The Labor Signal. (Oklahoma City, Okla. Terr.), Vol. 4, No. 42, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 6, 1905 Page: 1 of 8
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THe Labor Signal.
VOLUME 4.
Official Jovjrnal Central Trades and Labor -Assembly.
OKLAHOMA CITY 0. T., JULY 6, 1905.
NUMBER 12
S
TDr Optometrist,
M/1 ♦ Doctor of Optics
and Ocular Reftactionisi; Bachelor:
Master, and Doctor of Ophthalmology
can surely fit your glasses right.
Many years of practice say so. All
patrons cheerfully say so. You will
surely say so. Charges reasonable.
See him. Front rooms, second floor,
111 North Broadway.
High Grade Garden Seeds
Everything for the Field, Farm
and Garden. Illustrated Cata-
logue Now Ready.
The Walker Seed Company,
No. 26 West Grand Ave.
Oklahoma City.
Try the Labor Signal.
Happy is the man whom ev-
eryone praises—for he is dead.
Wanted—By Ctiicagti Manu-
facturing House, person of trust-
worthiness and somewhat fa-
miliar with local territory as
assistant in branch office. Sal-
ary SI8 paid weekly. Perma-
nent position. No investment
required. Business established.
Previous experience not essen-
tial to engaging. Address, Man-
ager Branches, 32;! Dearborn
St . Chicago.
We put the label on your
Printing.
UsribrelSa Covers
Fixtures ii n <1
Ro pairs.
F. R. BOYD-
313 North KobinsOo,
South Side Store
Dry Goods and Notions,
House Goods and Ivitchenware.
ESTABK00K & ROSSER,
G02 S. Robinson St.
Beeker <§0.
SPECIAL LOW
PRICES ON
Men's Suits, Hats and Shoes.
I 17 NORTH BROADWAY
Poii & Bowman's Old Stand.
=Lillll(!!l!!l!!ii!!!i!l!!ili!l IHilll!lll!lllllillll!lll!IH!l IIIIHUIlUlllllllllllllllllllllllli
$0 1PE0S VEADB
i oCtJJ
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*
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The Scab is Dumb.
In pll the discussions between
the advocates and opponents of
unionism there is one peculiar
fact that deserves special atten-
tion. The advocates of unionism
are all union men. The me-
chanic at the lathe, the printer
at the case, the carpenter at the j
bench—every branch of organ-'
ized labor—furnishes men who
can stand forth and give a rea-
son for being union men and de-
fend their cause with tongue or
[ pen.
Did you ever see a "scab" that
could do it? Have you ever no-
ticed that all the arnuments in
favor of the "scab" and against
unionism are advanced by the
employers? If the "scab" is the
"free and intelligent" man, the
"unfettered workingman" that
the employers say he is, why, in
God's name don't some "scab"
stand up and speak for himself?
Why does the employer have to
do all the talking for the
"scabs ?"
The answer is .easy. The in-
telligent, thoughtful, skilled me-
chanic is always a union man,
either in fact or in sympathy,
The "scab" must have his think-
ing done for him, and nine times
out of ten he is either ineligible
for membership in a union be-
cause of incompetency or unre-
liable morally. He is the dis-
ease germ that threatens the
welfare of labor. He is the
monkey that pulls the ehest-
nuts from the fire for the benefit
of the selfish and unscrupulous
employer. He is the hard-healed
battering ram selected by greed
to batter down the walls that
labor has erected for its own
protection against greed and sel-
fishness.
Coward capital insists that
the conflict is between the "slave
of the union" and the '"free and
independent workingman"—the
"scab." And the "scab" hasn't
sense enough to see that he is
being used to do the dirty work
that capital is too cowardly to
undertake itself.
Every benefit that labor en-
joys today has come through
the work of labor unions.
Every law for the protection
of life and limb in factory, work-
shop and mine is the result of
efforts put forth by labor un-
ions.
Every sanitary law guarding
the health of those who toil at a
trade is the result of union labor
activity and effort.
The "scab" who cannot speak
for himself, but must be spoken
for by the employers, enjoys
these benefits without having
the manhood to acknowledge
the obligation and bear his share
of the burden. And every em-
ployer who defends the "scab"
and attacks the union has op-
posed every one of the laws men
tioned above, and opposed them
because they curbed his greed
and prevented him from exploit-
ing the workingman.
