p. 409 | A Manly Stand by Editor

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jul 8, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 26.

A Manly Stand.

By Editor

RECENTLY over three hundred men employed in the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, struck because the company would not accede to their demand to discharge those of its employés who do not belong to the trades union. The following letter to the secretary of the union, from the manager of the iron works, explains itself:—

“We acknowledge the receipt of your communication informing us that a committee of arbitration has been appointed to meet the representatives of this company to arbitrate on the difference between us. We fail to see how it would be possible to arbitrate on the issue you have raised in demanding the discharge of certain of our workmen because they do not belong to your federation. If it were a question of wages or hours, work-shop rules or practice, we would be most ready to meet you and endeavor to arrive at a just settlement; but what you demand is not ours to give. The right of every man to honestly earn his living is his own right, and is secured to him by a higher power than either yours or ours. Suppose we could arbitrate on such a question, and the arbitrators should allow that you had the right to demand the discharge of any number of men from our works because they might be obnoxious to some union in your federation, and that you had the right to withdraw all of your men from our works. Should the demand not be complied with, then the same process of arbitration would of necessity grant us the same rights, by which we could demand the expulsion of any member of your federation who might from any cause be obnoxious to us, and that we should have the right to lock out all union men in our employ if our demands were not complied with.

“The demand you have made is unjust, and a compliance with it, either in whole or in part, would be a criminal act on our part. A wrong could never be arbitrated into a right. We can therefore see no way to a settlement, except by a frank withdrawal of your demand.”

This is wholesome reading for the strikers. The manager has stated a principle that has probably never been considered by strikers who profess to want “arbitration,” which, in their vocabulary, means compliance with their demands. If there is anything meaner than the attempt of members of trades unions to deprive non-members of work, we have never heard of it.