The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1919-09-19
THE GUILD IN
LABOR ORGANIZATION
BY 2. 3. McDonald.

, In these days of LABOR unrest, when
workable solution of the industrial
problem is being eagerly sought, ot-
casional references are made to the
guild system of labor organization
which worked so happily in the Middle
Ages. The guild system gave salts
factory results for several centuries,
during which many Of the great Goth
ic cathedrals were built, and the Mer-
RE England Of those days appears so
attractive in the light Of history that
modern students are comparing the
medieval guilds with present day trade
unions.
Mr. G. H. D. Cole, writer in the
British periodical Reconstruction,
discusses 'Revivng the Guild idea as
d promising phase of industrial de-
mocracy. Mr.. Cole explains that the
medieval guilds were made up If mas
ter craftsmen with their journeymen
and apprentices. The important point
appears to be that the workers had
control Of the industry under plan
Iof self-government made possible
jpartly by the local nature and infor-
mality of method of the enterprise.
Each town was as nearly as possible
seIt-sufficient, since Capitalization and
Accommodation were as yet
scarcely practicable, although journey
men travelled to pick up new.ideas.
Mr., Cole suggests that a modern
adaptation of the guild idea should
have the following differences: The
trade unioh@ can be taken as a basis,
and salaried workers should also be
included; these organizations should
be related closely to the State some
what as the guilds were to the mu-
nlcipality. There will be more and
more tendency, the author thinks, for
the State to own and control indus
try; he says, "the characterization of
the industrial system will make posi-
bic a parallel characterization of the
political machine" Thus he would
have manual workers and brain work.
ers cooperating in great collective
GROUPS in which democratic control and
social service would be the prevailing
watchwords. A man would be cheer
ed at his work by the thought that he
was not commodity, as labor is now,
but free sharer in an enterprise
serving and controlled by society.
The guild system would recognize
freedom and order.
The author of the article considers
that society is evolving in the direc-
ton that he indicates, and that the
transition can be made peacefully and
gradually. He implies that the change
may be consummated more surely and
less wastefully if study of the me-
deval guilds is made and discussed
AS G. G. Walsh recently pointed out,
in England during the 18th century
among population about equal to
that of New York City, twenty mag
nlficent cathedrals were built with an
artistic craftsmanship and understand
ing of architectural effect that we
cannot rival today. The guilds built
these cathedrals, which are beautiful
because they represent the free ex-
preston of men interested in their
work and anxious to symbolic the
eternal seeking for ideals of race of
human beings enshrouded in religious
mysticism.
Probably there is nothing striking
ly new in Mr.. Coles article. In the
main, it is an argument for indus
trial democracy based on a scheme of !
and administration that |
gave excellent results seven centuries
ago. He argues that at is impossible |
to have a really democratic political |
system while the economic system |
remains undemocratic, and continues
to be based on the denial of the hui
mainly of labor"
Perhaps the first observation that |
comes to mind on hearing of such a
suggestion is that it is not so much |
the machinery or scheme Of a reform
that is important as it is the phases
of human nature with which the prob
lem is associated. 1t is necessary TOD
alter social ideals before scheme
will be found to work. There is some
thing to be said for Carlyle's sarcasm
about reforming by tremendous
cheers; he pointed out that mo sin
gle man can reform himself without
stern suffering and stern working;
how much less can nation of men,"
And the censor of his age continued,
'Medea, when she made men young
again, was wont to hew them in piec-
es with meat-aXes, cast them into cal
irons, and boil them for length of
time. How much handler could they
have done it by tremendous cheers
llonew
The point is that the spirit is more
important than machinery; reform
must come from within. If the modern
employer and his employee can learn
to understand each other better and
more imaginatively by a
study of the medieval guilds, more
good might come of it than by call
ing a trade-union a guild and adopting
some of the old customs. Without
1oubt better knowledge of the work
ngs of the guilds would help to clue
date some of the perplexities of mod
ern industrialism, in spite of Henry
Ford's observation that history is
bunk Yet great historical better
nents are achieved by changes in ways,
IF thinking, just as the greatest gain
from the war is said to be such a
of mind and conscience as
people seemed too stupid to attain
without being forced into it. How to
get employer and employee to under
stand and appreciate each other. to
cease from distrust and dislike, and to
realize the interdependeuce of labor