The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1929-12-06
The Cherry
1" Where with our
Tree Ii'.,. Il i, h H.,ss:, ..':s
about many things sometimes pro-
foundly, sometimes hippantly.
sometimes recklessly.

During the discourse of a brilliant
young Southern trade union official
in the Washington conference on or
ganizing the South, a grizzled vet
eran of many struggles sat and lis
tened with the closest attention and
the most profound sympathy.
The Southern leader described con-
ditions of work and wages that were
reminiscent of slavery.
He told of men and women who
live in what are piously called vii
lagos, built by textile mill owners, on
company owned property, around tex
tile mills.
He told of long hours of work for
mothers and fathers, of lives of
poverty and hopelessness for children.
He told of evictions from homes, as
these poor abodes are politely called.
He ran the gamut of facts-the old,
old story of brutal oppression.
Twenty years ago Santiago Iglesias
began protesting against the condi-
tions of his people in Porto Rico. This
carpenter, who was also reader of
books, told to all who would listen
and to great many who did not care
to listen, the story of his people.
He told the old, old story of low
wages, long hours, children at toll in
stead of in school, and of fat profits
for great corporations.
He was the veteran who sat and
listened so intently to the young
Southerner. AS the Southern story
unfolded, Santiago Iglesias said to
his neighbor: "That is also the story
of Porto Rico. Every fact is the
same"
So it was. 1t was also the story of
Everywhere, until men have found out
how to have an effective voice in help
ing to shape their own lives.
The story was the story of hun
dred Southern towns; it was the story
of great many Northern towns, OF
places in New England and of places
in the great Southwest, of coal and
iron towns in Pennsylvania, and OF
towns in the West. Where there are
no unions, or few unions, the story is
about the same, differing only in de-
tails and in some degree. The main
facts are always the same.
And always the story is the same
in towns where there are strong
unions, with good wages, decent
hours and consequently decent homes
The union brings something rea
into human life And it brings that
Something to the whole community
Human well-being and decency car
not be bottled up!
AS Santiago Iglesias said, at is the
same story" everywhere. Towns OF
freedom are alike in Ohio and Texas
Towns of slavery are alike in the
Carolinas and Pennsylvania.
The strange thing is that it should
take SO many persons so long to find
out how good unions really are.
The strange thing is that any en-
ployer anywhere should think that
he has the right to tell working peo-
pie they must not join unions, or to
think he ought not deal with unions.
Whenever an employer fights the
union it is certainty that employer
has an unclean, ignorant or base
motive.
The union idea is so natural, its
aims are SO productive of general
well-being, it's contribution to society
so great, its basic principles so just,
its functions SO normal, that to deny
them is to go back into the caves of
superstition where all is dark and
filled with hate.
And the idea is the same, wherever
it is. Those who hate are alike, the
world over Those who, in their men,
tai caves, fight unions, are alike the
world over.
So also are good things, high ideals,
and human courage.