The times-news. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 1937-02-25
THE AMERICAN WAY

HE RMENiSfNN wa
The interest of the impartial public IN the out
come of the recent General Motors strike has to 40
in the main with what happened to the prncipie
involved and not so much as to whether one side
or the other. as such, won lost or gave and TOOK
or what
OF course. at the base Of this controversy was
the principle of the open and closed shop.
The objective of John L. Lewis whose I. l. "
nut on this demonstration of its workers power
and who, according to President Green, OF the
American Federation of Labor, met an ANONYMOUS
defeat, was to destroy the practice OF the open
shop in that industry.
Teris demanded that his union should oe recog-
nized as having the right and authority 10 bargain
collectively for all the workers IN that industry,
whether all were in his union or not, whether al
were in any union or not,
He lost that fight and TO that extent the final
settlement was victory for the principle OF the
omen shop which recognizes the right Oh worker
70 EMPLOYMENT be he unionized or ununionized'
Il has always seemed to that this principle
lay ut the very roots of the structure OF American
democracy.
The right of man to work or not, If he should
60 elect, is southern and basic liberty
The open shop would recognize 1t and honor
it and compel its recognition.
No better statement Of this principle, no fairer
nor simpler statement of it, has ever been pro-
posed than that given by the late Theodore Roose-
Welt who was himself liberal and friend OF the
masses of America the working masses
We quote it for its superlative value as well as
timeliness:
..The right to remain at work where others have
ceased to work, or to engage anew in work which
others have abandoned is part of the personal lib
crtv of a citizen that can never be surrendered,
and every infringement thereof merits and should
receive the stern announcement of the law. All
government implies restraint, and it is not less but
more necessary in self-governed communities than
in others to compel restraint of passions OF men
which make for disorder and lawlessness.
"Our language is the language of a free people,
and fails to furnish any form of speech by which
the right of citizen to work when ne pleases' for
whom he pleases and on what terms ne pleases,
can be successfully denied
"The common sense of people as we'll as
the common law, forbids that this right should be
assailed with impunity. 1t is vain to say that the
man who remains at work, while others cease 70
work, or takes the place of one who has abandoned
his work, helps to defeat the aspirations OF men
who seek TO obtain better recompense Tor their ID
bor and better conditions of life. Approval of the
object of a. labor strike persuasion that It's pur-
pose is high and noble, cannot sanction an attempt
to destroy the right of others to different OPINION
in this respect, or to interfere with their conduct
in choosing to work upon what terms and at what
time and for whom it may please them so to do
"The right thus to work cannot be made to de-
pend upon the approval disapproval of the per-
sonal character and conduct of those who claim to
exercise that right If this were otherwise then
those who remain at work might, if they were IN
the majority, have both the right and power to
prevent others, who choose to cease work, from
so doing"
IL is this doctrine and this credO of a working
mans rights in the premises which require restate-
ment and re-emphasis in these days when some Ia
Dor leaders, acting we often fear more out OF per-
sonal interest than the ultimate good of their con-
stituents are trying to capitalize on the political
concessions which have been so abundantly made
within these late years.
Their way is not the way of progress nor of
prosperity: it is not the way Of the individual Sc
curty of the workers themselves: it is not the
American way.-Charotte Observer.