The Seattle Star Newspaper, June 16, 1919, Page 4

THE SEATTLE STAR—MONDAY, JUNE 16, 1919. (This Advertisement Is Paid for by Edwin Selvin.) Below is a reprint of Edwin Selvin'’s leading editorial in Business Chronicle of June 14: The Un-American Closed Shop Must Go! NVINCED that the intolerable industrial situation which has been breeding a perilous unrest that is now specifically directed at overthrow of the United States Government is centered in and functions through Closed Shop Labor Unions, Business Chronicle announces its intention to begin at once a comprehensive educational campaign the purpose of which, frankly stated, is to so arouse and solidify public opinion that it will We impossible for the Closed Shop Labor Union longer to exist in free America. This effected, the autocratic and tyrannical dominance of “labor leaders”—most of them foreigners and many of them avowed anarchists—over the industrial and political affairs of American citizens will be forever ended. Tt is a righteous cause, and one to which Business Chron- icle addresses itself with fervor and determination. Not unmindful of the obstacles that will be placed in our way, with full knowledge both of the desperate character of the individuals whom it will be necessary to attack and of the intrenched position of the powerful system it is sought to destroy, comprehending the magnitude of the undertaking, and knowing that it is possible of accomplishment only after a long and continuous struggle, nevertheless we approach this great patriotic work which we regard as a pressing and not-to-be-denied duty encouraged by the recollection that the giant Goliath was slain by the lad David with a pebble from the brook, with an unshakable belief in the justice of our fight, an abiding faith in the American people once they have been shown the truth, and a calm confidence in the ultimate outcome. At the outset we wish to reiterate our heretofore ex- pressed position on the so-called “labor question.” This publication upholds the doctrine that workingmen have “the right to organize,” favors high standards of wages and working conditions, and believes the workingman should by every proper means seek to better the economic and socia) status of himself and family. We have no preconceived antipathy to “collective bargaining,” the “8-hour day,” or any proposed improvement in the industrial scheme that is founded upon practicability, common sense, and fairness to all concerned. We believe the workingman has the same rights and privileges and the same duties toward society as has any other member thereof; and we deplore the grow- ing tendency—sedulously cultivated by agitators for their own ends—among those who earn their living by manual labor to regard themselves as a class apart whose interests are opposed to the interests of their neighbors. We would emphasize the fact that Business Chronicle is NOT the organ of the Employers’ Association, or of any organization, clique or interest; that it IS wholly independent of outside influences, including that of advertisers; that its editorial policies are formulated within its own office, and the sole responsibility therefor rests upon its own editorial staff. We disclaim sympathy with any agency whatsoever that attempts to “grind down the workingman;” deny the right, assumed or declared, of Capital “to exploit” either Labor or the Consuming Public to the end that an inordinate profit may be extorted from the production and distribution of the necessities of life; affirm there is a fundamental “com- munity of interest” between Capital and Labor, and assert that any man or organization that attempts to break down this community of interest is the common enemy of the whole people. We will concede that in the now somewhat remote past Trades Unionism accomplished some good, helped bring about some reforms, and in a measure contributed to rais- ing living standards in America. But the history of Trades Unionism shows that efforts along those lines have been sporadic, short lived, and that for every good thing accom- plished a score of evil practices have been imposed on the public. Against any claim the Closed Shop Unions can make for the sympathy and moral support of the public is their own damning record—a record extending back over the years of defiance of law, contempt for courts, assault, rioting, arson, assassination, and dynamiting, and now the open alliance of such Labor Movement governing bodies as Seattle Central Labor Council with Anarchy and Bol- shevism. We would like to believe that Organized Labor has a legitimate place in industry, and hope to see the time come when there will be evolved some sort of labor association to which the decent American can belong without a feeling of shame. It is our conviction that something might be done by the bona fide workers themselves (not the parasites who haven’t done on honest day’s work since they became “labor leaders,” and who live off the fat of the land because their deluded following are compelled to give up a tithe of the weekly, wage). If they could set up changed conditions whereunder affiliation with a labor organization did not carry with it an actual or implied obligation to war upon society and to blindly follow the leadership of those who are trying to upset the established order of things, the Labor Movement even yet might have in it some remaining possi- bilities for the good of the individual worker, and perhaps cease to be a menace to the peace and prosperity of the Nation. Our fight is not with the workingman who is a loyal American citizen. As a matter of fact—and made merely as a statement of fact—we wish to go on record as saying that the honest and industrious workman who wants the opportunity to give a “fair day’s work for a fair day’s wage,” who whole-heartedly supports the United States Government, obeys the laws of the land, strives to be a useful Startling Revelations of Jim Os- borne, One of the Leaders in the Attempted Revolution Will be printed in Business Chronicle, beginning with next issue. Jim Osborne was a member of the Metal Trades Strike Conference Committee, a “labor leader” on the inside. His Americanism could not stand the effort to make of the late general strike a Bolshevik revolution; lie pleaded for “conservative action.” He was suspended from the Union for 99 years, and replaced on the Strike Confer- ence Committee by an alien who boasts he has been in this country 25 years and never took out naturalization papers, and who is now a candidate for president of the Washing- ton State Federation of Labor. Jim Osborné and S. E. Eddy, another labor lIéader, who was suspended for 18 months and fined $500 by his Union for showing his Americanism, are both now on the staff of Business Chronicle helping to fight Bolshevism. citizen and hopes to rear a