The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1921-11-05

~ "f1VH anu WHICH OOeS uOt expire
nntif April next. Be it again said that
>he government was a party 10 tina:
agreement.
On the fSce OF it Il. discerning pub!i:'
MAY not>endorse a proposition that
| compels an employer to hold out from
The wages Of an employee his dues to the
! anion, but when such is given careful
analysis it will be found that the sys.
TEN is an old industry. The employers
started it. Where they owner conf
panv stores the grocery, meat and other
bills were arbitrarily taken from the
wages of their employees. In the lum-
Der camps of Minnesota the employers
have for years withheld from the wages
Of their men the cost Of hospital tick
cts, and the employees had mighty little
to say about it. Many other exactions
have been made by employers and most
times without the consent of the en-
ployes. II they didn't like it "they
could quit There was no alternative.
Now with regards to "checking off,
the Union dues it is part of contract
made by and between the employers
and the duly accredited representatives
Of the employees. The men ratified that
contract. That ratification by the min
ers through their individual votes gave
TO every employer Of union miners "an
order on the company' to withhold the
union dues from the pay Of each and
every miner. The men had all to say
at the outset as to whether or not that
provision should go into the contract.
1t was different from the old order, for
they had agreed to it without threat
or duress. Its adoption merely facili-
tated the matter Of collecting dues, al
though it has never proven satisfactory
10 the operators or the union. The
United Mine Workers intended to con
tinue, the system during their present
| contract and then to devise a new plan.
They are now merely observing their
government approved agreement, which
the court would have the operators
violate.
And finally "the dear publicn is
played up again. "This conspiracy Of
the operators and the union is detri-
mental to the publie,' say the enemies
of union labor. cit compels an exor-
bitant charge for coal.' All, but net
a word about the many evils by which
the public is extorted that have crept
into the coal industry by conspiracy
with the railroads, over-capitalization
Of mines, pyramiding Of profits through
neutrality-suspicious. and wholesale and
retail combinations. They would make
labor the goat, the union miners who
within a decade have raised themselves
from serfs to freemen, who have moved
from miserable novels to comfortable
cottages and who are beginning to real.
ice some Of the good things of life so
long denied them.
These enemies Of labor, Of justice ard
Of humanity would compel the unor
ganized mine workers Of West Virginia
to continue to live the miserable lives
they have endured under the most dam
nable conditions known; they would
deny them the opportunity for bette,
homes and higher life, and all under
the pretense that they are protecting
the public from the extortions of labor
Shame on them and shame ON the pres:
which knows the inwardness of theil
purpose and would still defend them.
The enemies Of labor, headed by the
House Of Morgan, may fool the public
for while, but they are not fooling the
workers. Like the Bourbons of France
they are having their day; they are re-
yelling in their wrong doing; they arc
sewing the wind. If they do not sea
whirlwind approaching they are not 50
wise as was Louis XIV, when he said:
Fittings will last as they are as Ions
as I shall,' or may be like Madame de
Pompadour, fully aware Of the catas
trophe which was impending in France
and flattering herself that the storm
would not break during her life, sale
"Apres nous lie deluge!' "After u!
comes the deluge.''
Neither the plottings Of labor's enc
mics nor injunction edicts by accom-
modating courts will destroy the spirit
OF American labor. They will not make
radicals but Of wise, conservative lead
ers, but they will arouse their fighting
spirit; they will serve to solidify the
workers and make them more deter
mined than they ever were before
There will be no overthrow of the gov
eminent, not if the A. F. of L. ear
help it, but there is going to be clean
ing in the house Of Mammon that will
rebound to the benefit Of mankind
and it il comino rn:rh+v ann