The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1916-09-29
PLACED IN TRUST BONDAGE


Here Under False Pretenses Have
Been Exploited by Large Corpora
tions-U nionism Makes Them Amer
lean In Habit and Spirit.
A wholesome feeling of responsibility
was apparent in the citizenship con.
vention recently held in Washington
under the auspices of the bureau
Of naturalization Of the department of
labor. Recent events have made it ap-
parent that there Is very serious ma
uonal problem involved In the number
of people within our boundaries who in
spirit at least Are not truly Americans,
This condition is due to many causes,
but principally to the fact that u large
proportion of immigration into our
country has not been natural move
ment, but has been stimulated by those
who expected to profit by immigrant
labor or through transportation of i'm
migrants Immigrants who are in
duced to come to the United States by
the lure of riches and stories of the
great wealth that abounds here are
vastly different from the aliens who
voluntarily come to our shore in search
of liberty, opportunity, freedom and
justice.
There are immigrants who are lured
to the United States, who are forced
here and held against their will There
are immigrants who are bluffcd and
fooled into believing that they will find
better economic conditions here When
these aliens are once within the United
States, they find themselves in con
dition of Industrial servitude to which
they were strangers In their own coun-
try. Once caught in the bondage which
our trusts force upon their employees
and conscienceless employers impose
upon those who work for wages, these
aliens are unable to protect themselves
or to return to their former homes.
American capitalists have had hun
dreds of thousands of foreign born
workers imported into the United
Statesr Under the conditions of EN-
ployment many never see dollar Of
American money. They are compelled
to toll inordinately long hours, to re
ceive in return for their toll company
script and then to purchase their food
their clothing and all the other neces
stiles of life in company stores, truck
stores, the pluck me- stores.
Such conditions of employment are
subversiye Of The development of the
American spirit of a feeling of loyalty
to this country. 1t is not reasonable
to expect an intelligent understanding
Of American ideals or patriotism among
those whose daily lives are filled with
industrial injustice and who meet with
nothing but abuse and exploitation.
Any serious attempt to AmericaniZe tha
foreign workers who have been crowd
ed into our Industrial ccnterS and 20
our mining districts must concern itself
also with the problem Of AmcrcaniZine
employers trusts and corporations.
The problem of AmcricaniZing immi
grants within this country is funda
mentally labor problem. ii has its
other educational side of course but
that education will do no good if these
immigrant workers can not get wages
that will enable them to live in dccency
and take advantage OF opportunities fol
development The primary problem j.
to enable these workers 10 protect them
selves against the greed Of employers
to be insured justice in their relations
with their employers Enable the mel
to get these things and the rest viii
follow inevitably. 1t is the law Of life
that when people are given opportu
mites and are shown the possibilities
Of higher things, they will usually de
velop and grow into the larger stature
There has been one agency that ha'
been working at this problem iii yer!
practical way The trade union move
ment has not been idle The reasons
for trade union activity are both al
truistic and defensive. Many foreign
immigrants have been brought to thi
country TO replace workers whose stan
dards Of living demanded high wage
and good conditions. 1t has been neces
sary TO show these foreigners that thei
own best interests are closely identified
with the interests of all other worker
and that they must cooperate for com
mon protection 1t is the labor move
ment that has been educating thes
people in American standards, thei
rights end how to maintain them. TIL
trade union movement has been teach
ing them that human lives and human
rights are of greater Importance thai
exploitation for private profit
Freedom IS not a fact until opportu
nifty is given The trade union move
ment takes the position that our safet
lies in uniting foreign born worker
with native born workers In the CON
mon economic movement.
We organize and federate the foreign
ers, we teach them to pool their inter
ests III order that they may gain som
of the economic freedom and politics
rights upon which they must depen
for their security. Men and women ca
not have liberty or adequate concept
of liberty who work twelve hours da
for seven days in the week and who's
bodies are insufficiently nouristed Th
economic movement lays foundatio
that makes Ii possible for the foreig
workers to become American In hab
and In spirit-American FederatiOniS