Housing Child life, the workers' physical condition, and public health demand that the wage earner and his family shall be given a full opportunity to live under wholesome conditions. It is not only necessary that there shall be sanitary and appropriate houses to live in but that a sufficient number of dwellings shall be available to free the people from high rents and overcrowding. The ownership of homes, free from the grasp of exploitive and speculative interests, will make for more efficient workers, more contented families, and better citizens. The Government should, therefore, inaugurate a plan to build model homes and establish a system of credits whereby the workers may borrow money at a low rate of interest and under favorable terms to build their own homes. Credit should also be extended to voluntary nonprofit making housing and joint tenancy associations. States and municipalities should be freed from the restrictions preventing their undertaking proper housing projects and should be permitted to engage in other necessary enterprises relating thereto. The erection and maintenance of dwellings where migratory workers may find lodging and nourishing food during periods of unemployment should be encouraged and supported by municipalities. If need should arise to expend public funds to relieve unemployment the building of wholesome houses would best serve the public interests. Militarism The trade-union movement is unalterably and emphatically opposed to "militarism" or a large standing army. "Militarism," is a system fostered and developed by tyrants in the hope of supporting their arbitrary authority. It is utilized by those whose selfish ambitions for power and worldly glory lead them to invade and subdue other peoples and nations, to destroy their liberties, to acquire their wealth, and to fasten the yoke of bondage upon them. The trade-union movement is convinced by the experience of mankind that "militarism" brutalizes those influenced by the spirit of the institution. The finer elements of humanity are strangled. Under "militarism" a deceptive patriotism is developed in the people's minds, where men believe that there is nobility of spirit and heroism in dying for the glory of a dynasty or the maintenance of institutions "Mili which are inimical to human progress and democracy. tarism" is the application of arbitrary and irresponsible forces as opposed to reason and justice. Resistance to injustice and tyranny is that virile quality which has given purpose and effect to ennobling causes in all countries and at all times. The free institutions of our country and the liberties won by its founders would have been impossible had they been unwilling to take arms and if necessary die in the defense of their liberties. Only a people willing to maintain their rights and defend their liberties are guaranteed free institutions. Conditions foreign to the institutions of our country have prevented the entire abolition of organized bodies of men trained to carry arms. A voluntary citizen soldiery supplies what would otherwise take its place, a large standing army. To the latter we are unalterably opposed as tending to establish the evils of "militarism." Large standing armies threaten the existence of civil liberty. The history of every nation demonstrates that as standing armies are enlarged the rule of democracy is lessened or extinguished. Our experience has been that even this citizen soldiery, the militia of our States, has given cause at times for grave apprehension. Their ranks have not always been free from undesirable elements, particularly the tools of corporations involved in industrial disputes. During industrial disputes the militia has at times been called upon to support the authority of those who through selfish interests desired to enforce martial law while the courts were open and the civil authorities competent to maintain supremacy of civil law. We insist that the militia of our several States should be wholly organized and controlled by democratic principles so that this voluntary force of soldiery may never be diverted from its true purpose and used to jeopardize or infringe upon the rights and liberties of our people. The right to bear arms is a fundamental principle of our Government, a principle accepted at all times by free people as essential to the maintenance of their liberties and institutions. We demand that this right shall remain inviolate. Soldiers and Sailors Soldiers and sailors, those who entered the service in the Nation's defense, are entitled to the generous reward of a grateful Republic. The necessities of war called upon millions of workmen to leave their positions in industry and commerce to defend, upon the battle fields, the Nation's safety and its free institutions. These defenders are now returning. It is advisable that they should be discharged from military service at the earliest possible moment; that as civilians they may return to their respective homes and families and take up their peace-time pursuits. The Nation stands morally obligated to assist them in securing employment. Industry has undergone great changes due to the dislocation caused by war production and transportation. Further readjustments in industry and commerce must follow the rehabilitation of business under peaceful conditions. Many positions which our citizen soldiers and sailors filled previous to enlistment do not exist to-day. It would be manifestly unjust for the Government after having removed the