The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1917-03-24
TRADE UNIONS
| HOPE OF LABOR
PaternalIsm Of Employers a
( System TO Be Stunned.
MAKES NATION OF SHEEP.

Wipes Out Individual Initiative and
Breaks the Spirit of the American
Workman-Any Plan That Breeds
Subservient Followers Is Fraueht
With Danger to the Nation.
If this nation is ever to become a ma
tlon of sheep, ready to follow blindly
leader without question, the surest
road to travel to reach that goal Is to
have Its workers submit to the pater-
1alism Of employers.
II we are to build up here nation of
strong, self reliant men and women
who can stand upon their own feet and
successfully meet every condition that
confronts them the workers must man.
age their own affairs, regulate their
own lives and solve their own problems
La the everyday relations of life.
1t may be true, as some contend, that
~ Is better for the employees working
LIP the Ford automobile factories to be
forced to live according to the stand
ards dictated by their employer than to
BE- allowed to follow their own desires.
lih some cases, in perhaps large num-
Der of instances, this employer can
| govern the workers better than they
can direct themselves. But, admitting
the soundness of such reasoning, it Is
NOT democratic scheme of things, and
no real believer In democracy can adj
V9cate the spread of a system that
must inevitably wipe out individual
initiative destroy the sense of personal
responsibility and break the spirit of
\ the American worker.
ANY system that creates dependents
and breeds subservient followers must
be repulsiye to all persons with red
blood coursing through their veins and
imbued with republican ideals. Democ-
racy inSaction places men upon their
\ own resources and produces a race Of
| Independent, outstanding and efficient
1 people, and he who sets up an opposite
institution hinders development and in
teFferes with the progress of the hu.
man race In its struggle up from the
depths OF helpless dependency to vig-
orols independence. Such person
instead of being praised as benefcent
friend of man should be condemned
as an enemy Of society. Such work Is
not wen doing. 1t is positively hurtful.
VAC the nation must depend for its
csfNae h - ss4sat en- attack tack by by
4 an enemy upon the products Of pater-
nayism Of this character, then it Is
certain that the fond hopes of the
founders Of this republic are destined
to 3be blasted while the government is
still In its youth, because spoon fed
dependents are not to be relied upon
ind the hour of trial. What q nation
needs at such a time are men who have
faded the rigors and trials of life, not
dollhouse plants who have been shell
tered by paternalism from the blasts
of the elements.
Ii the Fords and Rockefe1lers are
sincere In their expressed desire to
promote the welfare of the human
race the way is open to them to do SO
! by withdra wing their opposition to or
ganization of the workers, so that they
can get within the folds of the bona
| fide labor movement and work out their
own destiny In their own way
! In the American Federation OF
Labor and its affiliated unions is
presented medium through which
the workers can lift themselves to a
higher level of manhood and woman
hood without the necessity of leaning
on other shoulders for support. There
Is not In the world today more ear
4 nest sponsor for the virtues of self help
than this same American Federation
Of Labor, and there is nothing that bet.
ter equips men and women for the
duties of democratic institutions than
the necessity Of padding their own
canoes through the stream of life.
With these facts in view, we have
held 1t to be our duty to persistently
oppose paternalism and to point out the
direful consequences that must follow
any general establishment Of such q
system. --L Labor Clarion.
| Decides Against Labor.
The Central Trades and Labor AS
sembly, in which the 10000 organized
workmen of Syracuse, N. Y, are rep
resented, was held guilty of conspiracy
with three local unions and six labor
leaders to curtail the trade of Justin
Schubert, Inc, cigar manufacturers. The
decision was handed down by Supreme
4 Court Justice Andrews. Damages are
to DO determined and assessed against
| the defendants. The Cigarmakers' In
| ternational Union Of America was ex-
onerated. It's union label was held
legal
MWwmG@M@MMMM@@w@ "
W REAL PREPAREDNESS. v