The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1915-11-26
TheSkined M0Ider
BY NeIs H. Hanson

installed rapidly. Inere Ism one Hne
of work which cannot be done, to
some extent at least, by machines.
Take the holders trade, for instance.
No molder of 25 or 80 years ago ever
dreamed that there would ever be any
machines doing molding. He knew
that it required the sensitive touch
of the artist to finish mold; he knew
that the sand had to be just so hard,
and never did he think that dead
thing, a machine, could pack the sand
just right. But today there are found
ries having machine which ram the
men can do more work with these ma
chimes than could sixty by hand. Ev-
erything fits together and there is
hardly a sensitive touch by the hui
man hand needed any more. The
sand is shoveled in Tin some foun-
dries the sand comes down from above
and no shovel is needed, either; the
flask is put on bumper" (name of
one kind of machine used for heavy
work., the molder turns handle, and
the machine gives jerk which packs
the sand together; the molder counts
the jerks and, what would perhaps
have needed all day to do by hand,
takes only a couple or few seconds
to perform with the machine.
And there are dozens of different
molding machines. Some small ones,
used on bench work, make one mold
every minute So, this trade, which
used to take (and is still SUPPOSED
to take of course) three or four years
to learn, can now be picked up in a
few days, few weeks or few months
at the limit. Now in case the molders
go out, a few unskilled can soon be
broken in to do the work. AS old
molders usually say: Nowadays they
bring him in at seven in the morning
and at ten he is molder." OF course
there is still some molding that re-
quires skill, but it is getting less ev-
cry year, and will soon be a thing
of the past. And so it is in every line
of work. "The machine of wood and
iron is taking the place of the ma
chine of flesh and blood"
When the machine first appeared,
the workers began to organize in
small bodies-just big enough to fight
| the small masters of those days. AS
these masters began to get bigger, it
was a natural sequence that the
workers organizations had to get big
ger also And as the employers be-
gan to organize to get control, not
only of one shop or a few shops, one
dustries from coast to coast, from one
land to another, the workers saw that
the only way to fight them would be
by organizing on the same lines as
they did Therefore the workers Or
ganization grew from the small one
to the big body of men-with units in
] every part VI inc COullllS anu WIN
similar organizations seeking to form
an international.
In the beginning, when the masters
were only partly organized, an organi-
cation of the workers by craft was
apparently sufficient to safeguard
their interests. Within the limits on
ly of each separate trade or craft
these unions organized (and still or
ganize) the workers; each one of
these unions pulled each in its own
direction, and solidarity of labor was
an impossibility.
Another thing was that the masters
got together in big industrial organ
izations it began to be hard for the
craft unions to cope with the situa-
tion-and so the industrial union was
born In this union all the workers
in any industry stand together side by
side and strike together so as to
completely stop the production of the
shop or Of the entire industry, when
/ strikes are necessary.