The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1916-02-25
BASIC Principles GOOD.

Opposition to Workers Organizations
Due Largely to Ignorance of Indus
trial Conditions Movement Too
Strong to Be ignored - Atruistc
Work of the Locomotive Brotherhood.
Warren S. Stone, grand chief of the
Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers,
delivered an address on Labor Unions
and Railroads" before the railroad
during the Panama Pacific exposition
that Is of especial interest at this time.
Among other things he said;
No doubt many of you share IN the
feeling of prejudice held by many
against labor unions. This is largely
due to the fact that men of today have
not given the complex relations exist
ing between labor and capital the
study it requires to acquire a thorough
understanding of the subject.
Labor unions are like corporations
good, bad and indifferent-but back of
all the mistakes and failures of the
labor movement the underlying prin-
ciples have been good, and because of
it the wages and working conditions of
the toilers have been bettered. Organ
lied labor in some form or other called
by some name or other, has come to
stay and is a force that will have to be
reckoned with III the coming years.
There are those who seek TO destroy
organized labor they had just as well
try to destroy the sunlight descending
from heaven. If it were possible for
them to do so ] know of no worse
calamity that could happen to this
country of ours. All that stands be-
tween wealth that you hold today and
the wave of anarchy that would sweep
over you is the labor unions. such as
represent.
Regardless of whether you believe iii
labor unions or not. this one fact re-
mains true You are vitally interested
In the organization | represent The
wages the locomotive engineer re
ceives, the hours and conditions under
which he works. the personal charac-
ter of each man, concern not only tho
employees, but concern every one of
the vast multitude who daily travel on
our railway trains. You want to know
as well as | want to know that these
men who are going daily to and fro
with the many trains in the congested
traffic of today and IN whose keeping
you trust all that you hold dear on this
ri ~ npa
picked men Of the very highest type.
Out of every 100 men who start as
firemen only seventeen become en-
gineers. Out of every 100 men who do
become engineers only six become pas
senSer engineers.
1t is well established principle
agreed to by all, that any business
must first take care Of its depreciation,
its wear and tear. before any profit is
taken. In the railroad service they
realize that enough must be saved
from the earnings of the locomotive to
buy new one when the old one is
worn out What they have not learned
is that the entire capital of the engi-
neer is his time, muscle and brain
up and consumed until after compar-
atively short time he goes to the indus
trial scrap heap.
Instead of the railroads taking care
of this wreckage of theirs the whole
burden is thrown upon the men to
bear. How heavy this burden is the
world at large can hardly realize The
op 7
has its own insurance, SO we know the
figures we give are correct. For eX-
ample:
For the past ten years Jan !, 1905,
to Dec 81, 1914. and this does not in
clude the natural deaths, we paid out
for claims incurred by accidental
deaths as a result of injuries while in
service as engineer $4,S60,000; paid for
blindness, same having been incurred
while in service, $40 $50; paid for am
putation of one or both legs from acct
dental injury while on duty $G04, 500;
paid for amputation for one or both
arms from accidental injury while on
duty 1864, 750-a total for ten years
from accidents alone of $6,574,500.
hC VI lOtdA ID SdII lllS
insurance for its members amounting
to $145, 900 and has paid out to the
beneficiaries of deceased and disabled
members into the homes of widows
and orphans over $30,000000 1t might
interest you to know that from the
time the member comes to us until we
pay his insurance the average term OF
insured life is eleven years and seven
days. Gentlemen, that is his whole
stock in trade. all that he has to sell
It is true. gentlemen. that we are or
ganized, and we fought our way up to
where the railroads, if they do not love
lis, at least have wholesome respect
Tor US. 1t is also true that in the future
we expect to have something to say
about the rates and conditions of en-
pioyment under which we work.
Railway Unions Prepared.
Indications that the four powerful
railway unions are prepared financially