The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1910-07-30
a STORY I !: OF
ONE ! S TRII ID

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The fight had been on for q week.
Practically all the workmen had
walked out when the strike was called
but the company had had plenty Of
warning and was making q desperate
effort to keep the plant running. A
hundred men had been smuggled in
the night the trouble started, and
one of the half-dozen old hands who
stuck by their jobs had been made
foreman at a salary three times what
he had ever earned before. A high
board fence had been built around
the company's property, and at one
entrance two policemen stood guard
night and day. Across the street~a
couple of pickets representing the
striking union were always on the
lookout. =:
The second day of the strike some
of the strike breakers had been as
saulted when they left the plant after
the quitting whistle. After that the
all the time, sleeping on cots in the
office and eating food furnished by
the company and smuggled In, hid
den boxes of raw stock. At the end
of a 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 to their
jobs the company would be able to
make good bluff at keeping the
plant running. II they quit it would
probably have to be shut down. r..
Mother Sides Against Son.
After dark on the evening of the
seventh day Joe Benson slipped out
of the gate, turned the first corner
and hurried down q dark side street.
three men,. Almost instantly and as
if by magic a crowd of hundred
men gathered. The president Of the
union, in the center, appealed to
Benson to stick by the strikers and
throw up his Job. He refused de-
family. Threats were - exchanged.
Things began to look ugly. Sudden
ly the crowd parted to let an old
woman with q shawl over her head
|spush her way to the CENTER :I44:
y "Joe," she said. Benson's eyes lit
up. "Mbther," he began, stepping to-
wards her. But the old wonan's
face was stern and frowning. The
young man stopped and looked at
her, astonished. She held out a roll
of bills. Here's the $50 you sent
me, Joe,'' she said. I 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 still stood notion
less she threw the money on the
ground 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 a scab. and
never want you to come inside my
house again. :. :,
That hit OF personal observation
was followed the same evening by
an opportunity 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 ma
ternal instinct would have led to- re-
joice in his quick promotion and in
VI OeA0cu Se4 mug CdpdS4Iy.
What the Union Did.
''Ten years ago my man. Benson,
was member of the union, paying
his monthly dues and all the time
getting a little bigger wages and a
little shorter hours" she answered.
1.-THE union did that for u.s.. first of
all. Then Benson took the fever. Ten
weeks he was laid up and every week
the union paid us his sick benefit.
When he got worse the women of
the auxiliary took turns. sitting UP
with him so that I could get a bit of
sleep. When he got well the union
got him job. Ten years more went
by and Benson and I, together, went
through couple of hard strikes And
wages kept creeping up, little by lit
tie. T saw that the men who didn't
stick by the union got no good out
of it in the long run. ~:
whats a little extra money for a
few weeks. when your neighbors: look
at you cross-eyed and you know in
your heart your mans no better than
common thief? And, when the
troubles over, ten to one he's let out
for good and goes rafting round the
country in dark corners for the. rest
of his life. That's the way it works,
Joe. ~ -
..well, then; Benson got his hurt.
It 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 bene-
fit 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 ceme-
terry the union paid for. Joe didn't