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E FARMERS AND THE TRADES UNIONS
fTlio Commoner of August 31. Mr. C. W.
Hb, of Mica, Wash., has a communication un-
tfco head of "Editorials by Commoner Read-
?that is worthy of more than a passing notice.
only should it be read by all who are inter-
in pushing the reform work, but by those
are seeking to bring about a better relation-
Ip between the various branches of Indus-
triallsm. Speaking of unionism Mr. .Bowne savs
U?JL.the . attitude taken by certain interests and
ZZX z. ? - per orea"s:. vr.Vhas created a sus-
picjon in the minds of every ' thinking and fair
minded man that the authorities arebutiho tools
of the trusts that are determined at alt hazards
to crush out unionism." Then Mr. Bowne, continn- '
SinrjrJiSnU "&?Jti(k Vo "cor
rected. He says:
"As a farmer I know that my Interests are
not with union labor.''
Certainly Mr. Bowne has not given careful
study to the union labor proposition, else he would
not have made such an assertion. It is quite
plain that his knowledge of unionism has been
gleaned from daily newspapers that, while thor
oughly organized in all of their mechanical de
partments, are controlled by interests that seek
to cast suspicion and distrust upon organized
labor as a whole. These newspapers would not,
if they could, break with the allied printing trades
unions, realizing that they get better returns
therefrom than they could from unorganized labor
at an equal expense. But their owners are en
gaged in other business enterprises and are striv
ing to break 'tibwn the labor organizations in
order to avail themselves of sweat shop con
ditions, child labor and Ignorant labor that may
be secured by connivance with padrones, "agents"
and immigration officials who are not above earn
ing a dishonest dollar by violation of the immi
gration laws. Certainly such newspapers are not
good authority on. matters concerning genuine
trades unionism.
It will require comparatively little research
and only a modicum of fairness to convince any
fairminded farmer that the reverse of Mr. Bowne's
proposition is true. Of all men engaged In gain
ful occupations occupations requiring the maxi
mum of toil for the minimum of reward the
farmers should be interested in the propagation
of trades union principles. In order to show the
truth of this assertion it is necessary to briefly
outline what unionism has done, then to show
how these things directly benefit the tillers of the
soil.
Trades unions are organized for more than
one purpose. They are organized for mutual ben
efit in the way Of sick and death benefits, out-of-work
benefits and insurance. They are organized
for the purpose of protecting those engaged in
a particular craft against the greed and rapacity
of employers. They are organized for the pur
pose of giving the worker some voice in the dis
position of his labor. Surely if the manufacturer
has a right to set the-price upon the article which
he hires made, the men whom he employs have
a right uto a yolce in the matter of fjxing the
prico of the labor which enters into the manu
facture of the aforesaid article. One workman
alone would be helpless under present conditions,
therefore the workman seeks the aid of his fel
lows, and by collective bargaining they secure
benefits that could never be secured by Individual
"bargaining. By this system of collective bar
gaining the trades unions have secured many ad
vantages and benefits. Among them may be
enumerated the shorter work day, better sanitary
conditions and better wages.
The shorter work day has several advantages.
First, it gives the worker greater opportunities
to become a better citizen. Second, It means the
employment of more men In the completion of a
! given amount of work, and the employment of
-more men is Deneiiclal to the farmer for the
.reason that it creates a greater demand for the
; products of his loll. The more men employed
rin the arts and industries, the wider the market
J w
for the farmer's produce, and the wider the
market and the greater the demand, the more
honey the farmer receives. By reason of trades
pinion activity a majority of the men engaged in
uuea uraaes loaay are wonting eignt nours, lor
irhich they receive as much as they formerly
received for nine and ten hours. What would
bo the effect on the farmers of this country if
the trades unions were to suddenly disband and
every craftsman to hustle for hinisolf as an
individual? The individual competition for jobs
would soon force a reduction of wagos and a
lengthening of hours. To increase the hours
from eight to Jten would mean at once the dis
charge of 25 per cent of tho workingmen and
a consequent reduction in the demand for the
grain and meat raised by the farmer. Soon tho
hours would be increased to twelve just as they
were before trades unionism relieved the toiler
Tand'nimtjvould mean a further reduction of 20
3.er cenOn-'the uUInaTlfl lor Vffe lWducts,"of tho
farm. ,t? .
Unionism hag benefitted the farmorg in an
other way. It has made a concerted war on
child labor, with 'the effect that grown men aiul
women are now employed at good wages' in
the place of children at starvation wages. Cer
tainly the well paid man is a bettor customer than
the underpaid child.
