davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The New York herald., 1922-04-02
One May Not Bargain
With Tyrant Monopoly


Why talk of collective bargaining
under such circumstances? There is
no bargaining with monopoly 1t is
take II or leave it," That has too
often been the attitude OF the en-
ployer in the past. and 1t is well aped
by the closed shop prota2onist. A bar
gain implies an alternative; your ma
tional closed shop regime implies that
the employer and society must do
business with certain unions regard
less of their terms.
The closed shop system has brought
chronic unemployment and underpay-
ment to Great Britain because OF its
insistence on uneconomic principles.
We see what it has meant TO some OF
our cities. like San Francisco. We
see what It has meant TO some of
our industries, like building, and all OF
it's defects and shortcomings are due
primarily 10 the inherent vice OF a
monopolistic system upon which mis-
chief and misdeeds are bound to thrive.
That is the inevitable result of any
closed shop system which involves
monopoly by compulsion and which
maintains itself by force and not ~
service.
In these times no nation can endure
in commercial well being without q
large body or independent labor. un-
organized or organized into compet-
ing bodies, which will force unions to
compete by service for public conf
dence. n society is TO furnish an in
centive for such service the cause OF
L. a
that any workman will not be seri-
ously impeded in the exercise Of his
fundamental rights OF citizenship
merely because he is not a union man.
II is only when unionism Is subject in
some degree 10 the wholesome forces
OF competition on the part OF these
employers and employees who may be
abused by 81 that the processes OF
moral restraint will be operative. The
right Of a man TO job must rest on
his ability and not upon the power OF
his fraternity
a national closed shop regime is
likewise menace TO cur political
safety because It means the end OF
democratic government. Where the
control OF the opportunities OF living
are ccntered IN one national organiza-
tlon or group of affiliated organiza-
tions that institution will rule this
country and no other Such a power
would be as considerate OF the rights
Of others as the imperial German Gov
ernment. II al the primary functions
and necessities OF society are union
izod. the social questions involved in
their operation will not be settled by
orderly political processes but by the
economic growth Of the unions In con-
troll. The Adamson act proves that
in this country. The manner in which
Great Britain and other European
countries have been forced by threats
Of strikes TO consider many matters
proves II there. rme can multiply
Illustrations n unions control The en-
The New York herald., 1922-04-02
nth Division Keeps Up
Association to Preserve
Traditions Born in War
Organization Will Seek Employment for Jobless Men
Who Served With New York's Own Mark Graves
in France, and Aid in Adjustments Between
Former Soldiers and the Government.
BY MAJOR S. FULLERTON WEAVER,
Formerly of the 3O6th Infantry, 77th Division.

/ was turned over to the association
through the generosity of the Trinity
Church Corporation. 1t was available
free of rent until May l, 1920, and from
then on at a nominal rental, covering
, taxes and insurance. The activities
of the welfare committee. sustained by
private subscription among members
of the association. have been wide,
comprehending every necessity OF
needy veterans.
In order that the work of finding
employment for jobless veterans might
be carried on as effectively as pos
sible. the welfare committee of the
division in December, 1921, coordinatcd
it's work with that Of the City EN-
ployment Bureau at 129 Worth street.
Besides referring men and positions
to the city bureau for action. the
welfare committee has contributed to
it's support.
Beside extending these benefices the
association las acted as go-between In
negotiations and adjustments between
thousands of former service men and
the Government. On the subject of
war risk Insurance alone more than
$4,000 pieces of mail have been sent
out by the association. and every ap-
plicant has been cared for in matters
pertaining to adjusted compensation,
arrears in pay allotments. travel
vouchers, the procurement of Federal
and State service medals the procure
ment of discharge. grade and commits
sion certificates and in many other
negotiations of a military or semi
military nature.
The club has been maintained on
I Twenty fifth street as a headquarters
for meetings of the various American
Legion unit posts which constitute the
whole association and as a social gath
ering place or home for individual
members. An important function of
4 the Seventy-seventh Division Associa-
tion has been the establishment of
contact for all men who were banded
\ together for so many months In the
\ military work of common sacrifice.
To keep alive the friendships at that
\ time contracted the association has or
ganized reunions of varying compre-
hensiveness up to the division reunion
held in the Town Hall February last.
The New York herald., 1922-04-02
Says Closed Shop Plan Involves
Monopoly by Compuision