The men who have opposed
laws against child labor, who
have opposed laws regulating
sanitary conditions in mills and
mines, who have opposed laws
compelling the use of safety ap-
pliances on railroads, who have
opposed everything that labor
has sought for its own protec-
tion— the iBcn who have opposed
these things are the men who
always speak for the "scab."
Union men. who have secured
all of these blessings of labor,
are able to speak for themselves,
Without labor unions condi-
tions would be infinitely worse
than they are, and God knows
they are bad enough now. The
destruction of the labor unions
would remove the last bulwark
that stands between the toiler
and organized greed, the last
bulwark that defends wives and
children from those who would
fatten their purses at the ex-
pense of human life. And the
"scab'' who cannot speak for
himself is lending himself to
those who are seeking to destroy
these bulwarks.
Unionism is Progress.
Unionism has great questions
of progress to consider. They
involve the perpetuity of eivili
zation itself. It is accordingly a
very narrow unionist who
wastes his time in pointing out
the petty faults of his fellow
unionists.
The trades unionist is the
truest friend of civilization, but
we must not relax our work, but
strive with more vim and vigor.
Public opinion is gradually be-
ing educated our way. Our
leaders are doing a great work
in securing to the workers the
rights which belong to them.
J he hostility to trades-union-
ism displayed by the exponents
of "radical" reform is an unin-
tentional compliment to the for-
mer institution, since it arises
from the fact that the trades-
union, by accomplishing practi-
cal results, holds the workers
true to the course of real pro-
gress.
Labor unions are built upon
too solid a foundation for any
"secret" association of employ-
ers to wreck. Organizations
that will not bear the search-
light of publicity never accom-
plish anything. The finish of all
citizens'union wrecking associa-
tions is already in sight. Peace
to their ashes!
Protection protects everybody
but the workingman, and he
must depend on his union to pro-
tect him. The worker must de-
pend on his union to increase his
wages.
The labor movement must be
kept pure or it will prove a
curse instead of a blessing to the
workers. If a limb of the hu-
man bodv becomes diseased, it
must either be cured or ampu-
tated. If a labor union falls un-
der the influence of bad men, it
must be liberated or it will to
some extent cause great damage
to the whole movement!
I# practice even the best-in-
tentioned government is forced
to abandon much of the princi-
ple upon which it is elected.
There is much wisdom in the ob
servation that "political parties
usually begin their existencs in
protest against great evils of
some kind and as frequently de-
generate into organizations for
procuring office or for saving
men the trouble to think for
themselves."
Great results cannot be achiev-
ed at once, and we must be sat-
isfied to advanee in life as we
must be satisfied to advance in
life as we walk, step by step.
It has been said that anybody
can be a knockcr. but it requires
brains to be a consistent boos-
ter. The labor movement of to-
day is growing as a result of
persistent boosting, and those
who from design or otherwise
do the hammer act cannot per-
manently retard its progress.
Trades-unionism has its faults,
of course, but they are very
largely the faults of members,
not of principles or methods.
We are not numerous enough,
that's the troublt. How to in-
crease our numbers, that's the
ever-present problem. It is a
problem that can only be solved
by adherence to first principles
—i. e., religious organization for
religious purposes, political or-
ganization for political pur-
poses, economic organization for
economic purposes.
There is a time in every man's
education when he arrives at the
conviction that envy is ignor-
ance; that imitation is suicide;
that he must take himself for
better, for worse, as his portion;
that, though the wide universe
is full of good, no kernel of nour-
ishing corn can come to him
but through his toil bestowed
on that plot of ground which is
given to him to till.
All over the country the mem-
bers of the trades unions are
waking up to the fact that co-
operation is the key that will
unlock the fetters of the labor-
ing men and women and give
freedom to all. By co-operative
organization the producers and
consumers can be brought to-
gether and the enormous waste
and loss of distribution stopped.
There is a great difference be-
tween quick action and undue
haste, It is one thing to get at
a task promptly and perform it
thoroughly, and another thing
to leave it until the last moment
and then hurry through with it
in a confused manner.
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The Labor Signal. (Oklahoma City, Okla. Terr.), Vol. 4, No. 42, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 6, 1905, newspaper, July 6, 1905; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc121735/m1/1/: accessed April 23, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.