Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1912-08-01
"CARD MEN" VS.
 UNION MEN
Unions Are Responsible and Remedy Is at Hand-Employers Are Co.
 Sufferers.
(By a Union Man }

mark of i.s fUrmer n.anaser, MT. .. ]! B. Smith, that "there are too many card men in Pine Bluff and not enough union men, should furnish Hn abundance Of food for reflection among 'card men" and union men. Unions are, or were, originally or Eanized for the purpose of protecting each and every member alike; to in culcate lessons of justice and good will toward all mankind; tu encour- age the principle and practice of acl,. ciliation and arbitration of difference ss between capital and labor, and to create brotherly feeling among it's own members.
 It is a safe assertion that toGay a very large per cent Gf tfose whH are affiliated with d uniol care no more for a union than does pig for palace aside from the pecunary ben efits they derive from it's power and influenca in prov;d. !: j; osit:ons al wages they could not secure other wise, and it is this class that Mr. Smith referred to as "card mer" and union, but to all unions alike This is deplorable condition, and oL e which time and times changes alone Will improve, though the cause is ap parent to everyone, and the remedy is in the hands of the unions
 Onions, like churches, are one of mans greatest blessings, but they are alike in having members that ace there ;or the prestige it gives them end tbe personal benefits they may derive from such membership. How ever, it is much easier for the unions to prevent the increase of this class which Mir. Smith very properly terms "card men" than for the churches to reduce it's per Gentage of Sunday Oh lstans.
 One of the worst features of union ism and the main one that supports and increases the army of ''card men, Is the laws and rules governing ap- prentices. In years past it was nec- essary that an apprentice should serve his full time -four to five years) in the mechanical department and at actual work before he could gain admission C the union of his trades men, and in most of the large trade centers this is necessary today, but in the smaller cities all that is neces- sary is for a boy to hang around a shop three or four years, going from one shope to the other sweeping floors, running errands, pulling proofs, melting metal, or wiping ma chinery, engines, etc. and carrying water, util the last year or six months of his apprenticeship" when he is given an opportunity to finish up his trade,'' and then if he stands we'll with his foreman, or will "set up a keg" of Budweiser or Schlitz the door of the union is opened to him and he at once becomes ''card man," and from that time on his enl- ployer must pay him the union scale mot that he is a competent machin- ist. carpenter, painter, printer or bar Der, but because he is now a "card man. This statement needs no cor roboration, as it is seen every day. ill z the year.
 Writing on this same subject, but speaking of printers alone, a New York writer ito the Typographical Journal of July issue says:
 Perhaps one of the most impor- tant questions before the membership at the present time is the number o1 non-printers holding cards; the only excuse for holding such is their abil ity to manipulate keyboard. Te admit such a man is not only an in.
 
 injustice to the employer-the one being done out of his legitimate work the other out of his money-to the discredit of the union. The schools preparing the so-called printers would get severe setback if it was known that cards could not be ob X tained by their pupils unless they came up to the standard set by the union. NoM, the Iquestion arises What standard shall we make? There !; can be but one standard, and that is the ability to handle, set and com plete a job by hand Work-a hanC man. A man capable of working { machine successfully, yet not able t( set hand type (setting head does not constitute hand manD is not { compositor; he is only half printer and such a man is not entitled to { card. No use talking about such { printer" going into a scab shop They don't want him, and if he is nc good to the scab employer it is a vol cano 10 a firecracker the union em plOyer has no use for him. It has been our boast for years and our bat tlecry in all strikes of the superiorit. of the union printer over the non union, yet we deliberately hand ou cards to any Tom, Dick and Harr, who comes up with the necessar, where -with-all-io our great shame and discredit. ss The employ CT has one gigantic kick coming hand ing out $5 bills to man who know: no more about the printing business than he does about a flying machine There is more disgruntleness caused I,y these transforming non-printer' than any other cause-in fact, il time, it means disruption.'
 There is more in what MT. Smitl said than he perhaps thought there was at the time, and his words ma! be the means of improving the brant of unionism manufactured in Pin' Bluff' hereafter, for genuine unionisn is the laboring mans only hope of sal = &lai s0..ld oEca 2 m