The State of Labor Unions
in the United States

Fred J. Eddy

[Reprinted from Land and Freedom, March-April 1937]

The labor unions appear at this time to be in a somewhat chaotic condition.

Why is a labor union? There must be a reason for everything which exists, which is real and useful. As a matter of fact, the presence of labor unions is an admission of ignorance of economic law, and there is no real justifiable cause for their existence. There are plenty of arguments in their favor, based on expediency, self-preservation, and the like, but absolutely no reason which takes into consideration nature's plan of continuous existence and the proper relationships of man to man, and man to earth, and there is no argument for or against them which will stand the test of logic based on reason and justice.

It is largely claimed that injustice is a dominant cause for the organization of unions, but there is no such law as injustice. Apply the law of justice, and injustice disappears as light dispels darkness. The positive is, and there is always a negative which, as the name implies, has no standing except as proof of the positive what seem to be injustice is failure to apply the positive the law of justice.

One of the main arguments favoring unions is that there are not enough jobs to go around, and the prevalent thought obtains that some man or men give jobs to other men, when as a matter of fact nature gives jobs to all men, and nature is not niggardly; resources sufficient to give jobs to all mankind have been generously supplied. True, some will say, but a comparatively few men have already monopolized nature's gift. But that is another question, and one of expediency, and to be overcome by ethics intelligently applied.

No man engages in useful work, mental or physical, except in a demand for existence, and all must have an opportunity on equal terms to live, else civilization is disrupted. Individual capacity must determine the scale upon which man exists, but exist he must. The unions claim to have raised the standard of remuneration of the working man. They may have seemed to do so in instances and localities, but it is by no means general.

The law of supply and demand is bound to govern in the long run, if not improperly interfered with. Supply being the earth's resources, and demand the needs of mankind.

This continual warfare between capital and labor is not conducive to better conditions, and if people could only realize that the interests of capital and labor are identical, and that monopoly of natural resources is their common enemy, conditions would shape themselves on a new basis. Let us briefly sketch the situation:

Labor produces in excess of its needs, the result of which we designate as capital. And capital in turn makes it possible for labor to produce in greater volume through improved methods. Capital of today therefore is the salvage of yesterday's labor. Some man with capital has the genius, the courage and the vision to build a factory to manufacture some useful article on a large scale, or a railroad to transport it. He secures the necessary labor. The next step being a site for his factory, or a right of way for his railroad, which is where the first start is made toward contributing to monopoly as an overhead which the boss and the helpers must share in doing a useful thing for the community, and this will continue at every step of the way. Whether he is producing or transporting the product, he needs raw material and fuel in making the article or furnishing cars and engines to haul it to and from market, everything in connection with which has been tied down by monopoly which works so industriously and insidiously that neither capital nor labor has apparently as yet been able to discover the tremendous economic loss they are suffering for lack of knowledge of a few simple and fundamental truths.

Every previous civilization has been disrupted by an unequal distribution of power, either of wealth or man power. Rome and Russia are sufficient as illustrations.

Labor unions and their opposing elements are absorbing so much of their mental as well as physical energy as to preclude attention to more general and universal constructive measures, which would tend to obviate rather than enhance a repetition. Their thoughts, motives and actions are necessarily along lines toward minimizing their opponents' power and prestige which engender conditions of thought retarding cooperation.

It will be understood we are in no wise criticizing the motive and seeming necessity for unions. Had employers met the first simple demand for better conditions in a spirit of friendliness, instead of antagonism, there would have been no reason for promoting unions. Now they are so firmly established they will likely continue. At the same time it will do no harm for both sides to contemplate truths regarding their presence and utility, and it may help when the next progressive step is taken in considering the future happiness of both capital and labor, as nothing of human character continues indefinitely without change or adjustment.