liJ 795 Second Message To Seamen His Relationship to the Harbor Workers and the Shipowners By ANDREW FURUSETH Issued by the International Seamen's Union of America Chicago, 111., 1919 429 Second Message To Seamen* His Relationship to the Harbor Workers and the Shipowners By ANDREW FURUSETH Issued by the International Seamen's Union of America Chicago, 111., 1919 >429 "The bondman can feel no responsibility; he can have no sense of morality, of self-respect, or of honor; because he has no individual will. He is alone. Association for mutual aid is unthinkable. Deprived of his human estate he is degraded below the animal or vegetable kingdoms. * * * Any man compelled to labor against his will, be it by an individual or by society, is a bondman. Let the American People beware of bondage being imposed upon any class. Tolera- tion of it by workers is treason to American ideals. To resist it is the highest duty though the result may be prison or death." "The share which any particular nation had in the use of and the power on the sea depended always on the number of its people who obtained their living by following sea occupations. Fishermen on the coasts, later on the banks, whalers, first in small boats along the coasts, later in large vessels following the , whale or seeking him, trading in their own produce, or carrying the produce of others these are merchant seamen. Valuable cargoes tempted others into piracy, and the merchant vessel was armed to resist the pirate. These were the early fighting vessels or men-o'-war. In all instances the men employed were seamen. Seamen were always considered a special part of the national defense. "To develop a large number of trained seamen, to foster and develop a tendency to the sea in the population, has ever been the care of statesmanship. Nations have fought over fishing grounds, not because of the fish to be caught, but the seamen to be trained in the use of those grounds. Second Message to Seamen His Relations to the Harbor Workers and the Shipowners THE PERSONNEL OF THE MERCHANT MARINE Sea power has at all times meant World power. Control over the sea has at all times brought independence and wealth. Sea power was always in the seamen. The vessels (the tools used) have been altered and improved upon as experience and knowledge increased. But the sea has remained unchanged through all the ages. So also the seamen. The qualities of mind and body that were needed in the seamen of the earliest times are yet needed and there can be no real seamen where those qualities are not. The sea has been a prison wall to the weak and timid, a highway to the strong and a field of honor to the daring and venturesome among men. The sea has no affinity with bondage and whether it was in trade, in discovery, or in battle the victory was to the free. The sea power of the Nordic Race was developed in freedom. The seamen of this race knew nothing of bondage as applied to themselves. The common hazard made them loyal to each other and ready to obey orders from their leaders. They were patient of discipline, impatient of bondage. The sea power of the North de- veloped in and by this spirit grew strong enough to meet and over- come the sea power of Rome, which had destroyed the sea power of Carthage, whose seamen were and felt themselves to be less free. The South of Europe never knew the kind of freedom that was the very breath of life with the people of the North. The seamen of the 3 210S875 South always shared in that misfortune with other people of the South. Man is not by nature a seaman. The sea, the vessel, the life is so distinct from man's natural mode of life that it has always taken years of training to make a seaman. His thoughts and feelings need the training as absolutely as does his body. Nearly all real seamen began the life in early youth. It was always one step at a time from boy to master. The sea has not changed. Human nature has not altered very materially. The training is as much needed as it ever was. Seamen are not made on shore. They are not taught in a correspondence school. As no man became a swimmer except by going into the water so no man, whatever his ancestry, becomes a seaman except at sea. In days gone by, while the shipowner was fully liable to the shipper and the passenger no laws were needed to assure efficient and sufficient manning. Self-interest stood guard to induce safety and the shipowner insisted upon the highest possible skill. Limita- tion of liability and insurance has altered this situation and the safety provided by custom must now be furnished by law. In the deck-department the able seaman was always the unit towards which the BOY worked, from which the OFFICER advanced. THE BOY Must be of good physique, have good eyes, good ears and a stout heart. When he comes on the vessel everything is new and strange. He is gradually being accustomed to his new surroundings, he is learning to stand on the platform that is never still, he is learning to walk, his body is gradually acquiring the sea-habit he is getting sea-legs. He is doing such work as he can, assisting the able seaman or the ordinary seaman in the work on the vessel. When he has learned sufficiently, and it usually takes about one year, he becomes an ORDINARY SEAMAN .As such he isjearning more about the vessel under the con- tinually shifting conditions. His sea-legs are being perfected. He is continuing to learn more and more about the vessel's gear, the names, what it is used for, and where it is found. In daylight or darkness he must be able to find it. He is learning to use the gear, to repair it, and where possible to replace it. As he becomes more 4 skillful he becomes more useful and after about two years as ordinary seaman he becomes by virtue of his skill an ABLE SEAMAN The work required from him is such that he needs the physical development which is not usually reached before the age of nineteen and practically all countries make this age the minimum. He must now be so accustomed to the sea that he can stand on his feet in all kinds of weather without supporting himself by his hands, because he has other use for them. His body must have acquired the faculty of automatically so corresponding to the vessel's movements that he can stand on his feet, see with his eyes, hear with his ears, use his judgment, exercise his will and make his body obey. If he has not learned this and is yet alive, he has in probability but a short time to live. He must know the vessel, her appliances, her gear and the boats. He must be able to use, to repair and as far as possible to replace the gear and appliances and to lower and manage the boats. He must by this time have acquired so much of the traditions and lore of the sea that he has a full appreciation of his duty to his shipmates, the passengers, the ship, and her cargo. Boatswain, boatswain's mate, and quartermasters are able seamen picked to perform more special work and this choice is usually made because of special fitness or because he possesses qualities of com- mand. These ratings are usually considered "Petty Officers" but they are in fact just able seamen given a special rating. The able seaman ought to sail as such for at least one year before he be permitted to present himself for examination as an officer. Having learned the ship, her gear and appliances and something about what the ship will do under her power, mechanical or sail, and feeling an ambition to become an officer he will go to a Navigation School to acquire the knowledge necessary to find his position by dead reckoning and astronomical observations. When he has obtained a certificate to this effect and obtains a position as fourth, third or second mate, he is in fact an OFFICER As he was learning to use, repair and replace the vessel's gear, he is now learning what a vess'el can be made to do under sail, steam or other mechanical power under different conditions as to weather 1 5 and sea. The master is there to teach him and he is given oppor- tunity to develop his own judgment by the experience through which he is now passing. From among the fourth mates the third mates are selected after either a customary or a statutory period served in the lower capacity. The wise, if not always the customary, method is to select for advancement from a lower to a higher rating or grade, those who give evidence of the greatest