The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1911-03-17
OPEN SHOP
TALK RIFE
A Few Otis Worshipers
Would Kill the Goose
That Lays the Golden
Egg-Business Suicide
Would Be the Result

1t is usual at this time of year to
hear more or less "open shop" rumors.
1t is the dull season of the year when
more or less men are idle and belliger-
ent talk from would-be union busters
is as inevitable as taxes. This spring
the mutterings of the U. BIS are more
volumnous than usual, and are causing
Il little apprehension and much specula
general slackness in business that pre-
walls in all coast cities or whether the
union smashing tactics of the Otis camp
followers is spreading its poison in this
particular section of the Northwest, we
are not ready to say. Anyhow, the
symptoms are more pronounced this
spring than ever before. Everett is
burdened with a few individuals who
would grind the trade unions into the
dust were it within their power and these
same men are undoubtedly busy in their
own nasty way trying to convince the
business and. manufacturing interests
that if they would all tie up together
and put the unions out of business, Ev-
erett would be an ideal town to live in.
The rallying cry of these Otis camp fol-
lowers is always "the open shop; ''the
right of individual contract" protec.
tion for the free and Independent work
men, These are pretty phrases and
catch the attention of the unthinking.
This open shop" crowd is always to be
reckoned with, but we have not much
fear of their being able to enlist enough
support in this city to precipitate a
labor crisis. We believe the majority of
the business men of Everett have too
much business sagacity to lend them
selves to any such attack upon union
labor. Everett has been for years one
of the most strongly organized cities on
the coast. Good wages and short work
days are the rule in most trades and
these conditions have attracted a super
ior class of workmen, both in their
qualities of craftsmanship and citizen
ship. Everett has prospered meanwhile
and has gone ahead faster than most
cities. One will travel many miles to
find a city the equal of Everett that
has been in existence but one decade
Establish your open shop" conditions;
wipe out the unions tomorrow; what
follows? The right of individual con,
tract" And what is that but the right
of the employer of labor to determine
hours of labor and rate of pay. The
fierce competition of business and indus
try drives the manufacturer every
where to lessen the cost of production
and he cuts always along the line of
least resistance. A business depression
is instantly followed by slash in wages
unless the workmen are so organized
to successfully resist reduction Low
wages means curtailment of the living
expenses of the wage workers. Luxur-
les vanish from his home, the outlay
reduced to the minimum upon which he
and his family can subsist. Where,
then, goes the prospect of the merchant
who prospers most when wages are high,
the workers well fed and well clothed?
We don't believe the average business
man cares to help nail up the boards
in his store front and that is why we
are not ready to be scared into panic
by open shop talk. We are going to
keep our powder dry, however.