The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1922-10-12
America has no peasantry.


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America has no ~peasantry.
America has no class set apart,
marked apart, definitely classified as
being apart and i~rrevocably fixed as
apart from the great mass Of her
people. America has no class from
which it is impossible to merge.
America is distinguished through
out the world by the high standard
of living which the masses Of her
people enjoy. The comparison is
sharp and distinct.
For this, the American trade-union
movement is primarily responsible.
America has no p%roletariat as Eur
ope knows the proletariat.
In the beginning, this was because
Iof the manner in which our country
was settled and because Of its bound
less natural resources. It has re-
manned so primarily because of the
trade-union movement.
For this, il not for no other service,
the trade-union movement of the
United States is entitled to be ranked
as one Of the country's greatest as
sets, if not, indeed, as the greatest
asset Of all
The growth of the trade-union
movement has substantially paral-
leled the growth Of the machine or
factory system. With the coming Of
steam and the subsequent coming Of
electricity and the use Of these agen-
cies of power in the developmnt of
factory life, the tendency of indus
try was to concentrate populations
in small areas and the tendency of
employers was to keep these concen-
trated populations, so far as possible,
at a mere subsistence level Of wages.
Unions Halt Class.
But for the trade-union movement
entering into modern industrial life,
combating the ever present tend
ency Of employers toward a mere sub
s~istence wage. combating their ten
dency to retain the long employment
day that had obtained prior to the
development of factory life, America
would have had a class as distinctly
marked apart from the rest Of society
as any European country.
The idea obtains to some extent
that trade unions are merely organi-
cations of aggression, that they are
something In the nature of predatory
bands formed to secure for their
members such temporary advantages
as may be possible, no matter what
the cost to employers or to society.
OF course, those who out Of short
si~ghtedness oppose the trade union
movement, seek always to spread this
false impression.
The truth is that no organization
in America is broader in its outlook
or attempts to more intelligently un-
derstand the general needs Of our So
ciety or to fit in more constructively
and helpfully.
An understanding of the structure
of the American Federation Of Labor
may be helpful in leading to an un-
Outstanding of its activities and its
policies. The form of organization
around which the American labor
movement is built is exactly like the
form of organization in the political
life of our country. The American
Federation of Labor is constructed
with its foundation on the ground
and all powers proceed from the base
upward and not from the top down.
ward. The smallest unit of organi-
cation Is the local union. Local unions
are composed Of groups Of people
working in the same trade, in the
same communities. These local unions
are affiliated into what are known as
city central bodies or city central
labor unions. The city central labor
union is, thus, a representative or
ganization composed Of delegates
from all the local unions In a city.
By the same process, state fedora
| tons of labor are formed. In most
| cities, there are, in addition to the
city central labor union, delegate
bodies representing the unions in
specific branches OF INDUSTRY such as
the building trades the metal trades
and the printing trades.
these representative community Or
CARNATIONS, the wage earhers IN each
city are brought together ana are
placed in a position TO act unitealy
and intelllgently for the conservation
and advancement OF their own lh'e,
rests and Tor the consideration Oh
problems of all kinds relating TO the
life OF the MUNICIPALITY
International Scope.
In addition to these representative
community organizations, there are
national and international unions.
Most American unions have adopted
Tho term "internationaln because
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