THE ACME OF LABOR UNIONISM.
By Editor
WHAT labor unionism means when full-fledged is thus expressed in the Labor Leader, of Lancaster, Pa.:— Labor is now supreme in New South Wales. No employer or employee is allowed to appear in court in a labor case unless he belongs to a registered industrial union. It is illegal to employ free labor when union labor is available. Whether the employers and employees of the United States who do not as yet yield to the demands of unionism (and they form a large majority of their classes) will permit such a condition to arise here is a question yet to be fully settled. The trend is strong in that direction. When it becomes "illegal to employ free labor," where does the freedom come in? That expression, however, is an admission that union labor is not free—an admission that tells a great truth, and lays bare a most pitiable, yea, abject, condition. Think of the masses of men, supposed to be intelligent, skilled in their handicraft, and claiming to be capable of directing every employer in the proper manner of conducting his business, then persistently placing themselves in a position where they must admit that they are not free laborers! And such a consummation—the denial of legal rights to free laborers—is deemed something to boast of, a great move in the interest of labor! To add to the Leader's evident satisfaction with such a condition, the editor says, "When Parry hears this he will issue another proclamation." Well, in the face of such a prospect, it would seem that even the "blind leaders of the blind" would be able to see the necessity of at least a warning from some source. Surely those who welcome such conditions are hardly safe custodians of "supreme" power in any country. The tyranny of capital, as far as it has yet been manifested, pales into insignificance before such a prospect. Those who regard the doctrine of Christ, which is embodied in the Golden Rule, "All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them;" those who regard the commandment of God, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," will not be found in confederacies which seek to deny to any man his legal rights. In a time when there was a marked rejection of the commandments of God, His prophet said: "The Lord spake thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me that I should not walk in the way of this people, saying, Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. And He shall be for a sanctuary." Isa. 8:11-14. This is good counsel for to-day.