r," 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.