The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-09-13
THE UNIONS AND THE WAR.

The public will be glad if the labor
unions live up to the patriotic profess
sions made by the recent council of
their representatives. Unfortunately
all the strikes are not confined to the
1. w. W. The labor conditions in Kan
sas City give rise to a suspicion that
the striking workers are taking adj
vantage of the war TO obtain. terms
which they could not get in time of
peace
On the whole, the labor organiza-
tions are showing a fine spirit of pa
triotism, and their assurances of sup
port of the government in the war
are a great source of strength. The
public declarations. of assemblies of
wage earners have been eminently
public spirited. Yet we have the
strikes and there are some further
threats.
When the success of the United
States depends in very great measure
upon the construction of shipping to
maintain the dispatch of supplies to
our allies, to transport our troops to
France, and to carry on our normal
foreign trade, a strike of several thou
sand men in the shipyards ought to
have been impossible. The labor lead
ers are not without recognition Of this,
and there are promises that strikes
shall not hamper the government. and
that controversies between laborers
and employers shall not be forced to
Settlement now, but shall be tenn
porarily adjusted to await definite set
Element after the war.
On the one hand, the 1aborers ought
not to be oppressed, and if conditions
change to their disadvantage efforts
should be made to find some relief.
But on the other, it is just as much
their duty to work as it is that of
some other man to pay taxes or buy
bonds, and of others to fight. The
wage earners should not take advan-
tage of the necessities of their coun-
try. That is form of 'profiteering'
that is just as obnoxious as that prac-
ticed by some of the capitalists.
| AS to the rights of the nation, there
can be no question. If it can take the
property of citizens to meet the ex-
penses of the war; if it can even take
the citizens themselves and send them
to France to fight for the national de-
Tense and welfare, it is preposterous to
suppose, says the New York Journal
of Commerce, that it has no right to
apply any means of compulsion to the
men who are building ships, or con-
Quoting transportation, or making
munitions, or doing any work neces-
sary for the welfare and commercial
existence of the country. No man has
right to complain of being COM
PEELED to work on conditions not en-
tirely satisfactory to him when his
neighbor can be compelled to go into
the trenches and do his duty as a SOL
dier. And if the soldiers cannot be al
lowed to knock off fighting at 5
o'clock or to strike for higher wages,
or better food, or more regular meals,
the organized wage earners of the
country cannot be allowed to bring
about the defeat of the country by
destroying or suspending any of the
industrial activities essential to its
prosecution of the war
Happily the principal labor leaders
understand their duty to the country
and they are using all their influence
and using it effectively-with that
minority of their followers whose in
terests are not national, but are linn
tied to their own class. This form OF
se1fishness is as discreditable among
laborers as among capitalists. We
are one people and we have got tc
make common cause. We win or lose
as a whole. and it is only here ant
there that Americans of any clas.
fail to appreciate the fart