Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1921-02-04
"0pen Shop Plan for Industry FIayed by Mem
Der of St. Louis Chamber of Commerce


Board of Directors of the St. Louis
Chamber of Commerce, we publish a
portion of the speech against it's adop-
tion which was delivered by Oliver T..
Remmers, when the question was up
for consideration several weeks ago.
1t is an able exposition of the subject,
and should be preserved as treasure
of labor literature, for lovers of fair
play.
81 shall oppose this resolution for
two reasons" said Mr. Remmers;
zone as a matter of principle. the
other and guiding reason is that the
Chamber of Commerce is going be-
yond the purpose for which it was or
ganized in giving this question even
serious consideration.
| shall oppose this resolution for
the further reason; that it is paid
propaganda, stimulated by paid en-
employees, who should be out producing
instead of agitating and stirring
up strife.
Some of these propagandists are
pense, for they have no plant, no in
vestment, no public good to, seek OF
maintain, with only their salaries at
stake. They can easily afford to
foment strikes; they are worse than
the walking delegates they seek to
displace, they are walking delegates
or hirelings for capital to suppress
labor with honeyed. words.
The resolution states that equal
Justice shall be allowed every work.
man, and that he shall not be dis
criminated against by reason of any
views that he holds. Why doesn't the
resolution plainly say what it means,
instead of by deceptive language
claim to stand for the utopian, when
its real purpose is to suppress organ
lied labor? Why does it not get out
on all fours and say so, calling a
spade d spade? | have no patience
with deceit, or circuitOus methods.
Neither do | believe that the Chamber
of Commerce and the members here
assembled are so narrow and small
minded as to subscribe to a resolution
false on it's face, when it merely in
tends to convey the thought that the
end justifies the means.
Mr.. Samuel Gompers says that if
he were an employer of general labor
he should expect to bargain in the
fairest possible spirit, and he believes
that he should receive fair service in
return. AS soon as we remove the
unions suspicion Of the employer
and the employers suspicion of the
union there is nothing to prevent the
most cordial relation-the sort of re-
lation that we all like to have with
everybody with whom we come in
contact. The bargain would settle the
question Of hours and wages; and
with them out of the way the road
would be open for truly personal
contact.
Some of the things the open shop,
or the American plan will do, are to
cause conditions of workers to be bet
tered by legislation forced by organ
lied labor, which was formerly done
by agreements. This will affect all
employers; the agreement plan affect
ed only the union shops. 1t will cause
the withdrawal of money from banks
operated by high financiers, and the
establishment of peoples banks, own
ed and controlled by the organized
working people. 1t will cause the
regulation of all business by state or
government officials through legis-
lation, causing the American Fedora
ton of Labor to embark in the in
surance business to issue policies at
price where no insurance company
can compete. 1t will cause the enact
ment of state and government man
aged compensation laws for health
and accident, and result in the black
listing of employees who do not, or
will not, accept the policy of the open
shop.
ANY considerable adoption of the
American plan will lead to the eX-
ention of the supervisiOn of the. De-
partment of Labor over private Dusl-
ness, for the protection of morgan
lied workers will become an affair
of the government, when the right of
collective bargaining is denied, re-
sulting in a great industrial upheaval
when the employers discover they
have been duped; and labor unions
will become more attractive, as they
will make membership more desirable.
The American plan will never pros
per, D6CduSc IL ulICSIly az IllC
purse-strings of the business men,
who keep contributing to a fund to be
paid to professional agitators. The
business man soon tires of such con-
tributions, especially when it keeps
his business in a turmoil, resulting in
boycotts and excessive labor turn
over, together with the loss of many
friends and considerable patronage.
eff YOU want to know what makes
Bolshevism," said Sherman Rogers,
an ex-lumber jack from Oregon, be-
fore two thousand delegates of the In
dustrial Relations Association at
Chicago, ego home and take squint
in the looking-glass and you will see.
1t is time to stop passing the buck
and slam cards on the table face up
where everybody can see them, and
then we will get somewhere. Ninety
eight per cent of labor is right, abso-
lutely square. Establish the human
contact between the office and the