New Britain herald., 1922-08-03
TNIONISN MUST LIVE.

The leaders of the railroad snop- men have accepted the Presidents plan. Thus they have said they will allow their men to return to work If their seniority rights are restored They will leave the other matters to the Railroad Labor Board, subject to the concessions the railroads would make under the plan.
 Their acceptance of the plan does little good The railroads have taken their stand and each day will make 1t more impossible for them to alter 1t, for each day more men will rely on the promises made by the roads, union and non-union men at that.
 The man who has the welfare of others at heart-the welfare of every inhabitant of this country, men and women who work with their hands or brains or both, sees two vital and order must control capital and : labor; second, capital and labor must be rreated fairly. It may be said frankly that there is more danger that labor may be treated unfairly. < as if has been treated unfairly in the past. than that capital will be mis- treated, Capital is able to take pretty good care of itself: labor needs organ jzation. Labor unions are necessary for the protection of labor. This ia admitted by all not blinded to the fact that capital, left uncurbed would, as it has In the past take from labor more than it gives
 But over and above all the public must be protected. There must not < be allowed to rise up in this country men who shall dictate to others what they are at liberty to promise men who work for them, and whether or not they may keep those promises. No body of men may be permitted to act in such a way that others cannot keep their promises As there should be no governmental authority which forbids men to strike against what they consider unfair conditions, there should be no authority which forbids men to refrain from striking. As there should be no law forbiddine men from joining labor unions, there | should be no precedent stablisheed which would forbid them from refraining from joining unions
 Tn other words freedom m not be curtailed. Men must be ke to stop work if they do not lil condi- Ifv,s: men must be free to g. .lo to work under conditions which seem to them fair. The promise of men to work under certain conditions must be respected; the promise of employers to continue those conditions must be fulfilled.
 It is reported that some members of unions have been supporting them selves in other fields of endeavor. Thus they have entered others prov ince. It is conceivable that labor leaders might order strike of shop men, for instance, and that all the shopmen might do other work, leav- ing their positions vacant. There would be no work done in shops. There never would be any work done in any shops If other men did not go to work there, and no men would go to work in shops If 1t was known that the promises of employers would not be fulfilled.
 If the railroads break their word to the men who are working now in the shops, certainly the strikers, returning would have no reason to believe that the railroads would keep their word to them unless compelled to do so. If the Railroad Labor Board countenanced a breaking of the WOTu Ol lne TOdQS now, why should they expect the precendent might not be used by the roads as an excuse for breaking their word in the future?
 The settlement of any dispute based on breach of any basic principle of right would prove false settlement. Settlement of this dispute in accord ance with the Presidents plan would necessitate abandonment of adher- ence to a pledged word. Such settle ment cannot be countenanced
 Unionism must live for the protec- ton of the working man.
 Freedom to work and to keen faith, man to man, must continue for the sake of all the people.
 WATCHING STRAINS.