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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (March 20, 1904)
Chicago's Capitalists Fighting Organized Labor (Copyright, 1904. by Frank O. Carpenter.I K tHICAOO. March IS. (Special Com I I respondence of The Bee.) ChN I I cago Is tho great 1101111 center of ma labor and capital In the Unltei States. Its record of strikes ex feeds that of any other city. It has about 200,0(10 men In Its trades unions and It ha been and Is now largely ruled by the mail In the overalls. At the same time the cap Itnllsts are good IlKhters. They have ntudlcd trades union methods and within the pant few months have combined to gether In a great association to protect themselves. Nearly every business has Ha local organization of employers, and these; have afllllated with the great city associa tion of employers, whloh Is now opposing a solid front to most of the demands ofl organized labor, The Chicago Employers' assoclitlon rep resents a capital of thousands of million of dollars. It Is backed by Marshall Field ft Company and the great department tore, by the millionaire' pork packers and, the steel magnates, by the street railways and by about 2.000 other compnnlts and Individuals handling altogether a number of workmen far In excess of the army of the T'nlted States. This association Is running Its campaign In opposition to organised labor on much the same lines as those which organi7ed labor lins used to defeat the Individual employer. It has brought a new feature Into the labor question and ono which promises to extend to every city of tha United States. Simitar associations are be ing organized In many places and they may In time form part of a great national asso ciation embracing the whole country. The Chicago Employers' association cnnj command no end of money and It li rend to spend freely to protect the Individual workman or tho Individual employed, lup plylng the latter with funds to reimburse him for losses In case of strikes and evert carrying him flnnnelally at tho banks. It will protect him or the workman In the courts and bring the best legal tnlrnt In opposition to any fight with organised la bor. Tho association has a secretary who Is paid a salary bigger than that of a United Btates senator.- lie holds much the same position In regard to the association as Samuel dumpers does to tho American Federation of Labor or John Mitchell to the United Mine Workers, and has In fact been named the "walking delegate of the Millionaires' club," The reel name of the man Is Frederick W. Job, and his pro fession Is that of a lawyer. lie is an Illi nois man and a graduato of Ann Arbor, lie Is, I judge, about 40 years old. Is six feet tall and weighs 200 pounds. lie I big headed and broad shouldered, having the muscles of an athlete and the Jaw of a bulldog. He looks like a good fighter and as far as I can learn Is proving himself so. I met Mr. Job In his office In the Mar quette building on Dearborn street and had a long chat with him about -the Kmployers" association and tha labor conditions here. In response to my question as to the asso ciation, he said: We are a combination of employers' onions rather than an association of Indi vidual employers without regard to our businesses.' The association does not want Individual employers as members, although there are cases where such are taken in. It Is rather an affiliation of the representa tives of employers' associations. For In stance, tho laundry owners of Chicago have an organisation, the manufacturing confectioners have on organization and the brass manufacturers and the picture frame makers have each an organisation. It la o with nearly every branch of business. Wo are made up of all these organizations, as such, and If an Individual employer wants to join us we tell him to Join the employers' organization of his own busi ness and to be represented through It." "Then you are to the employers' associa tions much what the American Federation Of I.alxr Is to the different trades unions?" "Yes," said Mr. Job. "save that our field la confined to Chicago and Its neighbor hood, and also that we believe In the laws and In doing all we ran to enforce them, and this the trades unions do not." "Is your association avowedly opposed to all organized labor?" I asked. "As such labor la now constituted and operated, I say most emphatically yes.' " was the reply. "We do not object to men Combining or organising to better their con dition so long as they do nut break the laws as regards the public, their employers or their fellow-workmen. We Insist that every man should have the right to work, that every employer shall have the right to employ whom he pleases." "Do you aim to do anything as to filing wages and prices?" I asked. "Not at all."" replied the secretary! "That la ft matter for the employers and their men. or It may be for the associations of the different branches of trade and the men. All that we want Is the preservation of our principles as to the enforcement of tho laws In the protection of the public, of the employer and hla business and of the lights of the men to work whether they belong to a union or not. We don't rare for more laws. We are satisfied with those already on the statute books. What we want is to have the laws enforced.' . . , IHIM.I HII.MI.IIIM III! ll III I ' IT " ' ' " " ' ' " FREDERICK W. JOB, SFXTRETARY OP "What has been your chief fight, Mr, Job?" "We are fighting for