Washington Gladden

“ Collective bargaining and voluntary arbitration are possible, however, only when the employer recognizes the right of the employed to have a voice in the fixing of wages and terms of employment. If these billions of capital have to be organized to protect themselves against disputing rivalries, do not the laborers working for these organizations have the same need of combination? Do they not need it for the same reason? Is capital exposed to cut throat competition in any greater degree than labor is exposed to it? ”

“ So shall we realize our democracy. It has never been anything more than the skeleton of a democracy; so long as industry is feudalistic it cannot be. But when the common man is emancipated and called into partnership by the captains of industry, we shall have a real democracy. No superhuman vision is needed to discern the fact that the confusions and corruptions of our political democracy are largely due to the disorganizing influence of this industrial feudalism, in constant contact with it, and continually thrusting its alien conceptions and ideals into the political arena. ”

“ If the employer wishes all of his employees to belong to the union, and makes it clear that union men are favored, the reason for a closed shop practically disappears. The employer's reason for an open shop is need of a force at hand to fight the union; when he makes the union his ally instead of his enemy, non-unionism becomes both to him and to his men a negligible quantity. ”

“ I shall stand for my rights if you are mean and unreasonable, and you will stand for yours, if you think I am unjust, but if we must fight we stand on the level and fight fair. I hope there will be no fighting. ”

“ The relinquishment of autocratic power is not apt to be a welcome suggestion; the cases are few in which it is surrendered without a deadly struggle. But within the last generation we have seen the feudal rulers of Japan resigning their power and entering heartily into the life of the commonwealth, with great honor to themselves and great profit to their nation. It is not incredible that many of our. own captains of industry will discern the wisdom of a similar sacrifice. Indeed, there are those among them to whom this solution of the labor problem seems altogether feasible. ”

“ Now it is possible that a group of American workingmen could be found who would make trouble for an employer who took that attitude and consistently maintained it, but I do not believe that there are many such groups. It would be visionary to expect that any method which man could devise would wholly remove friction and discontent, and a strong and firm hand would often be needed in carrying out such a purpose as this, but one may confidently predict that peace and prosperity are made nearer by this approach than on the lines of industrial feudalism. ”

“ Industrial democracy means giving the wage-workers, through collective bargaining, a voice in the determination of their share in the joint product. It does not mean the domination of the business by the men and the subjugation of the employer, though this is the employer's apprehension, and this is the notion that sometimes gets into the working man's head. ”

“ The cases are not all alike, but in many instances something like this has happened: some dissatisfaction on the part of the men has shown itself, and it becomes known to the employer that steps are being taken for the organization of a union. At once his displeasure is manifested. He feels that the action is hostile to his interest; his entire attitude toward it is unfriendly from the start. It becomes well understood among the men that those who join the union are exposing themselves to the ill will of the employer; that those who refuse to join may expect his favor. ”

“ Thus the interests of the men are divided, and the non-unionist contingent is fostered by the manager as a force to check and defeat the unionists in the event of a struggle. Under such circumstances bad temper is generated on both sides, and the relations of all parties are badly strained. The manager refuses to recognize the union; that, he insists, would be an injustice to the loyal men who have refused to join it. If a union with such a history should prove to be a refractory and disturbing element in the business, it would not be a miracle. ”

“ We give even the wild creatures a chance for their lives; and so long as the industrial struggle continues, the chivalrous employer will not insist that his employees shall go into the contest with their hands tied behind them.
Beyond this question of personal honor between employer and employee is one that touches very deeply the foundations of their social structure. "If capital refuses to labor what capital asks and takes for itself, what are the final consequences of that injustice? How. in the long run, is labor to take this defeat of what it believes to be its rights? ”

“ Suppose, now, that when the first signs of an uprising, among the men appear, the employer, instead of treating it with suspicion or hostility, welcomes it. Suppose he goes out among the men and says to them what Baldwin would have said: "Certainly, men, you must organize. I mean to treat you fairly, but I do hot want you to be dependent upon my favor; I insist that you shall have the power to stand for your own rights. And I want all the men in this shop to join this union, and I expect the union to be my friend. ”

“ The man who takes up a purpose of this kind, whether he is proprietor or general manager, cannot be guaranteed an easy job. It will not be possible for him to turn it over to subordinates; he will have to keep close to it himself. It will call for labor, for self control, for faith in men, for all the best qualities of mind and heart. ”

“ The labor question will be speedily settled when such a spirit of justice and fair play, such a recognition of the elementary rights of manhood, gets possession of the hearts of employers. Of the habit of mind that cannot concede so much as this, one can say nothing better than that it is unsportsmanlike. ”

“ Hardie, but in democracy there arc no ruling classes. We call no man master, not even the walking delegate. And inverted feudalism, with the common man on top, would be no whit better than the old fashioned sort with the common man under foot. ”

“ John Graham Brooks, was a type of the class of employers to whom the democratization of industry is the way of life and peace. As a railway superintendent and president he had large experience in dealing with men, and all the positions taken in this chapter were held by him with the utmost firmness. ”

“ The advantages of this system are very obvious in that it is a system founded o-n an intelligent treatment of each question at issue, and encourages education, and, as far as we can see today, is the most advanced method and liable to produce the best results. ”