capacity. As experience increases the certificates are raised until the grade of first mate or chief officer Is reached. From these (after proper examination for a master's cer- tificate) the employer the shipowner selects the man to whom he will entrust his vessel. He is now expected to know all that a vessel can be expected to do under the skillful use of such motive power as the vessel has. But aside from these accomplishments he must know the master's duty in port and at sea under the laws of his own country and the laws of nations. He must know something of medi- cine, to give at least first aid to the injured or sick. He must in order to be a successful master know how to pick out efficient officers and men, how to make the best use of men and materials in keeping the vessel in order and away from the repair yards and repair shops. Upon this will depend the quickness of the turn around and the ability of the vessel to pay dividends. The development from boy to master must be open to all as nearly as possible upon equality. Only thus can the calling acquire, develop and keep the best service, which means the best men. THE ENGINE DEPARTMENT In this department as in the deck department, the advance from wiper or coal passer to chief engineer must be step over step, based upon fitness, experience, practical and theoretical knowledge ascer- tained through examinations and periods of service in each rating. This work is different from the work on deck but it is not different in the necessity for acquisition of the sea-habit, the sea-mind and sea-legs. In all but important and serious repairs the personnel must be able to keep the vessel from the repair shop. The lack of skill in the men and officers increases coal and oil consumption, decreases the speed and causes the vessel to go to the repair shop when in port. The general manager's attention will be peremptorily called to this at such times as he compares the expenses of the last report and the previous ones. 6 The personnel in the steward's department must be developed in the same gradual manner as the other two departments. Here the lack of skill will make itself seen and heard after every trip through the progressive loss of passengers, the waste of food, quarrels on the vessel and a constant and expensive turn over in the crew. There can be no doubt that everything else being equal, the victory in competition will go to the highest skilled crew if employed when and where possible. In this as in all other competitive business the highest skilled man is the most dangerous competitor; but aside from the comparatively few ports where men can be obtained from shore to do the repair needed there are the much greater numbers of sea ports where no such conveniences are at hand. This will include about 75 per cent of the world's sea ports. To be able to earn the most money a vessel must be able to go to any and all places where she can enter with the depth of water to float her. With any accident in or near such places the vessel that has an inefficient or too small a crew is at a great disadvantage and the extra cost will easily eat up her other earnings. The vessel with the highest skilled crew has at all times the advantage. To develop such personnel is therefore of the highest importance. But such a personnel can only be developed where the men are employed to do all work possible in port. This develops skill and the steadiness of employment keeps it with and in the business. THE PERSONNEL AND ITS GRADUAL DETERIORATION The first historical knowledge of seamen and their status place in society comes from Babylonia The Laws of Hammurabi. The seaman was then a pure chattel slave. In the Southern or Mediter- ranean world the seaman seems to have worked up from slavery to the status of a member of the Roman Collegia something between a slave and a freeman a freedman. It seems to have been something like the class bondage properly belonging to the Hindu system of castes. Whatever it was it was not freedom and no real seaman ever grew or could grow under such conditions. The bondman can feel no responsibility; he can have no sense of morality, of self-respect or of honor; because he has no individual will. He is alone. Asso- ciation for mutual aid is unthinkable. Deprived of his human estate he is degraded below the animal or vegetable kingdoms. In having thoughts that he cannot utter to men he is like an animal, in having 7 impulses that he cannot follow, he is less. In his lack of mobility he he is like a tree, in his inability to obey the laws of his being he is less. His imagination is corrupted, his thought darkened. He is dominated by fear the mother of hate and treachery. He hates his work; because it forced from without, not wished from within. The feeling of his bondage expresses itself in sabotage, in hatred to his master or masters, in selfishness that knows naught of moderation or re- traint, except as it arises from fear. Fear removed, his passions become like a rush of mighty waters with barriers destroyed. Any man compelled to labor against his will, be it by an individual or by society, is a bondman. Let the American People beware of bondage being imposed on any class. Toleration of it by workers is treason to American ideals. To resist it is the highest duty though the result may be prison or death. Seamen must learn not only to think of this; they must learn to understand it, to feel it and to act accord- ingly. At sea the law of common danger, in port the law of freedom. It was not from the South that we obtained the lore of the sea. To voluntarily give one's life to save others, to protect the vessel, her passengers and her cargo, with their lives are not feelings grown out of bondage. More often unconscious than not this feeling is found in all real seamen. "Women and children first" did not grow from the soil of bondage. That is the fruit grown in free soil. Compare the utilitarian Chinese: "Men first, children next and women last." Men first because they are useful, children next because they may become useful, and women only if you have the opportunity. Here is the unfathomable difference in thoughts and action. The knightly rules of life, the humane considerations for the weak and helpless could come only from a freedom such as was in existence among the seamen of the Nordic Race. The seamen of this race knew naught of bondage as applied to themselves. They knew the slave; but he was on shore. He was not tolerated at sea except as the personal servant of the captain or leader and even this was a curiosity. These men captured other men on shore at one place and sold them at some other place. They knew the slave as the vanquished, who had chosen life in bondage rather than death in freedom and held him in contempt. The change from these thoughts came to the Nordic Race with Christianity. The social reconstruction which resulted from Christian teachings gave to the seaman of the South greater freedom than they had en- joyed, but when it was carried overland to the North by the mis- sionaries it resulted in depriving the seaman of the North of much of the freedom to which he had been accustomed and which had been the real source of his strength. In the blending of the two systems the slaves of the house be- came the children of the house; the free men of the vessel became the children of the vessel. Generally speaking, the status of master and servant was then adopted. On shore this degenerated into serf- dom the tying bf the men to the soil ; at sea the tying of the seaman to the vessel. For a long period of time the tie was purely legal. To desert was a crime the punishment for which ranged from brand- ing on the forehead with red hot iron to the imprisonment of more modern days. The new status was bitterly resented and resisted by the seamen and they deserted in great numbers, notwithstanding the law and its savage penalties. In accordance with custom, an out- growth of the seamen's freedom, the seamen were paid their wages or share of the earnings, whenever the vessel's freight money was paid. The seaman, having the money with which to find food and shelter, deserted from his vessel for one reason or another until the shipowners of France bethought themselves of the fact that a desti- tute man is very helpless in a strange country or port and they petitioned the King (Louis the