Perth Amboy evening news., 1910-08-29
POSITION or
UNION LABOR
Secretary of State Fedora
ton Tells Why 1t Is OPP
posed to Or. Wilson.
lNSULTED WORKINGMEN

tNoULlEU WUHkINdMEN
Explaining the stand taken by the
New Jersey State Federation of Labor
in regard to the nomination of Wood
row Wilson, of Princeton, for governor
Henry F. Hilfers, Of Newark ,secre-
tary of the State Federation, writes to
the EVENING NEWS a letter as pub
lished below. Organized labor has ia
ken %offense at a remark made by DR..
Wilson in one of his actresses, claim
ing it is an insult to the working man
and it is therefore held that DR.. Will
son is unfit for the position of COVER
nor.
The letter follows:
Editor EVENING NEWS
DR.. Wilson, a candidate for the nomi-
nation of the Democratic party for
Governor, delivered a speech before the
People Forum, Of New Rochelle, New
York, on February 20, 1905. The New
York Sun of that date quoted him as
saying that "the labor unions reward
the shiftless and incompetent at the
expense of tho able and INDUSTRIOUS
1t seems to me that DR.. Wilson is wrong
on the labor question. 1t must be I'M
uSlpVoOu GudG buo Sui1Ll6sS anu III
competent workmen" are here and
must live and that the competent and
able workmen" must protect them
selves and everybody else from~the
weaknesses of what DR.. Wilson pleases
to call "shiftless and incompetent
workmen.'
~ Labor is like sugar or any other com
modify. Without unions it is subject
70 4ha 1o- - n,r11,r o,,l l-zoo-l &c
the workmen are plentiful and the Jobs
are scarce, labor is cheap; if the jobs
are plentiful and workmen are scarce,
labor Is dear. Under the economic
Conditions in this country, with a free
labor market in which there are "shift-
less" incompetent CABLE and Gin
question knowing that those -four class
es of workmen are here and must
live. Employers VINO buy labor are
anxious to buy it as cheap as possible.
1t often happens that there are five men
looking for three jobs, with an employ
or seeking to employ three of the five
at the cheapest price. Suppose he en-
ploys three competent men, leaving two
Of employment. The "shiftless" and
incompetent IGLIdIu OuI us lOUR us
their stomachs will permit. Then they
offer their labor at a cheaper rate than
the "industriouso and the table,
The employer or his competitor accepts
the offer and the "able' and the Gin
dustrious" are compelled to accept the
price Of labor which has been set by
the "shiftless" and "incompetent'' or
quit. Under this condition it Is evil
lA.%r @hat-tho sloh1a I'D -l-I.o.zJ )
would soon be reduced to a rate of
wages and conditions of living which
the "shiftless'' and "incompetents''
labor is open to the law of supply and
ter defined as "the law or necessity
ton is war, and "war is hell" This
"incompetent,'' Gable" and "indus-
trious" that all will be reduced to the
lowest possible conditions of living and
that "able'' and industrious" men
who have wives and children would be
compelled to accept a standard of wa
ges and conditions which are set by
"shiftless" and "incompetento men.
Hence, you have a condition that COM
ROlo II chlI tlSoS anu lnCOL1D ebSlJ
liable and Industrious" workmen to
unite in a labor union to save all from
the evils of competition among men
who must sell their labor. The union
sets the scale of wages, which is the
lowest rate at which the poorest labor
In any occupation is bought or sold,
thereby making a condition by which
an liable and Industrious" workman
non rive HE :, Go apl fo-,1v n 4o1o.o
BILE living and at the same time be pro-
tected from the evils which follow com
petition in the labor market.
DR.. Wilson speaks of unions as they
are a detriment, or as if they are an OBJ
stacle erected for mere trouble. In
this he is wrong. Unions are the out
growth of the necessity of workmen
who must sell their labor to live, and
the desire of employers to buy their
labor as cheap as possible. Unions are
the result and not the cause Of econo-
mic labor. They are erected and main
tanned to save human being from the
vices Of the law of competition of labor
between the "shiftless and incompe-
tent workmen on the one hand and
the liable and Industrious" workmen
oE the other hand. Unions are the in
evitable result Of liable and indus
trions" workmen's desire to have a
condition higher than that demanded
by the "shiftless and incompetent
workmen. Greed and business condi-
lions compel men who purchase labor to
pit the "shiftless and incompetent"
workmen against the cable and in
dustrious' workmen for the purpose~of
buying their labor at the cheapest
price, This condition educates the non
union man to be a union man, and com
pels the "scab" of today to be the "la-
Dor agitator'' of tomorrow. The condi-
tions under which workmen must sell
their labor, and the fact that they have
wives and children TO care for, forces
us to stand more strongly for human
rights thai property rights.
II DIR. Wilson would examine the con-
ditions found in any trade in this coun-
try before it Is unionized, he would
find that those conditions spell misery
and degradation for the human beings
who worked there at, and then compare
those conditions with what be found
after q union controlled the particular
trade and he would find improvement
OIL every hand, which improvement is
due to untOnism.
DR.. Wilson, IN June, 1909, while dis
cussiDg labor, said ''$hat labor unions
make Improbable servants" The
facts show that he is mistaken. The
only fair way to judge the value of a
workman is by looking at the amount he