Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1913-12-04
HUMAN Is. PROPERTY RIGHTS

: HUMAN vs.. PRoPERTYs RIGHTS
Seattle, Wash. Nov. ~ Secretary
of Labor William B. Wilson addressed
the American Fee GRAFTON of Labor Con
vention on November H. He discuss
ed the situation in Michigan with re
gard to the strike Of the Copper Min
sfs, and declared that lie would make
public not only the wages paid to the
Miners, the hours they worked and
the labor conditions, but the enormou-
profits of the Mine Owners. Centin
uing. he said: The Department OF
Labor as now organized and directe,
will be utilized to cooperate with the
great trade union movement in its eff
fort to elevate the standard of human
society One Of the general duties i'm
posed on the Department is that o.,
promoting the welfare of wage work.
ers. The one great specific duty i'm
posed on the department is to act as
mediator and to appoint commission
ers of concilation in trade disputes
There can be no meditation, there can
be no Cancellation between employers
and employees that does not presup-
pose collective bargaining and there
cannot be lective bargaining that does
not presuppose trade unionism.'' IL
speaking of the situation at Calumet,
Mich, the Secretary said it had here
tofore been the custom to investigate
wages. This time he said it had been
determined to go step further and il
vestigate the earnings of the corpora
tons involved. ''And, the little bit
confidence that am going to give to
you is an advance statement of one O
the items in that situation-that the
largest corporation in the production
of Copper in the Michigan District was
organized in 1870. that the face value
of-its capital stock is $2,500,000 The
shares are $25 each. They were pur
chased at $12 each, so that the actual
investment is $1,250,000 From that
time until one year ago, the last fisca.
report that we had, period of forty
two years, that corporation declared
in dividends 1921, 100000, and made
reinvestments out of its earnings OF
SIS, 000,00 Nearly $500, 900, 900 OF
actual net profits in period of forty
two years on an investment of 81 $780,
900! And then the corporation not
only protests against meeting com
mittees of their workmen, but refuses
to accept the good offices of the De
partment Of Labor in negotiating the
difficulty. They say their property is
their own; that they have the right
to do with it as they please. Maybe
they have, but those who take that po-
sition have a false conception of the
titles to property Law has created
those titles" he continued, mot pri
ori1u 70 nf hn III
whom it conveys it. but for the wei
fare o the community. If any indi
vidual or corporation takes the ground
that the property is his own, that he
has the right to do with it as he
pleases, and fails to take into consid
Grafton the fact that the title has only
been conveyed to him as a trustee, for
the welfare of society, then he is crea-
ting condition that Gill cause society
to modify or change these titles to pro-
perty. as it has perfect right to do
whenever in it's judgment it deems it
for the welfare of society to do So
Mr.. Wilson condemned the sending OF
strike-breakers by private employ
ment agencies, and said he wished to
see organized bureau of information,
handled like the weather bureau, that
would gather information as to where
men could find employment, and give
all the details. these to be posted in
postofices and other public places
Then" he continued, when a man
comes into a community for the pur-
pose of taking the places of strikers,
he does so with his eyes open. In the
recent street car trouble at Indianapo
lis we offered our good offices before
the STRIFE began" he said, land had
a storm of abuse heaped on US by mem
bers Of the Manufactures Association
on the ground we were giving en-
couragement to trades unionism by
sending our representative in there
Notwithstanding that storm of abuse
the representative went in there, AM
when the strike occurred it was ultl
mately adjusted. We sent represen
tative out to the Colorado coal mine
strike. We got into that strike situa-
ton or into that trade dispute situa-
ton before the strike had occurred, but
we have thus far failed to secure an
adjustment of the difficulty We are
not through with it yet by any means
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