Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1920-09-23
TOII.ERs AND PROGRESS


One. of the profound truths firmly fix-
ed In the public mind during the recent
campaign of education In our state is
that any scheme Of progress for Vermont
which does not also have regard for the
welfare OF the workers 10 Fundamentally
wrong.
Where due thought and solicitude not
only for the men who toll but also for
their homes and children prevail there
are sincere sympathy and close coop
Grafton between employer and employee.
II not only pays both capital and labor
but it Is right.
The great war brought the entire CIV
llised world into new realization of this
Fundamental truth. We, therefore. note
with satisfaction that a movement has
begun to promote the uplift and welfare
Of the workers Of distant China. We be-
lieve the Ieaven of progress will work
upward through the different classes cre-
ated by the effete system Of autocratic
sway in the Celestial Empire and hasten
the day when China will take her place
among the firmly established and pro-
gressive republics Of the world
An official of the American Federation
of Labor. just returned to New York
from the Philippines and Shanghai, tells
a correspondent of the PHILADELPHIA Led.
ger. that this development is exceedingly
important and far reaching. Employers
Of France, England and the United States
who had expected to tap the Orient labor
reservoir in the next decade. will be sur
prised to find that the brotherhood idea
is we'll intrenched in the Far East.
''Curiously enough. the organization o.
the coolies has come from the top ant
not from the bottom" he said. "Th'
leaders in the movement are the ntelec
tual. students and Scholars. who in be
half of the workers are demanding short
err hours, better pay and better workin,
conditions. During the war China sen
large groups of laborers to the ives
front. One hundred thousand were il
the British labor corps and $4,000 wer
with the French They learned how t
talk English and French. and with tn
language came the understanding of tn
way the masses Of the Occident demand
ed and obtained advantages.
"A union was formed In the PROVING
of Shantung called the returned Chimes
Labor association. Hsia Chi Feng, VIII
was an interpreter In the British army
has become its president Having i'm
bibed somewhat Of European civilization
the members protest against wrong
which formerly went unchallenged. An
other body recently formed is the Ma
tional Labor Union of Shanghai, wit
$500 members. Lob Wei Chang is pres
ident OF this union. There are two othe
unions--the Chinese Labor Union. wit
5000 members of which Tsao Ya Pei
chairman. and the labor union of Chine
, a small. now organization, of which Oh
, CHA Mel Is chairman"
This official says that workman
= China tolls at least twelve hours dali!
q His pay has been about forty cents. TT
: unions are demanding ten-hour day an
e minimum wage the equivalent in O,
money to 81 per day. Chinese worker
always have been accustomed to ha,
their employer supply at least one me-
, a day without charge. There are no Il
Dor laws in China. but the American Fe,
GRAFTON Of Labor man says that the unioI
p Of the Orient have supplied themselv'
a with copies Of the laws Of England ar
n America, and are going to demand II
O enactment Of similar laws In China.
= 1t was not so long ago that Samu
q Gompers organized his tobacco worker
Il union. one of the frst large and effecti'
d labor bodies to take hold In New Yol
a city. big Six" the powerful typoErap
t ical union. was another early organic
u ton. Since then the "get-together" ger
d has spread into every limo Of human e
: ds"v'T' I