The Connecticut labor news., 1923-06-01

ne National ASSOC1at1On Ot Manu- facturers, which might just as we'll be called, as it is known to be, a na- tional organization of malefactors, in it's recent national convention in New York City adopted, as a part of the report of a committee on so-called open shop, the following statement: "Wherever the public has had both sides of the open shop question ade- quately presented, it has decidedly de- clared for the open shop" There can be no other characterization of such a statement than 1t Is the most braz- en, inexcusable kind of falsehood. The report of the same committee con- tained the following paragraph:
 "In the economic field our open shop department has presented clear evidence on the public cost of the closed shop. It has, for example, shown that rent increases are much greater in towns where building is closed shop; that taxes are increased by the closed shop, since 1t costs 40 per cent more to erect school build ings under open shop conditions, and that higher prices for commodities are largely controlled by closed shop production methods"
 If it is possible for one mendacious falsehood to surpass another in men dacity, then the laurels unQuestion- ably go to the second quotation. The statements made by the National As sociation of Manufacturers are unsup- ported and unsupportable. Any or ganization that is actively and almost exclusively engaged in propaganda may be excused for the use of adjec- tives, but there can be no such ex- 1crht fot 0f facts.
 If there is any difference in the cost between union and non-union op- eration, it is decisively in favor of union operation in the aggregate, and for many reasons If the National Association of Manufacturers will ex- anime the statisctics compiled by the United States Census Bureau, 1t will discover that of the value added by manufacture, money paid in wage forms, in most cases, something less than so per cent of the total. In the competition of modern manufacture management methods play a much more important part than wage differ entia1s in the final cost of most com modities Ito the consuming public. The average efficiency of trade union workers over unorganiZed workers is a fact so well established as to be conceded by all employers who have investigated without bias. This was clearly demonstrated when building employers appeared before the Lock wood Committee and under oath tesT tifed emphatica1ly and unequivocal1y that union labor in building construc- ton was more efficient and economi cal than non-union labor. The best managed industrial undertakings op- crate in agreement and in harmony with the organizations of labor. Good management and union labor are found together to much greater ex- tent than good management and non union labor It may be said truth fully and accurately that a factor Tn the qualifications entitling manage ment to be called good management is the intelligence to understand the advisability of operating in agreement and in mutuality with the organiza- tions of workers.
 The proposition set forth by the National Association of Manufactur- CTS Is simply impossible of successful support. It Is nothing less than brazen attempt to carry conviction by mere assertion. The lie is so old that 1t is almost stereotyped. It is sur prising that an organization purport- ing to have on its membership lists Boo employers should have the efron- tery to continue to stand for such a brazen and shame-faced perversion of truth in the face of public that is more and more coming to understand the truth. The National Association of Manufacturers, through the me dium of the same committee report, lays, claim to a belief "that public welfare is the paramount issue" It the closed shop is theory of force, monopoly and destruction" which presents a very real menace to our fundamental issues." It would be in teresting if, in the course of its hypo- critical professions of an interest in the public welfare, the National As socation of Manufacturers would re- veal through a public financial report the source of its income and the character of its expenditures; also how much it gets and how much it spends. No organization that oper- ates in financial secrecy can lay any good claim to have an interest in the public welfare.
 Elsewhere in the report there is a tinge of regret that one of the politi- cal parties apparently does not see fit to champion the anti-union shop as a paramount issue in the forthcoming campaign. The committee thinks that