ILLINOJ UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN PRODUCTION NOTE University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Library Brittle Books Project, 2010. S I 1 I 11 33 1. l OG A SE .. 2 The Growth and Prosperity o Indianapolis and How It Is Promoted by The Open Shop 7oint Report of Harvey G. Shafer, Retiring President and Andrew J. Allen, Secretary, at the Eighteenth Annual Meeting of the Associated Employers of Indianapolis, Inc. Thursday Evening, February z6, 1922 Indiana Pythian Building, 8 o'clock NOTE M 192 Particular attention is called to the review on pages 7 to Io of COMMUNITY GROWTH and to pages II to 16 relating to BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP and to pages 17 to 22, concerning BUILDING TRADES CONDITIONS AMERICAN PLAN EMBLEM Now being used extensively by open shop firms throughout the United.States ORIGINATED BY THE ASSOCIATED EMPLOYERS OF INDIANAPOLIS, INC. COPYRIGHT NOTIFICATION In Public Domain. Published prior to 1923. This digital copy was made from the printed version held by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was made in compliance with copyright law. Prepared for the Brittle Books Project, Main Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign by Northern Micrographics Brookhaven Bindery La Crosse, Wisconsin 2010 OINT REPORT Of HARVEY G. SHAFER, Retiring President, and ANDREW J. ALLEN, Secretary, Eighteenth Annual Meeting, Associated Employers of Indianapolis, Inc., Thursday Evening, February 16th, 1922. MEMBERS AND-GUESTS: On this occasion, the Eighteenth Annual Meeting of the:Associated Employers of Indianapolis, you have a rare treat ahead of you in the enjoyable program that has been arranged. "Building and The Public" a subject of timely interest to Indianapolis employers-will be discussed by Mr. Walter Drew, Counsel for the National Erectors' Association of New York City. Mr. Earl J. McCone, GeneralManager of The Buffalo Commercial, and Secretary of the Associated Open Shop Publishers of America, will address you on-"My Sick Friend, Mr. Itu." Mr.McCone's talk has nothing to do with "Jujitsu" or the Japanese problem, since the letters "I. T. U." stand for "International Typographical Union." In the announcements of this meeting, you were given assurances that the business program would be brief in order that you might be given more time in which to listen to the addresses of our distinguished guests. And in compliance with that promise, your Officers have deviated somewhat from usual custom in the joint presentation in printed form, of the report of your President and Secretary. It is believed this procedure will ex- pedite the program, and obviate the possibility of transgression upon your indulgence should the attempt be made to say orally, all that the occasion seems to warrant in connection with the Association's worthy activities and its constructive community achievements. Copies of this consolidated and printed report have been given to each one of you as you entered the hall, and it is hoped that you will take home and carefully read the pamphlet report. It will give you a better appre- ciation of what the Associated Employers of Indianapolis has accomplished in behalf of community welfare and economic betterment throughout the industrial and business life of the city. The reports of the Officers at previous annual meetings of the Association have dealt with the organiza- tions' purposes and objects and its many civic and industrial activities. It therefore remains for the results to be summarized from the broader viewpoint of community value and benefit. The purpose is to show in this report that the development of the open shop in local industries and businesses, is responsible for the city's growth and prosperity. NATIONAL IN SCOPE The members of the Associated Employers of Indianapolis are welded together neither for gain, emolument nor power, but primarily for the effectuation of a few definite principles of industrial justice and freedom, and for the enforcement of true American principles and guaranties in our public and business life. Through the medium of letters and bulletins, and through personal contact with Officers and members, most of you are more or less familiar with the Association's aims and work. Also its previous activities have been recorded in booklets which the Association has issued, entitled-" Benefits of Organization "-"Constructive Activities _"The Indianapolis Plan"-"Community Betterment" and "Facts About Indianapolis." Concerning the last named booklet, Mr. Chas. E. Rush, Librarian of the Indianapolis Public Library, has advised the Association that-"In contributing copies of it for use in library de- partments and branches, the Associated Employers has rendered a still further service to Indianapolis citizens." Mr. Rush says: "The library is interested in the widespread use of this pamphlet in our work with the grade school children." Twenty-five thousand copies of this booklet were distributed free at the Indianapolis Industrial Exposition last October, and large quantities were also furnished free to various schools of the city upon request of teachers and principals. That there is growing national interest in the open shop as the only true American Plan of employment relations, is indicated by the fact that the Association is in receipt of about one thousand requests from students, librarians, debating societies and faculties of schools, colleges and universi- ties in practically every state in the Union, asking for open shop literature to use in inter-collegiate debates on the question of the open versus the closed shop. In all cases, the desired information has been furnished since these debates are usually held before large audiences and afford an excellent opportunity for public education in the economics of the open shop. In the carrying on of patriotic educational work in industrial economics and right industrial relations, the Associated Employers of Indianapolis is a pioneer. It has always recognized that a wholesome public sentiment, and a clear understanding of the proper labor relationship between employer and