Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1925-09-11

A surface view Of uuionism indicates
thai Organized Labor exists primarily
TO procure increased wages and better
working conditions for the working
man.
This may have been the original
motive back Of organization, bat 1t has
long ceased To be the dominant mo-
tive. The supreme motive today in or
ganization is to control the labor mar
ket, instead of permitting capital to
control il. The ideal today is 10 die
tate the terms of labor through or
ganization, not merely wages and
working hours, but other questions
pertaining to labor that are equally
important.
Organized Labor Of the twentieth
century has become a dominant factor
in politics as we'll as business. Dnring
primary and election campaigns, can
didates court the favor of Union men.
1t is a rare thing for a candidate to
deliberately discountenance the Labor
vote 1t is a rarer thing for one to be
elctd to offic who deliberately ilaunts
his opposition to to Labor.
While il is true that all Labor can
didates are not elected to office, it is
equally true that few candidates are
elected who are openly opposed to
Labor. If anti-labor candidates are
elected, it is because they adroitly
carry water on both shoulders. PreSi-
dent Coolidge, while by no means
Labor candidate in the last election,
was exceedingly careful not to openly
oppose Labor. His subsequent atti-
tude has been equally adroit. While
not an avowed friend Of Organized
Labor, he has certainly proved that
he is not an enemy.
Even Viee-President Dawes APP
peared to forget his anti-Labor rec
ord during the recent campaign. Nor
has he, as vice-president, shown any
open enmity toward Organized Labor.
There are merely indications pointing
to the power of Organized Labor as
political influnces in shaping the poll
cies of executives and legislators.
Another aim of Organized Labor is
ii lift the standard of the workingman.
High wages and shorter hours alone
will not accomplish this object. The
workingman must be educated. He
must be able to elevate his family to
the ranks Of those who are employed
in the professions. His family must
stand as high in society a the Sfamily
Of the physician, the lawyer or mer-
chant. Money alone will not lift them
to this social status. But sane, we'll
directed and well managed organiza-
ton will lift them.
Organized Labor also elevates the
standard of labor as such. No longer
is it DEGRADING, but is, ON the con-
trary, marked by efficiently and stabil-
ity unknown before men became or
gained. There is little slipShod or
slapStick work among Union men.
They offer the best labor to be had in
the market. Skill in workmanship
combines with integrity of purpose to
raise the standard of work in all
crafts.
Too often Union men forget these
higher motives for which Organized
Labor exists, but gradually the men
who remain in the movement become
saturated with the more lofty aims
of organization and the lesson is
passed on to to the younger men Of
the crafts with good results.
Working men should be educated,
not merely in line with their respec-
tive trades, but in general way.
Education gives poise and confidence.
An educated man can learn a trade
more quickly than one who is ignorant
of things in general.
1t is no disgrace to be uneducated
if one has not had the opportunities
for education. 1t is merely misfor-
tune. But it is becoming more and
more the rule that if workingman
is not educated, it is because of neg
lected opportunities. Just now there
appears to be no Vood reason why hte
younger craftsmen in any trade may
not be as we'll developed intellectually
as those who follow the professions
and Occupations which have long been
delegated to the ducated classes.
Nothing will 50 quickly elevate the
standard of labor as well developed
minds. For this reason much atten-
ton should be paid to the wise and