The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1918-09-06

ernOn
7.
public's interference with big business
was resented as much as the labor
unions. We were scolded for appeal
ing to Columbus for laws to hold cor
porations in check. 1t was sought to
impress US that the business magnate
was sacrosanct, and that touching him
was like touching the Lords anointed.
But the public went calmly on, gain
ing that measure of control over in
dustry which it felt in self-defense it
must have. For if labor was under
paid, the public was burdened with the
partial maintenance of the working
mans family. Or if women and chill
dren were allowed to underbid and
supplant man, the logical breadwinner,
the public must pay for this reversal
of natural order If business is in
terrupted and disrupted by strikes and
lockouts the public suffers inconven-
ience and often pecuniary loss.
But the public's interest in the way
business is run-now so generally rec
ognized and acceded tbs nothing like
so acute an interest as the working
mans. Because his stake is SO big, it
is but fitting that he, too, should have
say.
"Workingmen have not been prompt
ed to take those measures of self-pro-
lection summed up in unionism in the
belief that every employer is a Shy
lock, but only because they know that
there are some employers who never
think of anything but getting their
pound of flesh.
Open Shop.
And so it is not very convincing to
me to be pointed to this or to that
open shop, and shown how very much
it does voluntarily for its men, and not
under the compulsion of a union. No
body ever claimed that every single
employer would be so intent on divi-
dends as to forget the rights of his
| 1,ap p,,+ tb;c n,,r-l,+ ~ la ea;J. VSlo,o
are open shops and open shops.
''The open shop is a much juster in
stitution in those regions where it is
surrounded by vigorous unionism
than it is in the absence of it. The
open shop tends to become a sweat
shop in those regions and those trades
where there is no union organization
nor sentiment to restrain it.
| "A second aim of the labor union is
to secure humanity in industrial re-
lations. 1t would startle US if tomor-
row evening there should appear in our
daily paper, beside the list of casual
ties on the battle front in France, an
other list of the casualties of the pre-
ceding twenty-four hours on the battle
front of industry here in America
4 The industrial army loses heavily ev-
cry day of the year, and the total of
casualties for year is appalling. In
the past that total was more frightful
still. 1t was far larger than it needed
! to be. 1t was enormously swelled by
preventible injuries and accidents
Partly this was because high-speee
machinery was not then adequately
! fenced and safeguarded. The tenders
existed, and they would do the work
but it cost money to install them, anc
for the most part they were not in,
stalled. Partly it was because of too
long hours of labor. 1t is vel, ,estab
lished psychological fact that fatigue
causes the secretions in the body of {
toxin, or poison, which slightly be
numbs the fingers and lengthens the
time equation Where firm grasp il
needed it can not be given; where al
instantaneous response is called fol
there is hesitation. Those butter fin
gers or that momentary hesitation
often mean maimings or killings. Take
a chart which shows the hours of tn,
day when industrial accidents occu
and you will find the curve mounts
astoundingly when you reach the hours
of WEAKNESS.
''As those who were most ieopar
died, the labor unions have consist
emily and continuously fought for bet
ter shop safeguards and for an eight
hour workday. To them belongs tn
largest credit for the factory laws tina
make industry safer, and for tn
marked reduction there has come il
the anaimed, the widowed and the or
phaned thru shop mishaps
For Industrial Peace.
"Since the history of unionism ha
been so largely militant, my mex
statement may surprise you--namely