Fourteenth) to forbid the payment of any of the seamen's wages except at the home port, when his con- tract of service was at an end. The King complied and other Nations promptly followed. Thus was economic power added to the legal power to keep the seaman bound to his vessel. But the seaman, during the so-called dark ages, never did fall into the complete servitude that became the lot of the toiler on land. When he came to the home port he was free. No man was then his master. This freedom together with the employer's need for highly trained men with the spirit needed to defend the vessel from pirates as well as from the dangers of the sea made the economic and social position of the seaman superior to that of his fellow toiler on shore. The social standing of the seaman was such that women would marry him ; his economic condition was such that he could give decent sup- port to a family. During this period no boy or young man lost caste by going to sea. Let it be distinctly understood that it was the special skill and the qualities of body and mind needed in the seaman that protected him from the rapacity of his employer. Where this was not understood and the seaman thereby protected, or the states- men of the time did not realize the national importance of a body of national seamen, the condition became such that men refused to seek or to continue in the calling and then sea power passed from such Nation. Thus sea power was lost to the Hanseatic League, to Spain and to Holland. Wiser statesmen fostered seamanship by giving at least by comparison a better chance to the seaman and were thereby able to gain and to keep control of the sea. Man in his daily life is apt to compare himself and his condition with his neighbor and finding it little better bears his burden more easily, and so the Nordics gradually came back to the sea and the new status imposed by the laws and customs. He came back and brought with him his old lore, his old ideas of what a seaman ought to be. The deterioration was gradual and it was not until the men on shore were given the right to freely quit work, to freely move from place to place that the seaman began to feel his life dishonorable and one to be shunned. With this new feeling came a contempt for sea-life and sea-skill. While the young man would in earlier times say with pride: "I am a seaman," he gradually learned to say in self-contempt: "I am only a seaman." He sought any and all other kinds of labor. Where common school education was the highest this feeling was the strongest, the men quit the sea and the sea-power of such nations gradually passed from it to others. The share which any particular nation had in the use of and the power on the sea depended always on the number of its people who obtained their living by following sea occupations. Fishermen on the coasts, later on the banks, whalers, first in small boats along the coasts, later in large vessels following the whale or seeking him, trading in their own produce, or carrying the produce of others these are merchant seamen. Valuable cargoes tempted others into piracy, and the merchant vessel was armed to resist the pirate. These were the early fighting vessels or men-o'-war. In all instances the men employed were seamen. Seamen were always considered a special part of the national defense. To develop a large number of trained seamen, to foster and develop a tendency to the sea in the population, has ever been the care of statesmanship. Nations have fought over fishing grounds, not so much because of the fish to be caught, as on account of the seamen to be trained in the use of these grounds. Finding himself compelled to go to sea because he could sustain life in no other way, he neglected his work and sought to escape from it whenever possible. He refused to remain on the vessel to discharge 10 her after having made the voyage. He deserted and was sometimes recaptured and compelled to labor. Then he ca-cannied. He did as little work as possible. At sea this was met by coarse brutality, by starvation, by beatings, by being triced up, until the law pretended to furnish a remedy by forbidding floggings and cruel and unusual pun- ishments. The brutality proceeded', nevertheless, because courts and juries refused to believe or, believing, refused to punish. The harbor was the place where he might get away and find some kind of refuge, if not justice, and in hoisting the anchor in the outer harbor it was quite customary to sing the chanty: "It is time for us to leave her." And leave her he did. At first he was arrested; but that did not pay. Then his wages was confiscated and given to the worker who was willing to do the work which the seaman refused to do under those conditions. Finally that was considered too harsh and he usually was let off with the payment of five dollars for docking placing the vessel in her discharging berth. The dock- ing and discharging of the vessels became after a while a regular occupation, now called longshoremen. In the language of today this work by the longshoremen would have been called scabbing. It was not considered as really "just right" even in those days. But it gradually became necessary by the increase in the size of the vessels and the longshoreman quickly forgot the early days. In fact he has gradually persuaded himself, by the aid^of the stevedore, that he, the longshoreman, has the sole right to this work, which, under his free- dom to quit work, when compared with the seaman's bondage and his wages, was honorable and well paid. THE CRIMPING SYSTEM Out of the seaman's status and the shipowner's indifference to skill came also the crimping system. The seaman sought every means to break his bondage. He deserted in any port where he did not thereby maroon himself. He needed help to hide from the officers of the law until the vessel was gone, he needed food and shelter, he was without money. Those who furnished these things did so at some risk, they had to be paid and well paid. To meet this difficulty the advance note and the blood money were introduced. The seaman signed away before he joined the vessel, part of the wages he was to earn, but since this was not sufficient, the vesesl was compelled to pay "blood money" a bonus for each seaman fur- nished and this became costly to the shipowners. There was in 11 fact a combination between the crimp and the seaman. The seaman wanted a few days of freedom ; the crimp wanted the money. There was a mutual interest and understanding. To make the system run smoothly the master was let in on the money to be obtained. The vessel paid, the seaman paid; the crimp received and divided with the master. If the seaman did not desert fast enough the master furnished additional cause. He found a way of keeping for himself what money the seaman left behind on deserting and of dividing the advance and the blood money with the crimp. He needed it. His wages were low and the primage percentage on the vessel's earn- ings was passing away. But the shipowner or manager had often been a master and he, knew or some master was honest enough to tell the owner, and to help to find a way out. He and the owner made arrangements with the crimp to pay less bloodmoney and more advance. When this was perfected the cost of the system came out of the seaman; besides, included in this was usually an arrangement through which the wages was kept down or lowered, and now the seaman was working for the vessel and by far the largest parlj of the wages went to the crimp, the master and the owner. It was no uncommon incident to find the shipowner having contract with the crimp, in certain ports where his vessels went regularly to fur- nish all the men for such vessels at the highest advance practical or permitted with the understanding that part of such' advance was to be repaid to the owner himself. Other contracts were made and some authorities in some ports entered into them that the men were to be perfectly free to desert on arrival; but were to be arrested and forcibly placed on board on departure. Desertion upon arrival was to be condoned he left some money behind and he was not needed in port besides he left a vacancy, the filling of which always meant advance and sometimes blood money to be divided. Desertion after signing and on the point of departure meant delay, and besides in such instances somebody lost