The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1917-10-26
AS OTHERS SEE
S-HOUR DAY
FOR LUMBER

ing III IHe press dDouI lle ldpoi
troubles in the mining camps, mills
and factories throughout the coun-
try, and almost all strikes and
trouble were attributed to the ac-
tivities of the |. w. WIS.
Now that the government has
"Set" down on the l. w. WIS, the
labor troubles still exist.
The ideas of the |. w. w. are
at variance with our ideas of gov
eminent, and obnoxious to the pub
lies ideas. Their ideas are revo-
lutionary. They seek to upturn the
institutions of the country and to
inaugurate a system of government
that most thinking people honestly
believe will lead to anarchy, and the
belief is not without good reasons.
That organization being unpopular,
their Importance has been exagerat-
ed in every strike by the press. Ev-
cry strike, almost, in the West and
mining states of the Rockies, was
charged to the | Won't Works.
AS it turns out, but few of the
laboring men of this country are
members of that order, nor are they
in the least sympathy with it's teach
ings and practices. The mechanic,
the miner and the common laborer
are men who have intelligence. Not
five per cent of them are |. w. WIS,
And it is unreasonable to believe
that handful of these people can
set on foot and keep up the strikes
that have occurred throughout the
country.
The employing class has grasped
the opportunity, it seems to me,
to bring censure and condemnation
on the great mass Of workers by
CHASING them with the |. w. WIS,
to turn public opinion against the
efforts of the wage workers to bet
ter their working conditions and to
secure higher wage.
The truth is, that the laboring
men almost to a man favor three
things at least that are favored by
the l. w. W., and they are: An
eight hour law, better working con-
ditions and joining of all labor
into one great organization. But
right there the sympathy and CO.
operation ends. The wage worker
favors these objects, not because
the l. w. VS. favor them, but in
spite of the fact that they do.
Most workers know and feel the
necessity of better wage, and of
better. and more sanitary conditions
where they work. They feel that
with the aid of labor saving machin-
cry, eight hours a day is all they
ought to be required to labor. And
they know that in order to subsist,
that their wages should be in
creased commensurate with the up
ward prices of the necessities of
can stand the raise and at the same
time make as great or a greater
profit in these times as in times
I,past.
They have the object lesson of
the eight-hour law enacted by con-
gress last fall. When that law
was enacted, the railways were a
unit in shouting from every hill
top and on every opportunity that
if the law went into effect, every
line of railroad would go into the
hands of receiver, and the trans
portation companies would go to the
damnation bow-wows. The courts
were resorted to to defeat the law
and the demands of the railway train
men, but that tribunal held the law
constitutional. The law became eff
fective, and not one single road
has become bankrupt, and if we
are to give credence to the press
reports, they are all making fair
dividends. Shortly after the law
come into force, the Western Union
telegraph company, voluntarily gave
their operators an eight-hour day.
Now, there is but one conclusion
that we can arrive at, and that is
this: That the railway companies
were either talking through their
hats or were in blissful ignorance
of the profits of their business. 1t
proves too, that these companies
were making the profits they now
make, and in addition were getting
at least two hours per day from
every man in their employment,
| free.
The numbering industry is shout
ing as huskily against the 8-hour
day as did the railway companies,