The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1921-02-25
'.Dissoluing" the Amalgamated


the answer to this fear is to try TO
destroy the Amalgamated, to disperse
the power Of the workers, to make them
1t was to protest against being
plunged back into sweatshop conditions
that the people of the Industry had
come together in Madison Square Gard
en-. The crowd assembled there was a
quiet crowd, and yet an undercurront
of excitement like flame rippled
through il. An impressive thing to see
the flame, the heart as protest, com
bined with restraint and order. This
crowd had the consciousness of power
which unity gives. It had no need to
be noisy. A mob makes a noise; it
imagines it has power in SO far as it
makes noise. But quiet army of
drilled men can disperse mob. This
crowd had the discipline and order.
You do not sacrifice the flame of the
spirit when you, confine it within the
walls Of discipline; you merely school
this spirit for use Fire confined in the
walls Of furnace smelts ore to iron'
iand transmutes iron to steel Fire un.
confined destroys.
The flaming spirit of this audience,
its- attention, its swift magnetic respon-
siveness to the speeches, all told the
story that there was mighty spirit in
the Amalgamated that was ready to
endure. IL was mute echo Of President
Hillman' g words, when he said that they
coula wait six weeks or six months, if
necessary to win, and that this oFgani-
zatioTIcould not really be "dissolved ("
Many people spoke. But the words
that stand out in my mind were from
Frank P. Walsh, who told these people:
"The" Amalgamated is the greatest
agency for Americanisation that I know
L have seen it came up from its in
fancy, Il have seen it, in few years
transform a sweatshop trade into one
where American living conditions were
possible. And if this is not American
zation, Il do not know what isl"
quote from memory only. I have neither
the power nor the full content Of his
words, only the central thought.
So this audience of protest sat there,
responding, applaudiing. The packing
Of Madison Square Garden was de-
monstratiqn. Down the ages people, the
workers, have demonstrated to show
their just Indignation 1t is the earliest
form Of advertising. 1t was only by
pouring out Of their houses into the
public squares and buildingsy by pro-
Ecessions, that the people hos made its
voice heard down the centuries. So the
industry demonstrated. 1t sat there
composed, orderly, electrically alive
from the floor to the ceiling, demon
strating to little group of men that
it was useless to try to dis-unite them.
And when Cantor Rosenblatt sang, the
enthusiasm of the crowd famed forth
inits love of beauty, in it's apprecia-
tion of music.
Around the big oval Of this Garden
were notices such as: '@THE ANAL
GAMATED GOES FORWARD; 1T
DOES NOT GO BACK
And l imagined another one which
was not there:
GAS ALL GOOD THINGS ARE
PRODUCED BY LABOR, 1T FOL-.
LOWS THEN BY RIGHTS THAT
THESE THINGS BELONG TO THOSE.
WHOSE LABOR HAS PRODUCED
THEM"
Bat the Amalgamated did not 60
as Far as that; they left those words
to Abraham Lincoln.
The Russian national institute for the
experimental study of human labor has
called conference Of representatives
of all scientific circles for the purpose
of promoting investigations Of work
firm the standpoint Of physiology and
psych0lopy.