Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-03-03

we AIHefiCdi5 VIII DC illlutH01i
thousand times more by the charae
ter and the record the man who is
seeking, the public office has, than
the label pasted on his back by the
politician.
must get back now to my subject.
What are these dollars and cents? |
have spoken to you how we live by
| law in which we have a hand in max
my, but there is a law in industry.
There are an of the shop rules and
regulations rs well as wages and
hours. What do these mean? Well,
| the wages that the worker gets and
carries home with him on pay day
determine what kind Of home he is
going to live in-whether IL will be
one or two rooms in a crowded, un-
sanitary tenement district, or whether
| it will be a. little cottage with gar
dens, fresh air and sunlight all
around it. These dollars and cents
in the pay envelope determine the
| quality and quantity of the food on
the table. This is very essential be-
cause the quantity and quality of the
wage earner's food determines the
character of the blood-physica
properties of the blood that flows
through his veins. Whether it is rich
blood charged with energy or wheth-
err it be weak blood and not building
up the materials of the body which
are worn out as a result of the days
toll. 1t means what sort of educa-
ton, ETC., the children are going to
have. Then, my friends, it means
something more than that-these dol
lars and cents determine the phys
ical type or physical vigor, rather, of
the children who are born. into the
| family. There is no time to burden
you with statistics. | merely say
this: Go over the reports of your Fed
eral Children's Bureau to get the de-
| tails of the simple statement | am
making now. Today our statisticians,
our insurance actuaries, can tell you
lif you first give them the fathers
earnings, because unless the parents
have had rich nourishment and rich
blood flowing through their veins, 1t
is impossible for them to bring child
rem into the world. with the right vi
tality. The reason for the enormous
percentage Of infant mortality among
the unskilled workers is largely due
to that lack of nourishment. in the
parents veins.
We have been increasing Our aver
age length of life. We have been do
ing that because we have shortened
the hours of labor; because we have
secured more sanitary conditions un-
der which to work. In the Printers
] Union, to give an illustration, the av-
erage age at death in 1900 was Al
years; at the present time, it is lit
| tie over 80 years. So higher wages,
shorter hours and sanitary shop con-
ditions have heightened the life of the
union printer nine years on the aver
age since 1900.
So the question of wages, hours of
labor, shop rules and regulations de-
termine the standard of living and
the different civilizations we have in
this country. And the wage Garner
in this community believes this is
such an important question directly
to him, as well as his community, that
he is interested in federating him.
self in organization with his fellow
workmen so he can do something, so
he will have some voice in determin-
ing the conditions under which he is
going to be employed. The open
, shopper says the workmen shall have
no voice; they shall be denied the OPP
portunity of having a voice by being
denied right of maintaining trade
union organization, and when any
men in this country take that posi-
ton, they are taking a position which
is not only unsound, uneconomic, but
they are taking position which Is
distinctly and decidedly un-American
: because in this country we believe in
equality of rights and opportunities
, and we do believe that every man is
entitled to a right and a voice in de.
termining the conditions under which
he is going to live. Could there be
anything more inconsistent or more
unjust than for the employers to rec
ogni2e the necessity of organizing fol
themselves and recognizing that ne.
cessity, organize themselves as they
in the United States than in any
country on the earth) and then use
their powerful organizations which
they have built up for their own wei.
fare, to make it Impossible for the
American wage Garner to also main.
tain an organization for himself
ptotSNtipH lOE Ills OWN interests.
Mr.. Baer, speaking for the negative
side of the question, said:
Only once before have | ever at
tempted to make a speech before an
audience. That time | was only able
TO stammer out two words: mot
Guilty" But when the press reports
indicated the challenge put out by the
Twin City Federation of Labor had
not been accepted by the Illinois
Manufacturers Association or other
associations to whom il might have
been sent, Twas determined that the
challenge should not go undefended
and that in my weak way | would
defend the open shop the best |
could.
| firmly believe in the open shop
and | am satisfied that many union
man sitting here before me does, too,
but he hasn't the courage of his con-
victions to declare it on account of
the conditions under which he labors.
And, | am satisfied that millions of
Americans do believe in the open
| ghOn nc tho baffar pr;nc;nio g.. 1.