employe, is just as necessary to the welfare and progress, and to the industrial and commercial stability and tranquillity of this community, as the "maintenance of the national interest" was to the winning of the war. Through co-operative relations with more than one thousand local, state and national associations in the United States, your local organization is keeping in constant touch with industrial conditions throughout the country and much constructive mutual benefit accrues to these far-reaching memberships. For many years your Association has constantly maintained a mailing list of about 4,000 names covering practically every representative local business and industry, in addition to Federal, State, County and City officials, clergymen and men in the. professions. The Association has at heart the best interests of the community at all times, and has not confined its activities to its membership. On numerous occasions, it has extended counsel, advice and material aid to employers who are not affiliated in the organization. Hundreds of requests have also been received from employers and their organizations in all parts of the country, asking for enlightenment and guidance in association work. Our Secretary has also been frequently called upon to give personal aid to organization work in other cities. "The business men and manufacturers of Indianapolis were among the first in the United States to carry on an organized, systematic campaign in industrial matters, under the auspices of the Associated Employers of Indianapolis," wrote an officer of a national association recently, to one of his correspondents. He added in his letter that-" Indianapolis employers have been doing this for many years, and have given splendid aid to other communities all over the country to encourage the American Plan in Industrial relations." 4 CO-OPERATION BETWEEN EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYE Your Officers and Directors are impressed with a sincere realization of their and your personal responsibility in measuring up to the high standard of citizenship the organizationhas attained at home and abroad, in sustaining and promoting righteous civic affairs. To have been associated in this work with your Directors, composed of twenty-four men of repre- sentative business ability and capacity, has been a pleasure and a high honor. Their services are unpurchasable in private enterprise, yet they and other Committees have been willing at all times, to serve the Associa- tion and the community at large without thought or expectation of reward or credit. The men to whom you entrust the destinies of your Association are all persons of large affairs who are freely giving their time and energy to organization effort. They are constantly on the job and you are at all times welcome to their counsel, assistance and advice. They have on numerous occasions and at great personal sacrifice, thrown aside important personal affairs and responded to the call of duty when the work of this organization required it. It is believed that you appreciate their very valuable services as keenly as your principal Officers, and will join in here and now expressing to each of them the heartfelt thanks and appreciation of the membership for their devotion to this very necessary civic duty. The keynote of membership in the Associated Employers of Indianapolis is co-operation between employer and employe; it stands pledged for the preservation of the rights of all labor, both organized andunorganized. This is demonstrated by the fact that through the efforts of your Associa- tion, Indianapolis has two city ordinances that are especially designed to protect all classes of working people (union and independent,) from strike interference in the exercise and enjoyment of their constitutional guaranties of "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." One of these is the anti-banner carrying ordinance, which prevents strike pickets from adver- tising factories and-stores as "unfair" because they do not discriminate against unorganized workers, and the other is the anti-picketing ordinance, which prohibits strike pickets from unlawfully interfering with any persons who wish to work in or patronize any factory or store. Indianapolis is in truth living'up to its reputation as "a city where the public conscience is very much alive." When the aforesaid ordinances were passed, the Peoria, Ill. Journal said editorially that-"the course taken by Indianapolis citizens seems to be a way leading to a better solution of industrial problems. There is no radicalism in this Indianapolis attitude. Rather is it conservatism. It injuries no man and no just cause." Later, about sixty Peoria business houses published this editorial as a display advertisement over their own signatures. These two ordi- nances have greatly contributed towards the industrial peace of Indianapolis by affording protection to all groups of labor in legitimate employment. NINETY PER CENT OPEN SHOP It was just eighteen years ago, in January 1904, that the Associated Employers of Indianapolis was formed by a group of representative em- ployers and business men who sought and have achieved community betterment through the scientific and collective handling of vexatious industrial problems. Prior to that time, Indianapolis was known far and wide as a helplessly unionized and strike-ridden community where pro- fessional agitators and strike promoters held full sway. If your memory needs refreshing, you need only to peruse old newspaper files. Under duress of strike after strike, business and industry was at the mercy of every whim and caprice of union troublemakers. Strike lawlessness was rampant and the rights of employers and employes were invaded and abridged with impunity. Manufacturers and merchants and their employes in every line of business, suffered needless loss and disturbance through the wanton efforts of union disorganizers to gain control over labor and industry. The employers' establishments became mere. recruiting agencies for the unions. Under these conditions new enterprises were a scarcity in this city, and the