Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1915-09-22
Many Tyrants Have Granted
I: Audiences,

Many Tyrants Have Granted
Audiences.
Discussing the attitude Of employers
who refuse to deal collectively with
their workmen, but who do In fact
grant audiences at which the griev.
ances Of their workmen may be pre-
scented, the report says:
Zone is repelled rather than i'm
pressed by the insistence with which
this idea has been presented. Every
tyrant In history has on stated days
granted audiences to which his faith
full subjects might bring their COM
plants against his officers and agents.
At these audiences, In theory at least,
even the poorest widow might be
heard by her sovereign in her search
for justice. That justice was never Sc
cured under such conditions, except
at the whim Of the tyrant, is sure. It
Is equally sure that in industry, JUS
tice can never be attained by such a
method"
The willingness Of certain employ
ers to deal with their own employees
collectively, while refusing to deal
with any national organization, and
resenting the intrusion of any persons
acting for their employees who are not
members of their own labor force, is
dealt with in the following:
I'm practice these statements have
been generally found to be specious.
Such employers as rule oppose any
their own employees as bitterly as they
lob ha
lying motive of such statements seems
to be only that as long as organiza-
ttons are unsupported from outside
they are ineffective and can be crush
ed with ease and impunity by dis
charging the ringleaders. Similarly,
that opposition to the representation
OF their employees by persons outside
their labor force, seems to arise wholly
from the knowledge that as long as the
workers representatives are on the
payroll they can be controlled, or, il
they prove intractable, they can be ef-
fectually disposed of by summary
dismissal.
Labor Unions Must BE National.
ITO suggest that labor unions can
be effective if organized on less than
a national scale, seems to ignore en-
tirely the facts and trend of present
day American business. There is no
line of organized industry in which
individual establishments can act in
dependently. Ignoring for the time
the Capitalization Of control and OWL
ership, and also the almost universal
existence of employers associations,
the mere fact of competition would
render any organization of employees
| which was limited to a single estab-
lishment totally ineffective. Advance
in labor conditions must proceed with
fair degree of uniformity through
out any line Of industry. This does
not indeed require that all employees
in an industry must belong to a ma
tional organization, for experience has
shown that wherever even a consid-
cradle portion are union members, the
advances which they secure are al.
most invariably granted by compel.
| itors, even If they do not employ un.
ion men, in order to prevent their own
employees from organizing"
That political freedom can not ex-
list where the right to organize is de.
MED, and that such denial therefore
threatens the political institutions OF
the nation, is charged by Manly in
concluding his discussion of this sub
ject.
The conclusions and recommends.
tlons designed not only to prevent de-
NAL OF the right to organize, but ia
guarantee this right are set forth as
follows:
Conclusions are Based on Careful
Inquiry.
"The conclusions upon this cues
ton, however, are not based upol
theory, but upon a thorough investi
cation of typical situations in which
the contrast between organization.
and the denial of the right of organi
cation could best be studied. TIL,
commission has held public hearing.
and has made thorough Investigation.
In such industrial communities as Pat
erson, New Jersey; Los Angeles, Cali
tornia; Lead, South Dakota; and Col
orado, where the right of collective
action on the part of employees is de
MED. These Investigations have
shown that under the best possible
conditions, and granting the most ex
cellent motives on the part of EN-
HAOy SA0S AAVVOOU uOC0 AOL 0AlSC 0lCU01
politically, industrially or socially, ant
that the fiber of manhood will inevi
tably be destroyed by the continuance
OF the existing situation.
investigations have proved that al
though the physical and material con
d1tions may be unusually good, as, fo]
example, in Lead, S. D., they were tn.
price paid for the absolute submis
sion OF the employees to the will of tn,
employing corporation. Such satisfac
tory conditions are, however, show
by the hearings Of the commission an,
by the investigations of it's staff to b,
exceptional.
| Los Angeles AssaiIed Even by
Capitalist.
Los Angeles, for example, althouel
exceptionally endowed in location
climate and natural resources. wa.
sharply criticized for the labor condi
tons which had developed during it,
open shop regime even by Mr.. Wal
ter Drew, representing several of tn.
largest associations which contend To-
the open shop 1t is significant tina
the only claim ordinarily made for tn,
conditions in such establishments I,
that they are as good as are secured
by the union,' AS a matter of fact
there are few establishments which
make this boast, and in the maiorit,
the conditions were found IN ho 70,