Wheeling majority. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1907-192?, 1915-09-02

great remedy for such unnecessary
industrial unrest as we have found
: more, and more, and still more, or.
ganiZatiOn of labor and OF the en-
) p1oyers in each industry as we'll. The
education of the tIhdeS unions has
been conducive to a higher and better
citizenship. In recent years there
have come to our assistance scores
and hundreds of thousands of people
outside the ranks of unionists- minis
tiers, professors, journalists, profe-
soinal men of all kinds-who have
|reahed the conclusion thht is herein
STATED, that the MOST efficient cure
for such industrial unrest as should
Ibe cured, is union organization.
I'VE hold that the efforts to stay
1.-THE organization of labor or to re-
istrict the right of employees to or
ganize should not be tolerated, but
that the opposite policy should pre-
wall and the organization of the
trade unions and off the employers
organizations should be promoted,
mot, however, for the sole purpose of
lighting each other, but for the COM
mendable purpose Of collective bar
gaining and the establishmen Of in
dustrial good will Organizations of
employers that have no object in view
Except to prevent labor having voice
lin fixing the conditions of industry
under which it is employed, have no
excuse for existence, as they are a
Thar to social tranquility and a detri-
iment to the economic progress of our
country. The evidence before the
iiCOmmission shows that organized
labor has no desire, nor has it at
tempted, to control the business of
the employer. 1t insists that it has
right to voice, and potent voice,
in determining the conditions under
(which it shall work. This attitude,
1--WE are sure, will be continued in spite
of the opposition of any so-called en-
lplOyers' Organizations. This country
lis no longer a. field for slavery, and
lWhere men and women are com
PEELED, in order thhE they may live,
Ito work under conditions in deterlnin-
ling which they have no voice, they
are not far removed from condition
existing under feudalism or slavery
Tin emphasizing with all the force
at our command the necessity of col
aetcive alton Iby wage earners
ltihrougha strong organization, if the
iproblem of Industrial unrest is to be
solved, we wish again to quote from
the testimony of Professor HolIander.
td4e undertook to sum up for this Com
omission those oncIusions regarding
1.-THE solution of this problem that have
been reached not only by himself, but
lby the great body of economists in
this country and abroad. He said:
The opinion of political economists
DIN SO far as l can voice it is that So
cial unrest, which is manifest not
only in this country but in every in
dustrial country, is due to the exist
,ience of economic want or poverty, If
Iiby that we understand not on the one
hand pauperism or on the other eco?
Enomic inequality. By poverty ] mean
the existenc of large areas ofindus-
trial society in receipt Of incomes
less than enough to maintain them
SELVES an d thos EIDE pendent upon
them in decent existence We believe
that is the consequence, not of any
absolute dearth-that the world pro-
duces enough to go around, that it is
therefore not a question of INSULT
lcient production, but of defects in
distribution ..*..*..* There is a
view among economists that here is
nothing of any current heory of
IMages that precludes the laborer from
obtaining a sufficient wage, and that
if he fails it must be in consequence
of the fact that he enters into wage
contract on a plane of inequality. The
Itwage contract, in short, is the result
| of IA bargain between the employer
and the employee, and if the employer
| lis in a superior competitive position
| by reason of combination and the
laborer is unorganized, he is at a baf-
lgaining disadvantage which is certain
Ito rebound to his hurt.
] think tn epolitical economists ac-
Icordingly then are in agreement that
Itrade unionism is essential as ameans
of bringing the worknen into indus
trial bargaining on plane of
Equality.
| You have asked specifically what
1.-THE remedy (for poverty)) is. 1t
means very decided revulsion of
lopinion as to trade unionism. The
lgenral attitude among employers of
labor is often open and decided oppO-
Isition to organized labor. Until So
Iciety recognizes the unwisdom of that
latitude and demands that the laiborer
Unjust enter into his wage bargain on
la plane of competitive equality, so
lciety has not lifted its finger to rem
Iedy that evil"
The Public's Duty.
1--WE submit that the report of Mr..
lPhsil M. Manly as our report, asking
lofr it the fullest possible eonsidera-
Ition by the men and women of our
lcountry who are interested in the So
!cial and moral nplift Of humanity
Labor must work out is own saliva
Ition. Wage workers can attain that
degree of wen4being TO which they are
Jentitled only by their own efforts.
EThe genral public can not be expected
Ito do for them what they fail to do
lfor themselves, nor would it be deSfr-