Portland labor press., April 21, 1910, Page 5, Image 5

PAGE FOL'It
PORTLAND
LABOR
PR ESS
T hursday , Armi. »■
PORTLAN D LABOR PRESSlT"
Ma.<k‘ for? nore and n,orc In g re s s through thejfor a Demo at they didn't want in order to heat a ties, exercise of the referend him and
l,ec spending of such increased wages.
(
Republican they didn’t want, in order to auction oft citizen, good roads, and o
initiative In • .
other good things. |
THE ckntiul lawi Ì T ounc T o T ^ r Ì Ì I n T and VICINITI i. Iillt *tiH, unfair e,,'PI«»yers on one hand and the
l ’nited States senatorship, Chamberlain was elect- Angeles is covering its county
count almost entirely. S< ?
under direction of following uoARu of control :
knaves. tools and parrots who live on the bounty of e 1 ’>? tn® ^KIS’ature.
is spread out like a great s starfish. A movenien ¡,
( h'l,n1berIain "as the choice of the people so far strong in California to enable San Francisco t i ’
such employers, trot out at every pending labor dis-l
ft. A W I L L ! MON President,
R O B E R T W . M O U L T O N . H ecretirT.
■ tp re s e u ttu g B u ild in g Trade« Council. Be present lug P r in tin g Trade« bes’tlon.
■ • of * this
-..................
-■
as an y choice can be indicated by a ballot. '1 he en nearly fifty miles long. Portland is reaching ou
pute -■
the ghost
old discredited
law.
-
F . K C O LE .
W I L L I A M M A C K E N Z IE ,
deavor to do aw ay with the direct prim ary by the gobble part of Clackamas county, and will so
■ •p re s e n t ing W a te r E ro u t Federation.
Ileproaem ing M etal T ra d e s Connell.
-
, O O POHTK,
CARL »TO LL.
As
to
the
statement
that
open
shop
conditions
people is because the m inor countv and state officers over 100 square miles in area. We need more R.,,
■ •p re s e n t log Brew ery T ra d e * C onnell.
R ep resent lo g Mteceheneoue Section.
enable the high class mechanics to receive their just are not responsible to a machine but to the people. rule in county g< vernment, and less interference f ,
Board o f C on tro l meet« 8 p. m , fir s t Tuesday In m onth, L e b e r Prone • * ’’<*•
reward and rise above the dead-level of lazy, indif-
States senator
does
H J. PARK ISO?.’, Managing Editor.
---- A i f I nited
k •
.
. . . not have . to seek his .the legislature. The Progressive Government Lea ..
"c
,ore any hunch of political auctioneers, but of Oregon proposes
to secuie this with an am
Office: DAILY NEWS BUILDING, 326 Fifth 8treet, Portland. Oregon. lerent workmen,” it only need I k * said that tilts is
, . .
.
__ ten d -
• - buncombe. I nder open shop, that is non goes to the people direct.
'■ j
T elep h on e: Main 4476, A 6661.
exploded
ment that will - simplify and at the same time e.w
1
he
loss
of
the
United
States
senatorship
was
the autonomy of a county.
Aubsrrlptlon: fl In advance per year; ratei to unloni. 1 cent per week. union conditions, the hours for the best of mechanics L
i-_ _
i
i
,
2 |compensated for by Chamberlain being succeeded by
----------
Entered at Postofflco at Portland, Oregon, aa second-clasa mall matter. are long
and as a rule their wages do not reach the a Republican governor. Such things happen and have
Organized labor is at peace in Portland, wifli
minimum rate established by the unions. It is hardly¡happened in different states at different times without
the
exception of a few’ little scraps with a verv ne ■ .
necessary to say that unions only establish a ‘‘mini any direct primary law. When factions fight, minor­
sighted
hunch of employers who give the work :
mum” rate of wages, allowing the employer to pay ities get their dues. The reason for these iteratec just enough exercise to keep a healthy develop» ,u
AUTOCRACY VS. DEMOCRACY
lor extra skill as much more above the minimum rate falsehoods of the Oregonian is that its owner is a in progress. But organized labor in Portland is t
disappointed, chagrinned, mischief-making partisan
1 he Employers’ Association of Oregon at last has as he believes the extra skill is worth or the worker with a greater love for himself and his faction than pared for war. It is not likely to have it, mainly ; r
answered the statement of the Executive Committee can compel by other employers bidding for such respect for his party or honor for the people. He that reason. Another reason is that the politici.t»s
of the Central Labor Council, issued on March 29 in extra skill.
