The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1911-02-24
CLOSE Up RANKS.
Lab0r'S Forces Must SoIdify to
Maintain Their Rights.
THE FATE OF THE INDIAN.

illustrates the Peril That Confronts
the Observation-Disclosures Effort
Futile Against an Organized and
Active Foe.
A labor orator could make a telling
address by pointing to the downfall of
the Indians of North America. There
was never time when the lesson
which the Indians teach was more
necessary THAI it is today Four hun
bred years ago there was not a white
man living in America. The Indians
were the owners and masters of the
whole continent. Today all who re
main of the great tribes are penned up
in narrow strips of land in the western
states without power, influence or the
right of self government
The Indians had America and lost it.
Why? Because they were not intelli-
gent enough to organize a national
fedora ton. There were millions of In
dams They were good fighters. No
white race possessed more courage.
United they could have defeated any
fleet that Europe could have sent
across the ocean. But they could not
agree among themselves. 1t has been
estimated that the Indians spoke over
$500 different languages and five
times as many dialects. This plainly
proves that the motto of the Indians
was, Every tribe for itself"
If the Indians had acted together
they might have held the country at
least for several hundred years longer
and then kept large part of the west
for their own use, just as the MeXicans
today have their own land. But they
were bad unionists If the Algonquins
went on strike against the whites the
Obiibvas became "scabs" and joined
the whites When the Iroquois got
wiser and formed cOnfederacy the
smaller tribes refused to join it and
did their best to break it up because
they We're Jealous of its strength.
Every tribe. even if it had only 500
members, thought it was big enough
to stand alone. The idea of great
irresistible federation of all the tribes
was too big an idea for the narrow
brain of the red man. He was afraid
that if he organized he would lose his
individual liberty AS a result of not
organizing he lost his liberty. his
country and his life as well.
There are thousands of American
workingmen today who have Indian
minds. In fact, they are lower than
Indians, for they do not even join
their own tribes. They imagine that
the rights Of an individual will be re-
spected in a country where even the
strongest organizations have to fight
for fair play Although they are over
worked and underpaid and have fewer
liberties than an Indians pony, they
have been hypnotized into the belief
that an organization would deprive
them of freedom.
There is a higher class of working
men who have organized themselves
into tribes, but who are not yet wise
enough to see the necessity of a ma
tiOnal federation Their little tribal
glory puffs them up to such an ex-
tent that they cannot realize their
weakness when compared with the
might Of organized capital Some of
their leaders would sooner be big toads
in small puddles than small toads in
big puddles, and so they are prevent
ed from taking the only step than can
preserve their rights through the
stormy days that are approaching.
But the most gratifying fact that
American workingmen can consider to
day is the fact that already the great
majority Of the organized workers are
united in the American Federation Of
Labor, which is growing at the rate
Of nearly half a million a year.
Every wageworker. skilled and un-
skilled, should be loyal not only to his
own local union, but to the American
Federation Of Labor, that unites all
and gives to every one of them the
prestige of its strength.
No body Of men ever had as rich.
as cunning. as powerful or as we'll
organized an enemy to oppose as that
which blocks the path Of organized
labor today. It will take all the men
and an the money and all the brains
that labor's forces possess to maintain
the rights that have been won and to
obtain more.