Southwest Washington labor press. [volume] (Hoquiam, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1923-08-31

ct was any real freedom 10f 8eamen
When serfdom was abolished the sea
man remained q self, when slavery
was abolished fl this country no
change came to the seamen. That
such condition Of servitude would poi
son the whole Of the seaman's life
needs no proof. The seaman had to
carry his own mess gear and bedding;
he was compelled to sign away his
wages, before he had earned them;
he was starved, beaten, and some
times horribly abused at sea, and
when he came on shore, you men on
shore thought that he was getting
what he deserved, since he stood for
that kind, of life and treatment What
you people on shore thought OF the
seaman Is best illustrated by report,
issued by a humanitarian society in
San Francisco some years since.
They said in this report that they
had accomplished much good among
prostitutes, criminals and seamen.'
You may well wonder, why there were
any men willing to live under such
condition, and of course the Ameri-
cans quit the sea. Then the white
foreigner quit. then the darkey quit,
and SO on But there are very many
people in the world and they have to
eat in order to live. So we found that
as one man omit the sea, somebody
else was at least willing to make an
attempt at the life, or they were hun
cry and therefore willing to go, where
food was obtainable. The wages con-
tracted for were so small that the sea
men could not keep decent clothing on
themselves, to think of living like
cher humans was out OF the question.
Organize Union.
These conditions were felt to be i'm
possible, but 1t was also felt, that ii
the seamen could get together in a
union to assist each other, there still
might be some hope Of improving the
condition, so that decent human life
could be lived even by a seaman. And
thus we determined to try unionism
We have been organized since 1885
on the coast. We have been through
a lot of fights and misery. but we
suffered as those suffer who have
hope. In the struggles we Of course
had the shipowners against us for
a very long time. The idea of sea-
men organizing and insisting upon GER
tain working rules, upon certain
wages and upon certain hours OF la
Dor was, they felt, an accusation
against their humanity. Were they
not human enough to look after their
employees? A change from the indi-
vidual will or caprice to laws or rules
regulating the conduct is a very great
change, and while the individual may
accept It and even think it good, the
group viii not. There were always
individuals, who contaminated their
slaves, but the group never did. The
group had to be compelled and SO
also the shipowners and the ship
masters. We have made such prog
ress. We are now as free as other
workers. We cannot be compelled to
work against our will. We are now
furnished with messgear and bedding
and we receive the money, which we
contract for, as wages. The wages
too have improved some, but not suf-
ficient to live as actual humans.
Sailors Always Loyal.
In this struggle Of years we have
contested with the shipowners and
with those, whom they used against
us. We have never struggled against
the country or its government. 1t
has been a struggle between groups
and within the law. The seamen are
not revolutionists, except as to the
extent OF so altering the laws of the
land and the condition under which
the seamen live and work, that hu.
man life may be possible, and we
found that fundamentally the system
of government in the United States
readily lent itself to such peaceable
changes are were needed. OF course
because Of this we have been the tar
get for the so-called revolutionist. We
have been and we are accused of all
kinds Of things, but never of dis
loyalty to the country. The purely
American revOlutionist, the /. w. w.
who claim to be an Indsutrial Labor
organization, while they are in fact
a political Revolutionary aggregation,
has been used by the shipowners TO
attack US and to put US out of busi-
ness and so again the Russian Com
munist would like to call the seamen
their own. The wobblies and the
communists both want, because the
seamen can or could carry their pro-
paganda from one country to another,
and what could not be sent by mail
could be carried by the seamen. OF
course, at the risk Of years of imprfs-
onment IL caught. The seamen are
asking no special privileges. They are
asking fair play from the people on
shore.
In return for useful and often dan
gerous work the seamen are asking
for the same freedom that is grant
ed to other workers, and since the
men can not be dismissed out at sea
they ask that the men who contract
- A. A. x.rOvlr - aov~n.-. ohoII 4,