worker from his position in industry and placed him in military service to discharge him from the Army or Navy without having made adequate provision to assist him in procuring employment and providing sustenance until employment has been secured. The returned citizen soldier or sailor should not be forced by the bitter urgent necessity of securing food and clothing to place himself at a disadvantage when seeking employment. Upon their discharge, transportation and meals should be supplied to their places of residence. The monthly salary previously paid should be continued for a period not to exceed 12 months if employment is not secured within that period. The Federal and State employment bureaus should be directed to co-operate with trade-union agencies in securing employment for discharged soldiers and sailors. In assisting the discharged soldier and sailor to secure employment, Government agencies should not expect them to accept employment for less than the prevailing rate of wages being paid in the industry. Neither should any Government agency request or require such discharged men to accept employment where a trade dispute exists or is threatened. Nor should the refusal on the part of any of these discharged soldiers or sailors to accept employment where trade disputes exist or are threatened or when less than the prevailing wage rate is offered deprive them of a continuance of their monthly pay. Legislation also should be enacted which will give the Nation's defenders the opportunity for easy and ready access to the land. Favorable inducements should be provided for them to enter agriculture and husbandry. The Government should assume the responsibility for the allotment of such lands and supply the necessary capital for its development and cultivation, with such safeguards as will protect both the Government and the discharged soldier and sailor. Conclusion No element in our Nation is more vitally concerned with the problems of making for a permanent peace between all nations than the working people. The opportunities now before us are without precedent. It is of paramount importance that labor shall be free and unhampered in shaping the principles and agencies affecting the wage-earners' condition of life and work. By the light that has been given to it the American Federation of Labor has attracted to its fold over three millions of wage-earners and its sphere of influence and helpfulness is growing by leaps and bounds. By having followed safe and sound fundamental principles and policies, founded on freedom, justice, and democracy, the American trade-union movement has achieved successes of an inestimable value to the masses of toilers of our country. By adhering to these principles and policies we can meet all problems of readjustment, however grave in importance and difficult of solution, with a feeling of assurance that our efforts will be rewarded by a still greater success than that achieved in the past. Given the whole-hearted support of all men and women of labor our organized labor movement with its constructive program, its love of freedom, justice, and democracy will prove the most potent factor in protecting, safeguarding, and promoting the general welfare of the great mass of our people during this trying period of reconstruction and all times hereafter. The American Federation of Labor has attained its present position of dignity and splendid influence because of its adherence to one common cause and purpose; that purpose is to protect the rights and interests of the masses of the workers and to secure for them a better and a brighter day. Let us therefore strive on and on to bring into our organizations the yet unorganized. Let us concentrate our efforts to organize all the forces of wage earners. Let the Nation hear the united demand from the laboring voice. Now is the time for the workers of America to come to the stand of their unions and to organize as thoroughly and completely and compactly as is possible. Let each worker bear in mind the words of Longfellow : "In the world's broad field of battle, In the bivouac of Life, Be not like dumb, driven cattle. Be a hero in the strife." Respectfully submitted. JOHN P. FREY, Chairman. JOHN MOORE. G. W. PERKINS. MATTHEW WOLL, Secretary. THE INTERNATIONAL CHARTER OF 1 LABOR1 Under the wage system, the capitalists seek to increase their profit in exploiting the workers by methods which, unless the exploitation is limited by international action of the workers, would lead to the physical, moral and intellectual decay of the workers. The emancipation of labor can be entirely realized only by the abolition of the capitalist system itself. Meanwhile, the resistance of the organized workers can lessen the evil; thus the worker's health, his family life and the possibility of bettering his education, can be protected in such fashion that he may fulfill his duties as a citizen in the modern democracy. The capitalist form of production produces a competition in the various countries which puts the backward countries in a state of inferiority to the more advanced. The need of a normal basis for international labor legislation has become doubly urgent as a result of the terrific upset and enormous ravages which the popular forces have suffered because of the war. We regard the present remedy of this 1 Survey. 41:857. March 15, 1919. (Adopted by the International Trade Union Conference and by the International Socialist Conference meeting at Berne, February, 1919). |