The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-06-11

4
of home life the enjoyment of books,
| music and wisely employed leisure.
Legislation making it unlawful for
children of tender years and frail
| pursuits.
Laws providing for the safe
! guard of life and limbs of workers
engaged in dangerous occupations,
and for compensation for injuries sus-
| tanned during the course of employ
| ment.
! s'The progressive Improvement of
the sanitary working and housing con-
| ditions of the wage earnerS, and fin
| ally
1.-THE preservation of the constitu-
tional guarantees of trial by jury, free
| speech and free press
Purposes of the Strike.
There is no one phase of our in
dustrial life so much discussed and
so little understood by the average
citizen as the strike. To understand
the moral Influence of a justifiable
strike it is necessary TO consider the
ideals of the working people; and
to understand the strike itself it is
important that answer be made to
some of the stereotyped criticisms di-
rected against the strike, many of
which are the outgrowth of prejudice
or of unreliable information. 1t is [
often charged that trade unions desire |
strikes because, it is alleged, they |
are organized for that purpose. This, |
however, is not true They are Or |
ganized for the purpose of securing |
better conditions for life and labor
for their mem bers-and usually, when |
unavoidable strike is resorted to |
as a means to that end, but it can |
no more be said that trade unions !
desire strikes because they are
equipped for them, than the United |
States government desires war be- |
cause it has an army and navy. The |
prevalence of strikes, as of all dra-
matte occurrences, is grossly eXagger-
ated Tragic, dramatic or startling |
events are so impressed on the mind |
that we fail to realize that they are
highly exceptional. While we read
daily of the threatened outbreaks of
strikes of the threatened declaration |
of lockouts the average workman en-
gagged in trades in which strikes oc-
cur, loses less than one day in each
year in this manner. A strike lasts,
generally speaking about twenty
three DAYS. but the average employer
peacefully carries on his business for
thirty years without the interruption
of strikes.
Is Little Violence.
There has been disseminated a.
widespread impression that bloodshed
and disorder, riot and lawlessness are
invariable Accomplishments of indus
trial disputes. AS a matter of fact,
the amount of violence actually COM
mitted is greatly magnified. What
ever there is should be visited with
the strong disapprovaI of public opin-
ion. If 1 believed that the success
of the trade union movement depend
ed in any degree upon the commission
of illegal acts I should not hesitate
for a single moment to sever my con-
nections with it. But the justifiable
pra ctices and the splendid principles
of trade unionism should not be as
sailed on account of the occasional
violence or because OF illegal acts
in its name.
1.-The trade union movement is neith-
err revolutionary nor destructive. 1t
seeks not to disrupt society or the in
situations of our country. Its purp ''e
is constructive, its work evolutionary,
and it makes for the perfection of so
equitable distribution of wealth. in or
der that all our people may deve op
to their highest. and best possibilities.
Every man who becomes a member CT
a trade union, subscrlbes substantially I
to the following declarations: ri II
Movement Is Upward.
1--WE are pledged to the emancipation | I
Of our class from poverty, ignorance:
and selfishness; to be respectful IN I
word and action to every woman; to be
to the widow and the or I
ohan. the weak and defenseless and g
never to discriminate against fellow
worker on account of creed, color or I
to defend freedom e Of V
thought whether expressed by tongue S
Or pen; to educate ourselves and our
fellow workers in the history of the Ia
nor movement. We promise that we 1
will never knowingly wrong a broth Il
ar. or see him wronged if it is within e
our power to prevent it. We will en-
1eavor to subordinate every selfish i'm
pulse to the task of elevating the ma
teriaI, intellectual, and moral condi-
lions of the entire laboring class.
There can be no doubt that the trade :
union movement is upward and on
ward, said that great humane philos-
oher Thomas Carlyle. This, that they
,all the organization of labor is the .
vital problem of the day r
Introduced by johnson.
w. A L. johnson, former state LABOR J
introduced Mr.. Mitchell. +
and David Leahy made the address of 9
welcome in the absence of Governor
Stubbs. Mrs. George w. Parkhurst :
sang 1.-The Star Spangled Banner and .
ed the audience in singing America" :
Miss Jean Parkhurst accompanied her :
IN the pipe organ. Mr.. A. G. Sloan, q
president of the local industrial coun- {
Ill, presided and the Rev. Edwin Locke
gave the invocation. @
Mr.. Mitchell was entertained at din
Ter at the executive mansion, and Z
spent the afternoon viewing. the city J
With Mayor Billiard and the city COM
nissioners. He met the business men :
If the city from to at the National
hotel.
Mr. Mitchell was the forerunner to
IN extensive campaign for a further
and development of what
8 known as the Labor Forward
Movement in Topeka Several other
organizers will be brought to the city
O further develop the movement.
The committee in charge of the
Meeting was composed of the follow