The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1912-02-10
THE COMING ASHORE OF ANDREW FURUSETH
By JOHN l.. MATTHEW'S.


eve condense and quote here some
extracts from d very remarkable ar
! ticle which lately appeared in Every
! body's Magazine under the above
title. Ed
For the seamen OF the world the
! most important event of the nine
| teenth century was the Coming Ashore
| of Andrew Furuseth.
| Sent to sea as young boy in a
! Norwegian deep-sea square-rigger.
! Furuseth learned with brave genera
ton the whole story of seamanship.
| From apprentice to ordinary, from
f! ordinary to able bodied seaman, he
| the ability to obey orders, to fight for
/ the life of his ship far out on the top
sailyards in a heavy sea, to think and
| act for himself quickly in crisis. He
was able-bodied in every sense-stal-
Wart, quare-shouldered, powerful,
| quick-witted, and above all, intelli-
| gent. He was tower of strength in
a crew, man to be desired by any
| captain. Another so equipped would
! have advanced rapidly to be second
| mate, mate and then master, as other
| Norwegian seamen have done; and,
| as captain, Furuseth might have
| been like other masters, a man-driver
Of the deep-sea trade But he was
( too big for command. He was too
alive with instructive democracy to
assume a masters position. His mind
| was as active with the life of the sea-
men as his hands were with the life
! of the ship. From his earliest days
aboard he learned, one by one, the
I hard lessons Of the law.
Seaman is Slave.
He learned that seaman was a
slave, signing, before he could go
! aboard, an unalterable contract for
Involuntary servitude; that thereafter
he was property Of his ship, to be
bought and sold with it until his con-
! tract EXPIRED; that he was not re-
sponsible before the law nor a valid
! witness even in his own defense, but
, was classed with idiots, minors, and
=! imbeciles as a ward Of the court.
Having signed, if he refused to go
aboard he could be placed on the ship
forcibly by the police and compelled
to work. If brutal treatment, rotten
food, the unseawIorthiness of the ship,
and the certainly that no appeal to
the law could secure him Justice
| if all these things made him desper-
, ate and he left his ship-eVen safely
moored in port--he could be pursued
and thrown into Jail under an act
I adopted with, and similar to, the
| ioht
century. II The captain suspected thai
he Intended to leave, he could call the
police and have the seaman taken
from the ship to Jail and held there
| without even the right to a writ Of
habeas corpus.
Trouble in Beginning.
How to begin-that was the ques-
ton Furuseth came ashore at the
close Of great Chicago strike, at q
time when unionism was growing up
when labor was filled with signi.
| ficant unrest, when "Organize' and
fight it out were the slogans of the
primitive groups from the Atlantic to
the Pacific. Though he was fighting
for seamen he was imbued with 4
broader democracy, and the whole
struggle OF workingmen soon appealed
to him. The fever of organization
caught him with the others. He ad-
vised method of adapting to the
men of the Pacific Coast, brought
them together, organized them ane
began his conflict
The Union itself was entirely novel
1t was absolutely a democracy. Presi'
dent and janitor Jared alike, draw.
ing a seaman's pay, eating a seaman.
rations, using a seaman's sleeping
! place-everywhere there was equality
In the meager insufficiency of thu
| forecastle. All the seamen who Joined
the Union were given cards that coult
be presented wherever there was ar
officer to recognize them. No matter
in what coast-port they landed, the,
| were members there-an idea tina
has become International and will
soon be worldwide.
After His First Success.
After his first success Furuseth'!
awakening came soon, for the sea
mans graft was too far-reaching ii
San Francisco to be thus rudel!
attacked with impunity. He was sum
moned to police headquarters, and on
Of those Acknowledgment plots il
which a corrupt police force become
adept was outlined to him in detail
Charges were ready to be preferre'
against him, witnesses were read.
to testify, and they would not onl,
! blacken his character but consign hin
to Jail for long term.
You shut up and stay Shut the
said, "or Well put you so deep in jai
you will never come to light again.
Furuseth's compelling eyes neve
, wavered. Very we'll, gentlemen" h
, said, put me then in Jail. You can
not give me narrower quarters tina
as seaman 1 have always had b
law; you can not give me coaser foo
than l have always eaten; you ca
not make me lonier than I have al
\ ! ways BEEN"
y Law is Against Sailors.
! Perhaps the police We're convince
: that he uttered only the naked trut
I and that they could not stop him b
brutality. At any rate, the talk, 9
rNNNSp