The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1922-11-11

Some one seriously Numbered
when the shopmen employed by
the:iD. M. & N. at Proctor and
the;D. & |. r. at Two Harbors
were called out in the natio n-
wide strike Of the shop crafts.
Nothing but national agree
ment would have won the strike
for the Proctor and Two flar-
bors railroad men, and # IS
doubtful if they would have been
provided for in any kind of an
agreement. :
They Lost From Start.
AS is generally known, the two
ore-carrying roads are subsidiaries OF
the United States Steel corporation.
Only complete victory over that
corporation and, the railroads would
have won the strike for the shop
men employed on it's roads here. and
that would have been a physical i'm
possibility at this time. And it would
have been an impossibility even, with
the most ideal one big-union' in
vowed, as many Of the shopmen
seem to now want. The government
was set against the. unions. 1t was,
waiting for chance to break in and
it got it. The public was framed
against labor. The surprise is that
the shopmen are now faring so we'll
as they are on some Of the roads. =
The Proctor and Two Harbors
shOpmen should not have been called
out. An exception should have been
made in their case. They could have
contributed better to the cause by
remaining at work. 1t is easier to
look back than it is to look forward.
If anyone should have advised that
they remain at work he. in all prob
ability would have been accused of
Icing a steel trust hire:ing." 1t
sometimes takes experience, and
costly experience at that, to learn.
We Live to Learn.
We don't know how the Proctor
and Two Harbors shopmen voted on
The strike. They probably voted in
IT. favor. they have been mighty
militant lot and they have been anX-
ions to shake the labor movement
from its foundation for a long. time.
They have had little use for expert
e1ced labor leadership, and many of
them have warmly welcomed every
wil-o'-tte-wisp upstart that pushed
he -oudly chimed his enchanting
vasaries to his credulous listeners
All Of us live to learn, and few
profit from history. The Two Har-
bors Chronicle, owned largely by
railroad union men, is inclined to
handle the national, and system
leaders of the shopmen's unions
severely for calling out the Proctor
and Two Harbors shopmen.. We
agree with the Chronicle in most of
its reasoning, but be can not share
in it's belief that the leaders either
deserted or sold OUT" the local men.
They might have erred in judgment.
Mistakes may have been made, but
they did not sell out"
Shopmen "HanG- Cuffed."
When President Harding and At
IofHoy HeAeIdl Ddu5ASIty Threw the
whole power Of the government
against the shopmen, there was but
one thing left for the leaders Of the
unions to do, and they did it. That
was to make the best system agree.
ments they could, wherever they
could, and thus save what they could
out Of the handcuffed situation in
which the strikers and their support
ers were pls ced by the sweeping,
Though unlawful, injunction Of the
Federal court. -.
This is how the Chronicle dis
cusses the situation in the aftermath
of the strike:
"A Cowardiy Desertion."
1.-THE strike Is over as far as the
Duluth {; Iron Range Is concerned,
and many IF the. union men who
responded: to. the call Of their lead
ers on july have lost their posi-
tions. All Of them have lost at least
$500 dollars each in time, and. m ost
pathetic of all, the work Of 20 years
in union building has been wiped out
by the fact that the national leader
ship either deserted them or sold
out.
Locally. the outcome could be
seen by those conversant with the