The whole
purpose of such an organization would be the attempt to develop
efficient labor and prosperous laboring men, whereas the tendency of the
existing organization is to associate the prosperity of the laboring man
with the inefficiency of labor. The employers are usually fighting not
for the purpose of developing good labor, but for the purpose of taking
advantage of poor, weak, and dependent laborers.
How far the central, state, and municipal governments could go in aiding
such a method of organization, is a question that can only be
indefinitely answered. The legislatures of many American states and
municipalities have already shown a disposition to aid the labor unions
in certain indirect ways. They seek by the passage of eight-hour and
prevailing rate-of-wages laws to give an official sanction to the claims
of the unions, and they do so without making any attempt to promote the
parallel public interest in an increasing efficiency of labor. But these
eight-hour and other similar laws are frequently being declared
unconstitutional by the state courts, and for the supposed benefit of
individual liberty.
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