Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-10-05
GO BACK TO WORK.

week ago today the star.Buetin said editorial
ly From assaults strike breakers il is just one
short, fatal step to redhanded crime
On the following day, this paper added:
men who have been deuded into joining the
union will be wisely advised if they Withdraw their
names, quit the paid agiators go back to work and
approach their employers not as the branch of a
mainland organization, bound by mainland rules
and run by mainland unOnists. but as citizens of
Honolulu who wish to discuss with their employers
an affair which concerns themselves and their
firms" .*..: u.
The truth of both comments has been abundantly
proved since that time. .~. =
IL required no gift of prophesy to foresee that
the waterfront strikers were their way to hood
lumism and criminal violence They began theirstrike
in an uncontrolled spirit. They quit work without
yoicing grievances or making demands. showing at
the outset that their organization had bad leader
ship, bad advice, no discipline, no common concep
tion of how to handle strike lawfully and peace
ably.
After the first exhibition it was obvious that the
leaders could not control the dsorderly rank and
file of strikers and their sympathizers
Their demand for "elosed shop'-inspired by
mainland uniOnism, not by the Honolulu situation
made il impossible for Honolulu employers TO treat
right Of any organization of labor capital to die
tate what men shall accept employment and what
men lie refused it.
When the demand for "closed shop disguised
as a CLOSED port"-was abandoned; when the ship
ipers recognizing that they could not treat with
lels, organized to get labor and began to get it in
large numbers the strikers saw their deluded dream
vanishing and then their lack of discipline became
openly evident
The ''short fatal step to violence" was begun yes
terday when a mob of men and boys gathered on
the waterfront and derailed an engine of the O. Il.
L. Company pulling cars supposedly full of strike.
breakers. Train.wreeking is criminal violence and
il was NO fault Of the strikers that there was not
deed yesterday appalling in its consequences.
The advice given to the strikers last Thursday is
here renpwed-get out of the union which can neith
er guarantee employment nor control reckless, re-
yengeful men; get out of the union which has de-
luded the longshoremen into the belief that main
land unions viii stand by them in fight - they
won't. Go back to the waterfront and ask your
employers for work and make your pleas for a new
wage-scale on the basis of fair play.
There is plenty of public opinion in favor of an
increase in wages for the longshoremen There is
definite to believe the shippers are working
on an increased-wage plan. Men who go back to
work may do SO with the assurance that they will
in the future get more pay. But if they continue
violence and disorder; If they continue the attempt
to force unionism down the throats of Honolulu EN-
ployers by train-wrecking, smuggling and picketing
by nlobs and gangsters they will find no jobs await
ing them. Employers do not want thugs and plug
uglies on their payrolls. Nor do they want, agta
TORI who incite to crime.