Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1921-12-30

tana ffNSS. III also appeared IN the
Cincinnati Post. Both papers are
owned by the ScrippS- MeRae Corpor-
ation. The editorial is significant for
Two eraSons: IL recognizes that the
campaign 10 batter down wages is a
two reasons: IL recognizes that the
business men as much as 1t injuries
the workers. and il is IN refreshing
contrast to the unjust position taken
by great majority Of newspapers
on the relations of employer and em-
ploye.)
Ohio has become main battle
ground of the open shop var. now
being waged in various industries BY
employers associations throughout
the land.
Fifty thousand Ohio workers have
been involved this year in struggles
in which the open shop has been an
issue.
Open shop strikes or lockouts now
in progress i'm Ohio affect the follow
ing crafts: Job printing trades in
every large city in the state, the milk
drivers and patternmakers in Cleve-
land. the electrical workers in Toledo.
building trades in Toledo, building
/ trades in Youngstown and klyria.
molders in Alliance and Massillon.
street railway workers In Dayton,
! Erie railroad shop workers in Marion,
enginemen in Jacksonville brick
plants. Attempts earlier in the year
were made To force the open shop.
with partial success, In various crafts
in Cincinnati, Portsmouth and Spring
field.
A man or woman, not member of
union, is likely To say, well, what
about it? What do | care about the
unions Ii won't make any difference
to me if the unions are smashed?"
But il will make difference To
you. IL will make difference To all
of US. Ii the open shop triumphs
generally, followed as eventually IL
must be by reductions In wages and
increases in working hours, the pros
perity of the entire community will
be affected.
The merchant will suffer because
low wages can't buy as often or as
much as high wages.
The money shortage will operate
all along the line until 1t hits the pro-
fessional man, none harder than the
doctor, the dentist, the lawyer.
The unorganized worker whether in
shop or office, suffers because IL Is
impossible To injure one part of the
economic body without affecting the
body as whole.
We are of two groups, we Ameri-
cans-those who can live without
working and those who can't. All OF
the latter group will be affected by
the success or failure of the open
shop movement and good many of
the former group, whether they real
iZe il now or not.
Hence the open shop movement be
comes something more than dis
pute between corporations and unions.
1t is a matter of vast public concern,
meriting the sober, analytical atten-
tion of every believer In fair play
and the maintenance of American
| standards.
The open shop almost always
means the closed shop-closed to all
men who believe that in union there Is
strength and that only by organizing,
as their employers are organized, can
they obtain and maintain recognition
of their rights.
There are employers who say they
want the open shop merely because
they dislike to deal with the unions.
They say they are for high wages and
good working conditions. Doubtless
many of these men are sincere, and
indeed there are today in Ohio fac
tories in which union and nonunion
men work side by side at wage rate
and under conditions compatible with
the union standards. But the employ
er hasn't always the full say. He Is
subject to circumstances and the con-
ditions of competition. Standing to-
gether, workers can resist unfair
ness. Fighting single-handedly, which
is the only kind of fighting they can
do under the open shop, they can ae-
complish nothing. For instance, under
the open shop there is nothing TO pre-
vent an employer from taking advan-
tage of the present widespread unem-
ployment, driving bargains with hun
cry men-individually not collective
ly, playing off one man against an
other, whipping them one at a time.
Let but one employer in an industry
adopt this policy and all other em-
ployers i'm that industry would be
compelled TO follow suit. They would
have to or competition would put
them out of business.
Ii is an undeniable fact that under
the open shop an employer can re-
duee wages and upset working condi-
tions and however f.ir-minded and
humane. he will do this rather than
be put out of business by competition.
Little of the effect of the open shop
can be seen at this stage of the war
in Ohio. IL will be years before the
full crop of the open shop sowing Will
be ripe, but the harvest is certain
and the fruit will be bitter.
Collective bargaining goes by the
board under the open shop. Without
collective bargaining down 90 wages
and up go hours; back to the dark
ages of industrialism for the worker.
The bosses being organized and the
workers being unorganized, disorgan-
lied, really, the bosses fix the work
ers' pay as they will and tell them
how many hours they must put in for
it. 1t is take it or leave it" atti-
tude, with all the advantages on the
side of the boss.
In the old days, before men organ