Will Maupin's weekly. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1911-1912, May 26, 1911, Image 13
A NATION'S VALO Shown by the Kind of Citizens It Produces. MEN ARE THE REAL TEST. Our Country Strong on Government but Fears to Enact Laws For Work ers Interests Get Legal Aid, bul Paternalism Forbids Help For Toilers. It lias been said by an Arueiicat writer who has made a careful studj of the institutions of his country, says the Los Angeles Citizen, that "the tesl of a nation's value is the kind of mer it produces" and that "the first busi ness of a nation is the manufacture oi souls of a good quality." Franklin Pierce says, "No people in history ever relied so implicitly on th( making of laws, the creation of con Rtltutions and the protection of life and property through courts as the Ameri can people." As a people we are strong on govern ment. Of the making and application and. it may be said, misapplication of laws there is no end. But how lit tle of government is actually devoted to the real living interests of the peo pie! The instant a demand is made foi government provision for the worker in the' way of employment for the masses of unemployed or protection for those employed in hazardous in dustries that instant the cry goes up against paternalism. Railroad magnates ask for rights ol way and franchises. Manufacturers request subsidies and legislative pro tection. Indeed, the fortunes of the "captains of industry" have drawn most of their growth out of privilege and protection, But when the laborer asks the government to provide jobs for him and his kind be is looked upon as a mendicant, begging for that to which he is not entitled. The constitution of the United States does not affirm any one's right to a fortune, but it does affirm that a man has' a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. How can the laborer live and support those whose lives are under his care without work? Liberty! How can a man be free unless there is an opportunity to exchange labor for the necessities of life? Pursuit of happiness! How can one be happy unless there is employment of a kind to enable him to keep his family on a decent plane of existence? If a man becomes insane the govern ment supports him. If he commits a crime it furnishes him a job, food, clothes and shelter. Unemployment is the cause of much insanity and crime. Wouldn't it be cheaper and wiser for the government to furnish employ ment? If there Is danger in government help, let the government cease helping those who do not need it, for that's where the danger lies. It's always safe and wise to help those who need It. Hours of Labor In Holland. During a "speech at a recent public meeting In Amsterdam a member of the states general announced that there would be introduced in the sec ond chamber a bill prescribing a maxi mum of ten hours as a day's labor for workingmen and that the bill would provide for an eight hour working day eight years after this measure became effective. It is ajso contemplated to prohibit the employment" of "children under thirteen years of age or still sub ject to compulsory education in any work whatever. The proposed measure is designed to repeal the present law as to hours of labor. This law places no limitation on the working hours of males over sixteen years of age, but provides that males under sixteen and females snail not be engaged more than eleven hours a day in factories and workshops and that their labor shall not begin before 5 o'clock a. m. nor continue beyond 7 p. m., though various exceptions are allowed by the law. A child under twelve years of age is forbidden to do any work. The Union Must Pay. The unlawful strike in the granite quarries of Wells Bros, of Hopkinton, Mass.. which cost the foreman, Ma riano de Minico, his job will cost the Milford branch of the Granite Cutters' International association $707 by or der of Judge Morton in the supreme court at Boston following a full bench decision that the strike was unjustifia ble. The order was directed to Uavid Craig, president and secretary of the Milford union, and the adjustment committee, who were ordered to pay De Minico $500 in damages and $207 costs. 4"Hi"i"i"i"i"i"H"i":"i"i"i"i-i"i-i..i..t.i. f TEST IN WHAT YOU BUY. ' Dnionism and the union label go hand in hand. One is thje same as the other. You cannot claim to believe in the former if you leave out of consideration the latter. Deeds speak louder than words. Nearly all articles of apparel and very many com modities can be purchased with the sign of good, sanitary work manship attached. If you buy the other kind your unionism isn't even skin deep. Labor Clarion. INFORMERS DETESTED. Even When Telling the Truth They Are Universally Disliked. One of the lawyers employed to de fend the accused ironworkers out in Los Angeles shows the delicacy of his sensibilities by refusing to have any thing to do with McManigal. "I will handle no informer's matters foi him," this lawyer Is quoted as saying. "The other attorneys can do what they will." This lawyer does not explain whether his horror of McManigal is based on the conviction that the in former Is lying or on the general prin ciple that an effort to save one's guilty self from deserved punishment by the betrayal of one's associates in crime is the culmination of human baseness. Apparently he ignores the possibility that the informer may be what Or chard claimed to be a man who has repented of his evil deeds and has de termined, regardless of consequences to himself, to do what he can to serve society by telling the whole truth. We do not understand that McMan igal makes any such claim or that anybody makes It in his behalf, but that may come later. And it cannot be denied, or at least shouldn't be. that the