money, because advanes and blood money were not paid until the vessel had been three days at sea. When actual seamen were not obtainable, the crimp, with the mas- ter's consent, would pick up some hard-ups that might be induced to go to sea, or failing in that, some men were simply drugged and placed on the vessel. There are authentic instances of dead men having been placed on the vessel in the night when she was to go to sea early in the morning. This was called "shanghaiing." It seems to have been resorted to in order to man vessels going to Shanghai, and that it obtained its name in this way. But the system was fairly profitable, fairly safe, and it was extended first to fever ports, 12 and then to others; whereupon the expression was used about men who had been cleverly or forcibly induced to ship on vessels with specially bad reputations. The police often assisted in this. It was a very handy and a rather unobjectionable way of getting rid of troublesome persons and troublesome witnesses. The system of crimping had and has many friends. And for various reasons. The system is yet in full operation in some ports notwithstanding laws passed to suppress it. THE SEAMEN'S STRUGGLE TO ORGANIZE Relations to Shore-Workers To the men on shore the seaman was either a fool or something worse. If he succeeded in getting any money he spent it so freely he said it would not buy a farm, anyway that any spendthrift was said to "act like a drunken sailor." That soldiers on leave and woodsmen just paid off acted in the same manner and from the same reason was no excuse. The men on shore and on the make told him that there was a wife for him in every port and sang: "Play up the band, here comes "the sailor." The sailor understood the purpose but was willing to play the game. He was looking for at least a temporary release from memory and from his daily self, and cynically answered : "Get up, Jack, let John sit down." He knew his welcome would pass away with his coin. The shipowner gradually began to look upon the seamanT as a kind of nuisance to be got rid of as soon as possible after the vessel came into port. v. Under the law of limitation of liability and the insurance he learned to care nothing about safety at sea and therefore nothing about skill in the seaman. The Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, of Birmingham, at one time Presi- dent of the British Board of Trade and therefore possessed of the information and responsibility, which gives weight to his opinion, said: "Bear in mind, when a ship is lost the ship owner may make a profit, the owner may get more than the value of his ship; the mer- chant may lose nothing, but may, and very often does, get more than the value of the cargo back. In the same way the underwriter averages his losses, and, on the whole, makes a profit on the insurance of the ship out of his premium." 13 He, the shipowner, did not need the skill. Not at sea. The insur- ance company reimbursed him from his losses if there were any at sea ; but not so in the loading or discharging. Here skill was needed, and the vessels began to employ harbor crews to sling and hoist valuable cargo in order to get it safely into or out of the vessel. The stevedore furnished this kind of men sometimes. At other times a company would hire a steady gang of such men. The pay of these men who are now employed in nearly all great seaports, was and usually is better than the pay of longshoremen. Then came a time in which the seaman began to see that the workers on shore, who organized for mutual aid, were able to improve their conditions. They knew that upon their own ability to work together depended very often their very lives. Together they could, if sufficient in number, do 'almost anything. The seamen had helped, nay, they had been the main force in building or destroying empires. What if they were to unite for mutual aid and protection? Was it not possible, that they might reconquer their old place in human society? They had given to England World Dominion and England had given to them Rathcliff Highway if they were not too noisy; Spain, Portugal, and Holland had reached great power through their seamen and had lost it when they had no more seamen. They had helped to lay the foundation of the Great Free Republic in tHe West and they had materially helped to preserve it. They had fought for the freedom of others and had given their lives. Why not try to fight for their own freedom when the risk was nothing? Nothing to lose but their chains no metaphorical chains these freedom, self-respect, the respect of others, and an equal place among free men, to win. And so the seemingly impossible happened. The seamen began to organize. And the men on shore laughed. The crimps laughed, the shipowners laughed, many of the seamen laughed, Seamen's Friend Societies smiled indulgently, the courts smiled grimly, the boarding masters threw them on the streets, keep- ing their clothing, and the shippwners, seeing the earnestness of the enthusiasts, refused them employment. Yet did the seamen con- tinue. The seamen fancied that they were like other men and they quit their work they struck and the smile of the courts became more grim as they said, "two months," "three months," or "one year." The seamen continued to organize. They joined the Unions of transport workers on shore. The transport workers struck for better conditions and they boycotted the vessel, the seaman, as he was expected to, refused to continue on the vessel and he was sent 14 to jail. The strike was won or lost very often lost the shore workers went to their jobs again while the seaman remained in jail and his earned wages was paid to those who did the work while he was incarcerated. These things happened over and over again in Europe, in Australia, in the United States, and no one seemed to think that it was at all remarkable, npr was there any thought of dealing differently with the men, who as yet were living and working under the old rule of serfdom. Seamen thought that 'they, under the law and its penalties, were entitled to do the work of the vessel in harbor, since they were sent to jail for refusing. Nobody seemed to understand. The shipowner serenely dismissed the seaman when he did not want him when he could get men on shore to do the work and as serenely he sent him to jail when he had trouble with the men on shore, and the seaman refused to labor. The stevedore knew perfectly well that the seamen while on the vessel were a hindrance to him in getting such rates as he thought he ought to have, and he told the longshoremen that they ought to drive the seamen out of the vessels in order that the rates might be higher, the pay of the longshoremen better and their work more steady. Of course the longshoremen understood and agreed. They insisted that they must do all the loading and discharging. The rigging- boss and his employees acted in the same way and from the same motive. When steam began to be used the repair-shop owner and his men acted in the same spirit and from the same reason. And so on with every kind of work done. The painter wants all the painting, the sailmaker all the canvas work, the machinists all the work in the engine room, the steam-fitter all the pipe fitting, the boilermaker all the repairing on boilers. The boilerscalers want all the scaling, the carpenter refuses the seaman the right to caulk the hatches, and so on. In fact while in port they will only permit the seaman to sit on the rail smoking his pipe while they are doing the seaman's work, but the shipowner says to the seaman: "Get out of the vessel, I don't need you." And the seaman goes ashore to eat up what he has earned. The owner loses the seaman's work, the seaman fails to develop that skill so essential in a real seaman and necessary in the world competition that is surely coming as things get back to a normal basis. Placed in a diagram the situation would look something like this : (See diagram on next page.) The circle in the middle might represent the vessel in which the sailors and the firemen are working the deck department and the engine department should be working taking care of the vessel and her engines, her gear, keeping the whole in a fit condition at all time; developing again the lost skill, but especially developing the skill in the young men. Saving repairs and speeding up the