United labor bulletin., 1910-09-22


legislation. The power of parliament
was invoked to curb and restrain organ
lied efforts of the workers. The rate at
which labor was fixed, that is wages to
be received, was enacted by parliament.
one of the early acts was to prevent
anyone who had been trained to the plow
up to the age of II years from ever en-
gaging in city work. These restrictions
did not deter secret organizations of the
workers. So we find a statute of Ed
ward VI, in 1913, which was directed
against certain artificers, handicrafts-
men and laborers, who had sworn mu-
tual oaths to do only certain kinds of
work, to regulate how much work should
be done in a day and what hours and at
what times they should work. The stat
ute provided that anyone refusing to
work at prices regulated by law should
be deemed vagabond, or criminal, and
then branded with the letter ''V" Should
he attempt to escape by flight, and was
caught he was further branded with the
letter s. and condemned to slavery for
life And, where he still further resisted
his fate he was hanged by the neck until
dead. If workman was convicted three
times of having joined union of his
craft he was condemned to have his
ears cut off. Which punishment while
perhaps more artistic, was no more bar
barous than is the present system of de-
priving man of the means of subsist-
ence by discharging him from his en-
ployment and blacklisting him to pre-
vent further employment at his trade,
that is the method adopted by some en-
ployers who are allied with the National
Manufacturers association.
The president of which only few
months ago gave utterance to the most
un-American expressions regarding the
trade-union movement of today, and
branding its eminent leaders as Grim
inals and announcing that the purpose OF
his organization was to crush unionism,
to subjugate labor, as in the early days
have referred to.
He would, l believe, emulate if he
could the actions of the justices of War
wickshire, who, in 1855, fixed scale of
wages for the country, and any employer
who paid more and any workman who
received more were liable to punishment.
Macauley tells us in history that the
rate of wages fixed about this time was
4 shillings (4s.) per week without food.
Mechanics in other parts were consid-
: cred well paid at 6s. per week. While
wages were low and prices of foods were
cheap, yet hundreds of thousands of fam
lilies scarcely knew the taste of meat.
so dear was it to ordinary worker. What
we consider today as mere infants, chill
dren that had reached the age of six
years were thought fit to labor in the
shop and mill, and Macauley cites the
center of the clothing trade of those
days (Norwich), where the child of ten
der years was the competitor of the adult
in the "shops."
These were some of the evils which
the workers, growing in intelligence,
sought to eliminate. And though they
were not allowed by law to meet and
protest against injustice, and they had
no newspapers in those days to plead
their cause, they did have their bards
and poets and the ballad was the chief
means of presenting their pleas. But
despite all the prosecutions and the en-
deavors to subjugate Labor, combinations
of workers grew in number and in
strength. Yet, we see it was the COM
bination of the masters" or employer
classes, which by it's arrogance, lead to
the organization of the workers. Hence,
the gradual formation of the trades
union movement of today.
The prosperity of any country is surely
measured by the conditions and the CON
tent of the common people-the wage
earners-be they agricultural, mechani-
cal or mere factors in the whirl of bust
ness. Where the conditions of the toll
ers are the most favorable, there organ
lied labor stands as a bulwark against
oppression and injustice. When legisla-
ton is invoked to change obnoxious con-
dtions there the trade union champions
the cause of justice. Where public opin-
ion is to be aroused as moral force in
righting of wrong. there the trade union
puts life and activity into the movement. |
The late Carl D. Wright, whose serv-
ices in the cause of economic and sta |
tistical research cannot be forgotten,
once said that "the labor question means
the struggle of humanity for higher
standard of life" The trade unions de-
clare that that standard cannot be placed |
too high.
Abraham Lincoln in his first message
said that Tabor is the superior of capital
and deserves much the higher consider
alton" Yet among those who are the
avowed enemies of organized labor will
be found those who believe Lincoln to
have been all good and all wise-indeed
an Immortal to Fame. Consistency is
no jewel in their possession
am trade unionist because the trade
union stands for better conditions, higher
wages, the shorter workday; which
means more time for thought, for study
for the worker, more time for rest for
the tired and overburdened, more leisure
for recreation and consequently better
health-healthy bodies and improved
minds. l am a trade unionist because
the trade union stands for the abolition
of child-labor in factory, mill and shop,
and in place of the burden of toll for the
child, the school and the home for its