Again unionism benefits tho farmer because
it soes to it that the union man out of work by
reason of slack times, sickness or strike, does
not cease to bo a consumer in full measure. The
unions put such a member on the benefit list,
paying him a sufficient . sum weekly to enable
him to support himself, and his family, loo, if
he has one, and in this way he continues in full
measure to be a consumer of tho products raised
by the farmer.
And again: Unionism has benefited the
farmer by decreasing his taxes. Before unionism
became an established factor In our Industrial
life the toller who became incapacitated by reason
of illness, accident or old ago became a charge
on the public bounty, for work as ho would he
found it a practical impossibility to earn enpugh
to lay up anything against the day of these
misfortunes. The maintenance of alms houses
used to be a heavy charge upon tho taxpayers.
The expense for this has been materially reduced
in late years, and the chief reason for it has
been the trades union doctrine of caring for its
members in the day of their misfortune. A
sample of this may be had by referring to a
recent article in The Commoner relative to the
Union Printers' Home at Colorado Springs. The
Cigarmakers' International Union has, during
the past twenty years, paid out upwards of $8,
000,000 in benefits to Its members. Tho record
of all other trades unions is equally good in pro
portion to numbers. As a result of these things
pauperism has been reduced to a minimum, and
a constant reduction in the "poor rates" has fol
lowed. Certainly these things are beneficial to
the farmer.
It is quite evident that Mr. Bowne," like
thousands of other farmers, has been deceived by
daily newspaper accounts of strikes and riots
indulged in by union men in the largo centers
of population. Sincere trades unionists do not
seek to make excuses for those who are guilty
of violence in labor disputes. They are opposed
to tho strike save as a weapon of last resort,
and are the most active in the propaganda In favor
of arbitration, and are opposed to violence. That
violence too often follows a strike is due to the
fact that the strikers are men, not to the fact
that they are unionists. But if every charge
of riot and assault and murder laid at the door
of trades unionism were true, it would still be a
fact that its hands are clean compared to the
hands of organized capital which has sweat ttie
life blood out of millions of innocent children,
filled the asylums for the insane with mental
wrecks and enriched Itself on the unrequited
toil of millions In the workshop and on the farm.
Organized labor Is striving manfully to cor
rect these evils, but because trades unionists are
human they often make grave mistakes; are
often guilty of illegal acts. But despite these
mistakes and these Illegal acts, trades unionism
has conferred untold blessings upon the human
race blessings by Jhe side of which Its mis
takes and its illegal acts sink Into comparative
insignificance. And tho trades unionists have
not shared these blessings wholly among them
selves. They have been conferred upon all the
people, the farmer coming in for a large share
thereof. Through unionism shorter hours of work
obtain in a majority of tho skilled trades, and
that moans moro men at good wages who aro
buying tho products of tho farm. Unionism has
taken tho children from the factory and tho mine
and put them into tho public schools to sccuro
tho education that will fit them for good citi
zonshlp. in tho blessings which follow this
course tho farmer comos in for his share.
Unionism cares for its own unfortunates, thus
relieving tho general nubile of tlin.fcbiinlen; and
In HUb relief tho farmer participates. Unionism
maaoH for bolter Americanism, and every farmer
eVsted,8JnP HirIt UC 1av'abId,ns deeply iptor-
n w?t'iMK505"no.ft(1 h,s fcl,ow farmers t4y
the '(union llbdr problem firfcL hand, not frow
prejudiced sources. Union men. xtz willing to
rem ? caB0 ,ipon th0 fcU ot Witory,
... uB uy utti auction or unprejudiced Ja-
vcstlgators. Against organized labor's iw
08 lt wm point to organized labortfSSv
leaders its Mitchels, its Gompors, Its PeWS8l?2L
its Dolds, or an hundred others whoso honesty X,
and Integrity are boyond question, Against tho
chargestoo often well founded of riot and vio
lence made against organized labor, let organized
labor submit tho millions it has paid to the
widows the orphans, tho sick and tho distressed.
f?iniBt.t?G.?10,Iohni of wronfe' Ifc may havo com
mitted, let it show the mountain of good works
in the interests of those who eat their bread in
the sweat of the faco.
Organized labor asks notjiing unfair. It only
asks that it bo judged by its average, not by its
worst or its best; that it be given a fair hearing
before judgment is pronounced. And it submits
on, the evidence that it has a well founded claim
upon the support and co-operation of tho Ameri
can farmer. "will m MAUPIN.
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