St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1913-04-02

The meeting neld IN neu MICH
hall last Wednesday evening was
part of a general movement to get
the workingmen of st. Johnsbury
tor organize into unions. The cam
paign is being conducted by outside
representatives of the American
Federation OF Labor and by local
workmen already organized into a
union. A good presentation of
the advances in wages and the i'm
provement of working conditions
accomplished by organized labor
was made by the speakers from the
outside and every citizen who mas
the best interests of his community
at heart must approve of the bene-
fits that have been accomplished.
There was however only one side of
the case presented at the meeting
and some misrepresentation of cap
ital made.
The impression made by most
of the speakers was that capital is
the foe of humanity because 1t re-
fuses labor proper compensation
and that it seeks to pay dividends
on stock that represents only water
at the expense of labor. That these
things are true in some cases must
be admitted and it is regretable
that it is true. But we cannot ad-
nit it is generally true. At the
meeting a particular case was men
toned where the capital stock OF
the corporation had been increased
from S25O,OOO to $2,5OO,O0O in
twenty-five years and the impress
sion was given that this was all
water. We do not know what cor
poration was referred to but we
wonder if this represents only wat
er. Doesn't it represent an in
creased investment in machinery
and the requirement of legitimate
property to be used or held in re-
serve for it's business? If it does,
the increase in capital is proper and
no injustice to anyone. In Vermont
no corporation can increase its cap
ital stock without permission by
the state and we do not believe the
state of Vermont is allowing unlim-
tied watering of stocks.
Glowing pictures were also given
of the increased pay men had re-
ceived in other places as a result of
organization and of the low wages
that are paid in st. Johnsbury.
There may be some men here re-
ceiving no more pay than was men
toned but we have never been able
to find a man who would work at
those rates. Then again we would
like to see how many paupers there
are per thousand population in Wor-
cester, Mass, and compare it with
st. Johnsbury. We would like to
have a canvass of the two places !
made and see in which place there
is the most suffering from extreme
poverty and in which place the
working people are the better
housed.
So far as it seeks to bring about
more exact justice between the en-
plOyer and the employee organized |.
labor is entitled to support. That
it has accomplished some improve
ments must be admitted and that it |
is forced to organize in order to /
deal effectively with the combina-
tions of capital is evident. Still there |
are those who do not wish to join /
its ranks because they do not ap-
prove of some of its methods. But |
there is a way in which organized /
labor could be greatly increased |
and that is by guaranteeing the .
most reliable and efficient labor to
be had. The great demand of the
day is for reliable labor, honest Ia
Dor. and responsible labor, and the
organization that Will furnish it will .
flourish. We believe there is less
under paid labor in this country to-
day than there is of irresponsible
labor, that there are more laborers
doing only what they are obliged to
do than there are doing the best
they can. So long as this is true We
must have low wages because the
value of such labor is low
Labor has not always been given
justice but ii should be. The en-
ployer is not always rendered hon
est service but he should be. Every