United labor bulletin., 1910-11-17
HAS LABOR BEEN BENEFITED.

Last week The Bulletin said that by
the election of the different Democratic
governors in other states than Colorado
organized labor had gained but little
During the campaign in New York state
Theodore Roosevelt attacked the record
of Governor-elect Dix as an employer OF
union labor and as leading promoter OF
the paper trust Mr. Dix is one of the
largest manufacturers of wood pulp and
paper in the world. Since the election
of Mr.. Dix the public press is finding
many excuses to offer for Mr.. Dix re
garding his labor record. The Chicago
Record-Herald, in presenting argument
for Mr. Dix, says, in part:
The life of John Alden Dix has
been full and busy one. AS a boy
he attended Glens Falls academy.
After his graduation from that
school in 1879, he went to Cornell,
where he stayed the regular four
years time. graduating in 1883.
Though college graduate, he had
some practical ideas imbibed from
his father, and after leaving school
worked with his hands-first as a
farm hand, afterward as an appren-
tice in the machine shops of his ma
tive town. This practical manual
training has stood him in good stead
in his business career. AS an en-
ployer of many men-ne has over
thousand on his pay roll-it is well
for him to know what the needs of
the worlingman are, and under what
conditions he works best, as well as
what are his obligations to his en-
ployer. Though attacked in this
campaign as unfriendly toward the
workingmen and as a grinder of the
poor, Dix's reputation among those
who have known him best is as IAN
employer of contented labor" His
factories have always been built
with the utmost regard for hygiene;
his employees have been given
weekly half holiday during the
months of July and August. He has
never opposed the unions, but be-
lieves that the master should be
free to employ whom he will, just
as the workman should be free to
seek the best paying market for his
labor. Two years ago his men ask
ed for an increase of pay Mr.. Dix
met committee and told them that
If at the end of three months they
had increased the output of the
mills by 10 per cent. they should
have that additional 10 per cent.
The men agreed to the proposition
and earned their raise.
Read carefully that part of the above
article set in black type, then draw your
own conclusions.
he that ha ho1 hot
the master should be free to employ
whom he will.
Labor unions say he should be free to
employ whom he will so long as they
are members of the union that repre-
sents the trade at which they work.
The paper says that he believes the
workman should be free to seek the
best paying market for his labor.
Labor unions say that the workman
can only seek employment to the best
advantage by being a member of his
trade union. 1t is inferred by the above
extract from the Record-Herald that Mr.
Dix believes that man who is affiliated
with his trade union is not free to seel
employment to the best advantage. We
say that the men working at trade moi
organized are constantly at the mercy
of their employer and. are being contin
ually underbid by their fellow workmen
This argument will be met by the ole
saw that the competent workman will
eventually go to the front" But the fu
ture can only be judged by the past
and the past teaches us that no man Il
declared incompetent who is willing t.
work much cheaper than the highl,
skilled workman. 1t is when a minimum
wage is agreed to that the services o
the highly-skilled workman are sought
Again the great daily tells us that MI
Dix met a committee of his employe