several things," was the reply. "In the first place, we want the open shop; second, we want no sympa thetic Btrlkea; third, no restriction of output or of personal industry, and, fourth the full enforcement of the public laws. I think we have gained our point as to sympathetic strikes and that we are In a fair way to make the open shop the rule In Chicago, If we have not alreudy done so. In ninety cades out of every hundred we have won. We are making it possible for the nonunion man to work In Chicago and possible for his employer to hire him without fear of being boycotted or otherwise injured In his business." "Do you admit members to your associa tion who have the closed or union shop?" "No, we do not. We are ready, however, to come to the support of such men If they have trouble with organized labor and want to reform and Join us." "Give me some Idea of the extent of the trades unions of Chicago." "We have .several hundred unions," re plied Secretary Job, "but I believe that from 50 to 80 per cent of their members are Involuntary ones. They have been forced or coaxed Into the unions and are afraid to leave them. If I had the power of emancipation President Lincoln had when he freed tho slaves, if I could send forth an edict which would enable the members of the trades unions of this country to desert the ranks of organized labor with out fear of violence or ostracism, I firmly believe that four-ftfths of the trade union ists would leave." "You will see that this Is the case." Mr. Job continued, "If you watch any election In which the labor vote constitutes an Im portant element. Th;t vote Is never half so large as anticipated." "Why so?" "It Is because the men, voting as they pltese, secretly change their ballots and throw them against their own candidates, because at heart they are slek of the thralldom to which they are yoked." "Is Chicago a dangerous place for a worklngman who does not belong to a un ion?" "It has been so at times, and I will not say that It Is not so now under certain con ditions," replied Secretaary Job. "I could cite many Instances of men who have been assaulted and maimed because they have opposed the will of the unions and some In which men have been murdered. I have heard of union meetings where men were forced o assent to the doings of their leaders, and where they believed their lives would be In danger If they did not. There have been many outrages on nonunlonlsts, as, for Instance, we had recently a pub lished case of a nonunion printer who was thrown to the floor by a party of union em ployes In one of our saloons and the ques tion there debated whether it would not be better tj break the man's arms or his An gers one by one that he might be Incapaci tated fur work. The police rescued that man. "Now, such things may not be done by the leaders or the better element of the unions, but I believe they are Instigated by them, and wo have It alleged that there la "In what classes of labor so such condi CinCAOO EMPLOYERS' ASSOCIATION. tions obtain?" I asked. "They have obtained In almost every class," waa the reply, "and that even among the women trades unions. One odd case was that of a nonunion girl In a West Side factory, who was guilty of the heinous offense of wanting to earn her living In her own way. The union girls wanted her to Join them, but sho would not, und they then appointed a committee to assault her. Now, the nonunion girl wore a bright green silk waist, und this was the mark by which she was known to the committee. She was followed as she went homo one day by tho members of the committee, and they re mained outside her house waiting to nssanlt her when she might come out. The house In which she was living was a two-story flat and she had the upper apartment. After a time a girl in a green waist appeared nnd started down the street. It was about dusk. 6he had not gone far before the members of the committee pounced upon her und scratched and pummeled her to their taste. She objected strenuously nnd screamed again and again, but It was some time before they learned that they had got the wrong girl. Another green-waist maid lived In the lower flat, and it was she who came out first. "Yes," continued Mr. Job, "the women are quite us bad in union matters as the men. Take, for Instance, a strike which occurred In the plow works at Springfield. The union men left and nonunion workmen were put in their places. Violence waa apprehended and the employers carried the nonunion workmen home in closed cars. 6oine of the wives und female friends of the strikers got in the curs on the plea of wanting to ride, and after they were well on their way they went for the nonunion men with their hat pins. They came near killing one man whom they struck too near the heart." "But such coses, Mr. Job, should not be charged to the unions," said I. "They are merely the acts of hot-headed Individuals." "Yes, you might think so," waa the re ply. "I know that the labor leaders claim they do not counsel violence, but every one here knows that Is not true. I have an Incident in my mind now which I know to have occurred, but which 1 do not want to locate. I won't say that it was or was not In Chicago; but it was In one of the big cities of the United States. A street car strike was in progress, and the leader of one of the striking unions talked thus to his men: " 'Now, my nu n, remember. In the con duct of this strike we want no violence! No violence! Suppose, for