JiliiP 25, 1<J19 



HARDWOOD RECORD 



45' 



wage for the life of himself and those whom he supports. Therefore, 

 he must unite ^ with his fcllpws anil roneentrate their savings, in so far 

 as it may he necessary in order tUat they may say to an employer : "If 

 you don't give us better terms, if you don't give us better wages, if you 

 don't sUt^rtiund us with better eonditions with reference to labor or the 

 hours of labor, then we will make it awakward for you by withdrawing 

 from your employ together." 



WlUT .\ S'riiiKE I.s 



.\ strike is a legal method of duress, if you choose to call the term such. 

 It is just fiactly the sai'ue thing as when you refuse to sell your lumber 

 to somebody and lie needs it, you say, "No, I will not sell it until you come 

 to ray terms." The strike and the union of labf)r are necessary to produce 

 the value of their power <tf working or refusing to work. Unless you 

 have a union, then the power of on<' man to refuse t<) work has no effect 

 in inducing a change of the conditiims under which he works. 



Now I am far from being blind to the abuses of labor unions. I know 

 them. I have had to deal with them in courts. You see them very fre- 

 quently in such experiences as I have had. In the first place there is a 

 tendency to a dead level in the work of each man. There is a disposition 

 to reduce the wages or keep the wages on a level, both for the shiftless 

 and the lazy and the man who, would be industrious and who means to get 

 on. That, of course, reiluces the stiniulu.s of reward for better work, and 

 it introduces an elemi'nt, not of disloyalty to the employer, but of a 

 loyalty to the union that weakens the loyalty and fidelity to the employer. 

 Then there is the disijosition to restrict product. Many labor unions 

 deny that they do, but often .vou find in their particular arrangements 

 there is concealed a method of reducing the amount of product with the 

 view that the work may be distrilmteil. Now, all those things are evils 

 and those are evils against which .some of our principles declare. We 

 declared against any device for the reduction of maximum production, and 

 yet those evils do not, can not, lead to the conclusion that we must get rid 

 of labor unions, because they are here to stay, and we must hope that, 

 through conservative management, these evils, many of which are recog- 

 nized by the leaders themselves, may l)e minimized. 



There is a further evil in lalior unions, first in irresponsible unions, of 

 actual violence, and in others, where the conservative leaders are put in 

 a position where they are willing to accept the results and the force of 

 violence in achieving the general purposes of the union. 



I say these things in order to have it understood that, in urging that 

 labor unions be fully recfignized and be dealt with as such and be treated 

 as a part of the situation, I am not at all blind to the defects of the sys- 

 tem, but the way to meet those defects is to do the best we can to en- 

 courage conserv-ative leadership in the unions, and the only way that that 

 can be done is l>y recognizing the leaders and recognizing labor unions as 

 existing and treating them in such a way that the leaders may not be 

 driven into the arms of the extremists among them. There are bourbon 

 employers as well as bourbon labor unions. Men who say "I will not have 

 a union man in my employ" may get along very well in his shop. It he 

 keeps out the laltor unifin men by beating the union to the good terms that 

 he gives them, that may be one way of avoiding labor union men in his 

 employ, but If he keeps them out by saying he won't have them and If he 

 maintains a shop, he consciously or unconsciously Is failing to recognize 

 the attitude of his whole grouj) of employes, because most employers will 

 have to have uniim employes and he is cherishing to himself the Idea that 

 he can maintain that attitude of his successfully and run his shoji well 

 without regard to his fellows. I think that is a great mistake. I think it 

 will be proven to be a mistake. I think the broad visioned employer will 

 look to the welfare of the whole social system and the w-hole question of 

 labor and capital, rather than to the carrying out of his particular prin- 

 ciple in his particular shop, because ultimately it i.s likely that be will be 

 disappointed even with respect to his shop. 



Changed Ide.\s 



Now, this war has changed conditions very much in respect to labor. 

 It has given the world round a knowledge of the power of workingmen in 

 a country that the workingmen never realize<l before. Workingmen are 

 essential to a country in time of war, absolutely essential. Modern wars 

 are not fought alone by the men in the trenches. They are fought on the 

 farm, they are fought in transportation, they are fought in the fac-tories, 

 and if lalior refuses or fails in any way a nation is doomed. That fact 

 has come home to the laboring population of all countries, and that has 

 impressed them with the idea of their importance to a country and of 

 their power. That has developed Into different things in different coun- 

 tries. With us it has merely strengthened the confidence of the labor 

 union movement on the ime haml. and develoi)ed an element in the labor 

 union movement and outside of it that is dangerous but not, I hope, 

 numerous enough or strong enough to be anywhere near as serious as it is 

 in other countries. Nevertheless it is sufficiently serious here to lead us 

 to look at the thing in a broad way, to lead us to look at the situation 

 from the standpoint of meeting it and meeting it with all the power that 

 we can develop In society. 