The difference between a universal
closed shop system. which Is tho mo-
nopoly that labor unions seek, and q
partial and occasional closed shop sys-
tenn. such as we have experienced. Is
of the very essence. IL Is the differ
pnce between controlling the opportun-
sties to work OF some employees and
controlling the opportunities Of all
employees. Because one Is unopposed
TO Unions and union agreements, Y
does not mean approval Of the idea
than an entire industry should be mo-
nopojized and dominated by any single
,,nion. Because one believes In corr
norations II does not follow that one
belisves an entire industry should be
dominated by a single corporation. IN
such domination and monopoly, by
either capital or labor lie the real
temptations to tyrannize. IT the en-
pioyers of this country or OF any in
dustry should unite against the en-
ployment of union men, the country
would rise In protest. Because the
unions are engaged in a crusade
against the employment OF non-union-
,sts the country has risen In protest.
But kAe realities Of the situation
ere wofte than this, The closed shop
The New York herald., 1922-04-02

must not unduly infringe upon that
ancient and more important right Of
individual self-help. Individual self
reliance is of far more Importance to a
nation than reliance upon the collec-
tive power Of class.
The New York herald., 1922-04-02

r y these days of economic and in
dustrial depression, Of shifting
= ethical standards and confused
social issues it is an appealing thing
TO see one group of citizens at least
buckle beneath the burden Of the
times and try TO bring things back
TO normal by the sweat Of the brow
rather than the froth of words.
1t is still more appealing to realize
that such group is composed of
men, now working for the material
prosperity Of this country, in whose
defense, and that an intangible ideal
might survive. they not so long ago
took up arms. All the credit and
honor which these words imply belong
to the Seventy seventh Division Asso-
citation, the civil organization OF for
mer soldier men which for the last
three and one-half years has carried
on a work of civic value comparable
to any other agency in New York and
possessed of Il virtue, not shared by
many, OF modest unobtrusiveness.
The Seventy seventh Division Assoc
c,ation is probably the most success
full unit organization OF world war
veterans in the East. and It is ac-
curately just to say that it holds this
position because OF the legitimate sim
plicity of it's purpose-to care for its
Gown" 1t is fitting TO emphasize here
the self contained altruism of the ac-
tivities of the Seventy-seventh: it Il
an organization constituted of men
bound together by a hundred ties Of
common suffering, sacrifice and
glorious success. which asks no boon
from outsiders and seels only to pre-
serve in civil life the welfare. health
and good name Of each one Of New
York's own" whose military deeds
made for them such enviable fame.
Under instruction of Gen. Alexander
QUESTIONABLE was ordered filled out
by. the members Of the division as to
the prospects of their employment. AS
soon as these were filled out the writer
was ordered to the United States with
instructions to open an employment
bureau and secure positions for, al
possible. These efforts resulted in se-
curing their old places for 1920 mer
out Of the 5000 who had reportec
! themselves as having no promise oi
their old positions. As soon as the
division arrived at Camp Upton ar
employment bureau was established
with large staff of clerks and every
one Of the 1900 men demobilize6
there was personally questioned. These
efficient methods secured directly over
5000 positions for men of the division
and also positions for over 500 men Of
other organizations. This reemploy.
ment was accomplished at the ex.
! traordinarily low placement rate oi
70 cents per capita.
This spirit led TO the organization
in the summer of 1921. Of the Seventy
seventh Division Welfare Committee
with the writer as chairman and with
Mr.. A. w. Clark. executive secretary
Of the association. as coworker The
committee had headquarters at its
club house. located in the building at
81 West Twenty-fifth street. which
The New York herald., 1922-04-02

