The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1921-01-22

the pretenses that have been made for
it as an agency to protect the rights
of the individual. stripped of it's cam
outage. is but a clever ruse on the
part of the autocrats of industry to
perpetuate their long held power. to
continue to hold the worker iii sub
lection, and to deny to him larger
freedom which the Union Shop guar
antees;
II can readily sc' how injustices
| may creep into any system designed
to better the lot of humanity. 1t IL
admitted that labor unions have at
times abused their power, just as
some employers have done. Composed
as they are of men and women they
have all the frailties Of humans In
conduct, temperament and character.
Democracy in industry needs it's safe
guards as much az democracy In gov
eminent. Indeed, real industrial
craftsmanship, so sorely lacking dur
ing this trying period in our history,
would see to it that an industrial code
is formulated for the guidance Of en-
ployers and employees to protect them
in their fundamental rights and to
guard against abuse Of power.
Voluntary Action Best.
$50 far as possible it is desirable to
permit employers and employees to
work. out the problem by voluntary
action and mutual effort. It is the
American way to do it. The state and
federal governments can help to
bring about cooperation between the
two great interests without, however,
abridging the fundamental personal
rights Of either. They would prescribe
rules of procedure and formulate
codes that would be morally, II not
legally, binding on both sides. The
need of the moment is Magma
Charta' of industry.
II have been treating the question
thus far by discussing the relations
between employers and employees in
the mass, but am not sunmindful Of
the fact that in the last analysis no
system, however carefully devised,
will prove successful unless the whole
moral status is raised. The epoch Of
individuality is concluded; that Of
association is here, and collective man
is omnipotent, but the action Of the
group is no more than a reflection Of
| the ability, honesty and sincerity Of
the individuals of which 1t is COM
posed.
We Must Go Back.
| I'm some respects we must go back.
The solid foundations Of liberty must
rest upon individual character, which
is also the only guarantee for social
security and national progress. Trials
and tribulations, perjury and want
developed in our forefathers ideals
that ease and comfort are gradually
destroying, Their simple life bred
character with it's fine attributes of
industry, economy, thrift, honesty,
sincerity and squaredealing. We can
not. hope to redeem the world and es-
tablish in it any degree Of happiness
or Justice until those qualities are
given a new birth. That applies to
business as much as it does to poll
| tics; to employers as we'll as, to en-
ployes, and to our conduct in the shop
and office as it does to our lives in
the home-the cdtadel OF every virtue
ever possessed by man.
| To First Principles.
1.-THE whole fabric Of industry de.
ponds upon a return to first prin.
ciples in our living, conduct, homo,
give, way to justice; tyranny to toll
erance, and cunning and scheming tt
frankness and sincerity. There mus
be more openness and less secrecy
greater confidence and less distrust
closer contact and less distance, all o
which are SO essential to promot
sympathy, to bring about fuller I'm
derstanding, and to establish faith IL
one another. The seed Of our troubl
is not altogether in our industrial
system. Most Of it Is in ourselves
terminated into industry as the re
suit of human infirmities and imper
factions. am not too proud to con
TESS, or too tinid to assert that Their
has been wrong on both sides. du
sometimes to Misunderstanding an,
lack Of information, and at othe
times to tyranny and greed on on
side, or malice and error on the other
"Out Of such there. has arisen an
is developing in America a. bite
} class hatred that should have no plac
in country where there are no fixe
social stratas. in which it is possibl
for a coal miner to become an office
in the cabinet Of the president Of tn
nation, and a brakeman to become
railroad president. Many Of OUT we
known contractors and builders be
gan life as workers, and in our 1abo
movement we have working at .thei
trades men who were former employ
,ers Of labor. Glass consciousness a
we know it in Europe can find no per
manent abiding place in an Americ
kept free for opportunity for the In
dividuals advancement.
"Open" Shop Movement.
"And yet at this moment there
a movement fathered by the grea
captains Of industry in the. Unite
States to take from the workers niue
If not all that they gained during Il,
war. They would rob them of til
only institution that thus far has bee
able to secure substantial results fc
. labor. They have inaugurated a ma
tion-wide campaign to lisarm an
l. destroy the American labor move
ment, in which there has been enger
dered more bitterness and hatra