Instance, you should see several Joints of gas pipe lying near the car track, and someone suggested that if the pipe was joined and laid on the track so that one end of It would touch the trolley wire and the other the rail, thereby forming a connection which would make a short circuit and burn out the trolley wire, don't let any such act be laid to your doors. a bund of puid sluggers here who are used as wrecking crews to commit acts of vio lence In behalf of organized labor. The hospital records will verily this." " 'Or If anyone should tell you that you could wreck the underground cable by throwing rocks Into the manholes and I know there are piles of rocks near some of them don't let Buch an act be laid to your doors. " 'Again, my men, some persons may tell you that If you throw In cement and sand and rock It will ruin the tracic. Now, I understand there are warehouses near the track where there are barrels of cement, and you know very well If this Is mixed with rock, sand and water It will harden, and if thrown Into the manholes it will hold the cables. If you did that It might hurt tho company, stop the cars and we might gain the strike, but, boys, we want no violence, no vio lence. If anyone does that, let us see that It Is not laid to our doors. I hop you have understood me correctly.' " "But, Mr. Job, do you think your em ployers' association Is really making mat ters better? Have you done anything?" "Wo have done a great deal, and we are going to do more. I have told you wo have given the nonunion man tho chance to work, and we have protected the em ployer In numerous instances. Take th Kellogg strike, in which 600 men left work and tried to prevent the business of the plant from going on. The em ployers had put nonunion men In their places, but the Teamsters' union Joined them and would not deliver goods nor per mit others to deliver to them. We inves tigated the matter and waited upon the mayor, who Issued a proclamation warn ing the teams to keep off the streets In the vicinity of the Kellogg plant. We had policemen go along with the wagons, and we saw that the goods went in and out, regardless of the demands of the union. Before that strike 90 per cent of tho men In the Kellogg plant were mem bers of the union. The shop Is now a nonunion shop, and it has 550 contented men doing the same work that 60O strik ers did, and at the same time turning out 25 per cent more of a product." "We have had a number of similar cases, continued Mr. Job, "in which we have helped the employers, and we are ready at any time to defend the rights of the non union men. Take the case of Chester B. Bllsh, who was a nonunion elevator boy In one of the downtown buildings. He was threatened, bulldozed and bluffed by the unionists, but his father wrote a letter to this association and wo came to his pro tection. When tho unionists saw that the power and wealth of the employers' asso ciation was at the command of a simple colored boy, whone existence the associa tion had never draamed of until he became bold enough to work as a nonunion man. they began to realize that the employers of Chicago proposed to protect not only them selves, but all unorganized labor as well. "Again, take the recent street car strike," continued Mr. Job. "The strikers had promised there would be no disturbances, but there were hotheads out In force to stop the cars, and the union teamsters tried to block the road. It was largely through tha employers' association that 1,600 police were put on duty In the strike territory, and through It all other teamsters were kept out of the way. The result was that the cars ran and the men were protected. When the coal teamsters struck in sym pathy and refused to haul coal to the street car power house, the employers' association undertook the delivery of that coal and sent Mie wagons, guarded by policemen, to deliver It. The result was that the street car companies won their light for the open hop." hop.' "How about the people are they with you m this matter?" "I think they are." replied Mr. Job. "In the street car strike they were entirely so, and they have been so In most of our other fights. We are not waging a war of of fense, but of defense. We have no chip on our shoulders and we do not seek quar rels, although we are ready to fight if we have to. Before the association was formed our newspapers here were somewhat apa thetic on labor questions, but since then at least one-half of them unite in Indorsing our methods. The same is true of the poll ticiar.8. and I think our work has also aided the Judges In showing them that their Injunctions to prevent such outrages have the Indorsement of the best of the business element of the community.. "We are not only doing good here, but also in other cities of the United States, where we are looked upon as the originator of this movement. We are helping to or ganize them, and In doing so we feel that we are approaching the nearest practical solution. of the present Industrial problem." FRANK a. CARPENTER, Easily Settled Rich American (abroad for the first time) -Say, I'm told you're an expert on fixing up coats of arms and titlea and all that sort of thing for a fellow, and I'd like some 'kind of handle to my name. ' Expert Something suggestive of the source of your family wealth? Rich American No, I'm afraid you can't Use that. I made my money In the er milk business. Expert Just the thing. I'll attach pump handle to your name, Chlcaga Tribune,