Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1916-07-28
MRS. MARTIN SIDES
WITH STRIKERS
Author of ''Tillie, Mennonite
Maid" Defends Garments
Right to Organize
To the Editor OF the Telegraph j.:


Does an individual laborer have so
much as a fighting chance in dealing
with a great and rich corporation? {?
Can he do aught but accept what is
offered him-on pain of starvation? :?
That unorganized labor is steadily
forced downward toward want, misery
and degradation is a fact which no
student of social economy would think
of disputing. Do the capitalists who
fiercely maintain that their employees
shall not organize consider that the in
dustrial conditions which prevailed be-
fore the unions came into existence
were ideal?-when the workman was
the living tool of his employer and the
conditions of his existence and that of
his family were so deplorable as 10
call forth the sweet charity of those
who did not need to labor.
Between the work class and the hu-
man seIfishness and greed which al
ways tends to exploit, enslave and de-
grade them, what barrier can be inter-
posed save the organization of the la
borers? Shall the government be
forced to come effectually to their pro-
lection? These are American citizens
who must not, and shall not, be put
into vassalage by our industrial sys-
tenn, but, who have rights; who know
their rights and, knowing, dare main
tain I'VE cannot" says DIR. Wash
ington GLADDEN., in the Outlook, 'af-
ford to have any other kind of citizens
in this country" The laborers de-
mand industrial. as we'll as political
freedom-by which they may them
selves have some voice as to the con-
ditions and terms of their labor
1t is a shameful state of things that
any American citizen should be afraid
to complain of abuses for fear of his
familys starving! Robert A. Woods,
a student of labor conditions, says that
the average employer of labor who
opposes unions. holds employees guilty
of impiety and deserving of instant dis
missal If they undertake to enforce
their claims in such a way as to en-
barrass the momentum of great busi-
ness administration. Submission to
such point of view reduces the labor
ing class to serfdom.
Says DIR. GLADDEN.: Il do not think
that a wise craftsmanship will consent
to see the masses of American work
ingmen put in a position like this.
Some way must be found by which
they may keep their liberty and pre-
serve their manhood"
Union organization is the only
known means by which they may OBJ
tain and preserve this power and
avert the degradation of their class.
I have never heard any other way even
suggested. By means of unions they
do maintain their freedom. John
Mitchell said: Trade unionism has
justified it's existence by good works
and high purposes. 1t has elevated
the standard of living of the Ameri-
can workman and conferred upon him
higher wages and more leisure. It has
increased efficiency, diminished acci-
dents, averted disease, kept children
at school, raised the moral tone of the
factories"
1t is the unions which have forced
modern legislation for the bettering of
labor conditions. The appalling de-
terioration of the working classes due
to the unspeakable conditions that ex-
listed before the days. of unions, has
been arrested, and the life of the la
borer has been greatly improved. Even
Pittsburgh, with all its great extremes
of poverty and wealth, is a, paradise
compared to what it was before unions
existed. Students of social science af-
firm that the improvement there is due
mainly to the influence of labor organ
ization which has enabled the laborer
to resist oppression and secure for
himself at least some little share of the
wealth which his labor creates and
which could not be created without
him.
Professor Harold Rogers of Oxford a
philosophic statesman, declares that so
great have been the benefits which
unionism has brought to the laboring
classes and to the community at large
that if he had the making of the laws
he would exclude from the franchise
all workingmen who were not mem
bers of trade unions, as he considered
them to be obstacles in the way of the
advancement and uplifting of the race.
Surelyi the man who would exter-
mi 10 a1V,{,A te 1rs,
a rather heavy and solemn responsi-
bility for his fellowmen.
HELEN r. MARTIN.
Riverside, Pa.