Sound Words from a Labor Leader
Sound Words from a Labor Leader.—The following is credited by The Oakland Tribune to Grand Chief Stone, of the Order of Locomotive Engineers, in an address given not long ago in Waco, Texas: "Standing as a firm believer in union labor and the right of laboring men to organize, when an organization compels a man to join it against his will, it interferes with the personal liberty guaranteed him by the Constitution of the United States. The railway orders stand head and shoulder above all labor organizations, for they have the open shop. On almost every road in the country we work side by side with men who do not belong to our orders. No man is forced to join us. We try to show him how he would be benefited by belonging to us, and where his interests are, but we never say to him to join us or you can not earn an honest living by working here. I do not believe any man ever made a good member in any organization who was forced to join it against his will, for the chances are that when opportunity offers, he will prove a traitor and betray you." That is straightforward manliness.