vessels turn-around in port. Will the American shipowner see this? Will the seaman be able to see? There are still many difficulties in the way. In the large seaports of Europe and on the Atlantic Coast, the seamen long ago gladly gave up their work in the port. They hated the ship and wanted to escape from her when she entered harbor. The longshoremen are in a large measure doing their work. Some thirty years since the longshoremen on the Atlantic were for a time organized. The) stevedores wanted the work, the longshoremen wanted it. There -was no one to say them nay. The shipowners 16 # wanted to be rid of the seamen. There was none to resist. It has become a hardened custom. Business is arranged accordingly and it acted as a shock when the Pacific Coast steam schooner came and it was found that this vessel, paying more wages and working shorter hours, could carry lumber some 25 per cent cheaper than the vessels which were going along under a system developed during past years and reeking with waste and graft. On the Pacific, while longshore- men were discharging and loading deepwater vessels, the loading and discharging of coastwise vessels were, outside of San Francisco, done by the seamen. In San Francisco the longshoremen discharged nearly all the coastwise vessels, especially those loaded with lumber. In all vessels having more than 250,000 feet of pine lumber on board, the seamen had to go on shore. The longshoremen earned as much discharging the vessel as the seamen earned in sailing the vessel to Puget Sound a thousand miles away loading her and sailing back to San Francisco. Truly the seamen's legal status had done its work well. SEEKING AMICABLE RELATIONS WITH SHORE WORKERS Shortly after the Pacific Coast seamen bega'n to organize, the meeting received a deputation from the Longshore Lumbermen's Union. The seamen were told in fine phrases that they had warm friends in the longshoremen, who worked at discharging lumber. This friendship could be made very useful to both if the seamen would refuse to discharge the smaller vessels on which they were permitted to work. Hints were not lacking that the longshoremen would help the seamen by refusing to discharge vessels which were sailed with non-union men. Being hungry for friendship and co- operation, the seamen consented, and left the vessels. The long- shoremen went on board and discharged the vessels. The ship- owners refused to pay the seamen for work done on the voyage, claiming under the law that the contract was not finished until the cargo was discharged, and no money was due them. They paid the seamen's wages, earned on the trip, to the longshoremen and, of course, while it was hard on the seamen, the longshoremen did not object very seriously. The seamen lost, individually up to fifty dollars, collectively nearly forty thousand dollars. Seamen would not believe that they could be dismissed at will or kept at work at will. They went to court suing for their wages; but the court smiled grimly, and said : "The libel is dismissed." 17 When the seamen of the Pacific had been organized for about eighteen months the boilermakers had some trouble on board one vessel. They quit and placed a boycott on the vessel. The seamen quit in that vessel and were promptly locked out in all the vessels. In this case they were paid their wages except in the vessels which they quit. It all resulted in several men, however, losing their money and going to jail for two or three months. 'It resulted further in the formation of a Shipowners Association which in combination with the boardingmasters issued passports without which no man could ship or obtain employment in any Association vessel. This lasted for some considerable time. Rather hard on the seamen; but while it was their misfortune, the men on shore, in whose interest the seamen had acted, managed to bear it and to forget it. Some of the seamen were beginning to learn ; but the turn over of sea-labor was sufficient to keep such in the minority. In the following year the harbor workers organized "The Wharf and Wave Union." It was kind of Federation. The seamen joined and having by this time learned to understand that it was not a good thing to be compelled to go into the boarding house each time they came into port, they sought to get the longshore lumbermen to permit them to discharge pine-wood cargoes up to 400,000 feet. The answer was a sneering and emphatic "No." And to that was added the information that the seamen were not recognized by any- body. The representatives of the seamen left after informing the meeting that this was true too true. They, however, volunteered the belief that the condition might change, that in the meantime the seamen would seek to remember that nobody recognized them. This they would try not to forget; but to forget the longshoremen and let the shipowners deal with the longeshoremen in their own good time. Thus for the seamen ended the first Federation which they had joined. The same year there was a longshoremen's strike in San Pedro into which the seamen were drawn and again they left the vessels and some sixty thousand dollars in wages. The seamen would not believe that the San Pedro men really held the same opinions as the San Francisco longshoremen. The strike was lost for both. Both suffered alike and the seamen forgot. / About one year later the shipowners got into trouble with the longshoremen and wiped them out with exception of those who were working 1 in deepwater vessels. When this struggle was on the 18 longshoremen recognized the seamen to the extent of asking them to come on sympathetic strike. The* seamen had been without recog- nition so long that they had got accustomed to it. They were em- ployed by the shipowners without recognition, they were hated and robbed by the boardingmaster and just tolerated by the Labor Coun- cil, where they were affiliated; yet the seamen had managed to grow in numbers and in wisdom and therefore said: "No." The seamen were gradually developing the philosophy under which they had lived and were to continue living, namely: "Never beg bread from friend, nor mercy from enemy, live by your own strength or die." The Seamen's Unions of the Pacific Coast kept growing in membership and consciousness of their mission. The separate Unions on the Lakes, Atlantic and Pacific were linked together into the International Seamen's Union of America and were then affiliated to the American Federation of labor. The seamen expected and received very valuable legislative assistance ; industrially they neither expected aid nor did they receive any. In the meantime the industrial passports had been abolished, wages and conditions had been some- what improved. The shipowners did not like this and having again obtained from Congress the right to punish by imprisonment desertion in the coastwise trade they began an attack upon the seamen. The struggle lasted for some eighteen months and resulted in the defeat of the seamen, who fought alone without aid from anybody. They never asked anybody to quit work in their interest nor did they ask for financial aid. They took their whipping without a whimper; but in their defeat they adopted the motto: "Tomorrow is also a day." The shipowners again introduced their passport system. The seamen again fought it individually and it again had to be abolished, but a great majority of the seamen who had sailed on the Pacific for years left the sea or went to foreign countries to sail. They carried their experience to those other countries. The Pacific ob- tained a new set of men. Men who brought with them their ideas gathered in Europe; but who knew nothing about the past struggles on the Pacific. There were some Seamen's Unions In Europe, especially in England where the longshoremen did the work in harbor. Seamen coming from Europe knew of course about the Longshoremen's Unions there unions were in nearly all great seaports and seamen arriving on the Pacific joined the* Seamen's Union, but asked why are there no Longshoremen's Unions? And so there again grew up among longshoremen a strong desire to organize. The Seamen's Union had again gathered some strength and the longshoremen came to the seamen for assistance. This was promptly granted. The seamen's hall was given free of rent. Moral and industrial assistance was gladly given and the unions of longshoremen grew