The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1921-05-28
The Printers Strike and the Question
It Raises.
Manufacturers Recordl.

have been received by the Manufac-
turers Record from all parts Of the
country in regard to the printers
strike there are some OF special IN
terest One is from Mr.. William I.
Harding. of Raleigh, president Of the
Southern Metal Trades association. IN
which he says, If there ever was
publication that has taken the part
Ci honest abor and which should re-
ceive honest labor's support in c;1-
sis such as you are facing now, It IS
the Manufacturers Record.
Another of a similar tenor is from |
the Machinery Clearing House of In
dianapolis, in which Mr.. S. P. Gray
writes: 1T seems to US that as good
a, friend as you have been to the !
working mems real interests that any
set of men who had it in their power |
to do so would have made some ar
ranSencnt to have had the Record
como out as usual. Any printer as
! Sociated in any way with lis publ
cation that would put it in such
shape as io cause such q loss and IN
con;eiicnce to YOU and also your
thousands CT readers would steal
mothers milk from a blind baby
Many of the men in the printing
office where the Manufacturers Rec
! ord was handled for nearly forty
years are fine types Of patriotic
american citizens; some OF them
have been there for twenty-five or
thirty years. and We have no word
of criticism against some OF theS" IN
dividual men. except that they are
permitting the Typographical union to
absolutely dictate to them what they
shall or shall not do. Because the
union said they must walk out and
refuse to work unless they were
granted an increase OF % per cent IN
wages and q decrease OF four hours
in time. with pay and half tor over
time. making nearly q net increase
of 81. per cent. they went ON strike.
One Of the most reGrettable things
connected with the labor situation is
that men of this character are so
completely dominated by their unions
that they have no voIition of Their
own and are afraid to do anything
contrary to the dictates Of radical
ism which is ruling the unions TO-DAY
In this situation is one OF the great
dangers faced by our country. dam
ger so serious that it behooves every
intelligent man to recognize his re-
sponsibilty to human liberty to Sand
against such dominating spirit OF
unionism but at the same time to
deal with individual men as he would
wish to be treated under similar cir
cumstances The Golden Rule can
still solve many problems of the hour
if intelligently and honestly followed.
The Manufacturers Record has tor
many years demanded full wages for
labor. We believe in liberal wages,
and though the Manufacturers Rec
ord has no financial interest in the
plant in which it has been printed
for nearly forty years it has always
said to the owners Of that plant
whenever the question of wages was
raised, that so far as we are concern
ed they could advance the wages ana
advance the cost to US. We belleve
that every honest, hardworking man
should have living wage. as far as
| S-'4N
an increase OF wages and for shorter
hours now shows unspeakable folly
We have fought for better prices
for the farmer and better wages for
The iaboring man. and in this respect
have often run entirely contrary to
the views of some who sought to
break down farm products, wages and
prices, but we have at the same time
always fought against the drastic
power of union labor as it is now con-
trolleG We have seen in the present
Ia Dor situation great danger TO
American liberty and to the welfare
OF laborerS themselves. We repeat
what we have said many times before
that if membership in a labor union
was a badge of honor and patriot
ism and a certificate Of character
and efficiency, most employers would
prefer to deal with members Of Ia
Dor unions. But membership in Ia
Dor union is no longer a certificate Of
homer. of character. or efficiency, nor
IS il even q badge of patriotism.
II has been the policy of labor
unions under the radical leadership
OF recent years to disregard law, to
fomcnt strife. and to ignore patriot
ism. as Illustrated in the fact that
there were six thousand strikes Of TWO
uilion members of labor unions
during the war. shutting off, as far
rs might be in their power. the sup
ply OF munitions to the soldiers on
the battlefield who were offering their
lives for the safety of these very
union men and their wives and chill
dron. 1t has too often been the case
that labor leaders defended the muir
der or non-uniou men merely III or-
der 10 keep them from working. So
great was the power of labor unions
some years aSo that they succeeded in
dominating politics and in securing
from congress legislation which
made them immune from prosecution
| for what in others would have been
! criminal oitcmSes.
The present strike Of union printers
:S based on Il demand for an au-