The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1910-07-08
Story of an Old Woman and Her
Strike Breaker Son.
REFUSED BLOOD MONEY.
Mother Remembered What the Union
Did For Her, but Joe Forgot-An In
cident That Illumnes a Little Known
Side of the Labor Movement


jobs had been made foreman at a sal
airy three times what he had ever
earned before.
The second day of the strike some of
the strike breakers had been assaulted
when they left the plant after the quit
ting whistle. After that the whole
force stayed inside the fence all the
time, sleeping on cots in the Office and
eating food furnished by the company
and smuggled in hidden in boxes of
raw stock. At the end of week it
was apparent to both sides that so long
as Joe Benson, the young fellow who
had been made foreman, and the four
or five other experienced workmen
stuck by their jobs the company would
be able to make a good bluff at keep
ing the plant running. If they quit it
would probably have to be shut down.
After dark on the evening of the
seventh day Joe Benson slipped out of
the gate, turned the first corner and
hurried down dark side street. Two
blocks away he was stopped by three
men. Almost instantly and as if by
magic a crowd of Il hundred men gath
cred. The president of the union, i'll
the center, appealed to Benson to stick
by the strikers and throw up his job.
He refused defiantly. Threats We're
exchanged. Things began to look ugly.
Suddenly the crowd parted to let an
old woman with a shawl over her
head push her way to the center.
Joe" she said. Bensons eyes lit
up. Mother" he began, stepping to-
ward her. But the old womans face
was stern and frowning The young
man stopped and looked at her, aston
ished. She held out a roll of bills.
said. Il don't want it. It's blood
money" Benson stood still. staring
hard at her. No one else broke the
silence Take it," she said. Then. as
he stood motionless, she threw the
money at his feet. Joe" she went on,
"be man. Stick by the rest of us.
Remember your father. If you don't
come home with me now. Joe. and
stay at home you're scab, and new
er want you to come inside my house
again"
That bit of personal observation was
followed the same evening by an OPP
portunity to talk with the Spartan
mother as she sat by the stove in her
own little kitchen, her big son beside
her. She was asked why she had
turned so strangely against her son
when natural maternal instinct would
have led her to rejoice in his promotion.
'Ten years my man Benson was a
member of the union paying his
monthly dues and all the time getting
little bigger wages and little short
er hours" she answered. 1.-The union
did that for us first of all. Then Ben
son took the fever. Ten weeks he was
laid up, and every week the union paid
us the sick benefit. When he got worse
the women of the auxiliary took turns
sitting up with him so that l could
get bit of sleep. When he got we'll
the union got him a job. Ten years
more went by, and Benson and l to-
gether went through a couple of hard
strikes. And wages kept creeping up
little by little. | saw that the men
who didn't stick by the union got no
good out of their treachery in the long
run.
whats little extra money for
few weeks when your neighbOrs look
at you cross eyed and you know in
your heart your mans no better than
n
ble's over ten to one he's let out for
good and goes rafting round the coun-
try in dark corners for the rest of his
life. That's the way it works, Joe.
"Well, then, Benson got his hurt. 1t
was busted steam pipe that did it.
When my man got out of the hospital
he was blind Eight months the union
paid us the disability benefit every
week. Then he died. The union buried
him. They paid me the $500 death
benefit that helped to keep Joe in
school. And the monument over his
fathers grave in the cemetery the un-
ion paid for. Joe didn't remember
about it, that's ALL"
1t will doubtless surprise many PEG
pie who think of labor unions as or
CARNATIONS existing solely for the pur-
pose of forcing higher wages from re-
luctant employers to learn that large
part of the energy and funds of al
most every body of organized working
men is devoted to various forms of
friendly aid and mutual protection. In
the aggregate they have paid out hun
dreds of millions of dollars as death,
sick and out of work benefits.
They take care of their fellow crafts
men who have been injured at work;
they maintain employment bureaus
which serve most useful purpose as
clearing houses between employers and
men; some of them have established
sanitariums where members who are
i'll may be treated at the general ex-
pense; they provide pensions for those
who have been permanently disabled
by accident and in few cases they
have built great homes for the old and
decrepit members of their orders
Henry NJ. Hyde in Chicago Tribune.
To Change Navy Yard Wages.
SaarafarV Rnplman Win