The labor world., 1922-09-09
UNIONS REPLACE. !: !:
SALOONS WI It'll :
.r>,F
LABOR TEMPLES
Former Duluth Man Gives Ef,
feet Of Prohibition.

BY RICHARD r. JONES, =.
Director Fourth District, United
States Employment Service,
Kansas City, Mo. .;"G.
Members Of organized labor gen
orally are in favor of prohibition.
They have observed it's operation and
have come to regard the Eighteenth
Amendment as blessing. Strikes
and lockouts have not increased as
a result of its enactment, as was so
freely predicted by the wet element
in the unions. Widespread unem-
ployment did not result because some
thousands 6f bartenders and brew
ery workers were temporarily thrown
out of work.
On the other hand the benefits
have been many. Labor temples have
been erected in every part of the
country as a direct result of the dry
law.
The writer campaigned in Michi-
gan in the fall of 1916 when that
state voted dry. He found that or
ganized labor in Detroit had been
trying for many years previous to
that time to build labor temple,
home of it's own. Headway was made
slowly, when at all. During IS years
of agitation on the subject, prior to
1916, the group having the temple
project in charge had been able to
secure a building lot but little prog.
ress had been made toward building
the temple until the city was rid of
its saloons and the local labor move
ment was freed from saloon politics.
Chief Patrons of Saloons.
AS in many other American cities
the working classes of Detroit were
the chief patrons of the saloon. Meet
ing places of the unions in many
cases were in saloon buildings or
else>ver close by. The writer recalls
a meeting of the iron molders' union
when he was billed to speak on be-
half of the Trade Union Dry League
of Detroit, representing a group of
men and women who thought the
labor movement should be rid of
saloon domination. When the owner
of the building, who also owned the
saloon below, learned that prohib-
itionist was holding forth upstairs,
he notified the iron Imolders that
they would have to stop the speech
or get out of the hall: The speech
came to. an abrupt end
The molders were getting free
rent, or at least, thought they were.
Dozens of other organizations were
in the same predicament.' Because
of the free" rent feature, or for a
comparatively small monthly amount,
it was difficult to interest these local
unions in a proposal TO build a tenn
pie owned and controlled by all the
unions in the city. ""'.
But with the ousting of the saloons
from Detroit, things began TO take 4
turn. The temple advocates got busy
and the following item taken from
a recent issue of the Detroit Labor
News, official organ Of union labor
in that city, tells the story:
"The present revenue of the build
ing amounts to 5000 month, which
will meet ell operating expensen
interest, payment on mortgage. taxes
insurance, etc, and leave monthly
balance of $780," 't
The above was not written for the
purpose of making OUT a cause for
the Eighteenth Amendment, but it
offers a striking argument. in favor
of prohibition to those who know
the labor situation in Detroit, and
Detroit is only typical of the average
American city in this respect:
Valuable Property Purchased.
st. Paul, Mimi, is another exam
pie. Since the adoption of>the Eigh-
teenth Amendment the local labor
temple committee asked one days
pay from every member of d trade
union. There was no compulsion
about it and valuable property has
been purchased which when remod-
e!ed will accommodate every union
in the city. Here, then, is another
instance, common throughout the
country, where, with the removal
of the saloon influence the labor
movement is left to develop along
legitimate lines. st. Paul, 'too,' had
many local unions receiving free
rent.
Mention could be made Of other
cases. But the average city, hereto.
fore without a labor temple owned
by the local organizations, tells the
same story. The liquor interests had
nothing to gain by the erection" OF
labor temples but, on the contrary,
had great deal to lose. They feared
loss Of patronage, and that was all
they cared about They did not want
to see the unions "bunched." -
Ownership Of labor temples by the
unions in the dry southern states
was the rule rather than the excep-
ton, and T. j. Greer, President of
the Louisiana Federation Of Labor,
is authority for the statement that
these temples were influence from
trade union politics.. ,..,
Take the case of Denver. Its 12S
local unions had been meeting iii
30 different halls. most Of them To-
Gated adjacent to saloons. This was
during the wet days in Colorado: Fol
20 years the unions had been trying
to get together to build a labor tenn.
ple,: but the. saloon influence wal
always on hand to check the move
When the state voted dry. however
the unions were able to get together