The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1915-11-19

on the highest ideals for associated
effort of any kind. 1t is a simple
democratic organization which meets
the needs of the workers and enables
tn an to protect themselves and make
such progress that they shall become
of increasing value and Importance
to the nation.
GREAT STEADYING FORCE
The labor movement of America
was the great steadying force in the
period of upheaval and transition that
followed the outbreak of the war. 1t
was the force that insisted upon the
maintenance of existing standards
that protected the workers against all
efforts to throw upon them the full
burden of the war. 1t was the force
that demanded for the workers an op-
portunity to work in order to earn
daily living. 1t was the force that
held true and tided things over.
When employers had readjusted to
meet the changing conditions and to
meet the demands of European ma
tions that had grown out of the con-
duct of the war, the labor movement
was the agency that enabled the
workers to share more equitably the
suits of the industrial impetus given
by the war The workers soon real
lied that the employers intended to
keep to themselves all of their vastly
increased profits. The organized
workers made demands through their
regular representatives and many I'M
organized workers caught the spirit
of the day and organized in order that
they too might make their demands
effective. Thus there came in many
industries a great labor forward cam
paign. 1t was recognized that the or
ganized economic power of the work
ers was their main dependence under
all conditions and all necessities
whether for protection or for oppor-
tunity to share in prosperity.
In the meanwhile the workers of
the warning nations were constantly
turning to the labor movement of
America for assurance that the influ
ence and the power of our own work
ers of this country would be exerted
upon international relations for the
maintenance of the cause and rights
of humanity Appeals came from the
workers of desolated lands for assist
ance and in it all and through it all
the spirit of fraternity, the spirit of
fellowship among industrial workers
survived, even when the outward
physical ties of organization were
temporarily lost in the stress of war
Even though of late there has been
increasing difficulty in maintaining
intercourse with the labor movements
of some foreign countries, yet there
still remain the spirit of fraternity
and the confidence that the American
labor movement will stand for the
rights of humanity, of the workers in
all of the countries, and will insist
upon the paramount Importance of
humanity Yet to maintain the force
of our labor movement straight and
unerring, has not been an easy task
There have been innumerable influ-
ences that have sought to fasten them
selves upon the labor movement of
this country because they recognized
it's power and because they desired
to use it to serve their own purposes.
1t has been due to the integrity,
the honor and manhood of the wage
earners that many efforts to embroil
our country in the present interna-
tional complications have failed. They
have held their ideals too dear to be
sacrificed to personal gain, and they
have not deviated from the determine.
ton to make all forces and all condi-
tions contribute to the progress of
the labor movement which is the we'll
being of the wage-earners. In every
trade they have sought to obtain high
err wages, shorter hours of work, and
better working conditions. They have
used their influence to secure not per-
sonal benefits, but something that
would lift the labor movement upon
higher plane with greater opportuni-
ties. These efforts to use the labor
movement nave come in all manner
of guises. They have come as human
itarian efforts; they have come as
patriotic appeals; they have come as
promoting the highest ideals which