The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1921-12-09
America has no peasantry,

America has no class set apart.
marked apart. definitely classified as
being apart and irrevc cably fixed as
apart from the great mass Of her peo-
pie. America has no class from which
it is impossible to merge.
America is distinguished throughout
the world by the high standard Of liv-
ing which the masses of her people
enjoy. The comparison in sharp and
distinct.
For this. the American trades union
movement is primarily responsible.
America has no proletariat as Europe
knows the proletariat.
In the beginning, this was because
Of the manner in which our country
was settled and because of it's bcunb-
less natural resources. 1t has remained
so primarily because of the trade union
movement.
For this. IT for no other service. the
trade union movement of the United
States is entitled to- be ranked as on..
of the country's greatest assets. il not
indeed, as the greatest asset of all.
The growth of the ade-union move
ment has substantially paralieled the
growth of the machine or factory sys-
tenn. With the coming Ct steam and
the subsequent coming of electricity
and the use of these agencies of power
in the development Of factory life, the
tendency of industry was to concen-
trate populations in small areas and
the tendency of employers was to keep
these concentrated populations, so far
as possible, at a mere subsistence leve.
Of wages.
but for the trade union movement
entering into, modern industrial life.
combating the ever present tendency
of employers toward mere subsist-
ence wage. combating their tendency
to retain the long employment day
that had obtained prior to the devel-
opment of factory life. America would
have had a class as distinctly marked
apart from the rest of society as any
European country.
The idea obtains to some extent that
trade unions are merely organizations
Ct aggression, that they are something
| in the nature of predatory bands form.
ed to secure for their members suci
temporary advantages as may be pos
sible, no matter what the cost to EN-
ployers or to society. OF course. those
who out Of shortsightedness oppose thu
I
spread this false impression.
The truth is that nc. organization IL
America is broader in it's outlook o.
attempts to more intelligently under
stand the general needs Of our societ!
or to fit in more cCnstructiyely .a1t
helpfully.
An understanding of the structure o
the American Federation Of Labor ma!
AoY> <,,l IN
standing of it's activities and it's pol
icies. The form OF organization aroun'
which the American labor movement
Is built is exactly like the form Of OF
ganizatiGn in the political life Of on
country. The American Federation c
Labor is constructed with its founda
ton on the ground and all power
proceed from the base upward and no
from the top downward. The smalles
unit Of organisation is the local un
lion. Local unions are composed q
groups Of people working in the san.
trade, in the same communities. Thes
local unions ere affiliated into wha
are known as city central bodies o
city central labor unions. The city cen
trail labor union il, thus. represen
tative organisation composed Of dele
gates from all the local unions in
city. BY the same process. state fed
J erations OF labor are formed. In mos
J cities. there are. In addition to tn
: city central labor union. delegat
bodies representing the unions in spe
cific branches OF industry such as tn
building trades. the metal trades an
the pri0ting trades. Through these OF
} ganisations. the. wage earners in eac
city are brought together and q,
. placed IN . position to act unitedl
and intealigently for the ;conservatio
Ard .advanceseat OF their cwn intel
l Astg and for the consideration Of prof.
: lens Of all 'iinds relating to the III