The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1921-02-26

it has nothing behind it save the money
Of large employers and cruel and
brutal materialism at odds with the
ideals that were freed during the
world s struggle against autocracy. The
public has not been caught by tho
propaganda of the so-called "American
idea," and without its support it was
foredoomed to failure.
The "open shop; campaign still finds
defenders among editors, but other pub
licists will have nothing to do with it.
Great religious denominations have
spoken out fervently in denunciation,
and thousands of employers see in it the
seeds of dissension and strife that will,
if permitted to terminate, seriously
initiate against the peace and prosper
ity of the nation. It is the most revo-
lutionary, incendiary and un-American
campaign ever launched against our in
situations and people.
The hardest blow yet sustained by
the "open shoppers came when the
railroad labor board kicked General
Atterbury out of court and ruled that
the railroads must confer with their
workers before they can cut wages or
change working conditions. Here was
sustained, without qualifications, the
fundamental principle Of collective bar
gaining, the foundation upon which
trade unionism has been erected.
It may be accepted as an incontro-
vertible truth that the campaign
launched by the railroads is part Of
the "open shop" attack upon organ
lied labor. The railroads that have
led in it arc controlled by financial in
terests that keep steel, coal and other
toilers in mean subsection. The bank
ing group that maintains armies of
thugs in the coal and steel industry arc
striving to subvert to a similar state
of feudalism the two million railroad
! workers who were permitted to breathe
freely while the railroads were under
federal operation.
The fight that is being waged by the
leaders Of the railroad organizations is
one of the most brilliant and courageous
ever undertaken in behalf Of the work
/ crs of the world. They are not fighting
| alone for the men in transportation.
They are upholding the cause of pro-
! ducers in all industries. They are safe
! guarding the best traditions of the ma
ton and insisting upon an application
, Of those eternal truths that large inter
! ests would reduce to meaningless plati-
| tudes.
There may be need Of revision Of
! working rules and some adjustment OF
wages. But they will be made with the
consent of the workers, after calm de-
! liberation. That in substance is what
the labor board has decreed in its mo-
| mentous ruling. The workers are rec
ognized as constituting an integral and
important part of industry and must
be consulted in matters that affect their
welfare.
1t is noteworthy-indeed, it is one of
the most notable Of recent developments
that there is marked change in the
treatment bein gaccorded workers by
the press. Many editors awakened to
the true import Of the open shop drive
when General Atterbury stamped be-
fore the labor board with his curt de-
mands, and he has been condemned as
a disturbing factor that should be sup
pressed. The decision of the board met
almost general approval. Big Business
is overplaying its hand in alternating
its newspaper supporters, for without
them it will be impossible to place the
workers in bonds.
With collective bargaining recognized
and sustained by an impartial govern
ment tribunal, it will soon become the
settled and welcome method Of sustain
ing peace in industry. It is the anti
thesis of the open shop, and therefore
that double.faced hypocrisy is about to
pass out of public discussion as weighed