The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1917-06-30
BUSINESS AGENTS
WHO MAKE GOOD
BY the Rev. Charles stclzle.

When troubles come in the labor
world they are usually charged up to
the business agent-"the walking dele
gate" as he is called. But when every
thing is moving finely all the credit is
given to the good sense Of the work.
ingmen"-and the bosses.
The business agent is the '"scape-
goat" of the labor movement. Peo-
pie do not call him that, of course, but,
nevertheless, as in the days of the wan
behring's of the Israelites in the Wilder
upon him and he is sent out to square
himself as best he can.
But the business agent is no fool.
If he were, he wouldn't be on the job
that is, he wouldn't be there very long.
But there are good many people who
are all the time trying to have him
make fool of himself For example,
there is the man without conscience
who tries to bribe him either before or
during a strike. Now big roll of
bills must look mighty tempting to a
fellow who never in all his life saw so
much money at one time. 1t is a fine
thing that very few business agents
give way to the enptation-although
it is commonly supposed that every
business agent is crook.
Then there is that class Of men
which is trying to make a fool of the
business agent by thinking that he
should always be a good fellow" He
is expected to "set them up for the
boys and he is counted cheap skate if
he doesn't. MeanWhile-it is quite
forgotten that he has a family of his
own to support and that he usually
gets no more in the form of salary
than the average trade union member
in the same craft is receiving. Why
should the business agent be looked
upon as a sort of an easy mark, simply
because his salary is paid by other
trade unionists?
If the business agent is doing half OF
what the members of the union expect
of him, he is doing twice as much as
he ought, when it comes to a question
of earning his salary. Not every
business agent earns his salary. Some
of them are costly even though the
union paid them no salary at all. But
if a business agent is making good 50
weeks of the year-for, of course, he
isn't expected to take a vacation-in
quiet, business-like way, keeping the
men at work rather than constantly
calling them out on strike instead of
using his brain power to settle the diff
ficulty without a resort to warfare
if he's doing this, he is pretty good
sort of man to keep on the job.
When the time comes to call
strickland there will come such occa-
sions-he will be in a much better
position to win because he has not eX-
hausted his power to call the men out,
weakening his forces through petty
strife-just because it was the easiest
way out.
1t doesn't require much brain power
to command men to quit their jobs.
Anybody can issue a strike order pro-
viding that he has the authority. It
requires whole lot more in the way
of genuine ability to keep men on
their jobs and still have them receive
all that a strike could possibly win
for them.
If war is hell, then strikers are
''purgatory." But if men must strike,
let's at least give them decent argu-
ments for doing so and then stand by
them until they win out. And if they
lose, let's stand by the right kind of
business agent, for he's done the best
he knew how. If he never makes mis-
takes, he is more than Humankind
that kind of an individual wouldn't
make good business agent anyway.