For example, Britain has produced Ramsey
MacDonald, who writes books and makes speeches with a rare grace;
John Burns, who quotes Shakespeare or recites history with
wonderful fluency; Keir Hardie, a miner from the ranks, who was
possessed of a charming poetic fancy; Philip Snowden, who
displays the spiritual qualities of a seer; and John Henderson,
who combines philosophical power with skill in dialectics. On the
other hand, the rank and file of American labor is more
intelligent and alert than that of British labor, and the
American labor leader possesses a greater capacity for intensive
growth and is perhaps a better specialist at rough and tumble
fighting and bargaining than his British colleague.*
* The writer recalls spending a day in one of the Midland
manufacturing towns with the secretary of a local cooperative
society, a man who was steeped in Bergson's philosophy and
talked on local botany and geology as fluently as on local labor
conditions. It would be difficult to duplicate this experience in
America.
In a very real sense every trade union is typified by some
aggressive personality. The Granite Cutters' National Union was
brought into active being in 1877 largely through the
instrumentality of James Duncan, a rugged fighter who, having
federated the locals, set out to establish an eight-hour day
through collective bargaining and to settle disputes by
arbitration. He succeeded in forming a well-disciplined force out
of the members of his craft, and even the employers did not
escape the touch of his rod.
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