A Remarkable Oath by L. A. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Sep 24, 1903

A Remarkable Oath

By L. A. S.

The oath taken by members of the Typographical Union, as quoted and vouched for by The Independent of September 10, is this:—

I hereby solemnly swear that my fidelity to the Typographical Union and my duty to the members thereof, shall in no sense be interfered with by any allegiance that I may now or hereafter owe to any other organization, social, political, or religious.

Circumstances having called public attention to the nature of this oath, much comment has been evoked from those who appreciate the relationship sustained by members of the union to the state and to the church. Bishop Scannel, the head of the Catholic church in Omaha, Neb., is quoted as saying that the maintenance of such an oath would set aside all government, both civil and ecclesiastical, and nullify all courts of law. He is reported as having commanded priests in his diocese to refuse absolution to Catholic members of the union. The union, on the other hand, seems determined to adhere to its oath regardless of its antagonism to any other organization, whether church or state.

“We can not believe,” comments The Independent, “that the members of the Typographical Union, who are among the most responsible, and we should have supposed, intelligent, of any craft, can have appreciated the meaning of that oath. It puts fidelity to their labor union before fidelity to the country or to the Christian church. It must have been composed by some absolute unbeliever, if not an anarchist.”

The truth seems to be, however, that those who made and who take this oath do appreciate its meaning, and that it was so worded from a belief that only by placing the obligation to the union above fidelity to state or church could the union accomplish the purposes for which it was created. Indeed, is it not in the very nature of the case that a labor union must hold the allegiance of its members against the claims of every other organization upon them in order to succeed in its purpose of forcing employers and the general public to come to its terms? We think it will be more and more evident, as events unfold themselves, that labor unions are antagonistic in purpose to both the state and the church, and necessarily so, while the latter are constituted in their present form.

L. A. S.