United labor bulletin., 1914-09-26
industrial Unrest Analysed
No Ready-Made Cure for 1t

the state of Washington early in the
spring of 1915, where acres and acres
OF virgin soil await you.
Last November on my way to the
American Federation OF Labor I passed
through the great state of Washington
and looked eagerly for the acres and
acres of virgin soil awaiting the poor,
deluded immigrant. l saw, yes, much
virgin soil in the state of Washington,
but it was dotted with stumps. They
had taken off the lumber, the stumps
were there The virgin soil was there,
vet. but it was dotted with stumps.
Now when the immigrant gets there
and sees that. do you blame him if he
is little restless! l don't.
Stop Persecution.
What can you do for laborg Take
lis out from underr the restriction now
resting upon us by false application
of the Sherman antitrust act and let
us carry out our natural activities, sub
| ject only to the law OF the land, and
we will work out our own destiny. We
ask no favors from the law-making
| forces All we ask is a right to carry
| forward our natural activities, always
amenable to the law. We respect the
law-the written law of the land. We
rebel against Judge made law and gov
ernment by injunction. We deny that
the government, we deny that anyone
has any property right in our work.
| That belongs to us. 1t is not the prop
erty of any living soul on earth except
us. The money that We earn is ours.
We demand the right to spend that
money where we please and with whom
we please. Give us little more-and
this goes both ways-honesty, industri-
ally, politically and socially. 1 include
ourselves when ] say this.
The welfare of society at large,
workingmen and women, and their best
| interests should be placed above the dol
lar mark. Human rights and human in
terests are of greater value than prop
erty rights or the accumulation of the
swollen fortunes of the already preda-
tory rich. We may not advance quite
as rapidly industrially or commercially,
but, after all, We will be advancing
along sane lines, that bode no i'll will
/ to any honest man or woman or any
| good government.
The Element of Fairness.
You ask how to cure. haven't a
cure. You ask how to minimize this
unrest In my own candid judgment
| there is only one way to do it; that is
to let the industrial workers organize
on the one hand and the employing
| classes on the other. There is an ele-
ment of fairness and justice in the
human mind, and employers, sociolo-
/ gists and self-constructed guardians OF
/ our morals and social advancement have
no corner upon that justice and fairness.
! There is sufficient amount of that
vested in the workingmen and women
that will protect them from doing any
thing that will destroy advancing civ
| ilization or that will destroy society as
| it exists today. The labor organization
( that would do the thing that will de-
strov will destroy itself before it has
/ the opportunity to do so. The organi-
zation that is not just and is not fair
/ is doomed. foredoomed to failure. There
Z are enough conservatives in the labor
organizations to counterbalance the rad
icals.
Fortunately for the labor organization
and for society at large there are
enough level headed, conservatively in
clined who are ballast and who will pro.
tect the labor organizations and protect
society at large.
may say the general labor movement
is unalterably opposed, however, to
legally appointed federal or state concil-
iation and mediation and arbitration, if
voluntary ! say this: Give the concil-
ator, the mediator and the arbitrator
position not grounded upon the fortune
of politics, but on good behavior. his job
to last as long as that continues; in
fact. give him life job, and if he does
right, on the pay roll of the govern
ment; and if he does wrong, in the pen.
itentiary for the balance of his life, and
then you will get honesty Protect the
man in his job as long as he does right:
give him life job, if you please, but
give him life job in the penitentiary
II he does wrong. This will stop fear
of arbitrators or conciliators doing any
thing wrong.
No Ready Made Cure.
Just word Neither this commission
nor any living soul on earth can find
a made to- order remedy for industrial
and commercial stagnation. You are
wasting your time if you are trying to
do so. Yet Industrial and commercial
stagnation is one of the contributory
causes to industrial unrest. Industrial
and commercial stagnation is caused not
by over production, but rather by under
consumption In as plain English as
can state it, the workingmen and
women receive less in wages, receive an
amount in wages that will not enable