The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-03-13

At the end of the Civil War, when the soldiers returned to industrial life, the labor market was glutted, as it is getting to be now. Wages had risen rapidly during the war. al though the rise was spotIy and con fined, 2s # has been in this war to the industries more or less directly connected with war. The capacity
 of factories and workshops had been multiplied, and machinery had sup erseded hand labor in practically every field of industry, rendering the
 workman entirely dependent upon
 capital for employment.
 This was the practical beginning
 in this country of organized labor on national scale. During the war
 chatteI slavery had been abolished,
 the ten hour day had come generally
 into being, as the eight hour day has
 in this war, and the distribution of
 public lands was an accomplished
 fact.
 The labor leaders demanded an
 eight hour day and protective legisla-
 ton for women and children, and they have gotten 1T to a limited degree
 after fifty years of struggle. Labor
 went into this war better educated. better organized, than it went into the Civil War, and they have come out of it not only with their own experience 10 aid them, but with 9 world knowledge which they never had before.
 Seized Control
 They have seen their fellows in Russia seize control of the govern ment, take the ownership of the land and control of the industries; they T. -r,l- 1 control of the government and prom tse to socialize industry; they have ] seen their brothers in the United ! Kingdom cast 25 per cent of all the votes cast in a parliamentary cleo ] ton for a labor program involving a minimum wage and active participa- 1 ton in the mana gement of the indus 1 tries in which they labor. They | know that, though the |. g. Supreme ] Court in the Hitchman case took the ] position that an employer may re- ! quire employees to enter into con 1 tracts foregoing their right to mem 1 bership in their trade organizations, and though that court held in the i Coppage case that the Kansas Act i to punish with Line or Imprisonment ! an employer for prescribing as a con- | dition of employment that the em- 1 ployee shall enter into an agreement ] not to become or remain a member ] of a labor organization was uucon- i stitutional, yet, when the nation need l ed them, when the country could not l get along without them in this war, l the War Labor Board and the Pres ident by proclamation declared that Right to Organize
 'sThe right of workers to orga nize 1 in trade unions and to bargain col i Iectively through chosen representa- tives is recognized and affirmed This right shall not be denied, abridg- 1 ed or interfered with by the employ CTS in any manner whatsoever
 They have concluded that if this right was theirs when they were needed 1t is also theirs when they | need it, and l venture the prediction that they will be turned back from i that attitude with some difficulty; ] and, in this connection, the l. w w movement must not be overlooked o1
 underestimated They are part and parcel of labor's evolution which is going on before our eyes.
 l Unskilled workmen are steadily or the increase, and this process of aug mentation is going to continue be- l cause increased profits depend upon quantity production and reducins cost, and these two ends can only be obtained by a constant improve ment in machinery, which constantly tends to increase the number of un- skilled workmen. This is the base or 1 which the I. w w. rests. As the un-
 skilled many replace the lesser mum. Der of skilled mechanics, the power of numbers as distinguished from the l power of craft skill will be con stantly increased, and the one bis union idea is certain to steadily grow For the moment, aI: other consid keratioRs oanst make way far ths nres@