program involves not only monopoly
but monopoly by compulsion. The
unions reserve the right to engage in
strikes and boycotts, direct or sympa-
thetic, primary or secondary. on pub
lie utilities or in private industry, re-
gardless of injury to public or private
rights. in order to prevent the en-
ployment of any non-union man or the
transportation, sale and distribution
of merchandise produced by any non
union man. In furtherance of this
policy dnions have for years been en-
deavorins to secure legislation which
would leave the employer and the
Independent workingman and society
itself, naked and defenseless against
this program of economic militancy
as long as it does not involve breach
OF the peace. Whenever any statute,
court decision or decree infringes upon
the right to use economic power in
this way, there is always the outcry
Of resentment, if not defiance. from
the headquarters Of the American Fed
Grafton of Labor. 1t believes it should
have the right to call strikes against
the transportation of open shop goods;
TO organize boycotts against wholesale
or retail merchants who give the con-
sumer an opportunity to purchase
open shop goods: to call strikes on all
buildings where non-union men arc
Employed or open shop material or
equipment is used, &c. In other
words, it asserts that the entire eco
nomic power of these organizations
may be directed TO prevent any nom
union man from pursuing his trade.
Such demand takes little account of
our doctrines of individual rights and
shows no regard for those citizens
who are not eligible to union mem
bership or who for one reason or an
ther do not belong to any labor union
Individual human beings who are
not in line for membership in any
union are not 10 be forgotten. The
world of political progress has had
it's eyes on such minorities for over
4 century. According TO our basic
political ideas. the dissenting indi-
vidual must be protected against
tyranny. We have been taught TO be-
iieve that il is better that one hum
dred guilty men escape than that one
innocent man suffer. We exalt the In
diyidual above a-class. II the group
is exalted above the individual there
can be no such thing as protection
against tyranny. for tyranny emanates
as frequently from a group or class
as from a state or from sovereign.
The New York herald., 1922-04-02
Issue Is a Shop Closed
By Rigid CONSUMPTION

The issue, therefore, before this
country is not the question OF a partial
closed shop or a voluntary closed shop
system, but national closed shop sys-
tenn maintained by CONSUMPTION. which,
like some colossal reaper, would NOV
down the rights OF others. IL means
closing the doors OF industry to all
but union men and closing transporta-
ton and the markets of the nation 70
All but union goods. It means that the
great consuming public, deprived OF It's
right OF commercial suffrage. must
starve OF buy its sustenance and rail-
ment from a self-sustained monopoly.
arttfcially protected from the forces
OF moral or legal restraint. II means
the substantial abandonment Of the
rights and liberties OF non-union men
and all non -conformists and dissenters,
and the vesting in q private society or
the power Of commercial life and death
over their fellow beings.
Union membership Is q precarious
privilege. II may be arbitrarily granted
and arbitrarily withdrawn. That Is
why America is unwilling to weigh IN
the same balance the right OF man
10 work and membership IN private
society. There IL no liberty under
the law when such membership is a
condition precedent 70 the exercise OF
a fundamental right Of citizenship.
Men may argue about II and philoso-
piers may write treatises on the sub
ject, hut there is no gainsayinG the
proposition that national closed shop
policy enforced by industrial warfare
Is incompatible with the principles or
liberty. The non-union worker and the
majority OF union workers will not
consent that the protection Of the
right to work and quit work be trans
ferred from state which has always
upheld it 20 private societies which
have SO often denied It.
The right TO organize must not over
throw the right TO remain unorganized.
one NAV venture to believe in volun-
tary associations without giving APP
proval TO involuntary associations. The
rights OF the group. the mob or the
class must not destroy the rights OF
the individual. Our fugdamental law
recognizes no class 40 group. no sec
tion.' says Mr. Harding ours Is n
government Of individuals" We all
believe IN colle4tivishi as an agency
Of cooperation, hut collective self-help
The New York herald., 1922-04-02
Tyranny and Oppression to
Be Cured by Same Evils

