Southwest Washington labor press. [volume] (Hoquiam, Wash.) 19??-19??, 1923-08-31
HIGHER EVOLUTION
THRU TRADE UNION


(QOTEs-It is seldom that the IN
tellectaal takes an active part IN
building up the labor movement. Il
is still more extraordinary when =
poet OF great power and virility has
so strong q faith IN the future Of
labor that he viii not only devote his
pen to the cause. but VIII become
speaker and organizer. Since the days
Of the famous Lawrence strike the
poet, Giovannitti. has been Of great
service to the needle trades. Just
now he is organizer for the Interna-
tional Ladies' Garment Workers IN
ion. The following Is part OF his Ia
Dor greedy
BY Arthuro eiovannitte.
81 believe that the labor movement
Is the organized effort Of men and
women who work by their hands OF
brains to establish their collective po-
sition in society. to define and secure
their rights and TO increase their pow
er illimitably save BY their own ac-
ceptance and admission Of incapacify.
Il believe that as such the labor
movement, by virtue OF the auto
genetie forces that have called it into
being and the ideals It's has engender-
ed as means to the attainment Of its
potential hegemony in human society,
Is the sole heir and cOntinuator OF
the nov practically defunet democrat
ic system OF society, and the only one
which can with any appreciable meas
ure of success, lead forth to a higher
plane the evolution of mankind.
1.-The elements Of fact that sustain
this belief are now apparent every.
where, indeed, thy are so evident that
no one, who is not afflicted with the
acutest form Of intellectual myopia,
can deny them
whatever may be said Of the labor
movement, either In praise or condem-
nation. the reality is all too palpable
that it is now the all-encircling prob
lem Of this age, as truly an arc of
the revolutionary parable Of human
society as the movement for political
representation was a few generations
ago.
Main Problem.
1T Is as vast a problem as any
which predicates the continuation of
civilization and the perpetuation of
mankind; It is, in fact. the only prob
lem today which absordbs all others;
the limitation Of war, the regulation
Of exchange, the distribution OF pop
ulatiOn Emigration. colonization and
the control Of births). and more than
anything else a scientific manage
ment Of all the auxiliary forces of
life-industry. trade, finance, educatinO
and the equitable distribution of
wealth.
Indeed. whoever says that any
great problem Of today. none except
ed, is not a problem directly connect
ed with the labor movement, is eth
er an ascetic wrapped up in the alb
stractions of religion, transcendental
ethics and pure" art, or a fanatic
self-worshiper, like the holy Ghandi
and the unspeakable Mussolini.
Outside of these sub-categorics Of
the human species, everybody admits
today that the working man holds the
center Of the world stage and that
every intelligent effort to either pre-
serve or modify or change the present
form Of society must reckon and deal
with him, and that no man who would
function as a leader or a plain SOL
der in the next social advance can
avoid taking the worker as a point
Of departure for his activity nor can
help envisaging the supreme question
Of the workers future position in life.
City employees OF Portland have
asked for an increase in wages. The
petition is being considered by the
city council