Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-17
BY LINCOLN sTEFFENs.

|
BY LINCOLN sTEFFENs.
LAWRENCE. Mass March 16-The
men who undertook the settlement of
| this strike fixed their eyes on the con-
ditions which made it possible. And
they demanded, before they would move
that the mill owners should look in
the same direction
I'VE have no interest" they said in
effect; I'VE have no interest in simply
getting your people back to work for
you. We represent society, in sense;
not labor, and not the employers of
| labor. but the broader interest of the
| whole community. If we should settle
the strike, without taking up also the
cause Of the strike, we should not only
leave here the possibility of further
trouble, we should be guilty of treating
symptom and neglecting the source Of
| the disease. And it's the disease that
| hurts society. It's the fact that lot
| of men, women and children cannot. by
| working faithfully and hard, earn d
| good living-thats the evil fact we
| would have you deal with"
This was some three weeks ago. The
| mill owners would not proceed upon that
! basis then. They did not like to make
the confession implied by such an at
| titude that the conditions were bad, and
| that they We're in part responsible for
them. The answer to this was that
they knew, and they knew that the nego-
| tlators knew, that the conditions were
1nsupportable. And they were. you
understand. Some families got as low
| as $3.50 week; many got more. But
hardly any of the workers got what
| they got six days a week and fifty-two
weeks year. 1t has been pointed out
by the mill men both here and at Fall
River that these workers. low paid as
| they were. had savings bank accounts
which totaled high figures. And that's
| true. And Miss Tarbell, in her tariff
articles. explained that it was a re-
| markable example Of the providence and
| thrift of these textile workers that, on
| the small pay they got they had learned
from necessity to save a little each
week.
! And the necessity was that there were
often weeks and sonnet mes whole seasons
when there was no work for them in the
mills.
I'VE can't help that" the mill owners
answer; very truly;
No said strike leader. to whom /
submitted lhee this truth. NO. they can't
faQ that these workers have to live seven
days a week and fifty-two weeks a year.
They ought to be paid by the year. Cap
ital is. The bond and stock holders are
terest and dividends regularly and al
| ways. Why should not menu
But we need not dispute the question
Of conditions. The negotiators know
mill owners knew that they were bad
That was the basis upon which the
negotiators resumed their negotiations.
= I. W. W. Strike Different
They waited week or ten days-long
enough for the mill men to learn some
of the differences between an ordinary
strike and an /. W. W. strike. In an
binary strike, the labor leaders, like the
employers, are eager to settle. They
may bluff; both sides may pretend to be
Indifferent, but usually everybody wants
to end the fight, and it comes down to
mere question Of terms. In an l. w. w.
strike the labor leaders are intent upon
spreading revolutionary doctrines and in
stirring up in the workers a feeling that
the employers will not, and indeed can
not, economically be fair. The larger
the fight, therefore, the better for the
propaganda; and the harder the fighting
man arrested, every woman dubbed by
policeman, every boy or girl that Is
hustled by q militiaman, Is embittered
and made ripe for the doctrine OF force:
And, If a crowd is charged by a squad of
soldiers, there are just so many people
who will listen to the lesson that "capi-
tai gets the state to use violence; so must
we use-direct action"
The mill men Of Lawrence got this, not
only by observation. but In the reports
Of their spies, who said that the I. w. w.
leaders wanted the strike to go on; wei
coined with grim satisfaction the trial or
the popular Ettor and the mistaken In
reference with the shipment OF children.
THE bosses don't respect the law they
taught, except when 1t works their way.
They ignore 1t. fiaunt 1t, abuse it, when
II goes against them. So must we."
Almost every move the mill men made
was grist to the I. w. w. leaders mill.
It may be remembered, for example, that
l pointed out that, besides the doctrine of
revolution the I. w. w. Is aiming at
Grafton of Labor. I wish William J.
Burns and the Erectors' Association, who
are bent upon the same task-to discredlt
Gompers and his gang-I wish they could
hear the I. w. w. men laugh over their
efforts.
men say.
And SO it was at Lawrence.
The mill men had always fought the
the A. F. of L. And the mill men had
won in the long run-not so completely
as the steel companies; they didn't nave
absolutely open shops; but they had Inn
ltted the organization of their labor to
the workers in the higher paid. skilled
trades. That is the result all over the
country of the anti-labor-union fighting
by business men. They have had to let
the printers organize, and the locomotive
engineers, and-all the skilled trades.
And these organized trades have estab-
lished very generally the principle of col
|Iectiye bargaining and so achieved pretty
good wages for themselves.
Low Trades Not Organized.
But the lower trades and the great
mass of unskilled workers have not been
able to organize against the opposition Of
their employers and their wages (there-
fore, they think) are low. They see this;
they are taught to see 1t; they are the
open opportunity Of the radicals In the
labor movement. who call the printers,
the hatters, the engineers and firemen
and all the other highly organized trades
1.-The aristocrats." There's line there
which is something like class line and
feelings which are rich ground for the
l. w. w. And the l. w. w. leaders are
appealing to 1T. They are searching all
the industries for the unorganized mass
of workers. who, very numerous, Of
course, are neglected, or. at any rate, not
organized by the A. F. Of L., and, as at
Lawrence, when they find them under
paid, discontinued and friendless the I.
W. W. sends in its organizers and starts
something
This is going on in the steel industry
now. This is one Of the reasons why the
cool workers., Orpa pfzatinn which is