Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1922-04-07

lS0Q form
do | care about your wife and chill
dren! | am hiring you-I am simply
making deal with you, and l am 60
ing to pay you for the labor that you
give, and | am not hiring your wife
and children"
Has the union man right to strike :?
What does the Catholic Church say
about it The Catholic Church, speak
ing through the mouth of Leo XIII,
lays down the principle: when there
are injustices to be righted, when
there is no other means of righting
the wrongs, the the laboring man has
a perfect right to strike. prolonged
applause.) But the Catholic Church
does not hold, and feel that you do
not hold that strikers have any right
to destroy property, or use violence
for the purpose of attaining their ends.
A strike is an effective form of pas
sive resistance, and when strike is
properly organized, properly carried
out, as rule strike is very success
full, and | suppose you know it.
Now, what has organized labor done
for you? | have said that it is re-
tions of labor today. But has organ
lied labor done very much specifically
in the matter of helping humanity :?
1t has. Unionized labor in America
is largely responsible might say al
together responsible-for the better
ment of conditions that confronted
workers in their places of employ
ment. What force has been back of
the improvement, for example, in
child labor? The story of child labor,
my friends, is one of the saddest and
most sordid pages of the history Of
the world, and if today improvement
has taken place in the matter of child
labor in America, labor unions deserve
SO per cent. of the credit for that i'm
provement, and unionism stands today
as splendid friend of humanity.
Take the matter of woman labor.
1t would be well to study the condi-
tions of labor in the days zone by.
Read the story of the economic growth
of this country and others, and you
will find that many women in the
past, even expectant mothers, were
subjected to conditions of labor in the
past that were positively revolving
l.
have been bettered by organized la
Dor. Consequently, instead of organ
lied labor being a menace to the
world, as some would tell you, instead
of properly organized and sanely
"leadered" labor, if l may use that
word, being a danger, it has rendered
splendid and effective service to
humanity. What has unorganized la
Dor done? Absolutely nothing.
We come now to say a word on a
very important matter realize that
in speaking of it / am skating on thin
ice in the City of Baltimore or any
where else. We come to the question
of the open shop.
The open-shop movement has gained
great impetus during the past two
years. AS I see it, back of the open
shop movement there seems to be
great wealth, great capital. The move
ment has as finely edited magazines
as there are to be found in the coun-
try, putting before the American peo-
pie the claims of the open shop, and
there is advanced for the open-shop
movement this principle: America
is a free land; we must stand for the
freedom of the individual to be a
union man or not to be union man."
They say that in this land of liberty,
with the Stars and Stripes floating
over it, no man should be deprived of
his liberty by being forced into
union, or to work under conditions
laid down by union men; that the
American citizen ought to be free to
join or not to join union, and that
they, therefore, stand for employing
union or non-uniOn men.
| am not going to impugn the mo-
tives of anyone, but it seems little
strange to me to hear these demands
for freedom for the working man COM
ing from recognized opponents of or
ganized labor. (Applause.)
The open-shop employer says to me,
81 will employ you. Are you a union
MANI" Eyes" "Well, come to my
place and work." He can say he will
employ 500 union men. 81 do not dis
criminate against union men, but l
employ also with them men who are
not union members" "But," | say to
him, "will you deal with me and my
fellow-union men as union men?
mo" "Will you give us union men
the right of collective bargaining
which is essential to unionism-" "No,
/ will employ you union men, but
won't deal with you as union men
nor admit that you have any right to
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