The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1915-12-24
UNIONISM BEARS BURDEN.


ized-The Nonunionist Has No Just
Reason For Standing AIoof From His
Fellows.
One is enabled to affirm in sober |
earnest that the sentiment of this |
wageworkers' society in the United |
States today is almost wholly union.
The statistics of the present paid up |
membership Of the American Fedora
hon of Labor, the railroad brother
hoods and the as yet unfederated |
unions show more than 100000 mem !
bers. But this number does not ex-
press the sum total of unionism as 1t
exists In fact. Unionism in its ebb
and flow is made the more possible to
q larger and larger number through
union sentiment continually preceding
organization itself. Beyond the forces
organized and paying dues to the
unions are the masses that long to be
with their comrades who are bearing
the burdens of labor's uplift through
union methods.
rors have been made which for time
have caused serious losses to the
unions. There has been on occasion
poor leadership; unwise strikes have
taken place. But, whatever the cause
of their falling away, it may be conf
dently asserted that after men have
once experienced the help of the union
rxvi11 I,a ffN1 mill
the state of nonunionism. They know
that most of the betterments they en-
JOY come to them and are maintained
through the power Of organized labor.
Three millions. therefore, is too small
number for trade unionsm. If it
We're as easy for men to enroll them
selves in union as in political party
trade unionism in America would to-
day count its four million or five or
six, whatever number is necessary to
cover the vastly predominating force in
all the trades and callings that have
been covered by our modern Industrial
ism. 1t is indeed true that trade un-
ionism envelops in its folds more than
are enrolled in the unions.
When we begin an estimate OF the
number of active nonunion wagework-
ers we quickly come to halt Profes-
sional strike breakers are not non
unionists. They are mercenaries, on
hire to whomever pays them their price
Should the unions outbid the employ
ers they could buy the strike breakers.
whose principles have nothing to do
with honest work. Their character is
notorious-the jest Of the newspaper.
the thorn in the side of employers. the
worry and surprise of the innoCsnt uni
verSity leaders who once deemed non
unionists heroes. The steady and usual
ly fair wageworEer who at times re-
fuses to come out on strike and give up
his job may have yet in him the max
ing of a true union man. He may be
insufficiently educated he may per.
haps feel that unnecessary sacrifices
are being demanded Of him and his
shopmates, yet time may bring him
around, ready to perform the duty the
good of his fellow men requires.
No workingman of principle can rest
content outside organized labor unless
he has not considered the questions
that its progress has evoked to society
What, for example, has nonunionism
to offer in the place of the insurance
features of unionism? The answer is
mostly some form of pauperism or
mortifying dependence. But for union
ism would there exist a single state la
Dor bureau in the country? Whence
could be obtained the enormous body
of facts recorded in the bureau reports
IL not from them? How could trade
agreements be reached except through
the unions? For 1t Is q certainty nom
unionism cannot promise a condition
In which there would be no strikes.
The ugliest Of outbreaks are at times
by nonunion labor. What would the
prevailing workday be but for the
unions? Have or have they not
brought the eight hour day to many of
the trades? What as to the laws for
the protection of workers in mines, In
factories, on the railroads? Have nom
unionists ever fought child labor? I'm
der the heel of the tyrannical shop fore
man, under the rigid rules Of avaricious
corporations, under the neglect of soci-
ETY., what would be the daily existence
Of the wageworkers should they ac-
cept the tenets of nonunionism?
When such questions are troubling
the conscience Of the wageworker not
enrolled in labor organization he
finds himself going further in self ex-
animation. Has he right to remain
standing aside from the men who are
doing what they can for their fellows ?
Would he not be guilty of form of
treason to his fellow workers and of
shortsightedness respecting his own
interests in taking the place of strik-
er? The conditions of labor being
what they are is there any truth what
ever in the claim that any wagework-
er has the moral and social right to
work how, when and where he pleases
No more has he than has a man right
TO injure himself
In among the workers the nonunion-
list can offer no live argument for his
beliefs, no moral principle in self de-
Tense, no sentiment Of brotherhood, no
just reason for standing aloof from his
fellows.--John Mitchell.
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