United labor bulletin., 1909-10-08
THE RIGHT TO QUIT


Violence and lawlessness are always
deplorable no matter how just the
cause of the protestants, yet we must
remember that there always is some
cause for such conduct, and until We un-
derstand and remove that cause. society
is not safe. In this instance we must
admit that the foreign workman of the
type under discussion has nearly always
been treated both with brutality and in
justice from the day he landed in this
country. The employer might defrauu
him and oppress him in thousand in
describable ways and all the Lawful
orderly forces of society looked on too
Indifferent to interfere in his behalf
This he has felt keenly; then how should
he-when the time of blind revolt came
know no other method of protest than
the brutal and violent example set by
his betters?
1t would take too much space to de-
scribe the life of the poorest type of for
eign workmen, but it is admitted that
Sinclairs description of the brutailties
of packing house employment had
/ basis of truth. the annals of the coal
mining industries furnish a similar story
and in this recent strike even a Catholic
pastor declared that the true tales of
degradation and grating and injustice
toward these poor people were too ter
rible to set forth in detail. If these men
quit work and attempted to prevent the
entrance of strike-breakers to take their
places. if they threw rocks at mounted
constabulary as the latter charged upon
them and shot them down-well, for one
thing, they soon learned the iutlnly OF
such tactics. Their employers could pro-
cure not only the armed constabulary-
but riot guns and even the military if
desired to protect their property. This
in itself was lesson that other tactics
than violence must be used il the work
man was to win his case. His crude
outbreak OF mob violence is not to- he
excused or glossed over. He must learn
nOI 10 lmICtte s4une -cyils Ia n.saa 4eIe-'
tiers but by organization and self-disci-
pline and cooperation with the already
organized millions of workmen ally him
self with the peaceful forces which Sc
cure the righting of wrongs. All the
uplifting forces of society can find an
ample field of work in educating this
poor workman and likewise his en-
ployer They both need it sadly.
1t is important to understand Just
what provocation was sufficient to make
these newly arrived industrial recruits
revolt. 1t must have been something
very oppressive indeed. for the foreign
workman of little skill and less know
ledge of the country and its language
is at so great disadvantage that he is
naturally timid about losing his employ
ment and usually prefers to bear the
evils that he knows rather than to in
vite those which to his untutored tmag-
ination may be much more dreadful.
The steel company admits that it
made a heavy cut in wages in the past
six months. It also introduced pool
ing system designed to get the greatest
possible amount of work out OF the
men at the lowest cost and yet 1t was.
so conducted that no man knew what
he earned each day. II he was not sat
isfied with the contents OF his pay en-
velope he could quit and that was all.
In the Survey, a journal of construc-
tive philanthropy. Paul U. Kellogg. gives
a most impartial and informing account
of the strike. Space permits only the
following extracts from his description
of how the pooling system worked.
Passenger. street. freight cars. and
hoppers are made at the McKees Rocks
plant The steel comes in sheets.
cut in lengths in the shearing depS
ment: heated and pressed into shape .
marked and punched in the punching de-
partment; fitted together with bolts in
the construction department. and put to-
gether and riveted in the erection depart
ment. There are many minor branches
of the work. where axles. trucks. up
holstery. etc. are produced. but this un-
technical description indicates the pro
cess of turning out the main stapss-ear
bodies of sheet steel These PROGRESSES
have reached point where few, skilled
mechanics are demanded. compared With
quick operators of heavy machines The
company claims a months training will
turn an immigrant into a .riveter.
"The plant was working half force full
time at the beginning OF tho strike.
With the resumption OF active operailoa
early in the year the track systen was
installed and the pooling system given
general application. track runs tho
length Of the erection aisle. The trueAs
are placed on the track at one end: eiec.
trie cranes pick up the plates; piece by
piece they are put together and riveted.
and a completed ear rolls on the other
end Of the track. There are. perhaps.
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