The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1914-09-05
the one las ~. right to Cypress the

other y D7.s. ~ ! -
: Another testimony to the education
al effort of trade unions comes: to us
from a. Pennsylvania writer. He says:
You would be surprised to note the
effect ST the eight hour day upon the
coal miners! ov,E1n many places they
are Qfaanizing;a libraries, taking a
greater. interest in public questions,
and their family life has been i'm
proved and sweetened." :,
ORGANIZATION gives workin ;men a
feeling ofhresponsib ility out vf which
a: higher morality, and intelli sence ma
turally Develops, The frenzied, fanat-
ical Social reformer"' may persuade. a
>rabble. to applaud his unworkab1e
propositions, but IAN audience sof ex-
perienced unionists, if it gave him
hearing at all, would listen in incredu-
lous. silence. In 1929 the unions in
New York strongly, repudiated the
free love and communism advocated
. oy the enthusiasts of that time.s :.
The trade unionists believes in evo-
luton, not revolution. He knows that
the only way to hasten the "happy
time a-coming7 is by education and
organization-by slow: STEADY, perse-
. vering work. He, cannot 4be deceived
by the delusion that a new social sys-
tenn can be built up in a night like
Aladdin's palace, by some political
presto change" hocus-pocus. He has
found out how hard it is to teach
thousands of wage-workers the easy
A, B, c, of unionism.
1t must be rem embered that the la
Dor movement has constantly flutter-
Ing around it swarm of cranks of all
sorts-good, bad and Indifferent. They
hover about like gulls around a
steamer, some being really anxious
and able to give assistance; but most
OF them having no other. object than
to pick up crumbs. Every inventor
of new social system runs with it
to the trade unions and loudly de-
nounces their. ''stupidity':, If. they do
not at once abandon their ideas and.
ADOPT his. Every young visionary or
mlnister-out-of-a-jo who has read
two or three economic pamphlets and
knows nothing at all of. the history
and development of the labor move
ment, invariably offers his services"
to the trade unions. If his offer is
accepted,"in nine cases out Of ten he
becomes the propaganda of SOME
small, one-idea reform, generally i'm
practicable, and makes tangle which
orten requires years to 7unravel. If
his offer is refused: then he is very
strenuous in pointing ou. how slow
and ineffective is the work of the
"mere trade unions" = =
r The work done by Unions in cool
ing hot heads and repressing e extreni-
ISIS has never been fully recognized.=
The professor, writing upon Industrial
questions in his quiet study, knows
nothing: Whatever of the ander-cur-
rents, ,swirling, eildfes 9tndxssan dbaatnkss
which lie in the course,4ak the trade
vgn1on secretary: The 4attas has: to
men and women, iaot III tie abstract,
but:face to- face: He snf.f6t take people
as ne finds them, sasnd sdea4sW EN-
IN a. way -toa strengthen. the union
winch has elected him to protect it's
The term Social engineer vas in
vented by Josiah Strong to descr1be
his own work in the Social Service
League" but. it could be applied much
more appropriately to the presidents
and secretaries of the great trade
unions which: number hundreds of
thousands of members. The work
they do Is not the preparation of a
self praising annual report or the con-
aversion Of benevolent 1nillionaires it
is not play-work; but the real work of
.W0rlS-fhot 1f
structing and elevating the armies of
workers upon whom civilization de-
pendst for IT'S permanence: 1t is the
largest and highest sort of: educatio1=
al work-the preparation Of ourselves,
and, our institutions for a new and
more equitable. social order, in which
the two pernicious extremes Of power
ty and monopoly will be ais; far as DOS
sible outgrown. g.: +. ~ ~.
|, Civilization in America has been
high or low in proportion to the esti-'
mate set upon labor: It has been
highest where wages were highest
and hours of labor the fewest. The
lowest mark :of '.social DEVELOPMENT
has been, and is today, in those South
ern States that suffered from the
twin curses of arist0cracy and slav-
cry. The barbarism of some: of these
States has been :untMt very recently
almost incredible The "amusements"'
Of the planters were cock-fights,
drinking bouts and family feuds, in
which gouging, biting off ears, shoot
ing in the back, and .unmentionable
mutilations were regarded as fair and
honorable <:
: These atrocities, and the inexcus-
able illiteracy of these States, sprang,
inevitably from the low value placed
upon labor. Such conditions cannot
by changed by colleges, by churches
or by legislation. The only hope for
the South in it's -commendable endeav-
ors to attain the prosperity and gen.
eral high standing of. other parts of
the Union is in q she Thorough orgari-
.zation: of its workers. black and white,
into trade unions. r No matter how
much the old "b1ue blooded" families
may sputter and@ pbotest, organized
self-help Jig the only remedy for
Southern illiteraae ~ stagnation.
; The trade u1,iogris the one practical
nj cans nv, n, hjoI, tho ,,,oee of