The labor argus. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1906-1915, 1910-04-21

irely with their employers. The differ
enee between the individual and the col.
lectire bargain is simply this-that in
the individual bargain one workman of
hunored refuses to accept q reduction
IN wages. and the employer retains the
services of ninety and nine; whereas in
the collective bargain the employees act
IN a body, and the employer retains or
discharges all simultaneously upon the
same terms. There can be no permanent
prosperity to the wage-earner, no real
and lasting progress, no consecutive i'm
provement in conditions until the pyin.
clpie is fully and firmly established that
in industrial ife-especially in enter.
prises on a large scale-the settlement
OF wages, hours of labor, and all condi-
tions of work must be made between EN-
ployers and workingmen collectively and
not between employers and workincmen
individually
Were it not for the influence of
trade unionism, the work which women
and girls are compelled to do would
prove even more deInoralizing The
trade union seeks to protect the women
morally, physically and industrially. 1t
demands that she shall not be employed
amidst surroundings that are destructive
of her moral and physical health 1t
demands that she shall not be employed
at night work or for excessively long
hours. 1t demands and insists that wom-
an shall receive equal pay with men for
equal work. In demanding equal pay
and haD1t bfnl
the union not only protects the woman
and-the home, but it also protects the
standard of living of all wage-earners
Even more important than the ben
Gifts conferred by trade unionism. upon
women workers have been its efforts in
behalf of the toiling children Since
the birth of the factory system, children
have been mustered by thousands into
factories, and on account of their MIN
bleness, their docility, their powerless-
ness to resist oppression, and the low
wages they are forced to accept, have
been permitted to displace men and to
ruin themselves by work unsuited to their
age and strength.
The trade union movement is Meth
er revolutionary nor destructive. 1t
seeks not to destroy society or the insti-
buttons of our country. Its purpose is
constructive, and it makes for the per-
lection of society. 1t seeks the wider
and more equitable distribution of
wealth, in order that all of our people
may be enabled to develop to their high
est and best possibilities Every man
who becomes member of n trade unio
subscribes, substantially, to the follow
ing declaration:
We are pledged to the emancipa-
ton of our class from poverty, ignorance
and selhshness; to be respectful in word
and action to every woman; to be con-
slderate of the widow and the orphan,
the weak and the defenceless, and never
to discriminate against fellow-workcr
on account of creed, color, or nationali-
ty; to defend freedom of thought,
whether expressed by tongue or pen; to
educate ourselves and our fcllow-work-
ers in the history of the labor move
ment. We promise that we will never
knowingly wrong brother or see him
wronged if in our power to prevent it
We will cndeavor to subordinate every
selfish impulse to the task of elevating
the material, intellectual and moral con.
ditions of the entire laboring class -