The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1921-03-03

n Nitcu W mere concrete would be
poured
His wagon was a Super-Twelye
Whose powerful engine chugged
and roared.
They parked their cars around my
shack
Until the street both ways was
blocked.
And of the toiler's burdened back
Throughout the day they warmly
talked.
They spoke of capital that sat
I'm giided ease and wore a grin.
Ard ON nl-gotton gains grew fat
While honest toll grew lank and
thin.
They talked all day of tying cans
no plutocrats and men of means.
/ And then drove way i'm rich sedans.
Touring cars and Hmousines
This situation, the truth of which
can be recognized i'm spite of the ex-
ageerauon is the direct cause of the
demand which has become insistent
from the Atlantic to the Pacific for an
open shop, which viii allow labor to
be paid for the work it accompushes
ant be more representative of Amer
lean ideals and American organiza-
ton
10 the closed shop can be directly
traced the ability OF men OF the Brin-
dell type to become the powerful fac
tors IN the control OF labor, and to
use that power to demand heavy
toll on an construction. as has been
SO distinctly brought out in the recent
NcstigauOns in this city Cores
ponding Investigations in other cities
viii undoubtedly develop more Brin-
deus.
The country demands not the elm
nation OF all unions, but the restor-
auon to labor of the right to receive
wages based ON ability and industry,
and not minimum Of work for
maximum of pay. The union rules,
putting the good and the poor work
men ON an equality violate all the
principles that have built up this ma
ton. To restore the efficiency and
ambition OF labor it is necessary for
the employer to be able to deal di-
recty with his employees. and not
through some outsider who knows
nothing of the local conditions and
Who has direct interest in keeping
employer and employe as far apart as
possible to preserve his own power.
Some of the largest organizations.
such as the Bethlehem Steel com
rary, have adopted a representative
form of government in their shops by
Which there is one delegate elected
for each 300 employees, who sits on a
beard and is able to voice any COM
plants of the men in his division In
such plants the employee does not
need to call in the help of outsiders.
In the anthracite industry the op-
orators and the miners went into a
JONI meeting for the arranging of a
new contract on the 9th of March,
last year, and were almost continu-
ously in session for the following six
months. There was hardly a time
during that period when a new scale
could not have been arranged, if the
operators had been willing to grant
the demand for a closed shop, but it
is to their credit-and speaks well for
their tact and patience-that they
were able to carry on those negotia-
lions and bring them to a successful
conclusion without a general strike
and without granting the closed shop.
\ clear definition of the open shop
was given by the anthracite commits
sion appointed by President Roose-
welt in 1902, in the following words:
The commission adjudges and
awards: That no person shall be re-
fused employment, or in any way dis
crmnated against on account of
membership or membership in
amy labor organization; and that
there shall be no discrimination
against or interference with any en-
ploye who is not a member of any la
Dor organization by members of such
This clause has been repeated in
every contract made between the
anthracite miners and the operators
since 1902. and during that time there
has been no prohacted strike. This
is i'm sharp contrast with the blum
nous field and its closed shop, where
strikes have been called, i'm violation
of contracts and irrespective of any
agreements. at seasons when it was
thought coal was so necessary that
The extortionate demands would have
10 be granted.
The greatest problem of the recon
which is now going on is
the adjustment Of wages and work
ing conditions. The country can not
be brought back to a normal produc-
tive basis until labor is once more as
efficient as before the war and the
point Of view of the producers must
once more be turned to their cost
and efficiency sheets instead Of to
.Tcfr I.T.vro ohoofe