like a green bay tree. The seamen often ran considerable risk by insisting upon the employment of union men in the vessels where they were handling lumber. It was much more pleasant to work with union men and much safer. The longshoremen were now willing to recog- - nize the seamen as their equals. They needed help, they received it, and the feeling was good. Agreements were entered into in San Francisco in 1900. The agreement acknowledged the seaman's first right to do all work within the rail of the vessel, the longshoremen's right to all work on the dock and the first right to help on the vessel when help was needed. There was a further clause to the effect that neither should receive cargo from or deliver cargo to non-union men. The seamen found what that meant when the longshoremen advised American ship owners to send their Japanese crews employed on the coastwise trade on shore while the loading was going on. The agreement was thus kept in the letter and killed in the spirit. Seamen were always simple. Agreements were entered into in nearly all ports along the coast as the longshoremen organized. They were assisted and temporarily grateful enough to agree. On the lakes there had been Seamen's Unions for a long time. There had been many ups and downs. The Lake Carriers' Associa- tion fought the union with great ability and persistency. They imported men from the East and from Europe. The new men joined the union and it was not until the sailing vessels began in earnest to reduce their rigging and to depend on towing that the Seamen's Unions met with its greatest difficulties. Steam took the place of sail. The vessels could manage, with less skill and skill departed to such an extent that rope splicing was done by men on shore. Wages was very low even for the skilled men and the so-called deck- hands were largely men whom the police drove from place to place. They worked as deckhands in ports and as coal-passers out on the Lakes. The longshoremen were organized. They did all the dis- charging and nearly all the -loading. They worked under agreements with the dock and vessel owners and were paid, while on the 20 vessels doing the seaman's work, as much for one day as the deck- hands got for one week. Imprisonment for refusing to fulfill a contract to labor on a vessel within the boundaries of the United States was abolished in 1899. The seamen having been thus unshackled took additional courage. The men on the Great Lakes organized and within two years had attained such strength that the shipowners met them in conference. The wages and conditions were improved. The seamen had nationally as well as locally endeavored to create and maintain the friendliest relations with the longshoremen and other harbor workers. For a short period it promised success. Then without any warning the longshoremen's convention changed the name of the organization from "International Longshoremen's Association," to "International Longshoremen, Marine and Transport Workers' Asso- ciation." This change meant, if the American Federation of Labor would consent, the abolition of the International Seamens Union of America as an independent organization and that so much of it as might continue to live was to become either a branch of the Inter- national Longshoremen, Marine and Transport Workers' Association or that the members of the seamen's organization would be fused with and into the local longshoremen's unions. The American Federation of Labor in its New Orleans con- vention refused to sanction the change but appointed a committee on conciliation. Of course, there could be no conciliation on such a question and a struggle went on for several years before the long- shoremen were compelled to give up their ambition to represent the seamen, to set their wages and to determine the condition under which the seamen w r ere to work and live. The struggle finally came into the industrial arena on the Pacific and it was made plain to thinking men that the seamen must travel a long road before they could or would be recognized as the equals of other workers. The efforts to obtain and maintain friendly relations with the harbor workers had, at least for the time being, failed. THE FAILURE AND ITS CAUSE \ The effort to win and keep the good will and co-operation of the men on shore had failed in exact proportion of the distance that the seamen worked near the shore workers. If the men on shore had no real interest in the seaman and his work the sympathy flowed 21 naturally toward the seamen ; but if the work done by the men ashore was near to the seamen the sympathy decreased with the reduced/ distance. If the work was competitive if the work was really sea- men's work the feeling degenerated into downright hostility. The agreement signed by the San Francisco longshoremen was violated through a secret understanding with the teamsters who had lately organized and who, failing to understand the seriousness of the matter consented to refuse to deliver cargo destined for the Ha- waiian Islands to anybody but longshoremen, thus boycotting the vessels until the seamen were dismissed. Of course the dismissal was prompt. When the teamsters learned the facts, they altered their position, but too late. _The longshoremen were in and the seamen out. Fortunately there were not many of those vessels and the seamen consented to overlook the treachery. A new agreement was patched up. Shortly after this occurrence in less than one year the so-called teamsters' strike broke out. The employers in San Francisco had combined to crush all the Labor Unions in the state and they arranged so that the struggle began with the teamsters. All the water front unions finally had to come out. There was no choice. The struggle lasted for two months and a half and ended in a "draw." Those best acquainted with the struggle said that the seamen contributed more to the defense of human freedom in that struggle than any other union. The seamen understood what was at stake and offered their all. The result was the organization of the City Front Federation through which every worker on the waterfront except the seamen was highly benefitted. There was an effort to make the seamen carry the whole burden by providing that no one should take cargo from or deliver cargo to any non-union man. Since the seamen received the cargo at the rail and delivered it at the rail it would of course fall on the seamen to fight for all the men on shore. Under this arrangement the seamen could have no union as long as there was anybody left on shore who was unorganized or on strike. The seamen finally saw through the enthusiasm of their friends and refused to comply. Of course the popularity of the seamen began at once to pass away. When they were not willing to be called on strike by anybody and everybody, their usefulness was at an end. The seamen began to insist strongly that they must be consulted before they were expected to quit work, that they would not join, any strike except after a secret ballot taken by the seamen themselves after proper discussion within their own organization. The long- shoremen along the coast disregarded their agreements with the 22 seamen at their own whim or supposed interest, and the seamen's organization was attacked and villified in every way. In 1905 the longshoremen made up their minds that they were going to compel the seamen to become an appendix to the longshore- men and to obey such resolutions as the longshoremen might think proper to adopt. The longshoremen refused to work on vessels where the seamen were doing any loading and discharging. The seamen defended themselves and their position so ably and so well that the longshoremen had to quit and finally the International Long- shoremen's Association consented to drop the ambitious title and with it their great .pretenses. But the seamen's popularity was gone. The time came for the seamen to ask for a slight increase in their wages on the steam schooners, amounting to five dollars per month. The shipowners were prepared to make a most serious fight. The real reason for this fight was very interesting and could serve to illuminate the reasons for some strikes; but this is not the place to discuss it. The fact was that the shipowners had been organized under the title of "Shipping and Transportation Associa- tion" and when the seamen insisted upon a five