The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1915-11-05
TWO TYPES OF DEFAMERS.

One Is That Class Who Would Profit
by the Destruction of Trade Organ-
zations-The Other is the Unthink-
ing Unionist Who Maigns His Own
Leaders.
Unquestionably one of the greatest
obstacles in the path of the trade un-
ion movement is the element of mis-
representation. 1t may be said to EN-
brace lots of things, but certainly it
covers all forms and methods by which
the movement is sought to be destroy
ed. Outsiders are influenced to see it
from a false perspective, and members
of it are encouraged to ascribe to it
all that is evil and deny to it anything
that is good
There are so many types Of this mis-
representation, each directed. inten-
tionally or otherwise. to injure the
cause of labor. that we will not under
take TO describe them ALL but we will
divide them into two classes namely,
the yindictiye and the unthinking
In the vindictiye class we must in
clude all forms OF destructionists,
whether they be employers whose mo-
tive is to destroy the organizations of
labor so they can conduct not only
their business, but also the business
OF their employees as they please, or
whether they be self seeking or design
ing critics who profess to desire to
change the movement to their liking,
but whose real purpose is the destruc-
ton of it, or whether they be persons
who profess allegiance to the move
ment. but whose policies. if carried out.
would certainly lead to destruction
Each of these three elements in the
vindictiye class has different meth
od of Disgusting itself The employ
er sometimes DISCUSSES himself in
the clothing of philanthropy, some
times the baseball club or a picnic is
sufficient, and the vindictive destruc-
zionist who wants to change the move
ment usually has his plausible excuse
One of these is the man who wants to
nothing more deadly could be conceiv-
ed. Both of these types are apart
from the trade union movement. and
there is no reason Why the members
thereof should allow themselves to be
influenced
But when we come to the other type
of this group namely the man who
processes allegiance to the movement
is a member of il and boasts of his
fealty TO the interests of his fellow
members-here we have the most dan
gerous of the vindictiye deStructionists
Usually the man who is tainted with
this sort of mental disease has rec
ord and usually a consistent one. If
you will look him up for few years
back you will find lie has always been
about the same kind of traitor to his
professed cause Ills favorite occupa
ton is to throw mud ut everybody else
and accuse others of all kinds Of mis-
demeanors against the common well
fare, forgetting entirely few chapters
in his own past life.
But is the form of misrepresentation
just illustrated the most deadly to the
trade union movements We think not
We have in mind the misrepreSenta
tion INDUCED in by members who are
not animated by hostile intent. who
profess to believe in the union and
really do believe in it, but who per-
haps misunderstood some things for
no other reason except they will not
take interest enough or trouble enough
to look into the matters deep enough
to arrive at sound conclusions of their
own.
These are the misrepresentation
that are deadly. because they affect the
personnel of the membership and make
more or less Of the members unthink-
ingly the easier prey to the yindictive
destructionists If the rank and file of
the labor unions were purged of all un-
thinking and unintentional misrepre
senta tions by which facts are misstat-
ed and men maligned, the efforts of
the designing and yindictive deStruc-
tionists would amount to nothing, be-
cause they would not get a hearing.
The membership would be too intelli-
gent to listen to them with patience,
and the movement of the whole would
be fortified not only against the vim
dictive employer and against the pro
fessed friend that wants to change
things just a little bit, but against the
traitors who seek to serve the other
two interests for their own personal
ends.-Shoe Workers Journal.