Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-09-01

By FRANK MORRISON,
Secretary, American Federation Of
Labor.

A-dtBfs
Labor Day, 1922, IS the most signi-
iieant in the history of the American
Trade Union Movement for at this
time the workers are confronted by
more adverse court decisions, and by
stronger combinations Of capitalists
than at any other time. This situa-
ton, however, Is logical. 1t is the
only answer 10 labor's demands for
, a better day that greed and autocracy
know. This demand Is backed by IN
lcreasing intelligence. solidarity and
viii. Arrayed against this develop
ment Of labor, hostile court decisions
and ffenzied edicts Of anfi-union or
CARNATIONS are nothing, they but
remind US that history is a record Of
selfish minorities that would thwart
the high and strong desires Of mil
lions Of people.
On the anvil Of resistance are
given life and form 10 the hopes and
aspirations of labor. Ideals flourish
under opposition. 1t seems but yes
terday that courts held as conspira-
tors even three workmen when found
conversing on the public highway.
Then were organized workers consid-
cred social outlaws. They had no
standing in the public mind; they had
no press, and were without voice TO
plead their cause. Through agitation
and education these workers changed
public opinion and By winning the
right to organize, forced the courts to
bow to new social viewpoint. 1t was
an epoch-makine event. The new
ideal--this actual brotherho0d-fire
the workers with zeal for a higher
manhood. They began agitating for
free public schools, to abolish child
labor, TO secure the secret ballot at
public elections, and for every other
social law now on our Federal and
State statutes.
On this Labor Day trade unionists .
do not forget the trials and triumphs .
Of the men who pioneered the organ
lied labor movement. To say that the
militant, intelligent and resourceful
organized workers of today are dis
couraged because Of preseft-day OPP
position to their movement is to say
that they have forgotten industrial
history, and the resistance of every
autocracy to any force that would
its power. ! do not mini
mize the days of trial before organ
lied labor, but | do insist that these
barriers are nothing compared with
distractions that the men of even
two generations ago were compelled
to remove. Trade unionists of today
have experience; they have a back
ground; vast educational institutions
are at their disposal; they are de-
veloping their own educational facili-
ties; they have press that is in
in power and worth, and
they have the support of earnest men
and women outside their ranks who
correctly appraise the trade union
There is no rose-strewn
road to the land of freedom and So
cial justice. This aspiration of the
can be approXimated only /
through knowledge and contest, the
price exacted for all progress.
The daily progress of our move
ment can not be estimated. Neither
can we produce a counting-room bal ,
ance on the cost of strikes, and the !
expense of our unions against the in
telectual and physical development |
Of the workers, which has only been
possible through organized labor.
Labor will continue its upward |
journey. Its rebuffs but remind US of J
the law of lif&Aat advancement (
comes only through resistance.