Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-01-06
open SHOP"
Is OPEN ROAD
TO DISASTER
(By JAMES o'NEAL)

why employing masters favor IL.
Eor workingmen il is the entering
wedge bv which organization Is slowly
stranpled. wages are reduced, hours
len0tbened. and the rank and lille are
reduced to seryile submission 10
heartless bosses. III
Nowhere else in the modern world
do the employing masters oppose tie
union shop as they do here. ire
mendous drive is being made by the
amnloving class all over the country
IA crush iInionism. Millions of dollars
have been contributed for the purpose.
Onietlv gathering their forces, get
tho the aid of chambers OF commerce
and civic organizations, the masters
Of industry seek to establish I'M
challenged domination through the
"open shop -. hem
long AFRO fought to a conclusion. Inc
came Is true of Canada. In both
countries the right of organization oil
shop and factory, mine and niii, Is
conceded. IL has been eliminated
from the realm of controversy. But
the workingmen of free America
are forced to fight for elemental right
that i taken for granted in countries
where monarchy itself still survives.
Tbe "open shop" is related to
"Americanism" by our enemies. No
more class Hypocrisy has ever peeh
displayed. The slave pens OF the
Gary steel trust are typical examples
of omen shop Americanism. Although
the eight-hour day has been long
conceded in the steel industry OF Eng
land. Germany and other countries,
the United States is the only country
in the world where tn workingmen
work II hours per day and seven days
a week. This is open shop Amer
canism." II h
Organization is forbidden. He who
talks is discharged. He who attempts
to organize is slugged. Spies OF the
companies swarm in the mill. They
sink in the streets, in the pool rooms,
in the movies, at public gatherings,
everywhere that workingmen gather
the company spy is present. Sus-
picion, fear, distrust, and hatred brood
over the workers. The friend working
by their side may be a spy. Life Is
filled with this brooding menace that
dogs their heels. This is open shop
"Amercanism."
"Welfare work" of the open shop
masters of Garyism is substituted for
unionism, together with the company
union" Homes are purchased from
the company by the workers on easy
payments. When a real strike comes
this welfare work. is seen to be
scourge to whip the slaves back to
their slave pens. The workers are
eyicted from their homes except those
who consent to betray their brothers
by going to work. 1t places prem
ium on treachery. This is open shop
"Americanism."
The company union" is play
thing for the employing masters. The
workers "organize" like sheep under
the eyes of the bosses. Officials are
chosen to preside over this abortion
of unionism. Any genuine grievances
cannot be discussed under the eyes
of the agents of the masters. He
who attempts it soon finds that he Is
discharged for some trivial reason.
The workers are cowed. They sub
nit to injustice and merciless rob-
berry. This is open shop American
ISM"
Brothers in the army of labor:
Shall we submit to what our brothers
in the monarchies of Europe will not
tolerate? To do so would be to
brand ourselves as craven towards
and merit the contempt of our child
rem. 1t would be to play false to the
labor movement in this country. Our
fathers beginning in the '20s of the
last century formed their first endur-
ing unions. Some went down in ruins,
but their sons rebuilt them again and
again. Through struggles, disappolnt-
ments, sacrifices and defeats, they
struggled on through the '40s, the sos
and the COS.
Then came the civil war and the
unions all but disappeared. With
peace a new generation took up the
old task and through the nineteenth
century repeated this struggle. Now
we are in the twentieth century and
at the end of a war to make the
world safe for democracy" Safe for
any country but the United States,
safe for the employing masters OF
industry!
What travesty! We were called
to the fields of Flanders while these
employing UPSTAIRS remained at
home and accumulated enormous
gains. Some of our brothers lie III
graves across the Atlantic. Many
havesreturned and they are now told
by the employing class that organ
ization of labor is "un-Amercan.'
Would that our brothers, now fertil-
izing the fields of France, could wit
ness this spectacle in the country fol
which they gave their lives. Let the
masters tell us, this is open shop
"Americanism.
Shall we submit? Shall we per.
nit this stark impotence, this at
tempt to capitalize patriotism fol-
dirty material ends, to go withou
rebuke? Shall we permit the mas
tiers of industry to identify American
ism with their bank accounts?
No, thousand times, no! With
out organization o flabor in industr,
workingmen are helpless to conten'
with the mighty power of organize,
capital. The employing class de
mand and secure organizations 70
themselves and would deny it to us
This is impertnence and greed com
pounded. The workers will organic
for betterment and fraternize TO
mutual nrotAetiOn There Gan no M