Drilling for the Great Boycott.
By C. M. S.
Those who have been following the trend of labor unionism during the past few years, have been forced to acknowledge danger in the deep plan of the organization. They have been forced to the conclusion that the plan led inevitably to the consolidation of all labor unions under one general head or management, and that this mighty force would then be used to enforce demands, just or unjust, by crushing with its ponderous weight whatever stood in its way. We have had strikes and sympathetic strikes for years, the strikers sometimes winning and sometimes losing; but the general trend has been toward a unification on the part of the labor organizations. They have seen that if the unification was so complete that each labor union could depend upon the entire strength of organized labor to back up its demands, the demands of labor would have perhaps a hundred-fold the force they could have while each union depended simply upon its own strength. So from sympathetic strikes there has come the spirit of the welding together of the different labor unions; and new plans are on foot for a systematic consolidation of all the various trade unions, and we are informed that this plan will soon be completed and worked out in its details. How will the plan work when in operation? The brick-layers, for instance, who are engaged in the erection of a certain building, will strike on account of some grievance, fancied or real. If their demands are not acceded to, the carpenters will refuse to go on with their work; the plumbers will refuse to put in the plumbing for water or gas; the glaziers will put no glass in the building. If the employer is obstinate and seeks to have the work done by non-union men, then the teamsters refuse to draw the brick or stone or lumber. If a mill attempts to fill its contract and supply the necessary lumber, the mill-hands strike; if the stone contractors attempt to deliver stone, the stone-cutters will strike; if the brick contractors attempt to deliver brick, the brick-handlers will strike. If the lime purveyors supply the material for mortar, the masons will refuse to work it or do the plastering; or if the lath have not been laid, the lathers cease their work. Thus by all working together who have to do with the handling of material or construction of the building, the erection of the building is stopped. The reason that strikes of this nature have not been more uniformly successful in the past is that the different unions had not been working harmoniously together. But now, with the prospect that all the elements will be harmonized, we may expect to see rapid and striking developments. At the present time there is a strike in progress between the Cooks and Waiters' Alliance of San Francisco and the owners of restaurants, and this very plan of operation is being carried out, members of other unions whose work is in any way connected with that of the cooks and waiters promising to join in the strike if the employers will not come to terms. Thus the butchers threaten to go out in a body rather than continue to cut up meat for a non-union restaurant. Then the teamsters will refuse to draw supplies to these restaurants, and the hack-drivers refuse to take customers either to or from such places. The bakers' union will refuse to supply bread to the non-union restaurants, and members of other unions will be fined $5 for eating at such restaurants. Union laborers parade in front of non-union restaurants, warning all against entering or eating there. How far the boycott will extend, we can not tell. How many other unions will declare strikes on account of this one, we do not know. Whether this particular strike will be a success for the strikers is uncertain. In fact, with the immediate result of this strike we are not particularly concerned. But in the growing spirit of consolidation of labor unions, in the terrible power to be wielded by these forces when the organization is completed, we see great reason for concern. The strikes and lockouts and agitations in all parts of the world are simply a preparatory school, a drill room, where these forces are learning to work in harmony, to keep step, and to charge the enemy so that when the battle comes, they may be able to use their power in the most effective manner possible. They are testing their powers all along the line, and strengthening the weak places. By continually coming in contact with organized capital, they are learning its vulnerable points. Now we are not thus developing this point simply to show that a struggle between labor and capital is inevitable. We know that is coming. But there is coming a time when unionism and the boycott will be universal—when one class will say that another class shall neither buy nor sell. It was predicted more than eighteen hundred years ago, and men have questioned how this could ever occur—how the whole world could be schooled or disciplined to such a point that by a single decree a class of people, thruout the whole world could be shut off from the privilege of buying or selling. The prophecy reads like this:— “He causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads; and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” Rev. 13:16, 17. We are not claiming that labor unionism is “the beast,” nor that belonging to a union is receiving the “mark” of the beast. But the schooling, discipline, and organization which labor federation and the boycott are bringing about, will make possible the carrying out of that decree when the “man of sin” gets ready to make it. That decree will be issued against the people of God. It is not for them, however, that we are concerned, but for those who seek to enforce the decree, and are therein found to be fighting against God by oppressing His people and seeking to hinder His work. That decree is to be issued just prior to the second coming of Christ, and the elements are now at work preparing for the proclamation. We are concerned as we see these things; but our concern is for those who will be deceived at that time. God will take care of the others. It is no time to question now. We see the fulfilment of the Word before our eyes, and God will not hold guiltless those who refuse to heed the warning and to warn the people sitting in darkness.