Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1921-06-03
THE OPEN SHOP
(By John Bush)

summer, oppressed with the noontide
sun, perceiving a plane tree near al
hand, made straight for it, and throw
ing themselves on the ground, restt i
under its shade. Looking up as they
lay, they said one to another, "What
a useless tree to a man is this barren
plane" But the plane tree answered
them: "Ungrateful creatures, at the
very moment that you are enjoy ing
benefit from me you rail at me as
being good for nothing"
In view Of the fact that most of
the open shop advocates are men
whose business success depends fol
the most part upon the purchasing
power and consumption of the work
ing class, whom they strive to sup
press, the above fable of Aesop is
strikingly applicable to the present
situation.
The open shop is a subject which
we could not fully express our atti-
tude if given the entire newspaper
to do so, to say nothing of the view j.
expressed by the great and learned
men of the world that could be used
as proof of the injustice of the argu-
ments of those favoring it's adopt.on
This proposition, whose advocates
call the american Plan," is an in
suit to the people who know what the
true principles of Americanism are,
and what the open shop means.
If the persons who are striving to
make Newark an open city were truly
imbued with the spirit of American
ism they would use some of the.I
energy, and a portion Of the profits
made during the war, to haye decent
American flag hoisted somewhere in
the city, instead of the few dirty
faded rags that hang from some of
the flag stats erected during the war
If the writer was a cartoonist he
would depict the present condition in
the following manner: A platform
with five planks; on the first would
be written the Declaration of Inde-
pendence, on the second the Constitu-
ton of the United States; on the third
Washington's Farewell Address; the
Monroe Doctrine on the fourth, and
on the last Webster's Address at the
laying of the cornerstone of the
Bunker Hill monument. On this plat
form there would be a flagstaff with
a respectable American flag on it.
On one side the farmer, on the other
the union workman, the producer and
the consumer, the people who made
the Nation. At the bottom of the
picture he would put the open shop
advocates tearing the foundation of
government from under the feet of
the Americans who built our govern
ment.
The volume of business in the city
of Newark, or any other city, does
not depend upon these selfish open
shop promoters, but entirely upon the
wage organized labor can, by stren-
uous efforts, secure from the big bust
ness machines of the nation. The
open shop is not intended to benefit
the majority of the members of the
Chamber of Commerce but to benefit
a small minority Of selfish spectators
who strive to make a fortune from
the sweat of other mems brows. This
open shop plan is not only diametrical
to the true principles of Americanism
but to the Bible, from Genesis to
Revelations. The writer can best ex-
press his opinion of these selfish pro-
moters of chattel slavery in the words
James, the fifth chapter, from the
first to the fifth verses:
Go to now, We rich men, weep and
howl for your miseries that shall
come upon you.
Your riches are corrupted, and
your garments are motheaten.
Your gold and silver is cankered
and the rust of them shall be a wit
ness against you, and shall eat your
flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped
treasures together for the last days.
Behold the hire of the labourers
who have reaped down your fields,
which is of you kept back b. fraud
crieth and the cries of them which
have are entered into the ears the
Lord of Sabaoth.
Ye have lived in pleasure on the
earth and been wanton, ye have
nourished your hearts as in a day
of slaughter.
If the ministers of the gospel were
all sincere and free to express their
opinions the open shop promoters
and their colleagues would be de-