Suppose we force all the employees
on the railroad. all the miners Of coal.
all the producers and distributors OF
bread and milk into disciplined labor
unions. where the leaders may marshal
them out against all society, under
penalty of being driven from their
trade. what assurance have we That
they will not palarye our commerce,
freeze our hospitals and starve orr
babies? They cry out against tyranny
and oppression on the part OF one
rroup and propose TO cure Il by
greater tyranny OF their own. the
frailties OF human nature are not
monopoly of any class. Would they
be kinder and more considerate to-
ward the rights of the rest Of us than
our democratic state has been toward
them? Since when has uncurbed hu-
man power stopped at the portals or
Justice? The only hope of the future
lies in preserving the supreme power
of the state and In guarding against
n rival power in private hands.
Socialism has much more to say for
itself than the closed shop. lt follows
the principles OF Christianity. Every
body is In on the ground floor. There
is no one out in the cold The closed
shop too often denies the brotherhood
os man. The outsider is a scab and an
industrial outlaw. The insiders nave
speciaI privileges. II encourages COM
bat, bitterness and tyranny. Socialism
entrusts peoples rights 20 the Govern
ment as a neutral agency. The closed
shop government entrusts the rights Of
its members and others TO class in
stitution.
Sovereign power must not be vested
In any class institution. A democratic
state functions for all classes OF citi-
zens and all classes OF citizens arc al
lowed TO participate In It's control.
That alone iustifics its exercise of SOW
creign power. such Government "
responsible TO all classes OF people and
ali classes OF people or responsible to
that Government. Labor unions which
function for one class only, and in
which only one class participates, can
not he vested with the power Of say
ing who shall and who shall not follow
trade.
Liberty protected by public law is q
lasting, earthly ideal. II IL not q pass
ing fantasy of the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries II is rooted deep
in political practically. q wholesome
fear Of the fralties OF any form Of
government, and a deep. abiding con-
viction that the individual aspirations
and incentives Of each citizen may not
be unduly suppressed. We must strive
that this liberty withstand the shock
Of all attacks. whether they emanate
from the state or private citizens, the
rich or the poor. Gar Of Russia or
the Bolshevists OF Russia. Unless this
ideal survives as one Of the primary
concepts OF modern society. centuries
of human struggle have been in vain
and the great inspirations which have
led men on the battlefield of suffering
and horror have been false and wasted
emotions.
The New York herald., 1922-04-02
Calls National Closed Shop
Economic and Political Menace

One does not like to dogmatize about
the closed shop. but it has become a
profound conviction with many people
that a national closed shop system for
which the unions now reach out would
be a menace alike TO economic and
political safety. In forcing itself upon
us by strikes. boycotts and social os-
tracism, TO say nothing Of more violent
methods, ii embodies more than the
traditional evils of monopoly. The
closed shop as it may grow naturally
and voluntarily is quite a different
thing from this realistic picture of the
compulsory closed shop, which aims
artificially to protect the labor move
ment from all wholesome rivalry and
to remove il beyond the natural or
social laws of reward and punishment
and moral and legal restraint. The
fundamental incentives for good con-
duet are to be removed. 1t seeks the
establishment Of a single national
union for each industry which the
Government shall leave unregulated
and uncontrolled and then demands
that society and employers must
recognize and deal with that union re-
gardless Of the contracts it flouts and
the injury 1t infiicts, and regardless Of
the stupidity or selfishness of the
management The good and bad
unions fare alike. Upon the rest of us
the laws OF nature and society pass
judgment, and the judgment on our
mistakes is loss or punishment, but
organized labor is 10 hold its position
by force rather than service. Reputa-
tion, honor and intelligence will count
for naught.
The New York herald., 1922-04-02
Unions Ask Much of Society:
Offer No Hostages in Return

