Southwest Washington labor press. [volume] (Hoquiam, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1923-10-05

VINO are WORKING upon the SOL.
Face Common Exploltsrs.
THE antagonists, natural or igno-
rant, have at ali times and up to the
present time. fairly successfully kept
the agricultural and industrial work
ers from each other. They have con-
sistently interjected something IS
schism between the two. Some Of the
statisticians employed by that partie-
ular interest to which have referred
have pointed out a certain class of
workers and a comparison Of their
daily wage with the income Of farmers
upon certain products. No reference
was made to the fabulous profits made
by the stock jobber. by the exehang-
es, by the money lenders and the inter-
mediary commissioner, and on both
sides, who, of the population Of Amer
lea, are the greatest users and con-
sumers of the farmers products, if
not the great mass of the wage earn
ers, and who are those who use and
consume the products of mans indus
trial labor If not the farmers7 The
profiteers on both sides have taken
more out of the products Of each than
are given in the form of returns to the
farmers and wages to the workers.
There is an abiding faith | have
that in America, slow moving as we
often are, the trend of events and the
, intelligence and stamina Of our people
will bring the farmer and the worker
in industry together in the solution
Of the great problems confronting
both.
Resist Wage Reductions.
THE falsely termed open shop,
and the reasonable appellation of
that as the American plan-the Amer
lean plan must consist of a virile citi-
zenship, and American workers can
only maintain that virility and vision
and insistence upon progress when
they are united and federated. Well,
the drive was on and wage reductions
were demanded In some instances we
had to yield some things, and despite
the calamitous bowls OF the interests
it was the most fortunate thing for
our country and our people that in
1922 the organized working men and
women of America-paraphrasing the
old couplet that 1t is better to have
loved and lost than not to have loved
at ALL said that 1T is better to resist
and lose than not to resist at ALL
The result of that resistance in 1922
gave the employing interests and big
business this to understand-that even
if they succeeded in wage reductions
it would cost them more in the end
than to pay the scale which prevails;
and as for the losses to the working
people, we have little to lose and
can afford to lose it.
with the prevention of wage re-
auctions, to turn the tide of industry
as we have, to secure that which we
have lost and to go forward still, we
will soon make up the losses which
we sustained during the contest.
don't want any man to believe that
l am an advocate of strikes or strife,
but do hold that when the time shall
come in the history of intustry when
men cannot maintain themselves ant
those dependent upon them in a man.
ner conforming to the standards OF
American life, if they would not strike
they would write themselves down
as towards mad poltroons.
Start Vicious Circle.
81 have thought of this period even
when there were more than five mill
ions of American workers unemployed,
walking the streets and highways and
by-ways of our coontry vainly seek
ing for employment-to put into ef-
feet at that time a drive for wage
reductions-was that the way out? To
cut wages and reduce the using, pur-
chasing and consuming power of the
peoples whose wages had been reduc-
ed, and when you reduce the purchas-
ing, using and consuming power you
necessarily throw others out Of en-
ployment, and when they are unem-
ployed the same thing goes on like
an endless chain until it reaches the
lowest rung in the Industrial ladder;
then it begins over and over again,
from the top down-cutting more and
more. If there is any one who can
give me any good cause for the trans
ition from this terrible situation Of
unemployment and the return to what
we are pleased to call industrial activ-
ity and industrial prosperity, except
the movement of labor Of America in
resisting these wage reductions and
in many instances succeeding in their
resistance, which brought about the
return of men to Their employments,
and as workers when employed, CIV
ing the opportunity for others to work
and use and consumer there be any
other cause that any one can ascribe
than the one which have just made
quately mentioned, / would like to
know It.
Forward Within the Law.
I'VE are now in a most fortunate
position. Our movement is growing
The spirit of our movement has caught