dollar increase in their monthly wages from forty-five to fifty dollars per month, all the harbor workers were promptly locked out. The City Front Fed- eration sent a committee to the employers asking why they were locked out and what was wanted of them. They asked: What do you want us to do before we can go to work again? The Executive Committee of the employers, according to report, said: We locked you out because the seamen refused to continue to work in the steam schooners for the old wages and we want you -to order them back to work. After some discussion the Federation began to draw up a letter to the sailors, firemen, cooks and stewards, ordering them to return to work at the old rate. The Seamen's Unions saved the Federation from such disgrace by persuading this meeting to wait a couple of days and another way would be found to get them all back to work. The way adopted by the Seamen's Unions was to withdraw from the City Front Federation, to ask the shipowners to reinstate the other workers and turn their wrath upon the seamen. It being clear that the other unions could not compel the seamen to return to work there was no longer any reason for keeping them locked out. They were reinstated. As the seamen had fought for the whole labor movement on the Coast at an earlier time, so now 23 they were placed in the position of again fighting for the whole movement, but to fight alone. And they fought alone; they asked nobody to quit work for them nor did they ask for any financial aid. After five months of struggle the real reason for the disturbance was removed the Harriman lines took the Seattle Terminal and peace was re-established. The seamen, however, obtained the five dollars increase not only in the steam schooners, but in all the vessels, together with an increase in the overtime pay and also an improvement in the working rules. But the so-called victory was condemned by their fellow workers, who could not forgive the seamen that they had insisted upon deter- mining for themselves when to strike. Again the seamen stood industrially alone. They had gone through another experience in federating with shore or harbor workers in trying to work with them and the result was the same. In 1916 the longshoremen again tried to compel the seamen to surrender their work on the vessel in harbor. They first tried to induce the shipowners to come to an agreement with them to this effect. But finding that the shipowners refused because they had come to a clearer understanding of their own interest and the interest of the shipping generally, a strike was entered upon to compel the shipowners to dismiss the seamen and to employ longshoremen exclusively. The longshoremen actually carried on a campaign to convince the seamen that they ought to go on strike to help the longshoremen to drive them the seamen from the vessels. The pleading was persistent. The soapbox orator was busy emitting abuse and generalities which in the most instances he did not understand. The seamen were again induced to become members of the revived City Front Federation. By some means, no matter which, the seamen must be compelled to take orders from men on shore. A systematic campaign for "Solidarity," for the "One Big Union," or anything that might sound catching was carried on until the effort was again made to drive the seamen into sympathetic strikes and to violate their agreements with the shipowners. The seamen had gathered a little too much sense to listen to the old tune, "Play up the band, here comes a sailor," with any patience or willingness to comply, and again they left the Federation since it was evident that they could not be accepted and treated as equals. And the end is not yet. Again the appeal is sounding. And now the seamen are told that they ought to own the vessels. They must fight for a new order of society in which they shall own the vessels and have no employers to serve. Somebody has go\d bricks for sale 24 and the seaman is to be one of the fools to buy them. These men have learned all they know of the seaman from the daily papers, the old storybooks and ditties. They know or think they know the sea- man as the person who being a bondman has no sense of personal worth, no self-respect and no will. And one can hardly blame them. The seaman has been a freeman only about four years. They assume, and they may be somewhat right, that the freedom is so new, that it cannot have made much change in the seaman's view of life. Character is of slow growth in individuals and slower still in groups or classes of men. The seaman ought not to be blamed overmuch if he fell for the temptations and tries to. buy the gold bricks. It is after all not so very difficult to understand the mental attitude that the men on shore have with reference to the seaman. The seaman is looked upon as being by his own choice a serf or slave. This was his status legal place in society for centuries and for a 'century longer than other workers. If he did not choose it why did he become a seaman? If he did not know the condition before becoming a seaman he soon learned it, and yet he remained. He has the characteristics of the slave, therefore let us treat him so. If you treat him like a man he will not understand you and he will take advantage. These are not the thoughts of the harbor workers alone. Many, nay perhaps, most men on shore have these ideas and the employers the shipowners to a surprisingly large extent, are among them. The worst of it all is that very many shipowners ' do not want the seaman to be anything else. Fortunately, some of them have learned. Let the seamen be duly thankful for that; but it is greatly to be feared that the majority of shipowners would yet prefer to employ men in the slave status and with the slave mind. It would be more in accordance with the economic concept in their own minds. Growing out of his system of bookkeeping and human disposition to follow the line of least resistance he the shipowner came to believe what the economists long ago in their scientific jargon called "The Wage-Fund." He had found that there was a certain nearly certain wage-cost connected with the loading, transporting and discharging of one ton of freight or one thousand feet of lumber. He had arranged his business on this basis and gave it no further thought except to try to diminish the wage-fund. The longshoremen organized and went to the stevedore to ask for more pay to meet the increasing cost cf living. The stevedore came to the shipowner to ask for higher rates. He insisted that he must have it because he must pay more wages. Thinking the matter over they came to the conclu- 25' sion that a slight reduction might be made in the seamen's wages to cover the increase that had to be granted to keep the peace. The matter was very simple just take away from the seaman what had to be given to the longshoreman and their need be no increase in cost. The wage-fund is not enlarged. The same situation appeared with reference to the machinist, the repairshop and the fireman. The seamen were shackled. They could not kick with any effect and if the white ones quit there were colored ones in plenty in China, Japan, India and other "backward countries." The shipowner was not think- ing about the time to come when those backward countries, having a sea-trained people, might and would build and sail vessels in com- petition with them. Why should they think of far-away troubles that were not to come in their time? The harbor worker at first dimly sensed the idea behind their increase which had come without seri- ous trouble; then they began to see and to think that they under- stood. "There is just so much to divide, if the seaman gets more I will get less/' and so they could without disagreeable emotion watch their own wages increase and the seamen get less. i . But then the seaman became free. He could organize and he did and he demanded more wages and behold, he gets it. In one respect the result of organization among seamen was startling. On the Lakes the longshoreman was asked to consent to a decrease or to put up a real fight. As a natural sequence, the International Longshoremen's Union sought the power to check the seamen and the surest way was to take charge of them, to represent them, in order that the longshoremen might be saved from the choice of ac- cepting decreases or fighting to