Now, one of the powers that we can develop against extreme radicalism 

 and I, W. W.'ism and Bolshevism is In the ranks of labor Itself. In this 

 very association of which I was a member there were some who asked us 

 to adopt a resolution declaring against I. W. W.ism. I mean on the labor 

 side, so strong today in their views. We concluded not to do so, not 



because we were not willing, but because we thought it harilly relevant 

 to the particular jurisdiction that we were exercising. 



COXSERV.\TlVE ME.N' IN L.MIOU UflONS 



It is undoubtedly true that the danger of labor uniV|Bism is In the 

 power of the extremist. There are many who are in labor unions who 

 probably would wish to he out ; many who don't care to pay the dues, 

 many who think that were there no lalior unions they could get on more 

 rapidly, because they are Industrious and work and save; yet they are all 

 in because, perhaps, of their loyalty to labor, because perhaps they find it 

 more convenient to be in than to be frowned upon and be interfered with 

 by their fellows. They are the moderates, they are the people who keep 

 quiet. It is the loud-mouthed agitator that is too apt to have power. 

 It is the man who suggests extreme views and hammers them In with 

 stump oratory, with ca.stigation of opponents, with expletives and denuncia- 

 tion, that is the dangerous man in a union and has a great deal more 

 power than really the votes have, taken In such a way as the real union 

 would justify. 



Now, the plain method, the plain way of meeting that radicalism and 

 that I. W. W'isni Is for the employers to recognize and sympathize with 

 and help when they can the conservative elements In labor. You may not 

 like that, gentlemen, but that is true. Mr. Oompers gave the whole labor 

 vote against me when I ran in 1!)(1S. He didn't have a complete mortgage 

 on It. so it didn't all go the way he directed, and so I have alwa.vs been In 

 the hahlt of calling him "my dear old antagonist," but we must recognize 

 in the first place, however much we differ from him in his economic 

 theories — and I do differ from him in regard to his respect for courts — 

 but we must recognize that Samuel fionipers was one of the strongest 

 factors in maintaining the labor group In this country loyal and effective 

 for the purpose of carrying on the war that we had. 



The Resolutions 



The report of the resolutions committee was presented by its 

 chairman, F. S. Underhill, and ■o'as unanimously adopted. A sum- 

 mary of the resolutions follows: 



Thanks were extended to the management of the Congress hotel 

 for its arrangements for the comfort of the convention; to E. C. 

 Atkins & Co. for the convention badges; to Harry A. Wheeler, 

 W. H. Taft and L. C. Boyle for their able addresses; to Chairman 

 Chatlos A. Goodman for the services he rendered the association 

 during th? year just closed; to Secretary Frank F. Fish for the able 

 manner in which he has handled the association's business; to the 

 committee on grading rules for its efficient work. 



Members of the associatiou were urged, by resolution, to oppose 

 any legislation by Congress looking toward the establishment of 

 an eight-hour day in the lumber industry. 



The establishment of a national department of public works w'as 

 approved by the association. 



It was resolved that Chairman Goodman appoint a committee of 

 five, including himself, to represent the association in all legisla- 

 tion affecting the lumber industry. 



A resolution of sorrow was recorded, on the occasion of the death 

 of J. C. Bemick of the Cummings-Moberly Cypress Company, 

 Moberly, La. 



Election of Officers 



The convention then proceeded to the election of officers, and the 

 following were declared elected: 



President — C. .\. Goodman, JIarinette, Wis. 



First Vice-President — Horace F. Taylor. Buffalo, N. Y. 



Second Vice-Prekidbxt — J. W. McClure, Memphis, Tenn. 



Third Vice-President — C. I-I. Worcester, Chicago, 111, 



Me.mhers (IF Bo.iRD OF IJiRECTORS, for thrcc-ypar term: E. V. Bahcock, 

 Pittsburgh, I'a. ; G. E. Breece, Charleston, W. Va. ; J. R. Thistlethwalte, 

 Washington, La. : E. M. Vestal. Knoxville, Tenn. ; (Jeo. W. Cleveland. Jr., 

 Houston, Tex. : T. M. Brown, Louisville, Ky. ; D. E. Chipps, Fort Worth, 

 Tex. ; Chas. N. Perrin. Buffalo, N. Y. 



At the meeting of the board of directors immediately following 

 the adjournment of the convention, Frank F. Fish was reiilected 

 secretary-treasurer for the year beginning July 1. 



Thereupon the mooting adjourned. 



ENTERTAINMENT 



Two entertainments were given by th? association to members 

 and invited guests. , On Thursday evening a banquet was served 

 at the Congress hotel, and the following evening, Friday, at the 

 same place, the entertainment took the form of a supper, smoker, 

 music, and vaudeville. 



(See Supplement of list of attendance) 



