Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1912-05-16

T. w W. could not succeed IL is DuL upon "Aon5
theory the theory that the watch maker will agree to SIT
in hall and allow his wages and conditions to be made
by majority vote of bod carriers They nave mixed
class consciousness with trade consciousness and they
have cot the mixture Of oil and water The most class
conscious skilled mechanic will refuse to submit to the
will Of majority Of unskilled workers. He feels that
way because he is human And whether he ought to feel
that way not, he does, and 1t is cOndluoh hot
theory, that confronts industrallsts
That condition was the iceberg upon Which the old
knights Of Labor struck and sunk And the knights OF
Labor was ten thousandfod more powerful than the
W. w in even its first bright flush, and its first mo
ment was it's best; it has been dying ever SINCE
Industrialism will win but it will be the industrial
ism Of federation the ndustralism that is winning
within the American Federation Of Labor In that body
which numbers nearly two million now, industrial oil
visions gradually being forced that bring together
fighting alliances all the craft unions OF industry lnu
we have mining department comprising the United
Mine Workers. which is in itself the greatest industrial
union in the world including in its field all the men OF
all the crafts that work about the coal Mines now uniting
with the Western Federation Of Miners, an industrial
union which protects all the workers OF the metal MINES
no matter what their particular trades may be- Thus we
have the Building Trades Section binding togetnef al
the crafts that work in building constructions the Metal
Trades Section the Label Trades Department. ana SO on
And the system Federatons, which take m all the craft
unions of the shops OF certain railroad system ana nov
assembling in Federation of declarations winch Will take
in all the Federations of the railroad systems.
Under the craft union system, which the impossible
lists gbly prove mpracticabe men OF an crats ave
banded themselves together IN all the cities into Cly
Federatons and in all the states into State Federatons
and have made much impress upon the supposed ada
mant walls Of capitalism They have bettered their con
dtions by reducing their hours and increasing their COM
pensation and though they have not succeeded IN over
coming the wage reduction that practically comes with
an increase the cost Of living that increase would nave
come anyway and their wage reduction would have been
greater And they have at least been able to use their
increased wages to buy literature which ducates them
and their increased leisure to study that literature
In this study lies the only hope OF the working Glass;
The workers grow more powerful in exact proportion as
they grow intelligent The capitalist powers wEuld
not relish any thing quite much violent rebellion
on the part Of uniformed unntelgent workers, who
knew not what they wanted, nor how to get IT. such
by their ignorance for they would set their blind
strength against the openeyed strength of capitalism
the courts, the law, and the military.
| Intelligent workers who able to organize IN
bodies which will not be cumbersome and chaotic with
the conflicting interests Of their members but are com
pact and wey because they comprise only those whose
interests are mutual Thus they able to solve prob
lens which belong to their craft alone and with these
problems solved they able to help in solving the prob
lens of their less fortunate fellow workers. Unions such
as these form companies and regiments in the only army
Of Labor that can win the battles Of Labor the econ
omic field.
| THERE is ALWAYS last Of everything. No mat
how had THING NAV he and no matter how dead