family in the fear of God has no truer friend and champion in the whole field of journalism than Business Chronicle. An important part of our educa- tional work will be to show the workingman himself that it is against his best interests to belong to a Closed Shop Union, and to expose the graft that is carefully concealed from him as a ‘‘paying” member. Our fight primarily is with enemies of Law and Order, and for the preservation of our established American insti- tutions. Our watchword is AMERICA FOR AMERICANS, and our battle cry is 100% PURE AMERICANISM UN- AFRAID! We fight Closed Shop Labor Unions incidentally, and solely because they are utterly un-American in spirit and purpose, and because they have permitted themselves to become the chief Bolshevik instrumentality in this country to bring about the downfall of constitutional government. We fight the walking delegates and the closed shop leaders because, collectively speaking—and basing our charge upon their own statements and actions—they are anarchists and revolutionaries; Labor's own worst enemies, and within its own ranks, We fight for true industrial democracy. These self- same renegades who have usurped leadership of Organized Labor and against whom we expect to create all enlightened Public Sentiment that will some day crush them beneath the heel of an outraged patriotism, misuse the autocratic control they exercise over the Unions to establish by force a dictatorship of the proletariat. : We fight for the right of the American citizen to work where he pleases, when he pleases, and at what he pleases, This right—which is inherent and constitutional — Closed Shop denies. We fight those secret combinations between the em- ployer who sacrifices, principle to expedieney—perchance hoping thereby to gain an undue advantage over his com- petitor—and the overlords of labor. This is the unholy alliance that caters to an “aristocracy of labor,” and which closes the door of employment to the “eommon” citizen unless he will bow his neck to the Closed Shop yoke. Wherein is the difference between the employer who forces Closed Shop on his unwilling employes and the walking delegate who forces Closed Shop on the unwilling employer? We fight those sorry types of employer who put profit above principle or who through weakness or cowardice, after having agreed to “stand together” for the right, desert their fellows when the walking delegate pushes his way into the private office, raps his knuckles on the desk, and an- nounces what Closed Shop demands. We fight impartially the domineering and alien labor leaders and those pussy-footing business men and academic theorists who are Closed Shop’s strongest allies. We fight to eliminate once and for all the basic cause of industrial troubles, the impelling force back of the propa- ganda that “the workers rise up and take over industry.” We believe this thing will have to be fought out to a finish all over the United States—the sooner the better. We claim the issue is clear cut, unmistakable: Shall Americanism or Bolshevism rule? There is not room for both in this country. We fight for the coming of the day when the American skilled mechanic will not have to choose between a union card and an accident insurance policy before he can work at his trade. We fight for the right of the great mass of unorganized workers to earn a living, and for those real Americans who are literally forced into Closed Shop Labor Unions by threats of physical violence, ostracism of wife and children, or loss of employment. We fight for co-operation between employer and employe, for an era of brotherly love among all Americans whatever their station in life, for a speedy return to the time-tried and experience-tested principles of our fathers, for a revival of the old-fashioned Americanism that protects the citizen who prefers his economic independence and industrial free- dom to signing away his birthright with an application for Union membership. We fight for the returned soldiers and sailors to have a chance to make a living in the country to save which they offered their lives. Closed Shop says these shall not have employment without its consent, and then only in instances where the needy ex-service man is willing to join its organ- ization and pay tribute. The autocrats of Closed Shop who | thus insult every man who wore the uniform and every man — and woman who loves the flag are the same who were Hun | sympathizers, traitors, seditionists, and active obstruction- ists during the war. Some of them were caught red-handed and they now comprise the “political prisoners” for release of whom the labor newspapers are loudly calling. We fight an un-American organization that is led by criminals. Under the guise of a general strike it attempted to start in Seattle a revolution whose purpose was to sup- plant our American form of government with the Russian Soviets, which are the embodiment of organized plunder and rapine, wholesale butchery of all who have wealth, and the lustful possession of women as common sex property. It: has since attempted the same thing in Canada. It is only awaiting a favorable opportunity to again make the attempt —0on a larger scale—in the United States. We fight against a monster that could have grown powerful enough to challenge the supremacy of Government only through the connivance of demagogic public officials, the supine acquiescence of cowardly business men, and the indifference of the general public. This economic monster retards production, adds to the cost of every single item that enters into daily life, and dictates alike to employer and employe, to the politician, and the press. This monster is the Labor Trust—the tightest monopoly, and from the eco- nomic point of view, the most dangerous monopoly in the world. From the political point of view, it has become, with its espousal of Bolshevism, the greatest single, militant menace with which civilization has to contend. All of the things enumerated above, and more t make up the Closed Shop. pera Ci Do you as an American citizen, a taxpayer, a home owner, an employer or an employe, longer want Closed Shop in Seattle, in the Pacific Northwest, in the United States? To accomplish the purpose, as outlined above, my paper, Business Chronicle, issued every Saturday, aust be given a wider circulation among all classes of citizens; particularly among members of La- a gat) oes dor Unions. As a private individual, subscribe for yourself. As an employer, take a number 5 UHR Ge BS: of annual subscriptions to be mailed every week to the home addresses of your employees. _ cecB asthe ERAT NE a t in touch with me by telephone, letter, or personal interview. Se coer es 3A et .. pee : 2 iB ap Pea ane $07 wiht ot Soin hues Rall 1504 Alaska Edwin Selvin. | Elliott ost, < $0 BANS peasy so” gue ow we i