formation of the Associated Employers of Indianapolis, came about as a means of community relief from a situation that was strangling the business life and growth of the community. From a unionized town two decades ago wherein no man could employ another person or be em- ployed himself unless he carried a union card, industrial and commercial Indianapolis has become nationally recognized through the work of the Associated Employers, as an open shop city where the right to do business without dictation from union leaders, and the right to work at one's lawful occupation and calling, without interference from strike agitators, is sustained and enforced to the fullest extent. The New York Herald says: "Indianapolis is 90% open shop in all lines of manufacture, public utilities, wholesale, retail, jobbing and general commercial enterprise. The metal trades is over 99 per cent open shop. The foundries are about 75 per cent open. Furniture factories, woodworking establishments, wood trim and inside iron fabricating shops, automobile and accessory factories, engine, boiler, machine and tool manufacturers are 100 per cent open shop." The shop work of inside fabrication in the building trades, and the general manufacture of such materials in the factory, are done on the open shop basis. There is no policemen's or firemen's unions, and no recognized street car men's union. The teamsters' international headquarters are in Indianapolis, but the open shop prevails here generally in the teaming line; no recognition whatever is given the remnants of the local union that exists by various establishments and employers of drivers and trucksters. None of the department stores of Indianapolis have union drivers, and in fact, the retail merchants do not recognize any so-called clerks' union. Reports indicate that out of more than 3,500 retail clerks in Indianapolis, less than 30 belong to the clerks' union. The barber shops, hotels, restaurants,etc. are not strongly unionized, and for a number of weeks organizer Lyons from out of town, has been in the city trying to "organize" the housemaids and the male and female employes in hotels, restaurants, cafeterias, lunch rooms and soft drink places. Recently he announced that HE would call a general strike of this class of help throughout -the city unless "demands for the eight hour day were granted." When the recent country-wide strike of butcher workers was called, the headlines appeared in local newspapers, that "45,000 union butcher workers employed in the packing houses in eighteen principal cities have struck." But the name of Indianapolis was not in the list of struck cities, although from the viewpoint of money value, the principal industry of Indianapolis is beef and pork packing. The reason that the "Amalgama- 6 ted Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America" did not "strike" the eight or nine packing plants and abattoirs here is because no such local union exists now. It gave up its charter following the calling off, on Oct. 6th, 1920 of the strike which, on October 21, 1919, was begun by the temporary union of "butcher workers" which was then formed by outside agitators, When the 1919 "strike" was called, 2098 "Ayes" were cast and 19 "Noes". When the strike was voted "off" there were exactly thirteen members of the former union present, while there are more than 5,500 skilled workers employed in the eight packing houses of this city and all of which are open shops. The union has since disbanded. And so it is throughout the category of local business enterprises. RIGHTS OF CITIZENS SUSTAINED With due regard for the intelligence and patriotism of the people of this community, considerable credit for the absence locally of serious strike propaganda may, therefore, be modestly claimed by the Associated Employers of Indianapolis as h result of its activities. A prominent jurist now sitting on the bench in one of the high courts of this State, has written the Association as follows: "For its efforts to promote in this community, a proper spirit of patriotic devotion and wholesome conceptions of in- dustrial affairs, the Associated Employers of Indianapolis deserves unreserved commendation." The Buffalo Commercial has said: "Indianapolis is one of the freest cities in the United States from labor troubles. What could do more to bring capital to invest in a muncipality than the certainty that prevailing labor conditions are of the most satisfactory character." During the Association's eighteen years of existence, it has successfully sought to invoke industrial peace, harmony and independence on an equitable and economic basis that is just and fair to both employers, employes and to the general public. In this constructive effort, desirable industrial relations have resulted in Indianapolis which tend to keep the interests of wage-earners identified with their employers instead of with the professional troublemakers. It is the primary purpose of the Associated Employers of Indianapolis to sustain the citizenship at large in the right to employ and to be employed -to protect the mutuality of interest of both employers and employes, without regard to group, color or creed. The Association members have no quarrel with union labor as such, nor have they any desire to interfere with legitimate functions and activities of labor organizations when lawfully conducted with due regard for the rights of others. The Associa- tion recognizes that laboring men have a lawful right, just the same as all other citizens, to organize themselves into unions for the legitimate purposes of self betterment. The rights of unionists end, however, when their activities transgress upon the liberties of others who are not associated with them. Laboring men have a right to strike for any reason or no cause, but having quit their employment, they are no longer interested parties to the bargain previously existing. The Association insists that the right of one man to-work is as much entitled to respect and enforcement as the right of another to cease work or strike. The right of an employer to employ any workman he pleases, is as strong as the employe's