thinks if he lies hard enough, and long enough, and don't want a ruction to start during the campai
This
falsehood
about
giving
opportunity
to
extra
loud
enough, the people are such fools as to believe There is enough trouble in the political camps » ,w
answer to the open shop policy of the association.
him
and
walk into the trap he so often baited and and to add a general onslaught on organized I.i!,.,r
1 his answer is as weak as it is dilatory, especially skill under open shop conditions is as vicious and
set
with
care
and then been caught in himself. A might result in a few more splits and shiftings. With
in view of the repeated announcement that the Em­ as persistent as are the foul weeds in a cultivated
minor
reason
is
to deceive people outside the state the initiative and referendum in operation the VI1.
ployers’ Association would speedily and strongly de­ garden or field. The most active vigilance is required and Republicans who have not been long in the state forcemcnt of unjust laws, the clubbing of bystand. r,
to pull them up by the roots, otherwise the harvest
molish the labor side of this question.
the forbidding of picketing, is likely to make treiblj
♦♦♦
is
a
failure.
But
mankind
has
learned
its
lesson
of
for eminent and lowly gentlemen who have have
It took nearly three weeks for the mountain to
BOOSTING DOWNWARD
offices
of value and honor. The recall can be invoked
move, and lo and behold, only a mouse is the result preservation. Lies and noxious weeds are effectively
\V
here
men
arc
worked
long
hours
for
small
pay
in
short
order, and a general labor war is extremely
fought against.
of the great travail.
the output is gradually reduced. The standard of embarrassing under such circumstances.
Jt is unquestionably true great many industries the living constantly reduces the vitality of the men.
But then men cannot write strongly on questions
------------ ♦♦♦------------
they do not fully believe in, nor on issues they know give the eight-hour day and their managers find it Interior races take the place of the Saxon, the Norse­
Churchmen often wonder at the antagonism ,f
are lost—unless some great nurster mind can rise a paying proposition. The men who fight it are the man or the Latin. If through organization the men labor unions to them. The reason is not far to si -k.
superior to circumstances and obstacles. And the relics of obsolete curmudgeons who have always secure reduced hours and better pay it takes from & The churches are too often built with unfair la' r,
year to three years to restore the former standard. Their leading members too often allign themschrj
Oregon Employers' Association is evidently composed stood in the pa*h of progress.
The weakest link in the Employers’ Association In time r n will do as much work in eight hours as with movements making for unfair conditions, v
of very common men of the type who have worshiped
formerly they did in 16 hours.
wages, long hours. The church people ignore the
at the dollar shrine so long that in the great field of statement is that dealing with building operations in
Even a horse cannot stand continuous hard work rights of men in this world to too great an extent
human activity and progress they flounder helplessly, the leading Western cities. The figures given are for over eight hours a day, and careful experiments
and buy goods without regard to. whether they were
relying on a few stock phrases to carry them over certainly subject to the criticism “that figures do by practical men indicate that horses worked six made by prison, child or slum labor. The church
not lie hut those using them frequently do so.” But hours a day pay better than when driven longer. The members too often aid *n supporting some butcher
their difficulty. Vain and foolish endeavor.
The statement of the association, published in the even if these figures were true, what do they prove same experience is the result with men. Their vitality shop or bakery that employs men eighteen hour, a
only lasts about so long. On the average about six day. They too often aid in keeping the girls in the
.Oregonian of April 18ih, stripped clear of words except the backwardness of Portland’s industrial con­ •hours
a day at its best speed. This has been con- stores at starvation wage«. Their ministers will
which take away what other words have asserted, ditions.
r »
, . . .
