The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1917-03-03
TRADE UNIONS
AND PROSPERITY
Higher Wages For Workers
Mean an Increase In Industry.
DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH


sanized Labor Has Done Much to
Speed the Progress of Civilization.
It's a late day to be arguing about
the good the labor unions have done
for the American commonwealth.
If our civilization has merit 1t is be-
cause 1t is bringing to the many the
advantages that once belonged only to
a few.
A state Is neither civilized nor pros
porous when all the wealth and ma
terial comforts belong to a small aris-
tocracy, while the mass of the people
are PROSTATE in poverty. As civiliza-
. ton advances the possessions Of the
common man increase. As these In
crease the state becomes stronger.
Neither gold nor coal is of value I'M
less 1t can be used.
The problem of civilization has been
to provide avenues through which
wealth can change hands, in buying
and selling, and through which the re-
sources of the earth can be made of
service to mankind.
Before sale can be made there must
be buyer. Before man can become
a buyer he must have the money with
which to buy.
Unless he has this money the coal
and iron must remain unmined, the cot
ton and silks unwoven into cloth be-
cause there is no demand for them.
So the manufacturers of goods and
the sellers of goods are confronted
with the necessity of placing more
money in the hands of the common
man, who is the buyer, in order that
they themselves may prosper.
As a part of civilization they have
been working blindly. often unwilling
ly and with many blunders, at the task
of providing more buyers in the world.
But while this slow process has been
in motion new great force has made
itself felt.
This Is the demand of the common
man himself for the means to buy the
products of the manufacturer and the
goods of the retailer in order that he
and his family may live In comfort.
The worker came to realize that he
himself had q thing of value to SELL
a thing Of such value that the coal and
/, irne n the earth the silk IA the cocoon
th8 cotton III the bon, were worthless
without 1t. This thing Of value was
his labor.
So the workers Joined together in
unions and bartered their labor as the
merchant bartered his goods. Labor,
before that, had been the only thing
In the world on which the buyer al
ways fixed the price, The shoe mer-
chant named the price at which his
shoes should sell, the steel manufac-
turer named the price at which his
rails should sell, but the worker, Offer
ing his labor in the market, always
had to take the price the buyer named.
With the coming Of the unions, labor
began to find its place with other COM
modities of value in the world. and the
workers were able to bargain over the
price at which it should be sold, just
as the retailer bargains with the manu-
facturer, and the manufacturer with
the producer Of raw material.
The result of this was that labor
brought higher price The workers
had more money to spend
Higher wages for the worker meant
that hundreds Of thousands of yards
of woolens and millions of pounds of
manufactured foods and countless tons
Of building materials were being sold
for which there was no demand until
the worker got the money to buy them.
This meant an increase in industry
throughout the land. When few are
rich and the rest of mankind is near
starvation the manufacturer and the
retailer are In a hard way because the
amount of their product that few
can use is very limited. When a vast
number Of men and women are able
to buy comforts and luxuries then de-
mand Is high and prosperity reigns.
In the organization of our social and
Industrial system the producer of raw
material-the miner and the grower of
crops, the manufacturer, the whole
saler, the retailer and the buyer are
welded firmly together in mighty
chain Of trade.
A chain is just as strong as its weak
est link and no stronger. The strength
ening of the weaker links means the
strengthening of the whole chain.
It is In Strengthening these weaker
links that the labor unions have
brought material benefit not only to
the worker, but to the manufacturer
and merchant and miner, whose prod
uct the worker buys
As the worker increases in prosperity
the whole nation increases In prosper
ity because. the wealth of the land
which otherwise would lie idle be-
cause Of lack of demand is brought
into usefulness.
Just SO far as the labor unions sue
coed in raising the level of all work
ers the level of welfare Of all Industry
will be raised.
The more wealth that is in the hands
Of the mass Of the people the greater
viii be the demand for the products
Of the earth, and the less wheat and
corn and iron and coal and wood VIII
lie unused and unsold In our land
San francisco Daily News.