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THE AMERICAN WORKMAN THE BEST
IN THE WORLD.
"All things considered, the American
workingman is as true a man, as moral
a man as you can find anywhere." Such
was the tribute paid the great body of ar
tisans of this country by Key. Chas. Stelzle
in an address in the Ampitheater at Chau
tauqua, New York. Mr. Stelzle is a man
who knows. Born in the tenement house
district, and living on the East Side of
New York City for twenty-five years, he
is familiar with the social conditions of the
masses. For eight years he was a machin
ist in the largest shop in that city, where
he had an unusual opportunity for study
ing the industrial problems at first hand.
Now, as Superintendent of the Presbyterian
Department of Church and Labor, he is
probably doing more than any other living
man to solve the problem of the relation of
the workingman to the church.
"America has learned," said Mr. Stelzle,
"That the prosperity of the whole country
depends upou the prosperity of the work
ingman. We believe it as a matter of
theory, but not always as a matter of
practice. Only too frequently the employer
acts as if he were in business simply for his
own interests. No wonder the average
workingman feels that he too must work
for his own interests. If the interests of
employer and employe are common the
American workingman ought to know it in
such a way that there will be no dispute
about it; if their interests are not common
the workingman will soon find it out."
The labor unions do not, the speaker de
clared, as many employes suppose, consti
tute all the labor question. If the unions
were wiped out of existence, the question
would remain in a more aggravated form.
The 25.000.000 Socialists throughout the
world, 9,000,000 of whom have cast their
ballots for Socialist candidates; the 9,000,
000 trade unionists, the Russian peasantry,
the movement among the working people
in France, Belgium, Australia and the social
unrest in our own eountry, were cited as
phases of the labor question. "And they
are all," said Mr. Stelzle, "fighting for in
dustrial democracy and they are going to
win."
Because the American workingman has
caught the spirit of the democracy he re
sents anything that savors of patronage or
paternalism, thinks Mr. Stelzle. "He does
not want social welfare work as much as
he wants a elean shop, reasonable hours,
and a fair wage." To this Mr. Stelzle as
cribed the . failure of the social welfare
work of the National Cash Register Co.,
and the Pullman Co.
The working man of America is organ
ized, and the labor unions represent his
sentiment better than other organizations,
was the speaker's contention. He showed
that the labor unions constitute one-half
of those engaged in such trades as may well
be organized. If the farmers, servant-girls,
professional men, and those engaged in
trade and transportation be substraeted
from the 29.000.000 wage-earners in this
country only 7,000,000 will be left and the
labor unions have enrolled nearly half
of these, and the most of the other half are
Ui small towns or otherwise so sitnated
that they are scarcely able to organize.
The speaker said that the American
workingman is the best workingman in
the world; he has more comforts than any
other workingman ; but he is not satis
fied beeause he feels that he is not getting
his proportion of what he produces. This
battle for labor's fair share, thinks Mr.
Stelzle, will not be fought by the ignor
ant foreigner, but by the skilled artisans,
and the Homestead strike of the high-priced
steel workers was noted as an example.
"The American workingman is the most
temperate workingman in the world." said
Mr. Stelzle. and in evidence he quoted the
testimony of Mr. John Burns, of England,
and his own experience in the British Isles
and on the Continent. He declared that th-i
days are rapidly passing when the saloon
can be used as a meeting-place for labor
organizations, and ascribed the strength of
the temperance movement in this country
to the temperance sentiment of the working
class.
"The American workingmen are stand
ing for a square deal for women," he con
tinued. "They are contending for equal
pay to men and women for equal work.
The child labor evil also is being eombatted
by the labor unions. The American work
ingman is demanding that the little chil
dren be given a chance. Bis own children
are dying three times as fast as those of
the more favored classes, and he is deter
mined to stop it."
In regard to the solution of the immigra
tion problem, Mr. Stelzle quoted with ap
proval Carroll D. Wright, who said: "No
organization is doing so much to Anier
ieanize the foreigners as the labor union,
not excepting the church." He showed
how the immigrants come to this country
with the idea that all government is hos
tile to their interests, but that through
working together different nationalities
in the same labor union they catch the
American spirit. He said that some day
there will appear the typical American
workingman, ideal in every respect, and the
trades union will have a good deal to do
with the job. As well as breaking down
; racial prejudice, the labor unions are break
ing down, the speaker asserted, the antag
onism of different creeds. In Germany,
France and England there are different
labor organizations for Catholic and Protes
tant. In this country they work together.
"The workingmen," said the speaker.
"are fighting foe universal peace. Some dav
war shall cease, but if we wait for the edict
f a Peace Congress at The Hague, we
;hall lose our patience. The workingmen
ilwill call a universal peace strike and then
:war shall cease. He is anxious that war
be absolutely wiped out."
The workingman, contrary to general be
lief, is generally religious, the speaker con
tended, and in proof he cited his own ex
perience and that of workers under his di
rection in shop meetings thronghont the
country. He said that the workingman de
spises the minister who apologizes for his
profession, for the Bible and the church and
admires the man who tells him what he
ought to know about his sin and his salva
tion. We can talk religion to the Americar-.
workingman beeause he is interested in it.
He is deeply religious even if he does not
manifest that religion in the ordinary way.
GETTING WEAKER,
What's this? "American Industries,"
edited by John Kirby, Jr., president of the
National Association of Manufacturers, is
getting weaker. Heretofore it has been
appearing i-monthly, but in the issue of
Angust 15 if is announced that it will ap
pear in future as a monthly. In a little
while it will appear as a quarterly, then as
an annual then peter out. And while the
official organ of the union busters is drop
ping from a semi-monthly to a monthly,
the little old Wageworker continues to
come out weekly, and this week with more
pages than "American Industries" ever
had. Good-bye, John ; take keer o' yerself !