The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1910-09-07


there are two other factors also of
prime importance; namely. what can
be done by the wage workers in CO.
operation with one another; ana
what can be done by government
that is, by the instrument through
which all the people work collective
ly. ~ -,
Wages Separate.
Wages and other most important
conditions of employment must re-
main largely outside of government
control; must be left for adjustment
by free contract between employers
and wage earners. But to attempt to
leave this merely to individual action
means the absolute destruction of in
dviduaism; for where the individual
is so weak that he. perforce, has to
accept whatever strongly organized
body chooses to give him. his individ-
ual liberty becomes a mere sham and
mockery 1t is indispensably neces-
sary, in order to preserve to the larg-
est degree our system of individual
ism, that there should be effective
and organized collective action. The
wage earners must act Jointly,
gaining, in great industrial enter
prses Only thus can they be put
upon a plane of economic equality
with their corporate employers.
Only thus is freedom of contract
made a real thing and not a mere le-
| gal fiction. There are occasional oc-
equations where this is not neces-
sary; but, speaking broadly, it is nee
essary throughout the great world of
| organized industry. I believe this
| practice of collective bargaining, eff
| fective only through such organiza-
tons as the trade unions. to have
| been one of the most potent forces in
| the past century in promoting the
progress of the wage-earners and in
securing larger social progress for
| humanity. l believe in the principle
| of organized labor and in the practice
of collective bargaining not merely as
| a desirable thing for the wage-earn-
ers, but as something which has been
demonstrated to be essential in the
long run to this permanent pro-
gress.
| For Them in the Right.
This does not mean that unequiv-
|
that labor organizations may happen
to adopt, or any or all principles that
they may choose to enunciate. Labor
organizations have the weaknesses
and defects common to all other
forms of human organizations Some
times they act very badly; and I am
for them when they act we'll, and
am against them when they are
wrong. 1 believe that their aims
and purposes are generally good; and
I believe that all of them have occa-
sionally made mistakes, and that
some Of them have been guilty of
wrong doing. Just in so far as they
are strong and effective they tempt
designing men who seek to control
them for their own interests, and
stimulate the desires of ambitious
| leaders who may be clever crooked
men, or who may be honest but Wis
ionary and foolish. In other words,
in treating of labor unions, as in
treating of corporations. or of hui
mainly generally, we will do Wen to
remember Arabian Lincolns saying
that there is deal of human nature
in mankind" Whether in a man or
in an organized body of men, the
power to do good means that such
power may be twisted into evil; and
in proportion as the power grows, so
it becomes steadily more important
that it should be handled Alright. Just
in proportion as in it's proper func-
ton power is important to social pro-
gress, so in it's improper function it
I becomes fraught with social disaster
Outside critics should appreciate
the necessity of organized labor, and
understand and sympathize with what
is good in it, instead of condemning
it Unfortunately. On the other
hand, those within it's ranks should
fearlessly analyZe the criticisms di-
rected against it and ruthlessly elm
mate from the practices of it's organ
ization those things which justify
such criticism and attack. This is
the path, not only of right, but of
, wisdom and safety. Public opinion
in the United States is daily becom :
ing more alert and more intelligent
and more forceful; and no organiza-
ton, whether industrial or non-in-
dustrial, can endure or permanently
amount to a social force if it does not
harmonic with wise and enlighten-
ed public opinion. Hitherto we Am
ericanns have been over-occupied
with material things, and have neg
J lected to watch the play of the social
forces about us. But now we are
awakening from that Indifference;
= and every form of organization repre-
senting an important economic, politi-
, cal, or social force must undergo a
closer scrutiny than ever before
Important Era.
, I think that the next quarter of a
century will be important politically
in many ways; and in none more sc
) than in the labor movemet.. Not only
, the the benefits of labor organizations
: more clearly understood than ever
3 before, but any shortening or vice
| displayed in connection Herewith is
! also more clearly understood and
, more quickly resented. The public is
) growing more and more to under
stand that, in a contest between EN-.
ployer and employee corporation
) and trades union-not only the in
) terests of the contestants, but the in
terests Of the third party the-puliC
5 must be considered Anything like
( levity in provoking a strike, on the
: one hand or on the other, is certain
more and more to be resented by the
public. Strikes are sometimes nee
, essary and proper; sometimes they
f represent the only way in which
l after all other methods have beer
exhausted, it is possible for the labor
r ing man to stand for his rights; but