The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1915-09-04

AAE aim from non-un1onlSm to union. |
ism, the theoretical territory Of non
'unionisna- hat hi is, r. !. dividualisnn-
still'has strongholds in our courts and
our colleges. The lawyer dealing in
precedents, and the professor looking
to history, are apt to see what was,
instead OF what is; The worker, 4
on the contrary, knows by contact
with his tasks of job-hunting and job 4
holding, what actual conditions are.
Hence, whiles the college president,
emeritus has praise for the non-union-
list, the union worker regards him as.
usually faithful to his class, though
granting that occasionally he may be
9 product OF the conditions surviving
In the. side, currents Of agriculture or
Industrial life where the general So
ctal situation Of times gone by has
been still to some extent perpetuated
In this survey, OF the origin and pro-
gress of the two sentimerts-non-
union and union, individual and CO.
operative (which in this country bear
upon the, organization of labor. we
arrive at an honesty. and principle
anjmat1ng, men on either side. The
Judge on the bench may be- acting In
accordance with his lights, which are
legal tones, in rendering judgments
that are absurd when viewed from
the standpoint of the spirit and social
needs of today: The old-time college
professor, q closet man, may be loya,
to ideals Of citizenship which were
possible when his favorite authorities
in sociology gave the world their
heavy volumes. The college student,
fresh from the farm or from the home
Of a professional = or business man,
may lightly play 'strikebreaker as a
lark, or for the extra cash needed to
pay his way to q diploma, not realiz-
ing his social crime as seen by the
organized workers. The *journeyman
workman coming from a country
town may be but following the only
custom of which he has had practical.
knowledge, when" he takes Job left
vacant by strikers, although this. is
nowadays a rare thing. The usual
founts Of knowledge and Influence
from which the plain people in small
communities absorb their views of life
and its obligations-as represented by
the school teacher, the village news
paper, the Influential business men,"
or the speechmaking on patriotic &C..
casions-are rarely engaged in the ac-
tive PROPAGANDA Of trade unionisrn. 50,
A Separate Society. ,~
i When, however, we mingle among
the wage-earners of the industrial
centers Of the railroad world, the
mines, and. the undertakings in gen.
eral requiring workers in large num-
bers, We speedily find ourselves in a
society by itself. It is living in close
contact with the harsh facts Of to-
day; 1T is. educating in branches of
economics not usually emphasized in
the college curriculum; it is fighting
the battle Of the worker, pushed hard
by conditions of the live labor market:
it is animated by a moral code which is
the OUTCOME Of the necessity of its de-
1ens1ve warfare; it is busted in divers
ways with. advancing the welfare, Of,
not only the organized workers, but:
of, All, men, women and children, IN
the wage-working ranks. " =,
One IS enabled to affirm In sober.
earnest, that the sentiment OF this
wage-workers' society H. the United
States today is almost wholly union.
The statistics of the present paid-up
membership Of the American Fedora
ton of Labor, the railroad brother
hoods, and the as yet unfederated
Unions, show more. than 5000, 900
members: But this number does not
express the sum total OF unionists as
it exists in fact Unionism, in it's. ebb
and flow, is made the more possible
to a larger and larger number through
union sentiment continually preceding
organization itself"
Surely the foregoing analysis st ex-
listing conditions as to the extent Of
organized :: labor, while showing that
the: organization is by no means COM
plete, does not offer basis for de-
spondency. Every loyal member Of
| organized laborshas reason to conErat-
| ulate himself that the organized labor
I movement of America does embrace
three million or more members, and
further that with the percentage or
workers now organized;, such sub
'stantiar results are.aconplished:-- The
Shoe Workers journal. ~, -: "a g
.