,
,
.
finned by thousands of scientific experiments. Men spend hours talking over whether one of them slmuhl
simply means autocracy in industry, instead of de­
unng the last six years there has been a great live longer, produce more, enjoy life more, are more
industrial
advance throughout the United States. 'moral and less contentious, more sober and less dis­ wear a yellow necktie, but they never consider where
mocracy as demanded by union labor.
the money comes from of their members who rent
\ \ ith the open shop practice, where successful, The leading cities of the Pacific Coast, Seattle, Spo­ sipated on eight hours of reasonable labor than on bawdy houses. In a phrase, churchianity is not
the unions of labor have been disrupted. Then the kane, 1 acoma and San Francisco, were in the Van­ liny longer term of dinural service.
Notwithstanding these well ascertained facts, we always Christianity.
employer was the absolute judge as to hours and guard of this advance. Portland and Los Angqles
------------ ♦♦♦
find men with large investments and capital banding
wages and general shop conditions. He was the lagged behind. The same spirit which now fights together to fight organized labor as though they were
The advocates of long hours and low wage-, mr
autocrat. \\ here the unions hold their own through the unions in these cities, also obstructed timely and fighting some great evil. Millions are spent to keen workingmen are accustomed in their subsidize,!
union shop methods, there the workmen have a say needed growth. During the last year and a half workingmen confined to labor for half an hour more sheets to claim that organized labor in Portland has
as to hours, wages and general working conditions. Portland has shaken off at last the incubus of fossil­ each day. Millions are spent to degrade the standard only three per cent of the population. Their figures
are on a par with their logic. Why should the
That is, the employer under union methods occupies, ized conservatism and since then its bottled-up ener­ of living, to deteriorate the race. Millions are spent Employers’ Association count the wives and families
as far as his little domain is concerned, about the gies have found vent in increased building activity. to secure laws to punish men for asking for better of organized workers with their opponents? In sev­
hours, conditions and pay. Men congratulate each
same position that a constitutional monarch, or say But simultaneous with this expansion in businessjhas other and their civic organizations for securing de­ eral trades the organized workers number over 'XJ
the president of the United States, holds. These also been the organized spirit of the workers, wnd cisions of the courts, and for lobbying through law- per cent of the possible membership. In many others
rulers have certain powers, held in check by the the better wages they are gradually securing go intp snaking bodies legislation, that condemns the future over 50 per cent. There are over 25 per cent of all
the growth of Portland.
ind present mothers of the race to stand on their able-bodied men in Portland identified with organized
powers of the people.
labor, and over 25 per cent more friendly to it. If
feet at work when they should he resting at home.
Seattle
and
San
Francisco
especially
can
be
com­
Now even Russia and Persia have constitutional
the Employers Association starts in to reduce wages,
It
seems
strange
that
men
seek
to
work
injury
pared
to
the
far-seeing
business
man
who
adds
addi­
governments. Is it therefore to he wondered at that
increase hours and establish unsanitary conditions in
to
their
own
kind,
their
own
countrymen,
their
own
i > his factory and puts in improved machinery
the spokesmen atid scribes of the Employers’ Asso­ tions
..
.
. .
. . .
.brothers and sisters, hut they do. In Oregon we are Portland, and that is what it always seeks to do,
ciation flounder and flop most ignoininiously, when
then h * receives his monetary reward. A sluggard reliably informed literally hundreds of thousands will when it quits talking and gets down to hard work,
even after a three weeks' deliberation they at last rival at last wakes up and copies this progressive be directly spent, and millions indirectly lost, to pre it will have a revision of its cooked statistics thrust
rivarl. And then the latter crows that he is now vent the extension of the eight-hour day
upon it.
issue their pronunciamento.
—-
♦♦♦----------
Every
trick
and
device,
every
form
of
anarchy
spending
more
money
for
buildings
than
do
his
It can be safely said that the small crowd of
In
New
York
and
New
Jersey several multi-mill*
stock-gambling and public-service owning corpora­ rivals. That is all there is to the” figures" presented Iwhich aggregated wealth and swollen special privil- ionaires have established estates that rival any of
{taUni" n,
'e^c can br,ng to hear, w,,‘ ,)e invoked to aid in the
tions that control the Employers’ Association now in the Employers’ Association statement.
