New Britain herald., 1914-06-03
Gompers to the Teachers.
 (Boston Herald.)

(Boston Herald.)
 From mass meeting held in Cleveland on Sunday afternoon, ad- dressed by Samuel Gompers. presi- dent of the American Federation of Labor, starts a movement which is expected to crystalline into affil- iated union of all the public school teachers of Ohio. The immediate ob- ject is to bring support to the union ized teachers of Cleveland in their contest against the municipal board of education, who are trying to pre- vent the transferring to the union of such authority as they now have over the teachers.
 MT. Gompers in characteristic speech, which evoked the applause Of an audience of 5000. likened the Cleveland school teachers to the col cnists of 1776, and the board of edu- cation to the stubborn ministry of King George the Third. He incident ally suggested that whatever doubt there might be of the outcome of the warfare thus inaugurated, there could he none if the women were only possessed of the ballot, as he believed they soon would be.
 Such a unionizing of public em- ployes, and particularly of school teachers. presents some very serious problems. Unionism in private busi- ness, or the so-called "collective bar gaining" has much to commend 1t. Two sides then engage in tug-of- war--capital and labor. or the em- ployers and the employed. The em- ployed are on the lookout"for chances to better their positions: the employ CTS are equally vigilant to see that this does not tend to lessen profits. And the business only continues where the resultant of these forces stands over safe ground.
 Under public authority the contest is entirely one-sided. The unionists can have their own way absolutely. No elective officer is going to en- danger his popularity by trying to 'LIay the game" as would a private employer. whose profits, or perhaps his very continuance in business, de- pended on his not letting his em- ployes carry off too much of the yield of the plant. Wherever public em ployes are organized into a union, any elective officer naturally cringes before them. The taxpayers. chron- ically grumbling over the high cost of living, are usually indifferent to the bearing of official pay-rolls on their breakfast table.
 Public employees may safely trust legislative bodies town meetings and municipal councils. to treat them fairly and generously. We know nothing of the conditions of the school teachers in Cleveland. but we would venture the prediction that ninety-tve per cent. of the other teachers in that state would be glad to get into the service of that city. If this is true, the taxpayers of Cleve- land are doing their duty by this group of municipal employees.
 The question of discipline is also related. The effectiveness of our pub lie school system Is in many places already sapped by the inefficiency all lowed to persist in the teaching force. Of the 10000 public school teachers in New York city, for eX- ample. not single one has been dropped for inetficiency in ten years. The mere statement of case af- lords sufficient evidence of it's ab- surdity. No business establishment on earth can run without the accumu- lation of a certain number of incom-
 
 would want to eat at a hotel, or res taurant, which was so tied up that it could never discharge a cook or waiter for inefficiency. And yet, once a teacher always a teacher, is the rule of New York-except where some offense has been committed for which one could be courtmartialed.
 No farmer could run his farm in that way No householder would en- gage domestic servant on that basis. No livery stable keeper could do business with hostlers. no bank with tellers, no railroad with engin- eers. on these terms. And yet the training of the youthful mind would seem to require as much sustained efficiency as any of these other vo- cations. The time will surely. come when this question must be ap- preached with vigor and decisiveness. The outcome of the contest in Cleve- land may well be awaited with inter