The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1912-08-16

Trade Unions ReSt upon Education
and Are a Potent Social Force--They
Have Ended Wrongs and Establish
ed the Rights of Man.
They have lifted up the weak and
set limits to the power Of the strong
They have shortened the workday,
heightened life and multiplied it's en-
joyments, writes Guy E. Miller in the
Miners Magazine.
The Unions have given labor voice
They formerly had no language but a
groan. Their members sometimes stop
making dividends to write page Of
history that can never die.
They have taken children from the
mine and factory and given them to
the school and to life
They have enabled men to get s.
where they got but one before
They have been the advance guards
of progress, the heralds Of democracy
in industry.
The unions have not simply taught
brotherhood; they have practircd it
Their demands pave the way for the
legislator.
They have ended wrongs for which
there was no other remedy They
have established rights which had no
existence prior to their coming
The unions are tireleSS engines beat,
ing against the walls of privilege, send
ing out the call of a new civilization
founded in Justice and illuminated by
brotherhood
The unions mean the mas terry of man
over the institutions that enthral him.
his control of the machine his skill
has evolved, his enjoyment Of the
wealth his industry produces
The union means the conscious di-
rection of industry for the benefit of
the worker. 1t means the elimination
of the drone and the despot
The union rests upon education and
is expressed in organization Its mem
bership is deeply versed in q lore that
antedates all libraries, the lore of the
pick, the hammer and the loom. They
are graduates of the university of toll
whose teachings transcend that of all
other schools, upon which all other
knowledge rests, by which all the
world lives. They are climbing from
the dungeon of the toier to the heights
of the thinker
Once we esteemed but little the skill
of hands grown deft in satisfying hui
man wants and thought much of the
lore of books and the wisdom of the
books. We looked to the legislator for
the solution of our problems We over
rated a power that we did not possess
and underestimate and neglected to
use power that we did possess
The years have taught us a juster
estimate of the worth Of mems labors
and the use of social forces. We know
full well the Importance of books and
schools and Of the lessons learned
therein. But the workshop has taught
lessons Mt least as valuable to human
veal. and no false theory has ever
withStOOd its crucial tests We do not
seek to augment our own worth and
importance by belittling the functions
,.,.,;..i,.., 49,, ;,
~. .',.,I,aa.,,,a. .1t ,t .'..',,, wa
r $500. ,.. tD,'' 'Ir','1'
' r"0 90, 49, -,-e,' '"''"o'
,,,, .,,iIl 'e'', ,,o'.
'lil'3 VS.. ',''.t' - '','y ''.'''','i
-, "a" ''ie ,-7,9'''''' anu J""-e'
VI. ''''-' t,i'
'ii''' w ~
,, ,i'0' ,'9 Ulo" '''o '''''0'' men
"'', ''oi' - - vat
'",'' o,'''o''''i7 'uC PUN ~ "'-"e'
So. '''' 97''''''--'''7 H'"'
ni'''' ny" - W ''/'''- '"' ne"
q" az" '''.''i' ln'' |'''I"S lHeS'
:" W ~ IN, 'l''''' ~ '"''' ,,''. '''e"'
~ ~ y, '''''.,..' u reg
"-''i~V' ~ t,' ''7 '9''','' "'''' '''' sen
''-'''' IVA "' 'N ',~'" !"
"' nm anu 'I'V' ''''' '''''''' ''N II"
a. IN 4