The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1914-02-17
Labor Unions.


sonality in the American labor movement" con-
tributes an article to current magazine in which
he shows the necessity for trade unions. Instead
of approaching the subject from theoretical
point of view, he draws his conclusions from the
actual experience we have had with the organiza-
lions.
He admits very frankly that labor unionists
accept the present economic system as being
fundamentally just. This sharply divides the
labor unonist from the Socialist because the lat
ter seeks not to readjust but to revolutonize the
system. Again it differs from Socialism, Nit
chel holds, because the labor unionist does not
believe there is any open rupture between the
employer and the employee. "The unionist," he
says, regards immoral the requirement of
wealth through the payment of less than living
wages and the imposition of unjust conditions of
employment;' but he does not hold unjust the
profits made by the capitalist.
Labor unions have been formed in response
to an absolute necessity, he argues. "Uhder
modern industrial conditions the Individual I'M
organized workman cannot bargain advantage
ously with the employer for the sale of his labor"
If it weren't for their united effort, our Ameri-
can workingmen would be as helpless and as
poverty-stricken as the workingmen of China
He resents the charge that trade unions are
opposed to law and order. He points out that it
IS the unorganzed workers who are most often
engaged in riots. Indeed many of the most
bitterly contested strikes of which we have any
record have been inaugurated and conducted by
non-unon men,"
Those who argue the workngmen have no
right to form combinations have not been able to
convince American courts that they are right No
court has yet decided labor union a monopoly
f,, 49, -
a form of life. A labor union can no more get a
corner on labor power than it could on breathing
And popular opinion, Mitchell contends. ap-
proves the verdict of the courts. The mere fact
that Is per cent of citizens cast their ballots for
the two political parties supporting unionism
shows that.
AS to the contention that labor unions are re-
sponsbe for the higher cost of living, Mitchell
registers an emphatic denial. He points out
that many things into which union labor enters,
such as coal and railway service, are actually
cheaper than before unions were organized. On
the contrary, many other products in which no
union labor enters, such potatoes, flour and
meat have steadily risen in price
When asked where the higher wages received
by union men have come from, Mitchell replies
partly from the added efficiency of the workers
and partly out of the manufacturers profits
Only very small percentage, he argues, has come
from the publics pockets through increased
prices.
Mr.. Mitchell does not, as other labor leaders
sometimes do, hold that the high cost of living
and our wide spread economic injustices are due
to the unorganized condition of the laboring
class Consequently he holds out no Utopian
dream as reward for labor organization Per-
haps, like the majority who have looked into our
economic methods, he has discovered that it is
monopoly which is at the root of our economic
ills.