Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-03-03

tons and the Mulhall exposure? They
are reproduced in some seventeen
volumes of hearings turned out at
that time. Not satisfied with trying
to establish n0n-union shops in their
plants, they were trying to bulldoze
and bribe congress. They have a
very unsavory record and nothing Is
to be gained by going into them.
There is a question | want 10 con-
fine myself to. Mr.. Baer said the
test Is what has it done for human
ity2" To that one test / am going TO
rest my whole case. What has It
done for humanity! Who was that
early American educator? Horace
Mann. Aside from Horace Mann, the
public school systems Of the United
States are due more to the trade
union movement than to any other
one force. We had no such public
school movements prior to that time.
Horace Mann found his influence and
supporters in the trade union. From
1880 TO 1885 that was the trade
union question. The idea of public
school system was opposed by the
teachers in the private institutions,
by colleges, UNCONVENTIONAL institu-
tons, schools to which the rich mans
son went and graduated and TO which
the state paid a sum of money.
say to you, our public school system
is due to the efforts of the trade
unions during that period. If that
was the only thing we did accom-
plish, we would have well justified
our existence. II is the trade union
movement that has said, not that the
child MAY, but the child MUST go
into these schools. We are the ones,
through our efforts our agitation,
we have aroused the public, and have
put a stop to the child labor question.
This child labor question was doing
to US in the south and in New Eng
land what the was done to the ne
groes. Who are the ones who have
introduced legislation regulating fe-
male labor so the work the woman
does will not injure her physically?
We are the ones who have done those
things.
We had a large number of nom
union mines in this country. What
was the result? One thing was this:
the death rate through accidents in
the American mines was 400 per cent
greater i'm this country than the death
rate through accidents i'm the British,
Belgian and French mines, although
those mines are much older, deeper
and most of them more dangerous.
Not until the miners began to organ
ize were they able to secure legisla-
ton which protected their lives more
properly when they were working I'M
der ground.
We had the open shop in industry
at one time and all the evils which
went with it. Workers had no or
ganization under the open shop.
There was no power, in the workers
hands that would enable him to get
hearing with his employer. told
you about definitions and how they
are misleading. When the British
cotton mills first began under mod
ern industry Chat is power Industry
they went to the orphan asylum and
other institutions where little girls
and boys were being kept because
their parents weren't able to keep
them; they brought out what a won
derful opportunity this was to these
children to become self-supporting.
Many of these orphan asylums were
emptied of the children and they were
put into the cotton factories to work
ten and twelve hours a day. That
is something that couldn' exist under
trade unionism. In England the
mines not only had women working
| in them, but in many instances with
a strap around their waists and a
rope behind them, on their hands and
knees they dragged the carts in the
mines. That is something that
CAN'T exist with the miners when
they are organized. We have tried
to educate them; we have tried to do
for them those things that would
make them thinking, intelligent,
institution in this country; the only
one | know of that draws no line of
religious distinction, color or politics,
and then when we get them in our or
ganization and endeavor to make bet
ter citizens of them, we have done
more to elevate the average stand
ard of living in the community than
any other force in existence. The
church has exerted moral influence
but it has not exerted a material in
fluence upon our lives to any great
extent and the homes you see that are
the result of better wages are the re-
suit of what we have done, and that
is the best proof know of.
Go into the districts here the
United States Steel Corporation has
had complete control. See the one
room shacks, unsanitary, etc., that
the men live in--one-third of whom
work twelve hours a day and seven
=, days week. These things are not
poular now! Not long ago, the In.
terchurch World Movement endeaVor.
ed to raise large sum of money tc
carry on its work and il was later
found that the campaign was
World Movement people were wise
enough to study the conditions. WORD
was sent to the bankers, employers
etc, not to contribute to this insti.
tuition any more. The reason the In
ter-Church World Movement was
unable then to complete its program
which it had contemplated was be.
cause the most powerful open shop.
pers in this association with Judge
Gary at the head, had served notice
ON the bankers and big business mer
not to contribute any longer. Those
of you who are church members must
be quite familiar with what ] am re-
ferring to.
| know a discussion of this kind
has to terminate. People become
very weary after sitting so long. II
is not my intention to take any more
of your time except to say this: j
have not discussed the subject in an
abstract way or from a theoretical
point of view. | have tried to call
q -. a.