" """
degradation of labor and the impoverishment finan- the domains of the British nobility. Like their British
In conclusion we wish to emphasize our belief, ciahy/ physically“ and" morally of the entire com- prototypes they are sweeping away homes, villages,
realize that the great mass of the employers of Port­
towns, that sheep may graze where men were reared.
land have lost faith in the leadership of the associa­ that the great ma jority of employers are through I inunity,
“Life” of New York suggests that the object of one
with
the
open
shop
humbug,
that
they
are
convinced
The
strangest
part
of
this
impending
conflict
is
tion. Hence also their weak statement.
of
these lordly Americans is “To afford an object
that
democracy
in
industry
is
preferable
to
autocracy
t,,at
'
l
can
by
no
nieans
add
to
the
temporary
or
per-
For what do they say.
lesson of the uses of money which helped in their
in
industry.
We
also
believe
that
if
industrial
strife
i,nanenl
Pr?fit
or
benefit
of
any
employing
person
in answer to the Labor Council’s statement that
or corporation. It it fails it will have cost the finan­ day to raise hob in France, and in our day have
trades unions make for industrial peace, San Fran­ is brought on hy the reactionaries, they will reap as cial prosperity of many. If it wins it will cost the brought the budget crisis in England.” A change in
cisco ami Chicago arc cited as trade unions strong­ reaped the reactionaries in Chicago and San bran- community infinitely more. Yet millibns will be spent the tax laws of England will break up the large
holds and consequent strife. We admit that quite a cisco, namely business loss and the execration of .to render Portland less desirable, less prosperous, less estates. Same in New York, same in Oregon.
» » •------------
few years ago those two cities witnessed great indus­ their fellowmen. We also predict that when the healthy and less moral. The employers gain nothing
smoke
of
battle
clears
away,
if
battle
there
should
output
and
the
employe
will
be
obliged
to
spend
One
of
the
Sage
Foundation
researches discloses
trial battles. Peace came with honor to both sides.
that
no
man
can
properly
support
a family with less
he,
progressive
business
and
union
labor
will
he
vie-
b's
t*nie
an(^
money,
of
which
he
has
little,
and
his
Now the strife in those cities between labor and cap-
. energies, already overstrained, to defend his inalien than $900 a year. We have some noble-hearted phil­
ital is of the type carried on at present in England tors and IJ° r ,'and take its rightful place as one of aj)je rj„^ts
anthropists in Portland handed together to see tint
♦ ♦♦
Between the Tories and Liberals. Intelligence hacked the great industrial centers of our country.
their pampered employes do not receive over $70 • i
The statement of the Employers’ Association ap­
A decision of a court established that the Naza- year. They trouble for the further progress of T ■ t-
by respect for each other’s rights settles differences
rene should be crucified. The highest courts of land if men should unite and thereby secure $0X1 i
in parliament and meeting house, instead of on the pears in full on another page.
England decided that men should be burned alive year. They call themselves the Employers’ Associa­
battlefield as of old.
for refusing to sign certain professions of faith. For tion. The public is the real employer of these em ­
SIMPLY NOT SO
So much for strife in Chicago and San Francisco.
r'fusing to say “God save the King” the last woman ployers, however; a fact which this handfull seems
No big manufacturers are being driven out of Chi-
In nearly every issue of the Oregonian appears burned alive in England was refused justice by the to have never realized. The public is largely m lc
tago by union labor. The great expansion of that something like the following falsehood:
courts and the king. The decisions of the courts have up of employes.
ir m primari... wide-ope,, and gn-u.-jon-pi«««, e . , h «lectio». tjmes wjthout „umber confirmed wrong and estab-
------------ ♦♦♦------------
city and increased real-estate values at times make it splll D the
majority party Into warring minorities, out of which rough
,
. . .
,
,
“ J , .
,
profitable for such establishments to practically start! andtuinble «merge candidates who cannot win the majority support I lS h e d i n j u s t i c e ; a n d S t ill t h e y are establishing and
One of the indicted millionaires of Pittsburg
small cities of their own. Union conditions and (of their paity As a result, and out of'reven ge, candidates of an deciding that men have no rights the privileged are the infamous F. N. Hoffstot, the man who issued
eonpie<,r,,y P*"V eleC”’d
,h'" "
C“ ”‘d ""’ l hound to respect; and still we look f o r ‘justice from his orders to fight the striking steel workers t > i
union mechanics follow these establishments to their orihenp
The application of the direct primary shows noth-(thc c.ourts‘ The highest courts of the land are decid­ finish last fall, and then wetn sailing on his
mi
jiew locations.
ing of the kind in Oregon, ami no one knows it better.