avoid it. It was this idea that was at the foundations -of the resolutions, which were from time to time passed protesting against the passage of the Seamen's Bill. It was this same idea that caused the longshoremen in Portland, Oregon, to enter their emphatic protect against the repeal of the law under which those who helped a seaman to desert were subject to three months' imprisonment under the state law. They frankly told the seamen's representatives that if they would accept the jurisdiction of the longshoremen over them and strike when the longshoremen so willed, then and not until then, would they permit the slave law to be repealed. It was this feeling which caused the longshoremen to protest against a resolution being passed by the Oregon State Federation of Labor. The Federation did not understand the real meaning of it all and followed the longshoremen's advice. It was this feeling, further developed and now out of the subconscious mind 26 that induced the stevedore, the repair-shop owner, the boss painter, the machine repairshop owner, and others to combine to drive the seamen from the vessel and from his work. The seaman might suffer; but what about it? He was nothing but a kindless, helpless loon. He was in the minority. He was in the way. The shipowner had other things to think about. Sometimes he had a hard struggle to make ends meet, so that he might pay some dividends. If skilled seamen grew more and more scarce it only meant a higher premium on the insurance and that was shifted to consumer, who enjoined or used the things that the seaman carried from place to place. Verily, the seaman's road to industrial equality with men on shore is rocky and the end seems far away. THE FUTURE, ITS DUTIES AND POSSIBILITIES While the road is thorny on the sides and covered with sharp stones, some part of it is traveled. There are now shipowners who understand and can see their interest in the travel. Some of them are beginning to see clearly that skill is a pre-requisite in the world competition, that it is better to release the latent forces in the sea- men and put them to use, that free and willing men are more profitable than slaves, that honest labor is better than sabotage. The scientist kindly gave a new name to "ca-canny," he wrote a book about it and now it is beginning to be understood, what is the cause and the possible cure. In this rapid review I have tried to analyze facts and causes. In trying to hint at the duties and possibilities I shall try to speak directly to the seamen as one of the craft who thinks and feels as seamen do, and to the shipowner as one who thinks of, fears, yet believes in the future. We cannot travel the thorny and stony road unless we have the will that can only come from knowledge and understanding. We must know our duties to ourselves, to the calling, to the vessel. We must be willing to insist upon our right as men ; we must be willing to do our duty as free men freely and without force from without. We must try to be more and more skilled in our work, we must learn more and more to respect the work and the men in it, we must learn to bear each other's burden joyously, we must become better Union Men, which means better men. To these ends we must 27 \ employ some time on the vessel to become experts in our work, to read and know of the past and to draw therefrom some of the strength needed for the future. We must use more of our time on shore to attend meetings of the Union in order that we may learn to know and to trust each other and have less trust in men who may be honest; but, being shoremen, may after all be only playing with variations and for his own purposes the old tune: "Play up the band, here comes the sailor." We must learn to distinguish between men and men and between ideas and ideas. We can only learn this through education. We must therefore learn to stop, look and watch, just as we watch the heavens at sea and the sea for other vessels from the lookout. We must learn to say no, to refuse to give any promises that we may not be able to fulfill, to refuse to enter into any agreement that we may not be able or willing to keep. And it matters not if the urging comes from fellow workmen or from employers. We can do this because as yet we are free and doing it we shall possibly be permitted to keep our freedom. We must learn that the vessel is the tool with which we work, to keep it. clean and fit as the carpenter keeps his tools sharp, clean and fit. We must learn to see clearly that the work on the vessel with its gear nd equipment is our work in port as well as at sea. We must learn that a badly stowed vessel is a dangerous one and that it is our duty and our right to see that the cargo is properly stowed. We must learn that the vessel, her passengers, gear and cargo are intrusted to our care and that we are responsible for the safety of it all. We must try to teach the owner that we may be depended upon while at the same time we teach him to treat us as men who are free and who are doing our work because we are free. In short that free men are more dependable than bondmen and that he can have honest work from free men only. We must teach him that we have the same right to choose our company on the vessel that he insists upon exercising for himself on shore. The choice must take place on shore since there can be no choice after the vessel is at sea. If the shipowner wants to compete he must learn the value of free men and how to treat them. Failure to learn this means defeat in competition and the passing frQm the field. With the harbor workers we must insist that they shall quit trying to use us and leave our work alone. On that road and on that road only is friendship and co- 28 operation. He can have our friendship and co-operation by ac- knowledging our equal right to self-determination. It will not, it can not, be given upon any other consideration. To the workers on shore generally we must learn to say : We want your friendship, we want your aid, we are willing to give ours in return, but only upon the frank acknowledgment that we are your equals as men and must be so treated in words and manners. As we resolutely move along this road it will be found more joyous as we go and we shall gain the strength to meet the obstacles and hardships that labor must soon meet. We shall learn to bear the burdens that labor must bear. We seamen are neither numerous nor strong enough to clear the road or to cast away the burdens. We can do our share if our understanding is clean enough and our will is strong enough, we cannot do it otherwise. May the under- standing and the will be ours to the end that we may do what shall be our duty and be able to bear what may be our burden. It is thus that we shall reconquer our true place among men. 29 A 000 064 071 4 "The bondman can feel no responsibility; he can have no sense of morality, of self-respect, or of honor; because he has no individual will. He is alone. Association for mutual aid is unthinkable. Deprived of his human estate he is degraded below the animal or vegetable kingdoms. * * * Any man compelled to labor against his will, be it by an individual or by society, is a bondman. Let the American People beware of bondage being imposed upon any class. Tolera- tion of it by workers is treason to American ideals. To resist it is the highest duty though the result may be prison or death." "The share which any particular nation had in the use of and the power on the sea depended always on the number of its people who obtained their living by following sea occupations. Fishermen on the coasts, later on the banks, whalers, first in small boats along the coasts, later in large vessels following the whale or seeking him, trading in their own produce, or carrying the produce of others these are merchant seamen. Valuable cargoes tempted others into piracy, and the merchant vessel was armed to resist the pirate. These were the early fighting vessels or men-o'-war. In all instances the men employed were seamen. Seamen were always considered a special part of the national defense. "To develop a large number of trained seamen, to foster and develop a tendency to the sea in the population, has ever been the caret of statesmanship. Nations have fought over fishing grounds, not because of the fish to be caught, but the seamen to be trained in the use of those grounds.