Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1922-04-07
ARCHBISHOP CURLEY FLAYS
"OPEN SHOP"
Continued from page u

come together and bargain for the
price of your labor" "And you still
say | am a union man" eyes" The
very moment | enter that shop ! am
deunionized. Hence, | say that the
whole open-shop movement is essen
tial a closed-shop movement, and |
affirm that the purpose of the open
shop is not to give American workers
freedom and liberty and all that, but
it is to kill unionism. prolonged APP
plause.)
Now, then, regarding this question
of unions, | would advise very frankly
all workers who are interested in the
welfare of the working world to join
the unions, and | would ask you mem
bers of unions to carry on your propa-
ganda in a sane, forceful, conservative
manner, to enlarge your ranks. You
have a right to unioniZe, and you have
right to bring moral pressure to bear
upon others to add to your ranks.
Consequently, if you are real friends
of labor you are or ought to be propa-
gandists for the purpose of enlarging
and Strengthening your unions; not
for the purpose of ever doing wrong,
but for the purpose of protecting your
own interests and the interests Of
your cause. You form a large and
very important portion of the Ameri-
can public today. would be delighted
to see your unions grow until you
have practically every working man
in your unions.
/ think it would be very we'll in
great industries where enormous
profits are being made to have shar-
ing of profits with the workers over
and above the wages that the worker
gets. (Applause.)
There are industries that have made
enormous profits that are today MAX
ing enormous profits. There are tex
tile mills in New England that have
made as high as 100 per cent. 1t
would be wise thing for employers if
they were to give share of that to
the employees. Why? Because then
the employees would be working for
themselves in a sense.
Another thing that might be done
which would help to solve the prob
lens of the hour is this: 1t would be
an excellent thing if in big firms there
could be some amicable way by which
the workers, through their committees
or representatives speaking for the
unions, might share where it is pos
sible, in the regulations of those con-
Germs, in the running of those con-
Germs. That experiment has been
made in places and l believe that the
time is coming when we will have 1T.
Therefore, the principles | have laid
down-let me enumerate them:
The right to unionize, the right to a
living wage, the right to strike under
certain conditions, the right to be re-
garded as dignifed laborers, as dlgnl-
fed workers, as men with rights; the
right to regard the open shop as a
closed shop, the right to share in the
vast profits that are made when they
are made, and perhaps the advisa-
bility of getting a share in the regula-
ton of the great industries. Those
are five of the six principles LAID
down, and | take my stand on those
principles. They are not radical, they
are not foolish, and | believe that IN
enunciating those principles that am
simply enunciating what has come
down in the mind of the old Church.
In one of the great crises of ours in
the labor world the great Church
stood for labor. In 1887-the ladies
will not remember that, but the men
will-we had here in America a vast
organization known as the Knights OF
Labor, and an effort was made by cer-
tain powers to get the Holy See to
condemn the Knights of Labor in
America. Information was sent to
Rome which belied the Knights OF
Labor. Who jumped on the boat
without much notice and went ovel
to the Holy Father and said, mo
Holy Father, those Knights of Labor
are all right, thousands of them are
children of the Faith; they are banded
together in the only way they can be
banded together. Who was that
James, Cardinal Gibbons.
If / stand as a friend of labor's
! rights, | am simply doing what was
j done by my eminnet predecessor who
was loved by everyone, in Baltimore
! in MARYLAND, in the whole United
States and far outside its borders.
Some of you may, remember the
I strike in the London docks. The Lon
j don docks have to do with the whole
4 WOTlu. WIlSIl tllC LOliAOii uOSh N.Y.
were getting the worst of it, who
stepped into the breach, who spen'
J days and nights fighting for the Lon
don dock-strikers, when he was callet
radical and worse than that? Cardi
!; nal Manning, the Cardinal-Archbishol
j of Westminster. He and Gibbons IL
2 their age stood forth as the creates
i friends of humanity. | mention these
facts to show you that while there arr
2 times when we can do but little, it il
j true that whenever the old Church hal
had a chance to stand for the rights
:; of labor she has stood for the rights
of labor.
Has labor any wrongs? daughter.
J; Listen, my friends, | have spokel
frankly to you about the rights of la
2 Dor, and now you must allow me t.
! give you a bit of advice. / am speak
] ing as your friend. (Applause.)
lived for II years in Florida, and dur
ing the past four years there we ha'
great many labor troubles. In TIN
!; city of Miami one or two years ag'
they started an open shop against tn
labor unions. and il must be said tha