CARPENTERS QUIT WORK
On Friday, August 30, I was obliged to go to a western city on business
that would keep me from four to ten days. I turned my face away from the
farm with regret. I could hardly realize that I had spent but one month
in my new life, the old interests had slipped so far behind. I was
reluctant to lose sight, even for a week, of the intensely interesting
things that were doing at Four Oaks. Polly said she would go to Four
Oaks every day, and keep so watchful an eye on the farm that it could
not possibly get away.
"You're getting a little bit maudlin about that farm, Mr. Headman, and
it will do you good to get away for a few days. There are _some other_
things in life, though I admit they are few, and we are not to forget
them. I am up to my ears in plans for the house and the home lot; but I
can't quite see what you find so interesting in tearing down old barns
and fences and turning over old sods."
"Every heart knoweth its own sorrow, Polly, and I have my troubles."
Friday evening, September 6, I returned from the west. My first
greeting was,--
"How's the farm, Polly?"
"It's there, or was yesterday; I think you'll find things running
smoothly."
"Have they sowed the alfalfa and cut the oats?"
"Yes."
"Finished the farm-house?"
"No, not quite, but the painters are there, and Nelson has commenced
work on two other buildings."
"What time can I breakfast? I must catch the 8.10 train, and spend a
long day where things are doing."
Things were humming at Four Oaks when I arrived. Ten carpenters besides
Nelson and his son were pounding, sawing, and making confusion in all
sorts of ways peculiar to their kind. The ploughmen were busy. Thompson
and the other two men were shocking oats. I spent the day roaming around
the place, watching the work and building castles. I went to the alfalfa
field to see if the seed had sprouted. Disappointed in this, I wandered
down to the brook and planned some abridgment of its meanderings. It
could be straightened and kept within bounds without great expense if
the work were done in a dry season. Polly had asked for a winding brook
with a fringe of willows and dogwood, but I would not make this
concession to her esthetic taste. This farm land must be useful to the
sacrifice of everything else. A winding brook would be all right on the
home lot, if it could be found, but not on the farm. A straight ditch
for drainage was all that I would permit, and I begrudged even that. No
waste land in the cultivated fields, was my motto. I had threshed this
out with Polly and she had yielded, after stipulating that I must keep
my hands off the home forty.
Over in the woods I found two men at work splitting fence posts. They
seemed expert, and I asked them how many they could make in a day.
"From 90 to 125, according to the timber. But we must work hard to make
good wages."
"That applies to other things besides post-splitting, doesn't it?"
Closer inspection of the wood lot gratified me exceedingly. Little had
been done for it except by Nature, but she had worked with so prodigal a
hand that it showed all kinds of possibilities, both for beauty and for
utility. Before leaving the place, I had a little talk with Nelson.
"Everything is going on nicely," he said. "I have ten carpenters, and
they are a busy lot. If I can only hold them on to the job, things will
go well."
"What's the matter? Can't you hold them?"
"I hope so, but there is a hoisters' strike on in the city, and the
carpenters threaten to go out in sympathy. I hope it won't reach us,
but I'm afraid it will."
"What will you do if the men go out?"
"Do the best I can. I can get two non-union men that I know of. They
would like to be on this job now, but these men won't permit it. My son
is a full hand, so there will be four of us; but it will be slow work."
"See here, Nelson, I can't have this work slack up. We haven't time.
Cold weather will be on before we know it. I'm going to take this bull
by the horns. I'll advertise for carpenters in the Sunday papers. Some
of those who apply will be non-union men, and I'll hold them over for a
few days until we see how the cat jumps. If it comes to the worst, we
can get some men to take the place of Thompson and Sam, who are
carpenters, and set them at the tools. I will not let this work stop,
strike or no strike."
"If you put non-union men on you will have to feed and sleep them on the
place. The union will make it hot for them."
"I will take all kinds of care of every man who gives me honest work,
you may be sure."
When I returned to town I sent this "ad." to two papers: "Wanted: Ten
good carpenters to go to the country." The Sunday papers gave a lurid
account of the sentiment of the Carpenters' Union and its sympathetic
attitude toward the striking hoisters. The forecast was that there would
not be a nail driven if the strike were not settled by Tuesday night.
