The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1912-09-20
CAUSE OF LABOR UNREST.
Wages Paid Are Too Small and Worl
Dull and Uninterestnu.


Dull and Uninterestine.
In symposium on the labor ques
ton, contributed to by some of the
foremost statesmen, philanthropists and
preachers of England. Sidney Low had
the following to say:
Labor, speaking broadly, is discon-
tented for two reasons. 1t does not
like its work, and it is not satisfied
with its pay.
Let us face the fact fairly. Most
work, especially that done by the toll
ing mutitudes of men and women. is
arduous and unintpresting II not actu-
ally disagreeable. How many people
door can really enjoy their work.
The vast majority of those who con-
stitute the rank and file of the army
of labor not workin"mpn in the tech
meal sense alone uut clerks. male and
female shop assistants and others per
form dull or wrnriSoIne duties because
they must. rhrrr Is no other reason
Do you suppose that man likes shOv-
cling muck INTO II cart all day: That
young woman takes pleasure in
drumming at the keys Of IL typewrit-
err from 8 in the morning to q in the
evening?
And the mischief of ii is that very
often the individual engaged in these
dull tasks is educated and does think
The temper of labor. as MIR. Wells
rightly says, has changed. We have
given the workman an education
which Is not much inferior to that of
his 'betters" We complete 1t when
he leaves school by the cheap press.
the theater. the free lecture. the pub
lie library, the franchise In the old
ical as well as a clearly marked intel
lectual distinction between master"
and man." between the so called
brain worker and the day laborer. The
gentleman" was taller. straighter,
fairer than the artisan. He washed
thrice daily. and the other did not
wash at all He spoke in a different
dialect and had finer manners.
Today the workman has his bath
room and cultivates personal hygiene
He has read books and dealt with
ideas. Not long since l foregathered
with a porter at London terminus,
and we discussed the late railway
strikes He looked like particularly
athletic, well set up, clean living young
university graduate. He talked OF
Marx and Ruskin and told me the
strikes were only the tendency of evo-
luton and the resultant of social
forces acting in the industrial sphere.
But this, you may say, is an exception.
al man. who will rise. doubt it
In the past there were two mighty
influences to keep workingmen 'in
their places" which we may call
faith and fear. They believed that
their "betters" had natural right to
superior ease and wealth in virtue Of
the real superiority conferred by birth.
education and character Even II the
poor man resented this inequality 1t
was useless for him to struggle against
the divine ordering of things. He sub
mitted. partly because ne tnougnt ne
ought, partly because he knew he
must Both sentiments are weaken
ing. The workingman no longer rec.
ognizes a superiority in the employ
ing. propertied and administrative
classes commensurate to their opportu-
mites and emoluments. Parliament
and collective bargaining have given
him new weapons II we are to deal
effectually with the unrest Of labor we
must take account Of these ideas, be
they right or wrong.