That Mankind May Sc Benefited.
Growth Of the Movement In I1teIli.
senee-Leadsrs Of Higher Use.

Writing IN u recent number y the
American Magazine under the title
The Old Order Changethr and CON
pairing the creation Of public sentiment
with the achievement Of its ends a.
against public clamor and its eveutru.
collapse and failure, William Allen
White has this to say Of the American
labor movement.
Que OF the most ouII0us shadows
casting itself before some coming
event in our national life i the Amsri-
can Federation Of Labor. And il Is i'm
portant not because it affects SO many
people. though probably 100000
Americans are directly affected by the
life OF the federation; lt IS important
because OF the way these 100000
people are affected. for all Of them
men who work and their wives. sisters
children. sweethearts, fathers and
mothers and sympathiztng friends
make the federation or some OF its
component parts their religion. They
are willing 10 sacrifice not only their
comfort for it, but time and again
they do sacrifice their necessities for
it. Their conduct. which IS uine-tenths
OF life. is regulated by the federation,
and their creed In religion and politics
is more or less biased by it.
The material results Of their altru-
istic faith in the federation may be
seen in the fact that the members
paid S1,257,244 in death benefits last
year and S593,541 in sick benefits.
S205,25+ in unemployed benefits and
/ 1854 $50 in strike benefits. Here is
a grand total Of four and half mil
lion dollars raised by men 10 whom &
dollar means more than q hundred
dollars means to the forces these men
are contending with. And when one
considers what a vast amount OF time
and thought aud service have come In
proportion TO this cause one must rec
ogniZe that eventually the men who
devote that sacrifice in money and
that time and thought and personal
service TO the common good must &C
complish real results. for whatever
error now is impending them. whether
error in their own demands or error il
the claims Of their opponents, must 8
down before such an organized force.
For this is not a material world. Ii
the organization Of this thing we cal
civilization there is no force so resist
less as kindness. and this vast kind
ness of the workers to their brethren
/ uh1tavar of cruelty whatever q
meanness it may call forth, either Of
their own side or on the side Of thei
antagonists. in spite OF the evil tn
kindness must win some subStantia
reward in the end. Laws may b
temporarily denied them. courts ma
check them and executives keep theI
within their legal restrictions, but
the end whatever there is Of unseltis
justice in the demands OF labor for
humane day, 4 clean environment an
a living wage. will come TO them VI
der national law, for when one col
siders how far labor has come in fit
years in this country, how large ha
been Its actual as well as its compar:
tive betterment as the result OF o
ganization. the future becomes som,
thing more than guess, for toda
the organization is Of higher typ
the leaders have broader outlool
and the devotion OF the men and W,
men inside the organization is Of
more intelligent kind than ever It wa
before.