The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1915-06-11
@HE following extracts are from
Walter Lippmanh's Drift and
Mastery-An Attempt to dag
nose the Current Unrest"

nose the Current Unrest"
The fact is that nothing is so stub
bornly resisted as the attempt to or
ganize labor into effective unions. Yet
It is labor organized that alone can
stand between America and the crea-
ton of q permanent servile class. I'm
less labor is powerful enough to be re-
spected 1t is doomed to a degrading
servitude Without unions no such
power is possible. Without unions in
1ustrial democracy is unthinkable.
Without democracy In industry-that
is, where 1t counts most-there is no
such thing as democracy in America,
for only through the union can the
wage Garner participate in the control
of industp~, and only through the
union can he obtain the discipline
needed for self government. Those
who fight unions may think they are
fighting its obvious errors, but what
they are really against Is just this en-
croachments of democracy upon busi-
ness.
The unions are the first feeble ef-
fort to conquer the industrial jungle
for democratic life. They may not
succeed, but if they don't their failure
will be a tragedy for civilization,
loss Of cooperative effort. baking
of energy and the fixing In American
life of class structure.
No wonder they despise scab. He
IEa,
Independent, liberty loving soul he IS
sometimes painted the scab is trai-
tor to the economic foundations of
democracy.
The picket line is to these little eco
monte democracies the guardian of
their integrity, their chief protection
from foreign invasion.
AS long as the unions have to fight
for mere existence their immense CON
structive possibilities will be obscured
In the desperation of the struggle. The
strike breaker, then. is not only peril
TO the union; he is n peril to the larger
interests of the nation. He keeps
workingmen from their natural organ
ization, deprives them of the strength
that union brings. and thwarts all at
tempts to train men for industrial de
mocracy Instead of discipline and
preparation for the task of the future.
Instead Of deep grounded experience in
cooperative effort. we shall get, II
strike breakers and blind legislators
and brutal policemen and prejudiced
Judges and visionless employers pre-
hu To md pa
bellions.
There are certain preliminarieS of
civilization which the great mass of
workingmen have not yet won. They
have not yet won II living wage, they
have not yet won anything like secu
rity of employment. they have not yet
won respect from the government. they
have not yet won the right to be con
suited as to the conditions under which
they work. Until they do it Is idle to
talk about industrial peace, and folly
TO look for reasonable" adjustments
of difficulties. Reason begins when
men have enough power to command
respect; Il cooperative solution Of in
dustrial problems is possible only when
all the partners TO the cooperation
must listen to each other. Until labor
Is powerful enough to compel that 1t
cannot trust to the benevolence of it's
masters. 1t has to be suspicious, 1t
has to cling to the few weapons left
1t, for labor is right i'll supposing that
no national conscience and no employ
ers' conscience yet exhibited are ade-
quate.
The unions are struggling TO give the
wage earners representation. and that
Is why the hopes of democracy are
bound up with the labor movement
Bound up, not with words and dogmas,
but with the purpose which animates
It. Labor needs criticism, needs in
ventiye thought. needs advice and help.
But no one can give any of these things
who has not grasped with full sympa-
thy that impulse for industrial democ-
racy which is the key to the movement.