It seemed that I had not moved a day too soon. On Monday thirty-seven
carpenters applied at my office. Most of them had union tickets and were
not considered. Thirteen, however, were not of the union, and they were
investigated. I hired seven on these conditions: wages to begin the next
day, Tuesday, and to continue through the week, work or no work. If the
strike was ordered, I would take the men to the country and give them
steady work until my jobs were finished. They agreed to these
conditions, and were requested to report at my office on Wednesday
morning to receive two days' pay, and perhaps to be set to work.
I did not go to the farm until Tuesday afternoon. There was no change in
the strike, and no reason to expect one. The noon papers said that the
Carpenters' Union would declare a sympathetic strike to be on from
Wednesday noon.
On reaching Four Oaks I called Nelson aside and told him how the land
lay and what I had done.
"I want you to call the men together," said I, "and let me talk to them.
I must know just how we stand and how they feel."
Nelson called the men, and I read the reports from two papers on the
impending strike order.
"Now, men," said I, "we must look this matter in the face in a
businesslike fashion. You have done good work here; your boss is
satisfied, and so am I. It would suit us down to the ground if you
would continue on until all these jobs are finished. We can give you a
lot of work for the best part of the year. You are sure of work and sure
of pay if you stay with us. That is all I have to say until you have
decided for yourselves what you will do if the strike is ordered."
I left the men for a short time, while they talked things over. It did
not take them long to decide.
"We must stand by the union," said the spokesman, "but we'll be damned
sorry to quit this job. You see, sir, we can't do any other way. We have
to be in the union to get work, and we have to do as the union says or
we will be kicked out. It is hard, sir, not to do a hit of a hammer for
weeks or months with a family on one's hands and winter coming; but what
can a man do? We don't see our way clear in this matter, but we must do
as the union says."
"I see how you are fixed," said I, "and I am mighty sorry for you. I am
not going to rail against unions, for they may have done some good; but
they work a serious wrong to the man with a family, for he cannot follow
them without bringing hardships upon his dependent ones. It is not fair
to yoke him up with a single man who has no natural claims to satisfy,
no mouth to feed except his own; but I will talk business.
"You will be ordered out to-morrow or next day, and you say you will
obey the order. You have an undoubted right to do so. A man is not a
slave, to be made to work against his will; but, on the other hand, is
he not a slave if he is forced to quit against his will? Freedom of
action in personal matters is a right which wise men have fought for and
for which wise men will always fight. Do you find it in the union? What
shall I do when you quit work? How long are you going to stay out? What
will become of my interests while you are following the lead of your
bell-wethers? Shall my work stop because you have been called out for a
holiday? Shall the weeds grow over these walls and my lumber rot while
you sit idly by? Not by a long sight! You have a perfect right to quit
work, and I have a perfect right to continue.
"The rights which we claim for ourselves we must grant to others. One
man certainly has as defensible a right to work as another man has to be
idle. In the legitimate exercise of personal freedom there is no effort
at coercion, and in this case there shall be none. If you choose to
quit, you will do so without let or hindrance from me; but if you quit,
others will take your places without let or hindrance from you. You will
be paid in full to-night. When you leave, you must take your tools with
you, that there may be no excuse for coming back. When you leave the
place, the incident will be closed so far as you and I are concerned,
and it will not be opened unless I find some of you trying to interfere
with the men I shall engage to take your places. I think you make a
serious mistake in following blind leaders who are doing you material
injury, for sentimental reasons; but you must decide this for
yourselves. If, after sober thought, any of you feel disposed to return,
you can get a job if there is a vacancy; but no man who works for me
during this strike will be displaced by a striker. You may put that in
your pipes and smoke it. Nelson will pay you off to-night."
The strike was ordered for Wednesday. On the morning of that day the
seven carpenters whom I had engaged arrived at my office ready for work.
I took them to the station and started for Four Oaks. At a station five
miles from Exeter we quitted the train, hired two carriages, and were
driven to the farm without passing through the village.
We arrived without incident, the men had their dinners, and at one
o'clock the hammers and saws were busy again. We had lost but one half
day. The two non-union men whom Nelson had spoken of were also at work,
and three days later the spokesman of the strikers threw up his card and
joined our force. We had no serious trouble. It was thought wise to keep
the new men on the place until the excitement had passed, and we had to
warn some of the old ones off two or three times, but nothing
disagreeable happened, and from that day to this Four Oaks has remained
non-unionized.