The daily Nome industrial worker., 1916-09-26
THE OPEN SHOP.

Roland H. Hartley was a republican candidate for Governor in the State of Washington. His issue was the open shop. And he declared that was the most vital issue before the State and the Nation today.
 In the advertisements of his can- didature he quoted as his message: "I will see that every man and wo' man in Washington who wish to work or quit, shall have that oppor- tunity without fear of murder, lntl- imitation or abuse from any source, whether they belong to a union or not.
 You know that is a fine sentiment, and if that was all there was to the open shop or closed shop question, we might think a whole lot af Ro- land H. Hartley. Suppose however we turn to consider MT. Hartley's message; suppose we turn to inves- tigate it in the light of actual condl- tions and what do we find?
 We find in the first place that Roland Hartley, not if he were Gov ernor, not any more than if he were president, could see that every man and woman in Washington who wish to work or quit could do so.
 As matter of hard fact, in the State of Washington, it often hap pens that men want to work and cannot do so. AS matter Of fact in the State of Washington the em- ployers in the lumber woods say to one another the price of logs IS too low, we will close down spell un- til there is scarcity and prices rise when the demand overtakes the sup ply. As matter of hard fact when the shingle mills find that there are more shingles on the market than the demand calls for, the shingle bosses get together and shut down the mills until the market de- mands eat up the supply on hand As matter of hard fact when the supply of this, that or the other thing is too great, the production thereof ceases until such time as the demand equals or is greater than the supply. And that's good business. It is first class business and when the employers find one ol their number that mavericks along producing when they shut down they boycott, and hinder, and hamper, and work against him Ill every possible way. Az matter oi fact they have burned down mills of men who bolted from the com bine; they dynamited rival bridges on logging railroads, they set fire to valuable acreage of standing tim her and they showed time and time again that they were determined to force unity of action even to the length of committing crime. It was good business they were after, and the end justified the means.
 Now when those places closed down such as we have referred to- they threw hundreds, thousands o1 of men out of job. They most cer- tainly did. And the idle loggers hunted around the cities and the towns and the country places seek ing a place where they might fnd work and never finding it. Could Hartley whether governor or not sec that those idle men who wanted tc work, had work?
 Roland H. Hartley for all his bombast knows. full well that he could not. He knows that he dare not go to a single logging company and say to them that the men who wished to work should work, hat the right to it. And, By Heavens that is the issue today
 There is no man who wants tt work to live can get work if tht boss says him nay. And what i' more the Hartleys and the res never have a damn word to sa! about this condition. Instead they fiji us all with lot of punk buncomb' about the free and independen workers. He talks about industria freedom. but it is the industria freedom of the employer who ha now a good deal more than is goot for the rest of us
 What we are after iS real indus trial freedom; the freedom that say