The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1916-01-07
LABOR COMES FIRST

Mr.. Editor:-Among all the agencies
which for the past few years have
been at work improving the condition
and procting the rights of the wage
earners, I believe that labor organi
cations stand first. They have brought
the laboring men together where they
could compare their views, unite their
strength and combine their influence,
and we have these organizations to
thank for many of the blessings which
have been secured to those who toll
Some have criticised and condemned
labor organizations. Some believe
that banks should join associations,
that railroad managers should Join
associations, that all the large cor
porations should join associations but
that laboring men should not organize.
Yet labor organizations have been
the means by which working men have
protected themselves in their contest.
The labor organizations have done
much for society in another way.
refer to the arbitration of differences
between employee and employer. That
principle has been brought to the at
tention of the American people by
the laboring men of the country.
believe in arbitration. The principle
is not new; it is simply an extension
of the court of justice. Arbitration
provides an impartial tribunal before
which men may settle their differ
ences instead of resorting to violence.
New conditions necessitated new laws.
In former years when one man en-
ployed few men to work for him,
there was an intimate acquaintance
between employer and employe, and
that intimate acquaintance developed
personal sympathy which regulated
their dealings with each other. All
this is changed. Now when corpor-
alton employs thousands and even
tens of thousands of persons, a per-
sonal acquaintance is impossible. The
law that must therefore supply the
element of justice which was formerly
supplied by personal acquaintance
and sympathy Arbitration is not
only good for employer and employee,
but is necessary for the security of
society. Society has, in fact, a high
er claim than employer or employee.
The whole people are disturbed by the
conflicts between labor and capital,
and the best interests of society de-
mands that these differences shall be
settled by courts of arbitration rath-
er than by strikes and lock-outs.
Some persons think that just as soon
as a labor organization is formed
their next object is to strike. Every
member of labor organization
knows better and that this false state
ment is used only by the enemies of
labor for the purpose of discrediting
the organization, Workers of the
Lead Belt, | would admonish you to
get together in an organization in or
der that you may be able to protect |
yourselves against corporate greed |
and starvation wage. The time
was when labor organizations were
not needed in this Lead Belt but that
time his passed. Graves and Parsons
of the Doe Run and st. Joe Companies
have gone to their reward; they who
plead the cause of the working man in
the councils of their companies will
plead for us no more. We can only
hope that another man will, ere long,
rise up to take their places in the
councils of those two companies as
the champion of the laboring man,
and we are neither prophet nor the
son of a prophet, but we venture to
predict that it will not be long until
we have staunch representative on
the board of directors of those two
companies, and it is not hard to guess
who that man will be. He does not
live in New York, a thousand miles
away.
A WORKING MAN.