Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1913-12-23
BARNES ISSUES
A STATEMENT
State Manager Of the Employ
ers Association on Methods
of Organized Labor
ARGUES FOR OPEN SHOP
Says Closed Shop Methods
Reduced Number Of Wage
Farmers in San Francisco

SEATTLE. Dec. 22-The Employ
ers' Association of the State of Wash
ington yesterday issued the following
statement of it's position on the open
shop question. The statement is
signed by ]. E. Barnes, state manager
of the association:
"This declaration simply means that
the Employers Association of the
state of Washington is declaring for
the open shop; that the great diff
ference between the employer and
organized labor is the simple right to
employ or discharge whomsoever the
employer feels is competent to per-
form the duties assigned to him.
"The allegation has been made that
the Employers Association had given
out word that they intended to crush
union labor in this city. That is true
to the extent that we will endeavor to
have the principles of the association
carried out in our institutions. We
feel that the boycott is unconstitution-
al and un-American, but at this time
the courts of our state have not seen
fit to see this in the same light, and
the citizens of Seattle have seen the
spectacle of the bedecked and berib-
boned picket walking in front of le-
gitimate places of business in the en-
deavor to take away the business OF
those institutions before which they
are parading.
I'VE read of the campaign being
carried on by organized labor to buy
home products and at the same time
in this city they are carrying on a
boycott against the Frye Company.
which employs 500 men, and pays a.
high, if not higher, wages than any
other like institution in the world.
"Three thousand men and women
are employed in the laundries in this
city, and they are receiving as high
wages as in any laundries in the
country, yet they are being picketed
and union labor is endeavOring to
have their work sent out of the CITY,
mo fairminded man will fail to see
the hand of organized labor in the
Duwamish franchise fight. The EN-
ployers' Association has never gone
into print before, but now feels that
the general public should hear ita
side of the question. The Ballard
shingle strike was carried on by the
Employers Association. The strike.
like the teamsters' was for closed
shop. Had the shingle weavers won
the Ballard strike their next step
would have been to ask that nothing
but union made machinery be used III
the mills that no logs except those
bearing the union stamp would ulti-
mately be accepted in the mills
in other words, the word has gone
out that Seattle must be unionized;
employers of labor in Seattle must ask
the Labor Temple whom they may en-
ploy and what they should pay them.
Stewards must be placed in every in
stitution who will pass upon the fit
ness of the men to be employed.
Statistics Of Labor Market.
"San Francisco, in period of five
years, lost 1862 per cent. of it's wage
earners in manufacturing plants. In
the same period Seattle gained 77.3
per cent; Los Angeles gained &C.,
and still our institutions pay as high
wages as do those of San Francisco,
but we have efficiency in our plants
The Union Iron Workers was forced
to close in San Francisco, but the Sc
attic Construction and Dry Dock Com
pany added to it's force and pays the
highest wages of any ship yard In
the world. Our manufacturing insti-
tutions did not grow under the closed
shop rule, but are thriving under open
shop. Our workers in the woods re-
ceive an average of $3.11 per day, the
best wages for common labor in the
world Still the unions seek to cause
unrest among those men, and at
time when we are competing with the
South, which pays an average wage OF
81. go, and is manufacturing as much
lumber as we are.
There is more Of this story and 1t
will follow, so the Employers Asso-
citation of Washington will bend every
effort it can to keep the primary trans
portation in this city out Of the hands
Of union labor, and back Of this as
sociation stand the best business men
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