informer does sometimes have a theoretically adequate excuse for be traying his accomplices and does oc casionally perform real public serv ices. There must be some good rea son, however, for the instinctive detes tation of the informer which we all feel, even when he tells the truth a feeling out of which we find it im possible to argue ourselves. His act THE NIMBLE NICKEL. It takes twenty nickels to make a dollar but it takes only one nickel to unmake a dollar. If Adam had invested a nickel at 4 per cent compound interest when he first woke up in Eden, and that nickel had remained until today drawing interest at that rate, there wouldn't be enough gold and sil ver coin bearing Uncle Sam's imprint to pay the loan. That is what interest will do. Big fortunes are not based on dollars earned by men, but upon dollars earned by other dollars by investment and re-investment: keeping the dollars working for the man instead of the man working always for dollars. You can cultivate the saving habit like any other habit. And while cultivating it you can be providing for the inevitable rainy day. A dollar a week saved and deposited with us means a comfortable income at the end of twenty or twenty-five years. It would pay you to study our system and learn the wonders of interest. Let us explain to you. AMERICAN SAVINGS BANK 132 North jith St. We will soon be in our handsome new quarters. may be beneficial in the abstract, but his motive Is either obviously hideous or widely open to the suspicion of be ing so, and he can never prove it high or disinterested, even when the chance that It may be so exists. The fact is that the world has decid ed that it could get along well enough without the assistance of informers, and it makes- use of them with reluc tance and nausea. Even honest detec tives suffer in reputation and esteem because of the betraying of confidence they have to do in the course of their business, and that in spite of the unanimous admission of moralists that good faith need not be observed to ward public enemies when It endan gers public safety. As for McManigal, it is only fair to assume that the suddenly changed at titude of union labor toward him is due to a belief that he is lying, not to the fear that he is telling the truth. New York Times. LABOR IN VERMONT. Progressive Laws Passed by Aid of Trade Unionists. That the trade unionists of the coun try are becoming alive to the influence which they can assert along legislative lines is illustrated by the accomplish ments of the Vermont state branch of the American Federation of Labor. It Is not an easy task to initiate new legislation into the legislatures of the older and more "sedate" states, for countries long settled do not change In opinions or methods rapidly. The officials of the state branch, therefore, are entitled to much credit for the ex cellent results accomplished during the last session of the Vermont legislature. The sum total gained can best be told In the language of Alexander Ironside, secretary of the state organization: "As a result of organized effort there were enacted an employers' liability bill, a voluntary compensation plan on lines adopted in New York state, a valuable amendment to the child la bor law, making it the best law in New England, and a bill to amend the state constitution, giving the voters the right to say whether compulsory com pensation should be legalized. We were also successful in defeating a bill designed to establish compulsory ar bitration. We are well pleased with the fruits of the session." A Plea For Unions. "If Christ were here today he would put emphasis on the support of union lit ! i tfirl.. lin lnffoimnnt of the working people," said the Rev. Henry A. Atkinson, secretary of the,, Congregational brotherhood, at a recent ters' union in Chicago. "There is nothing in common between,,, the church and these unions,, but we .can co-operate with them, in securing bet ter conditions for working people, sani tation, shorter hours and better en vironments: Labor unions, -are (.not organized for -strike purposes, but to protect and benefit working men, womr;; en and children.' Let us give such sup-i-"port to them as we can, and givej freelv." uereai mni workers ro wiore.'-" ' In accordance with resolution No. 49, adopted at the St Louis conven tion of -. the American Federation of Labor, ,the International Union of Flour and Cereal Mill Employees has ceased to exist All local unions which were formerly attached to the inter national will be furnished American Federation of Labor charters free of all cost Central bodies, where these unions are affiliated, are urged to ad-, rlcn 1 rr o I nnfnna of ahia nffiltatA . themselves direct The Federation's Growth. "May 1, 1911. finds the eight hour day established in many places where it has never been known before," said Secretary Morrison of . the American Federation of Labor, "and the organi zations affiliated with the federation have Increased their membership by 200.000 in the last twelve months. There are more than 1,800,000 paying members in the organization.". Victory For Brewery Worker. By the terms of the agreement signed by committees representing th Syracuse Brewers' Exchange and the unions directly and Indirectly interest ed in the strike all the strike breakers are to be discharged and all the men who went out are to be reinstated in their former positions. The brewers unreservedly granted the wage in crease of $2 a week demanded by the strikers. Garment Workers Active. A strike involving nearly a million garment workers in all parts of the United States will, it is said, be called In August if garment manufacturer do not accede to the demand for 'bet-" terefl conditions for employees, wlifch will be made at chat time. 1