The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1915-01-23

LABOR DEPARTMENT.
!. ..... REPRESENTS LABOR
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costs the employer nothing to replace
it. :. 80
We have held throughout that the
human being IS an entirely different
thing from the machine, and should
be treated entirely different from the
chine. The human being who is en-
ployed In the plant is a living, moving
sentient being like themselves, with
all the hopes and all the aspirations
that God has. implanted in the human
breast. and is entitled to the same
consideration that you would give to
any other human being who is not en-
gagged as a wage. worker.
Clayton Law Big Step. ii
During: the Hyear4zwe* have made at
least one great, step forward in tho
passage of the Clayton antitrust bill,
which is also an anti-iinjunction bill.
TO my mind 1T Us is, the greatest step
That has been taken by labor. and for
labor within the past two generations
Since 1873 OUR courts. have been issu-
ing injunctions' in trade disputes.
These injunctions' are based. upon the
theory that SONIC one has property
right in the labor. Of san~employe.
Any lawyer will tell you that the
writ of injunction: is, writ that issues
from an equity coiurt only, and they
will also tell you that an equity court
deals with property. and property
rights; and when an injunction is is
sued restraining Jim from interfer-
ing with John, because the interfer-
ence with John will affect Johns en-
ployer, it can only be upon the theory
that the employer has a property
right in the labor of John.
Now, the employer cannot have Il
property right in the labor Of John
without having property right in
John himself, because labor, as you
have so often declared, is part Of
man, it is inseparable from him. The
moment labor is applied and some
thing results from the application of
that labor, the material that results
from the application Of it is property,
it is e. commodity, it can be treated
as such, but the labor that produces it
is part Of the man himself. You
cannot have a property right in the
man, and a property right in man is
contrary to the spirit of our institu-
tons.
And so the Clayton antitrust anti
injunction bill declared that the labor
Of human being is not a commodity
or an article of commerce. If that
statement alone were all that was in
the bill it would still be a. big step
forward; but that statement is only
an Interpretation, it is only a means
Of backing up and making valid the
other items in the antitrust bill re-
lative to the issuance Of injunctions.
and SO labor is now placed in the
position that it ought to occupy in
that respect, where it is'recognized as
being a part and parcel of the COM
munity instead Of being classed as y
brother to the insensible clod that
the rude swain turns his share and
treads upon."<
Men Not Property.
We. have all along recognized that
the employers own the land, that they
own the plants, that, they own the
machines; but w have positively de-
MED, continuously denied, that they
own the men, and for the first time
in the history of this or any other
country we have that idea embodied
in legislation-that labor is no longer
a comm odity or article of commerce,
and cannot be any longer considered
as such.
So we are making progress, step by
step, slowly, it is true, because large
bodies move slowly. It has been a
orr 1I,1o1 @1yyfj ~,
the feudal system to the present sys-
tenn and the removal of those lines of
thought that grew out of the feudal
system itself, has been slow pro-
cess that has only been brought about
as a result of the militant organiza-
tons Of labor.
The department of labor represents
and looks after the interests of all
! the wage workers Of our country
whether organized or unorganized.
The same may be said of every trade
| union in our country.
Unions Humane
There isn't trade union in ex-
istence in any trade or industry that
has made progress that has not, in
making that progress, also benefited
| every man working in the industry
who Is not a trade unionists. So far
as the department Of labor is con-
! cerned, it will utilize every force that
| 1t finds available to it's hands for the
purpose of promoting the welfare OF
those who toll. It will 'use most those
agencies which are most effective;
! and, in my experience, those agencies
| which have been most effective in i'm
| proving the conditions Of the wage
workers have been the trade unions OF
this COuntrv