The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-03-06

TWO OF FOUR DdttleSnlpS a, year 10 TIE
navy. AS whole the American work.
men are opposed to a large standing
army. The large army is an unneces-
sary expense and has no real use. On
the question of larger navy there
might be real difference Of opinion.
The abstract proposition is that we az
opposed to other nations with large
navies, and so we must have one. This
is the opinion of many workmen.
On the other hand. the question 81
raise of wage is vital one. As
Il general proposition, in all mechani-
cal pursuits wages have not been
raised. True, wages have been raised
in instances, but as a general rule
employment conditions are not volun-
tarily improved by employers. Yet
ditions of employment have been inl-
proved. Why? Because of the efforts
OF organized wage earners.
This is NO reflection at all upon EN-
ployers that they have not taken the
initiative in these movements for the
increase of wages among employees.
humane employer. who desires to es-
tahlish more humane conditions Of
employment. is deferred from so do
ing because of the attitude Of incon-
sderate and reactlonary employers.
In a competitive industry. as, for
example, the newspaper publishers,
one employer cannot pay larger wages
than another. If he does so he will
be- at n disadvantage in competition
with less consderate employers. Of
ten the best employer is forced to
maintain the same conditions as the
worst employer in the same industry
or sacrifice his business.
Under these circumstances the tra'le
union, with its uniform wage. scale.
serves not only the interests of n,e1
who labor by requiring the inconsid
crate and grasping employer to pay
as high n wage as is demanded from
the best employer, hut it also protects
the interests of the good employer.
Labor unions in the United States,
despite the opposition of open foes or
processing friends, will go forward to
d. greater degre" in the future thaa
they have in the past. The men who
labor are going to take a stronger III
terest i'm labor unions than ever they
have before. My best judgment is
that the time will come when all It's
skilled and unskillecl laboring men uf
the United States will be enrolled as
members Of their own trade unions.
On the other hand, I firmly believe,
with equal sincerity. that the employ
ers of each industrial division will be
organized in employers associations.
The purpose OF these employers as
socations will be to establish and
maintain trade relations with THEFT
assisting workmcn.
Then the trade agreement which
now exists in many industries, as.
for instance, the newspaper industry,
will become a recognized and estab-
lished process through which indus
trial peace and industrial righteous
ness will be maintained in this coun-
try.
sderate OF the interests of their en-
pioyers. The whole future, the pros
perity. Of America depends as much
upon the workman as consumer as
on the workman as producer. Too
many employers in America believe
that our future depends upon produc-
tion at n cost sufficiently low to enable
them to market their products abroad
Yet the hest market in the world for
us is at home. This market will he
increased or decreased just as the
purchasing power of the average AM
erican workman ia increased or de-
creased.
Take the man who is working at a
wage that enables him only to pur-
chase the absolute necessities Of life
He adds less to the wealth of the
country than the man who is able to
provide himself with the reasonable
comforts of life.
Add 25 cents day to the wages "
all the workmen Of America and rou
will give us more riches than tho
Astors or the Vanderbilts possess!
Give the American workman the
power to buy pictures. music. hooks,
and you add to the wealth of the ma
ton.
High wages are necessary to the
Of American industrial
life in the future, and not only to that,
but to our social and educational life.
The greater the consumption of the
comforts of life--not the luxuries--|