¿ust " ow a^ ,nst th* ’«alienable rights of man, yacht while men, women and children were b ea ten ,
Al so these locations are so chosen that full rail­ than the editor of the Oregonian. The Republican a? they always have, and that is to the extent that shot and starved at his orders. This beautiful exaiiip'-c
road competition cheapens transportation. No rail­ party is not split into any worse fragments than it I * ' ,uult,tude will stand for their decisi
tsions.
of the employers association leaders of the I nited
♦♦♦
roads arc given exclusive rights to bottle up strategic ever was. All dominant parties split up. The Repub­
States is charged with bribery of public offiei.i'-
Land hogs are so delaying the completion of rail- Wonder how many of our Portland Employers \
points as is now being attempted on the Fast Side lican party has more votes and more offices filled
by Mayor Simon and the City Council, commonly with its nominees than it had before the primaries. rua^s ’n Central Oregon that actual train running ciation leaders would he entitled to indictments h the
believed under the influence of the men who run the They are as competent, ou the average, as thev ever ,11a.v l)C delayed for a year. 1 lie assessors should searchlight from Pittsburg was turned onJ
were before, and more honest. The election of can-
a,,cr these fellows and make them pay taxes on
--------------♦ ♦ ♦ --------------
Employers’ Association.
didates of a minority party hy a disgruntled faction lbc valuations they set on thei worthless sands, rocks
Organized labor in Portland is rejoiced t
f
The Employers’ Association crowd pays the low- „ if the majority party voting for them has not he- a,,d patches of sagebrush. It collected for 1910 and that Los Angeles, so long the citadel of the
Cst wages. They fully admit this by saying "The!currcd as frequently in Oregon with the direct p ri-j^ ^ ^ Biat would he some help. It might do a little hours and poor pay of the "open” shop organiz i"
.wage problem is automatically regulated hy the well-jmary as it did without it.» Such things occur in all good to keep up the assessments at what those hogs on this Coast, is reaching ouf to all the towns
known laws of supply and demand.” Now every1 lands, parties and governments. All the Oregonian swear their property is worth
Southern California and girding on armor for
Student of economics knows that this law of supply ’s sco^ ’nff ant* b'*nli alwut is •h’s:
contest lor an honest day’s pay for an honest <1 ' '
The good roads movement proposes to permit work. Portland is traveling the same road,
was thought that the Republican members of
'
and demand was trotted out in England in the first ¡the It legislature
elected in 1*4)8 would not vot«- for a counties to issue bonds to build roads with. This beckons to her sister city to come up higher.
part of the nineteenth century by the toadies of t h e ' ' u n i t e d " StaUs senator even when is all right, but where would the anarchy and gen- have some heights to climb, too; but the air is c
then employers’ associations who resisted the trades
rades1 |,|c(jgP«l to do so if he was the choi.ee of the people, cral destruction of American liberty and principles up here, and the workers would stand upon the
unions of England in their demand for better pay The Fulton-Scott-W ileox taction of the Republican come in if some of these roads had strips of steel laid
♦♦♦
and shorter hours. The English trades unionists party deliberately voted for Chamberlain, the Demo-ion them and were leased for the operation of trolley
As a usual thing the railroads want court-, t
slowly and thereby wear out the litigants w 1 t >
effectively refuted this theory by striking, that is by cratic candidate, with the expectation that if thei lines?
nominee
of
the
Republican
party.
Cake,
was
defeated
I
•
•
•
them, or who are sued. The railroads rushing
'
withholding the supply. Wages then rose to a liv­ at "the popular election the legislature would sell the,
Cities have secured to themselves greater powers Central Oregon, however, are going to be tied
ing standard. And England still remained the work-'nffjce t j,e highest bidder. Each one of these worthyland greater freedom and therefore their boundaries for a year because the condemnation suits cam *
•hop of the world, increasing its industry and com- factionists hoped to be the highest bidder.
are extending to the country, where owners of land he closed in a few weeks, as hey could be if we b- •
Tier*'«* Fair wages made for better and lie, ter work
By reason of several thousand Republicans voting want to derive the benefits flowing from public utili- more justice and not so much involved law.