5. Shorter hours lead to better citizenship by giving time for education and self-improvement.

Summary. One of the most important questions of our time is the open versus the closed shop. Chambers of Commerce and associations of employers are conducting campaigns in favor of the open shop, while the American Federation of Labor and labor organizations generally desire the closed shop. The question has been given much attention by the public press and by prominent men not identified with either labor or capital. It cannot be answered except in a general way. Some labor unions have used the closed shop to oppress their employers and some employers have used the open shop to lower wages below a decent standard. With a spirit of fair play on both sides, either an open or a closed shop may be operated to the benefit of all concerned.

Strikes are a loss to all, the public included. Even if the strike is won, the losses in wages while the strike was on may more than counteract the gain. There are times when strikes may be necessary but they should be avoided if possible. During one recent year (1918) there were 3,181 strikes and 104 lockouts in the United States. Resort to violence during strikes is always to be condemned. Any one who uses violence in a strike is a lawbreaker and forfeits all claim to sympathy.

Industrial disputes cannot always be avoided. They should be settled by arbitration. No one who has right on his side need fear the decision of an impartial board of arbitrators.

The boycott is another weapon of labor, but it is a weapon which should be used with care, if at all. A boy

cott often inflicts injury upon innocent people. Even when started as a simple boycott, the tendency to resort to a secondary boycott is strong. Secondary boycotts are always morally unjustified. Among the most important of labor questions is the regulation of child labor. Children on the farm and in the home may work a reasonable time each day with profit to themselves. But a factory is no place for a child under fourteen years of age; some would even say under sixteen years of age. Since some parents are selfish and some employers greedy and no child under fourteen competent to look after his own welfare, the government must regulate conditions and hours of child laborers, make provision for their education, and should prohibit work at night of all under sixteen and absolutely prohibit labor in factories and mines of all children under fourteen years of

age.

The eight-hour day is desired by most laborers. The advantages of a short labor day have been given in the text. However, it must be remembered that some employments are more exhausting than others. Ten hours' farm work is certainly less exhausting than eight hours in a factory, and eight hours in a factory are less exhausting than six hours spent as engineer on a fast express train.

TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION, DEBATE, AND SPECIAL REPORTS I. Get the opinion of some employers of labor in your city on the open versus the closed shop. Also see what the laborers think about this question.

2.

If the law of a state limited work in the mines to eight hours a day and the employers of the mines were requiring the men to work ten hours, would the men be justified in striking?

3.

4.

Give some instances of strikes that might be approved by fair-minded people.

Give a history of the great strike in the anthracite coal mines of Pennsylvania in 1902 and show how President Roosevelt brought the strike to an end.

"In the period 1881-1905 there occurred 36,757 strikes and 1,546 lockouts, involving 200,000 establishments and over 9,000,000 employees. The total direct and indirect losses resulting therefrom can only be guessed at, but they probably exceeded the direct cost of any war in which the United States had then been engaged.”—Haworth, The United States in Our Own Times.

What would you consider the indirect losses occasioned by a strike?

5. Why do women in industry need more protection by the laws than men?

CHAPTER XXVII

LABOR ORGANIZATIONS

There are many varieties of labor organizations. Among the more important are trade unions, industrial unions, and labor unions. A trade union is a labor organization composed of workers in one trade or in a number of allied trades. The International Typographical Union is an example of a trade union, as it confines its membership to those engaged in a particular trade. An industrial union admits to membership all laborers in one industry, even though they may be employed in different occupations. The United Mine Workers admits to membership all who are employed in the mining industry, whether within or outside the mines. A labor union seeks membership among all workers without reference to particular trades. The Industrial Workers of the World is a labor union.

The American Federation of Labor is composed of many labor organizations, some of them trade unions and some industrial unions. The Federation gives almost complete local autonomy to its member organizations, but assists them when in trouble. Its attention is chiefly directed to securing legislation favorable to labor, promoting the use of union labels, and organizing labor in districts where it has not been organized.

The Services of Labor Organizations.-Labor organizations render educational, social, and economic services to their members. Every labor organization is a debating

society, and its members receive training in economic problems and in public speaking. Not infrequently prominent men address the meetings upon topics of general interest.

Labor organizations are social and fraternal bodies. Dances, entertainments, and other social gatherings are held under the auspices of unions and are well conducted. The annual dance of the Longshoremen's Union might not appeal to the taste of people in high society, but it is the best-conducted dance which the members of the union attend. The fraternal features consist of caring for a member in distress and paying funeral expenses when necessary. The fraternal features are more prominent in the older organizations. The International Typographical Union has a sanitarium for the care of its members who are afflicted with tuberculosis.

However, the chief object of labor unions is economic. An individual laborer is at a great disadvantage when disposing of his services. To an employer it makes no difference whether or not he employs a particular laborer, but it makes a great difference to the laborer. Labor resembles a perishable commodity and the laborer must dispose of his services promptly or lose his day's pay. The laborer is not always able to take his services to a better market either for lack of funds or because of home ties. The conditions under which he works may not be suitable but the individual laborer is often unable to offer an effective protest. Labor organizations make the bargain more equal. Employers may not need a certain laborer but they need labor. Organized labor can make its demands as a unit and can be supported by union funds if employers