The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1913-09-26
The FIRST union.
Religious Significance of Organ
lied Labor.
THE VIEWS or A CLERGYMAN.
Church Should Take the Leadership In
Social Reform-The Trade Unionist's
Pedee-What Workers Have Done
For Temperance.

This is the oldest labor union on
earth, My father and l." The God
whom we worship is not the idle di-
vinity OF some heather faiths. When
he Is first described to US in the Bible
he Is represented as being engaged In
the work Of creation week He preach
es and lives a gospel of work, and
when men came at him for healing on
the Sabbath day he replied in the
words of the text that he was q mem
Der Of labor union which antedated
even the Sabbath day, and one OF the
closing utterances Of his life was, "I
have finished the work thou gavest me
to do"
| will not discuss the objections to
the labor unions there are only three,
these being employers objecting to col
lective bargaining, the Interference OF
the walking delegate and the failure
Of the union to become an Incorporate
ed body so that 1t could be sued at law
for nonperformance of its contracts.
The union Is here, rightly or wrongly.
In the time Of Jesus all workmen,
skilled and unskilled, were slaves. No
working class did exist till Jesus came.
A different spectacle faces us today,
different even from twenty-five years
ago Then a famous French states
man said that the social problem was
a fad upon which serious minded
statesmen should waste no time To
day 1t has assumed proportions which
challenge our attention. This is the
era of common man and embraces
movements among a very large per
centage of the working people Of Ger
many, England, Italy Austria. Austria
lia, Russia, to say nothing of the social
unrest which exists in this country
In great social reforms of the pres
ent day, If the church is true to its
history, it will take the leadership
AS soon as the church gets rid Of the
distinction between sacred and secular
she will try 70 save mems bodies as
we'll as their souls. The claim Is made
that any volume of sermons which you
may pick up has almost nothing to say
about the social question; that men
have to go to the stage instead OF the
pulpit to hear the great problems Of
life, which are so real to them, dis
cussed
Evnr c;pna Toc,1S praao ohod tho doc
trine Of the brotherhood of man we
have believed it theoretically, but 1t IS
no wonder some Of the laboring men
think~the union practices 1t more fully
than the church, and they say, The
union is all the church we want, for
religion. care of body, soul and spirit"
part Of the pledge taken by every
applicant into the American Fedora
ton reads, 81 promise never to discrim-
mate against fellow worker on ac-
count Of creed. color or nationality"
Brotherhood is applied not only racial
ly, but financially. 1t frequently hap
pens that when a member Of a union
who has run into debt desires to skip
the town the rnion will withhold his
travelling card until his debts are paid
The sick and death benefits are no
BILE part Of their work, and very rarely
does n trade unionist apply to federat-
ed charities for aid
No institution, not even the church,
is doing more to Americanize the i'm
migrant than the union. 1t teaches
him that the word government"
which In the old country meant op-
pressor, In this country means ''friend." :"
SO In working for the protection of
women and children it has done much
for the shortening of hours Of labor
and doing away with sweatshops and
insanitary conditions and for abolition
of child labor-ae
There are many who believe that
nothing has done more for the cause
of temperance among workingmen
than organized labor. In many In
stances there is a prohibition clause in
the contract with the employer. The
rules OF the union declare that an. in
jured man viii not receive the weekly
sick benefit If the injury was caused
while the workman was intoxicated.
More and more their meetings are be
ing held in halls which are entirely
free from saloons Samuel GOmpers
pleaded with the men not to meet any
where near saloons. So without any
kid gloves or white ribbons these or
ganizations are discouraging drunken
ness among their fellows because they
know 1t doesn't pay.
The cause of peace has been ad-
vanced by Socialist and labor move
ments. The workingmen Of one coun-
try are, through organized labor, join
ing hands with the workmen of other
countries and are refusing to shoot
their fellows down and are advising
the rulers that if they wish to have
little shooting tournament on their
own account they will sell tickets Of
admission, but will not be the prtnci-
pal stars themselves.
We have seen some of the lessons
that the church can learn from the Ia
Dor union. Thank God, the divorce
between the church and labor is being
made up They are yet going to be
brothers together again.-Rey. Herbert
B. Smith In Knoxville Sentinel.