The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1920-03-05

where the line, of love and justice
should be drawn in this matter Of
unionism should arise and bow; his
whereabouts is not generally known.
1t must be admitted that there are
many employers who, no matter
what their profits. never make CON
ces>ion in wages. OF take any other
step in the direction of the better
ment OF those of their fellow men
VINO are working for them. until they
are forced to do so. either by the men
themselves or by the public opinion
of an aroused and indignant people.
There are plenty of employers who
see nothing inconsistent in holding
every employe down TO the barest
wages that viii support life. while
they themselves are rolling in every
conceivable luxury. 1t is only in
time Of war or other national peril
that such "citizens" ever get anything
like a comprehensive view of their
proper relations to their fellow men:
bat as soon as the peril is over they
90 back to the same old selfish way of
looking at things as far as the work
er is concerned.
1t does not appear to be sound Wis
dom to leave wages to the formula
of begging. pleading and coaxine
from men of such a stamp what they
ought to be glad to give readily; and
it is inevitable that in any place
where as many a. fifteen or twenty
workers are employed they are liable
to get together, sooner or later. and
for their common good make such
oYertures as will protect them from
the most glaring features of indus
trial injustice \ number of work
ers, associated together, can do for
the whole what singly they would not
be able to do for any At the same
time it is violation of liberty to
force anybody to join a union.
It is un-American for employers
VIII are organized with other employ
ers to discharge their employees for
organizing themselves; and it is
equally un-American for self-ap-
pointed committees of 'business men"
to get together, as they occasionally
do, and railroad labor organizers out
Of town under the speciou, claim that
they are thereby protecting America.
Such protection of America will do
far more harm in the end than it will
dc good. We have had too many Gre
spectacle" plug-hat mobs, and the
people are getting thoroughly tired
of them. We do not want extremists
Of either kind Labor or Capital. in
this country.
One Of the charges that is fire.
quently brought against unionism is
that the members of labor unions do
not live up to their bargains, but fire.
quently disobey their own officers and
violate their contracts by going on
strike when they have agreed not to
do so. Such instances frequently oc-
cur, and do the unions more harm
than any other one thing. ANY union
which fails to carry out its contracts
alienateS public sentiment. and when
any body of men in a republic forfeit
the approval of their fellow citizens
they have lost their case. The public
cannot and should not look with favor
upon any body Of men that violate
their contracts
There is a limit, too. to the things
that labor union can properly de-
mand The limit to that demand is
not all that can be forced from an I'M
willing employer. When workers get
to the point where they demand for
themselves the total receipts of bust
ness. regardless of the rights OF 9th
ers. the whole fabric of civilization
will crumble unless they are made to
see that the rights of others are as
real a their own, and are not to be
lightly trifed with or bartered away
by any one.
On this point Nh William B. Col.
Yer, Of the Federal Trade Commits
sion, at the annual convention Of the
National Coffee Roasters Associa-
ton, had this to say: Organizations
OF groups Of men for mutual benefit
are proper and are to be encouraged
up to the point where such organiza-
lions interfere with the general well
fare and public interests: but Ill
rights yield to the one dominant right
that Of the general welfare. All
organizations are useful so long as
they function in and for the public in
terest."
Noting that restless and reckless
Labor makes Capital restless and
reckless, some have proposed that la
Dor unions should be required to in
corporate themselves, so that their
bargains could be enforced. Labor OBJ
loctS TO this. holding that it would be
subject to constant legal persecution
toy aNaricIous empIOverS Na,-a,.+l,o