Unions ask much of society and
offer no hostages in return. They
seek exemption from all laws which
protect freedom OF trade and COM
merce. which is the open door policy
of American industry, and when Con-
gress passes appropriations for the
enforcement of such laws have caused
it to be written on the statute books
that none of such moneys shall be
utilized against them; they claim the
right TO blockade the channels of in
terstate trade as against any mer-
chsndise OF which they disapprove; ;
they insist upon the right to paralyze
railroad transportation and bring suf-
fering and distress to millions of inno-
cent people. and when Congress pro-
poses to fix railroad wages by a fair
tribunal and at the same time abolish
railroad strikes they hurl defiance at
the elected representatives of our SOW
ereign people; they insist upon the
right to unionize every coal mine in
the United States and then to freeze
our people by national coal strike,
and when the State of Kansas passes
its Industrial Court act. in the interest
of all classes. because the sick in hos
pitals were suffering. instead OF giving
It a fair trial and fair consideration
they decry aud defy it and marshal
their forces to prove 1t a failure; they
reserve the right to engage in strikes
against the Government, including
police strikes, which leave the COM
munity defenselcss prey to lawless
elements. az in Boston. and again at
tack those who legislate against such
assaults upon public safety: they OPP
pose Il State constabulary; they claim
the right TO prevent railroads. steam
ships and street railways from carry
ing non-uaion men and non-union
merchandise and have been seeking
laws which would legalize this.
When the recent decision of the
| United States Supreme Court did not
suit them they declared that the
courts had no right to define the rights
Of unions, and called upon their five
million members hereafter to resist
all labor injunctions. When the Courts
of Massachusetts protected the rights
of members OF a rival union to work
as against the interference of one of
the unions Of the federation, it was
4 declared that labor was filched of its
i rights--filched of its rights to filch the
rights of others; they object 10 any
law which will bring the unions within
1 the reach of legal process and answe-.
| able for their misconduct. and then
I they demand that all business shall
function through recognized unions re-
gardless OF the mischief and misdoings
of any particular labor union, and that
the protection and disposition of the
right to work shall be transferred
from governmental authority to these
private societies. The closed shop
would thus lodge sovereign power with
private societies and remove the last
vestige Of public control over them.
The New York herald., 1922-04-02
CLOSED SHOP HELD TO VIOLATE SACRED PUBLIC RIGHTS

tire printing industry they may, as
has Deen done in a few cases, place a
censorship on printed matter IL your
complete unionization spells power
stronger than society itself that power
will not wait to hear returns from the
polls. Government by strike viii SUI
persede government by ballot. A
closed shop system maintained by
militant unionism means the perver-
sion OF democratic government and is,
therefore. a menace 10 the political as
well as to the economic safety of the
country. Some of us are old fashioned
enough 10 believe in a government of
the people, by the people and for the
people and not government by strike
or economic assault on society. These
things may be long way off to-day,
but change our laws as labor demands
TO permit the compulsory unioniza-
ton of all employees and what we
have experienced Will be but 4 fore
taste of what will be.
The New York herald., 1922-04-02
Two Servile Glasses of
Open Shop Ideal Fail

III the closed shop and anti-union
campaigns continue. each striving 70
DESTROY the rights of others, the open
shop ideal will fall between them and
there will be two servile classes OF
wsrkers--one which cannot join \
union and another which must join q
union-and both will be shorn Of their
liberty of action. We should turn our
attention to some device which viii
MT an end to all or SSis on both sides.
Organized labor demands that all
EMPLOYEES of all industries shall be
members OF their respective unions,
and that all industry shall function
through those unions, so far as laoor
questions are concerned, and II visits
a Judgment of moral condemnation on
all who do not agree with IL. IN Us
bigotry and intolerance u says laoor
must be saved it's way or not saved az
all. 1t makes fetish OF its organiza :
tion and it's plan. American instincts
are against any such national closed
shop scheme because il does not keep
open the doors OF opportunity TO all
classes OF qualified workers and be-
cause ii involves a fundamental con-
fict with our political faith and ideals.
A commercial nation which in peaceful
times cannot protect the right OF men
to pursue their trade without cneoun-
tering artificial distractions from pri-
vate combinations lamentably fails in
one OF the fundamental duties of gov
ernuent. Liberty loving instincts will
not vest any labor union or corpora :
ton with the power TO say that work
men Of any particular craft should not
be allowed to pursue their trade
which is their capital in life--in any
mart OF the vast confines OF the United
States. unless accepted as members OF
private society.