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Show THE LABOR UNION PROBLEM. The difficulties arising in trying to adjust the work of the world to the demands of modern Labor La-bor Unions is so great that public opinion is swiftly crystalizing into a conviction that a new basis must be found for settlement. There would not be much trouble if the cowardice of politicians was not always in the way. They all want the labor vote and that makes coNvards of almost all of them. W. B. Miller was dismissed from service under the government because be-cause a trades union had expelled him. President Roosevelt ordered his reinstatement, giving as a reason that he could not discriminate in favor of m organized labor. The president of the Chicago "Federation of Labor," "William G. Shardy, noting the action and words of the President o the United States, said: "The President deals a death blow to organized labor when he declares that he cannot discriminate discrimi-nate in its favor. It sounds fair on the face of it, but vithout discrimination we are just where we started, what we have been fighting for is union labor tq the exclusion of all other." When we analyze that statement we see in a moment that the assumption made clear by it, is Intolerable in this Republic. It makes a travesty of our claim that this is a free country In which every man has a right to do any legitimate thing, D that all men have equal opportunities, that all men H have the right to the rewards of their labor in any H honest employment which they may engage in. H That is the unions claim a sovereignty superior to the sovereignty of the United States. They H claim the right, despite the protection which our w laws draw around all our people, to insist that H any men who does not join a labor union shall not H have the right in this free land to earn, his bread. R Ain, they claim the right to punish innocent peo- pie for the supposed sin of some other man. If the D unions have trouble with a builder, for instance, I to punish him they claim the right to suspend B the work on all buildings in a great city. Again II when a bungling mechanic joins a union they in-H in-H sist that he shall have a right to the same wages H that the first class mechanio receives, and when B the discrepancy is too manifest the walking dele? II gate is sent to inform the skilled mechanic thnj: n he is doing too much work. All this is so con-1 con-1 trary to the spirit of free Institutions that it will not be borne in this country. It is the beginning of a.tryanny intolerable, in its spirit it is insidious insidi-ous treason. There must be a remedy for it, and as this country is governed by law, the remedy must come through the laws and the administration administra-tion of the laws through the courts. It will probably prob-ably eventuate through a court of arbitration, a court to which employees and employers alike may enter complaints and have the complaints heard and decided. The need of this is becoming more and more urgent every day. The original purpose of labor unions was altogether alto-gether beneficient. rr limit the unreasonable hours of labor form 'nsisted upon, to abolish child labor; to as .i- asonable wages, to draw the protection of the whole Union around the sick or unfortunate; to lift up the minds of the laborers and give them higher ambitions and more self-respect. All this is noble and in accord with the best thought of the country. This year probably four hundred thousand men from southern Europe will land upon our shores. They will merge with the" great masses of working work-ing men. The first month they will be astonished to receive re-ceive as much as they had ever obtained in a year before. The second month they will take the wages as a matter of course. By the end of the third month they will listen to any blatherskite who tells them they are being oppressed and nine-tenths nine-tenths of them will be ready for a mutiny. The only way to deal with them is through the stern enforcement of righteous laws. After all the worst tendency of labor unions, as they have been conducted for the past ten years, is to take from their members the old invincible courage and the belief, through which the continent conti-nent was subdued and settled, that a healthy man does not need any help to forge out for himself a place and standing among men; to use his own judgment, to think as he may please and to trust to the excellence of his work for preferment. As now conducted, members of labrr unions are surrounded sur-rounded by restriction in many ways. They may work only so long, they may work only so fast, the bungler receives the same pay as the finished workman, hence there is no ambition or at least incentive to excel. The workman who does not belong to their order must be held as an enemy, and when perfectly contented with the work and the wages, at the order of some man, perhaps a hundred miles distant, he is compelled to give up the work which he needs and to bring loss to his employer, that some other man a hundred miles away may be punished. It is not through such a programme that a nation na-tion becomes or remains great. It Is a process through which idleness and lawlessness law-lessness creep in, and the disposition to do and dare grows cold. That plan nevdr felled the forests, for-ests, planted the fields, made the roads nor sailed the ships of this nation. Out of no such school do self-respecting, fearless, wide-awake and progressive pro-gressive men graduate. We said above that the problems that come of the workings of the labor unions and the frequent conflicts with capital would eventually have to be settled through the laws and courts. There may be another way. All progress-comes through labor, the labor of hands and brains; ex cept for these the world would bo as it was before M any of its soil was subdued, when all its rivers M flowed unvexed to the sea. What of improvement M has come to the earth's surface has come through M the labor of men's hands, what has come to im- M prove men's conditions, has come through the la- " bors of the brain. M The unions thus far have exhausted their ef- M forts to increase the material welfare of their M members, to shorten hours and increase rewards. H But what have they done with their increased M wages, how have they employed the hours they H have gained over what their fathers toilod? Have H they accumulated stores of books and have they H debated among themselves the questions which, as H a rule, are decided by their temporary offlcerb. H Have they made it a rule to consider every queh- H tton from the standpoint of justice, justice as well H to the employer as to themselves? If they will try H this for a year, putting themselves under the need- H ed discipline to bring out all that Is good among H the members of their organizations, before the H year is out some evangelists will appear in their H ranks, men who will be given the wisdom to point , H the way for them. ' f H When an elected leader declares that the whole , i H object of the unions is to control the world's H work and to deny any part of it to all who do not join their ranks, he makes clear that the constitu- H tions of the unions need overhauling, amending H and broadening. To maintain civilized society H men are forced to surrender certain of their prim- H ative rights and to put themselves under the au- thority of just laws. H No organization can succeed in a free country which in its very inception enters a defiance to the ' I very fundamental laws on which civilization rests. i I The unions must cure what is wrong within them- selves before they make their demands upon the ! H people. This they can do within their organiza- I tions if they but try. When they resolve that no I demand should be made that is not founded upon H absolute justice, justice alike to labor and to cap- I ital, they will have made a great beginning and ) I will have started on the path that will lead them y straight up to victory. I |