Editorials from the Hearst NewspapersBrisbane, Arthur
Philosophy
Editorials from the Hearst Newspapers
Brisbane, Arthur
Editorials; Essays
Utter disregard of others--where it does not affect your own
wages--is your rule, and you know it. What better joke is there
than the joke about the union label? How many hats on your rack
have union labels in them? How many of you can swear no
sweatshop ever saw your clothes? How many of you would apologize
for not offering your friend a "union-made" cigar?
It is the nature of man to think earnestly of only one thing at a
time. If one pursuit really engrosses his attention he has
little time to think of anything else. In the hard struggle for
a living the workingman has little time for any thought save for
his OWN wage, his OWN stomach, his OWN welfare.
As union men you will continue to struggle for your five dollars
a day--restricting apprentices, that others may be shut out from
your field; opposing changes threatening you, however beneficial
they may be generally.
But as individuals you must THINK. You study, and, being
free from the grind of real poverty, you should be less hardened
than the unfortunate, and inclined to feel for others.
You have made a good fight against the slavery that used to
oppress you. In England you destroyed mills, endured shooting
and hanging. All over the world, by hard fighting and wise
voting, you have established the fact that the top class of
mechanics must no longer be treated as cattle.
Now, what are you going to do for the others who are still
cattle? You have demanded in the name of holy justice that
others help you. In the same name, what do you propose to do for
those still oppressed? Will you use your big voting power for
the millions who are still at the bottom?
Will you combine for the benefit of the vast army as you have
combined for your OWN benefit?
Or will you wait--as did the employers--to be FORCED into
decency? Will you free your own collection of underpaid,
overworked slaves, or wait for them to organize and beat you into
decency, as your representatives did with your oppressors long
ago?
Take a look downward once in a while. Study those below you.
Glance over your own little collection of "wage slaves" in your
kitchen and wherever your money is spent.
There is a problem there for you when you shall have finished
hurrahing for your own eight hours.
AGAIN THE LIMITED DAY'S WORK
WISELY HANDLED, IT MEANS EMANCIPATION FROM INDUSTRIAL SLAVERY.
We refer again to the much discussed rule in labor unions
limiting the amount of work that a man shall do in a day. As a
matter of fact, in many unions no such rule exists. In some it
does exist, and MUST exist.
There is nothing in the notion that limiting the day's work will
diminish the excellence of American workmen. On the contrary,
the BEST work is done slowly and carefully. The WORST work is
done at high speed.
That very aristocratic financier who denounces the regulations as
to a day's output will say to the man who is doing something
FOR HIM, "Take your time; I want this done very carefully."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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