SEAMEN'S UNION.

Northern Advocate, 8 October 1887, Page 5

SEAMEN'S UNION.

(To the Editor.) 1 Sib, — I have read with considerable interest the various reports of the movements of the Seamen's Union, having for a great many years given much thought to the relations between capital and labour. As I have worked for my living from a very early age, it is not . a matter of surprise that my sympathies are, and always have been, on the side of labour. I have often heard men say trades unions were an unqualified evil. This assertion I believe to be false. Such is the selfishness of men and the power of capital, that without unity of the men without jsapital, there is small chance for any improvement in their condition. That considerable improvement has resulted during tho' last half century is evident to all. Hours of labour have been shortened, workshops have been erected with due regard to health, and in ways too numerous to mention, the position of the toiler has been ' improved, and I fully believe that trades unions still have a mission. When an organization -like the Knights of Labour has spread its influence over the civilized world, there will be the possibility of a man, without capital, being something more than a beast of burden, a working machine, to receive just enough of the results of his labour to keep him alive, which undoubtedly in the past has been the condition of millions of the most useful of men. But, sir, the history of the trades unions, like all that is .human, has its black spots ; its record of the power of unity misused. • They have been unfortunate in the choice of leaders. In fact leaders from sheer self-importance have forced themselves to the front, and taken the helm, with results that, in a great multitude of instances, have been most disastrous to all concerned, by acting in a manner that showed more disregard of justice than was to be seen in the employers ac*a_nst whom they fought. And when such sights and such results were witnessed, then people cried out, " See the effect of tradesunions." We say not the necessary effects of : trades unions, but trades unions wrongly used. And sir, in the matter of dispute with the Northern Company, I fear we have, another example of the same thing.. Trade is depressed; the settlergets next to nothing for his produce; the mechanic and labourer are often out of work ; and, as a result, the company are said not to have paid a dividend for two years. But I fear this is not more than half the truth, for the shareholders have had to pay calls to keep the boats going. Yet the seamen object to- submit to a small reduction, and say, if the company cannot pay the rate of wages of good times, raise the fares and freights until they can do so ; meaning that the settler, the trader, and the labourer, whese income is so much below par, shall still suffer further, in order that th 6 seaman may not suffer at all. , I fear, sir, this is too near a fair statement of the case, and shall he glad if any of your readers can put a better face on it, as I am myself a working man and a believer iv union. —Yours, ; &c, .. Citizen. "If some men had to *eat their words' their health would be ruined forever. " . The proprietor ot a forge, not remarkable for correctness language, but who by honest industry had realised a comfortable independence, being called on at a social meeting for a toast, gave " Sucaess to forgery- "