The Connecticut labor press. (New Haven, Conn.) 191?-1921, 1920-05-01
HERE'S something
YOU DIDN'T Get in
The DAILY PAPERS
Only an Instance of Labor's At
titude but Remarkable for
Credit.

The following editorial appeared il
the Baltimore Morning Sun of April 20
and is but one of the many instances il
which members of organized labor have
done their bit, but seldom has the dali,
press seen fit to give credit where credit
is due:
ct is the fashion just now to find &
lot of fault with the labor unions. They
are said to be greedy, grasping, irrespon.
sible, quite regardless of the rights Oh
other people. They enforce unreason-
able demands with threats of violence
They are selfish, 1awless, unscrupu1ous
"a menace to orderly government
"A certain type of man talks even
whenever he happens to bark his shin
on one of the sharp-edged facts of
which the world is at present unpleas-
antlv full. And doubtless officials and
members of some unions, in fighting for
higher wages and shorter hours have
not altogether followed the Golden
Rule, which the rest of us are always
so careful. to observe
But public which wishes to be fair
will not continue its attention to labor
activities of single kind It will, per-
haps, be interested in striking and
remarkable labor demonstration which
occurred Saturday and Sunday a week
ago in Melrose Park, a suburb of Chi
cago.
at will be recalled that a couple of
weeks ago a cyclonic storm swept
through the Middle West, destroying
thousands of buildings, killing some IS
people, and injuring many hundreds
Melrose Park, which is a suburb of
small frame cottages, was one of the
r. Il,
Scores of its little homes were unroofed
families were killed and their other
members carried off, badly injured, to
the hospitals. =.
Saturday noon, when the short
working week, of which some of us
complain, was over, no less than 1,50O
union carpenters of Chicago modified
and marched in solid column out into
the ruined suburb. The procession was
headed by business agents and other
union officials. Its members carried
with them their hammers, saws and
other tools. All Saturday afternoon
and from sunup to shutdown on Sun
day the 1,500 experts worked like mad
on the rebuilding of the ruined homes
of Melrose Park. There was no ques-
ton of wages or working hours in
volVed. Every man gave the best that
was in him, freely and without price.
All day Sunday the sound of ham
mer and saw filled the air with its I'M
selfish paan. Ali day great crowds of
people stood in the streets of the vii
lage and cheered the volunteer work
ers. When the sun rose Sunday morn
ing the house, from the ruins of which
William SEEK had been taken out dead,
lay level with the ground. Just seven
hours and 10 minutes later it stood
whole again and complete, and the Stars
and Stripes foated from the gable end.
The fatherless family had again roof
over their heads. Surely that was a
work worthy of the day!
Before nightfallf on Sunday that
busy. regiment of union carpenters, had
changed Melrose Park from region
Of ruin and deso1ation into a suburb
Of trim and well-built homes. After
which they ate sort of housewarming
supper with the restored residents,
wished them the best of luck, and went
back to the city to get ready for their
regular jobs.
Next time one feels like cussing or
gained labor for claiming SO much,
perhaps, he will remember that it knows
how to give also on an equally gener-
Gus scale"