54 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XIX. No. 471. 



to its government, and to deny to them the per- 

 sonal liberties which are guaranteed to every 

 citizen by the constitution and laws of the land. 



Finally, exercising the authority volun- 

 tarily accorded to it under the terms of the 

 submission, the commission established the 

 wise and salutary rule: 



That no person shall be refused employment, or 

 in any way discriminated against, on account of 

 membership or non-membership in any labor organ- 

 ization; and that there shall be no discrimination 

 against or interference with any employee who 

 is not a member of any labor organization by 

 members of such organizations. 



It is very highly to the credit of organ- 

 ized labor that among the seven members 

 of the tribunal which, without a dissenting 

 voice, enunciated this fundamental prin- 

 ciple of fairness toward all labor, sat the 

 distinguished chief of the Brotherhood of 

 Eailway Conductors, probably the ablest of 

 the living labor leaders of America, Edgar 

 E. Clark. The last paragraph quoted has 

 received especial presidential approval, 

 having been quoted in full in President 

 Eoosevelt's letter of July 13 last to the 

 Secretary of Commerce and Labor, in which 

 it is followed by these words: 



I heartily approved of this award and judgment 

 of the commission appointed by me, which itself 

 included a member of a labor union. This com- 

 mission was dealing with labor organizations 

 working for private employers. It is of course, 

 mere elementary decency to require that all the 

 government departments shall be handled in ac- 

 cordance with the principle thus clearly and fear- 

 lessly enunciated. 



Thus in decreeing that every productive 

 establishment of the federal government 

 should be an 'open shop,' in which there 

 should be no discrimination among Amer- 

 ican citizens on account of race or creed or 

 membership or non-membership in any 

 legitimate organization, the President in 

 the plainest terms gave the weight of his 

 endorsement to the sovind doctrine that the 

 discrimination thus forbidden in the work- 

 shops of the government ought not, any- 



where, to be permitted. The freedom of 

 American workmen could not survive the 

 general abandonment of the 'open shop.' 

 It is infringed whenever there is any dis- 

 crimination such as can no longer exist in 

 the government shops. Workmen who have 

 faith in their own abilities, who treasure the 

 liberties won for them by their predecessors 

 here, who realize the spirit and the beauty 

 of the Golden Rule, will not seek to debar 

 others from the right to work on account 

 of a disagreement as to the propriety of 

 the terms and conditions on which work can 

 be obtained. The 'union label' is one of 

 the milder measures for compelling men to 

 join organizations against whose principles 

 or practices they wish to protest by remain- 

 ing aloof from them. He who refuses to 

 purchase goods not having this label is at- 

 tacking the independence of some fellow- 

 citizen. The employer who weakly assents 

 to its use becomes a participant in a con- 

 spiracy against those workmen who dissent 

 from the principles or methods of those who 

 control the organizations in their fields. It 

 is not pleasant to condemn a device which 

 does afford some guarantee that the goods 

 to which it is attached are not produced 

 under oppressive conditions, but while giv- 

 ing partial protection against this danger 

 the 'union label' threatens one of the most 

 fundamental and sacred rights of every 

 individual. Divest it of its proscription 

 of the non-union man and its power for 

 good will win for it deserved welcome from 

 all right-thinking men. 



EESTEICTION OP OUTPUT. 



There would be little utility in discuss- 

 ing the restriction of individual output in 

 its theoretical aspects. That the practice 

 is unsound in economics is recognized by 

 all students and even by those leaders of 

 labor organizations who are unable to deny 

 that it is followed, more or less extensively, 

 by the members of their organizations. 



