The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1920-11-20

juggernaut to roll mcrri]v along with
out protest.
ORGANIZED LABoR'a PERIL.
Leaders Of organized labor are not
Indifferent to the real peril that faces
them. They know that the recent cleo
ton has added tremendous impetus to
the 'open shop movement, and they
also realize that they are about to meet
the most determined effort ever made
to prevent collective action on the part
Of producers.
Labor haters are demanding the re-
peal of the labor provision Of the Clay
ton antitrust law, the federal incor.
poration of trade unions and the out.
having of agreements between employ.
ers and employees. The thought back
of these demands is to deprive the
workers Of their only effective weapon,
the strike. No employer, no matter
how brutal and callouscd, objects to
trade unions that are guaranteed not
to strike against wrongs. The strike
is the thing that the United States
Chamber of Commerce and the Manu-,
facturers' Association arc after, and
in their pursuit they have commanded
the sympathy and support Of large
| section of tie public that should know
better.
It is reliably reported that one of
the bills to appear in congress will
make it unlawful for an employer to
contract with his men. by making it
conspiracy to agree upon union
shop. That will meet in full the de-
naands Of "open' shop advocates. So
mitch accomplished, the rest will be
easy. Organized labor is effective only
when there is solidarity. In "open'
shops there is invariably such rank
discrimination practiced as between
unisn and non -union workers that it is
but q matter Of time until card men
are forced to withdraw from their
unions, in self protection, or quit thsir
jobs.
Federal Incorporation of trade
unions, has long been advocated by the
United States Chamber of Commerce.
1t sees in this scheme an opportunity
to take the money Of the unions. With
| control Of the courts fairly complete,
an incorporation law would be very
useful In the down-the line attack upon
trade unions.
The repeal Of the antitrust i'm.
munity of the Clayton act would make
the injunction useful and never-fal-
ipg weapon in labor disputes. There
are judges who are willing to overlook
this concession wrung from an unwill-
ing congress, but the majority Of jur.
lists fairly construe its provisions. Its
repeal would remove all doubt and
trade unions could be approached from
the angle Of being combinations in re-
straint Of trade.
The railway managers are getting
ready to put the skids under the broth
erhoods and will be before congress
with number Of schemes that, if en-
acted, will materially curtail the legi-
innate activities Of the workers.
All in all, the prospect is not espe-
cially happy for the unions They will
be handicapped at the very outset by
increasing unemployment. Hundreds of
thousands Of men, it is predicted, will
F.! search in vain for jobs this winter.
| This number will be gradually in
creased, until hunger compels the work
ers to accept conditions made by en-
ployers without consultation with the
workers.
The condition that is now revealed
was discernible before election, but the
workers could not be induced to safe
guard their own interests. They seem
to learn only in the bitter school of
experience. Now that they are going
to get some hard lessons, it may be
that they will learn something of value
to them. For instance, they will dis
cover, as their enemies have discov-
cred, that partisanism doesn It pay and
that safety lies not in blind allegiance
to party fetishes, but in answering
devotion to those interests and ideals
that must subsist unless we as a ma
ton the to sink back to a state of feu.
dalism.
When President Wilson appealed for
the election Of men to Congress who
would support his policies, he was de-
nopncea from one end Of the country Is