The Seattle Star Newspaper, November 5, 1919, Page 10

SEATTLE’S MUST susie THE SEATTLE STAR—-WEDNESDAY, NOV. 5, 1919. INDUSTRY OT BE CRUSHED! Autocratic, intolerant and ruinous limiting of produc- tion, imposed on this city by the “Closed Shop,” must cease. Seattle, generously endowed with location, climate and other advantages as a commercial, manufacturing and home city, must be permitted to work out its destiny. Great opportunities were thrust upon us by the war. Prosperity, artificially stimulated, took us forward by leaps and bounds. A scarcity of workers followed. The “Walking Delegate,” always on the alert for further chances to enforce the “Closed Shop,” and his rule of ab- solutism, brought local industry virtually within his con- trol. Then radicals, most of them foreign born, found their fertile ground. Arrogant and drunk with power, they showed more and more a disregard for the rights of others, the employer, the public and the employe as well. This influence started the process of crushing in- dustry—“Democratization,” they called it, but in reality “Bolshevism” and a move for the Soviet system. Labor, ———DECLARATION non-union. It unalterably opposes the ‘ decent labor, thus controlled without its consent, was made to call upon industry to provide wages, hours and conditions impossible to grant if industry were to sur- vive; and industry met these demands under the stress of the times. Workers began to shirk, production declined and the high cost of living naturally followed. With industry “closed” these workers entertained no thought of arbitration, of mediation or conciliation — they considered no settlement short of complete submis- sion on the part of the employers. Asked for a “House Cleaning,” a return to sanity and honest production, the leaders merely sneered and press- . “ed down their heels on industry. Seattle, fighting for its industrial life, has at last re- belled. One by one it is casting off fetters that bound it. Seattle will be free. Her workers shall have restored to them their right to work when and where they desire, as Americans under the guarantee of our principles of government. SEATTLE’S INDUSTRY MUST NOT AND SHALL NOT BE CRUSHED. OF PRINCIPLES Absolute fairness to employe and employer alike is one of the foundation principles on which Americanism rests. 2, The Merchants Exchange of Seattle will work for the improvement of indus- trial relations, the elimination of class prejudice, which generally results from misunderstandings, and the establish- ment of equitable and uniform working conditions fair alike to employe and employer. & It will always use its united influence in opposition to injustice, whether prac- ticed by employers or employes. 4. It stands for the American plan, which means absolute fairness to all classes of workers, whether union or “closed shop” which shuts the doors of industry against the American working- man who is not a member of a labor organization. 5. It is un-American to interfere with the personal rights and constitutional liber- ties of the individual. Therefore, we shall oppose the use of force or intimi- dation by any one endeavoring to per- suade workmen either to join, or to re- sign from a labor. organization. 6. It holds that’ both the employe and the employer are privileged to terminate their rélations whenever either chooses to do so, unless, of course, there be con- tracts between them. 7. It does not countenance limitation of the amount of work which may be ac- complished in a given time, or the man- ner in which payment shall be made for such work, whether by hourly rate, piece work, contract or otherwise. We be- lieve that every workman should have an opportunity to earn a wage propor- tionate to his ability and productive ca- pacity. 8 By encouraging fair dealings and broad-minded policies, this organization hopes, with the co-operation of Seattle’s thinking public, to bring about working conditions and wages which will make Seattle known as a good city in which to work, to live, and to raise children. Adopted by Board of Trustees. OFFICERS TRUSTEES 0. D. FISHER ARMSTRONG 1H. ©, CANTELOW _ Presiden . J. MACDONALD W. ©. DAWSON W. ©. er pole 0. D. FISHER S. A. GRIFFITHS Vice-Pres, W. E. GALBRAITH W. H. LILLY Sec'y-Treas. E. R. ADAMS J. F, BEEDE W. E. GALBRAITH