FREEDOM AND LIBERTY. WHERE?

Union Workman Bowed Down with Weight of "Laws" of His Organization. Carrying Burden of Minimum Wage and Restrictions.

In discussing the terms "union," "nonunion," "open," and "closed" shop, an official of the iron molders' union says:

"Both terms are misleading, for the union shop is the only shop working under conditions which give the workman the largest degree of true freedom and liberty, while the nonunion shop contains conditions which stifle and trample under foot the workmen's efforts to improve their industrial conditions."

And yet there are people in this supposedly free and enlightened country of ours who believe it possible to dig out of the anatomy of labor leaders who indulge in downright, atrocious falsehood such as this, some semblance of honor. TO THE REVIEW such statements are positively discouraging from an educational standpoint. There can be but two grounds for the utterance of a sentiment such as this, namely, a willful disposition to mislead and deceive, or the more charitable one of ignorance.

With its restrictions on the earning power of the individual workman, with all union members subjected to the imposition of fines and penalties for alleged violations of inhuman, ill-conceived union "laws," with the restrictions on the right of employment and the right of the apprentice to learn a trade, not to mention the constant petty union political intrigues to which members of organized labor are subjected, it is difficult to perceive where the workman—

be he iron molder, machinist or of some other craft-gains any "large degree of freedom and liberty" because he may be a member of a union.

With members of the band of organized labor herded like sheep, ordered not to apply here and not to apply there for work, ordered on strike when they realize such a step is suicidal, forced to support "organizers" and "entertainment committees" with their hard-earned money, and the competent workman carrying the burden of the incompetent, slothful, shiftless, indifferent workman in the bag labelled with the principle of the "minimum wage," THE REVIEW is rather of the opinion that instead of enjoying a "large degree of freedom and liberty" the union workman of today is a most abject slave, and, furthermore, the intelligent union man and the union man who does not gain his daily sustenance as a result of being on the union pay roll realizes this and will say so if he dares to speak the truth.

BEGINNING TO VOICE THEIR DISCONTENT.

The strain of the strike of union machinists on the north Pacific coast is beginning to tell upon these mechanics. At a recent meeting of this union in Portland, Oregon, one of the unwilling striking machinists arose and addressed himself to the subject of the strike. In his opinion the machinists' union had made a most unreasonable demand upon the employers and one that never would be granted; he also stated that in his opinion it was quite evident the strike had been lost to the union and that the officers were working a severe hardship upon the members by asking them to remain out any longer.

The strike has been a hopeless one for the union from the beginning.

The United Metal Trades' Association of the Pacific Coast, calls attention to the fact that the perpetrators of dynamite outrages are partial to open or non-union establishments. In view of the "indignant denials" of Gompers and his followers that union labor is not responsible for these depredations, the suggestion from the Coast is quite to the point. We have yet to hear of a union plant being dynamited or otherwise attacked.

SANE LANGUAGE REQUESTED.

Milwaukee Business Men Strongly Condemn Inflammatory Utterances of Socialists.

Milwaukee, Dec. 10.-In an open letter to the mayor and the public, strongly condemning inflammatory utterances made during the garment workers' strike by members of the socialist administration, and which were followed by rioting, the directors of the Merchants and Manufacturers' association have issued an appeal for sane thinking regarding the business situation in Milwaukee. The letter says:

"Recent events in the community reveal a tendency which demands the earnest consideration of the great body of thoughtful citizens as well as the attention of the chief executive. The fact that expressions have recently gained currency which tend to disturb the peace and good order of the community and seriously impair its prosperity and stability, is to be deplored. The number of unemployed is already distressingly large.

"These reports of public utterances of an inflammatory character which are heralded to the world, tend to impair the credit and standing of the city. While they cause unrest at home, they are also destructive of confidence. We strongly condemn all public expressions designed to incite class hatred and to destroy respect for law and order."

STRIKERS SHOOT OFFICER.

Disorder is Resumed by the Chicago Garment Workers.

Chicago, November 17.-Renewed rioting in which one policeman was shot today, took the place of the comparative peace which has marked the garment strike. More than a score of strikers, most of them women and girls, were arrested and a number of policemen were injured.

Thomas Flowers, a private detective, was shot while aiding the police disperse a crowd of strikers at Fifth avenue and Harrison street. The injured man was taken to a hospital and Mrs. Magdalean Debona, a striker, arrested. A revolver with one chamber recently discharged, was found in her possession.

And yet the president of the American Federation of Labor says:

"We are not fighting our fights by physical force. Our methods of fighting are moral, and we do not want to have anything to do with such methods."

ADMITS IT IS A HABIT.

In commenting upon the frequency with which members of the national union of machinists are subjected to assessments the secretary of the organization says that "the long continued strikes with their attendant heavy drain on our resources, our readiness to enter into a scrap, often without seriously weighing the possible consequences, have compelled us to raise fabulous sums and to spend them sometimes faster than they can be raised. This has gone on until the levying of assessments has become with us a habit, even in lodges that are not involved in trouble."

THREE THINGS THE MATTER WITH THE UNION.

Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Cited. Minimum
Wage, Restriction of Output and Unfair Treatment
Must be Discontinued by Closed
Shop Unions.

While we have constantly approved the work of the labor unions in improving the conditions of their members and of wage workers in general, says the Watchman, we have also constantly insisted that there are three things which labor unions must abandon before they can render the highest service to their members and to society in general. These things are the uniform wage to good and bad workmen alike, the limitation of output and the unfair treatment of non-union workmen.

The finest labor union in America, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, has never endorsed either of these, and has always insisted that the members of the Brotherhood should prove themselves thoroughly trustworthy and competent engineers in order to retain their membership in the order; and the Brotherhood has also taken up the grievances of non-members the same as the grievances of members. By this fairness it has commended itself to the management of railroads and to the public and to its breadth and fairness it owes the very high stand it occupies in the regard of the people, and the great influence it has with managers of railroads.

The question of the uniform wage has now been taken up by the brass factories of England, and both employers and workmen are arranging a scale of wages which shall vary according to proficiency and industry. It is neither