right to refuse to work. The privilege of labor to organize does not carry with it the right to inflict hardship or injury upon workers who refuse to join the union, or upon employers who refuse to adopt the closed shop, and exclude independent labor from their employment in the hiring of union men only. At a previous Annual Meeting of the Association, a Resolution was unanimously adopted which says: "The open shop is the only fair basis of industrial relations for the public at large, for the employer and for the employe. The principles of the open shop guarantee to all citizens the free and unrestricted exercise of their right to work when, where and as their individual interests may dictate or require and they are not subject to arbitrary decisions and re- strictive rules of labor union agitators, or to false and uneconomic rules of conduct." The very existence of the Associated Employers of Indianapolis is sufficient reason for there being no strikes here Of magnitude or of serious consequence. The mischievous troublemaking element in the unions have been taught that the Association is a power with which they must reckon when they attempt to abridge the lawful rights of other citizens of this community, or when they seek to obstruct and destroy governmental authority through the application of doctrines and policies of rule or ruin. The issue is not between this Association and union labor as such, but between this community as a whole, and the un-American practices of a minority element in the labor unions, as represented by the agitators, whose activities tend to override, obstruct and destroy the liberties of others, including even the members of their own organizations. Objection is not made to the labor union as such, but to the assumed and unlawful, and unwarranted activities of most labor union leaders, whose worth to their respective unions seems to be largely measured by the amount of discord they can unnecessarily stir up between otherwise satisfied employers and employes. CITY FAVORABLY KNOWN Through concerted action, the Associated Employers of Indianapolis has insisted upon orderly government to the end that ambition and initia- Live on the part of both employers and working people may be stimulated and protected to their mutual advantage, and the successful development and operation of the city's business institutions may be assured through sane and constructive enactments and their impartial enforcement. The New York Sun has said of Indianapolis, that "the open shop spirit has been-asserted there with determination, and has grown more rapidly than in any other city in the country." The Iron Trade Review of Cleveland says: "Indianapolis employers have so won the respect, good will and loyalty of their employes that it is everywhere recognized as one of the best cities in the country from the viewpoint of the workman as well as the employer." The National Glass Budget says: "Indianapolis has made great gains in the past decade. It is an open shop city free from labor troubles." Declarations of this character concerning the desirability of Indianapolis as a safe place for residence and investment are not uncommon. The peaceful industrial status of Indianapolis is so favorably known from the open shop viewpoint, that the city and your Association is receiving a vast amount of advertising in all sorts of weekly and monthly trade journals and publications. This is sufficient apology for deviating in this report, 8 from the beaten path of the customary remarks you have come to expect from your Officers. It is-hoped that you will excuse the frequent reference to random excerpts from the thousands of publications and lettersthat are on file in the Association's offices, from local employers, and from business men and their organizations in the principal industrial centers of the country. Your Officers have been so impressed with themultitude of these documents in the Association's archives, that they deem it their duty to tell you how Indianapolis stands in the eyes of the world, since you might not have opportunity, otherwise, to appreciate these nation-wide testi- monials to the effectiveness of your own collective efforts in behalf of community betterment through the open shop. You should know how very favorably known Indianapolis and its open shop labor conditions are to the country. Recently a business man from Seattle, Washington, returning home from a visit to the principal cities, made the statement that-" Indianapolis is one of the three best nationally advertised and most favorably known cities in the United States from the viewpoints of industrial peace, labor relations and the open shop." He named Indian- apolis, Los Angeles and Detroit. Evidence of this kind affords conclusive proof that the open shop con- ditions prevailing here are economically sound, and that they are largely responsible for the present day stability of Indianapolis businesses, manu- factories and financial institutions. Obviously, the recognized, steady and substantial growth of Indianapolis is not an accident. It is built upon a solid foundation of open shop prosperity and security, which has produced a healthy community sentiment and a condition of desirability for labor, for the merchant, the jobber and the manufacturer. All of which serves to emphasize the fact that the success of these enterprises is interdependent -tile prosperity of each depending largely upon the profitable operation of the others. LABOR CONDITIONS INVITING Happily it is said of Indianapolis that-"no city in the country offers better conditions from the viewpoint of location, facilities, civic pride, co-operative community spirit, healthy public opinion, and safe and sane labor relationships. It is a good place in which to live, invest and work." This is due to the fact that conditions here more nearly approach the ideal- a situation which the civic organizations of Indianapolis publicly emphasize. And the truthfulness of these assertions was brought home to you when the management of a large automobile factory normally employing several thousand workers, which came here two years ago, publicly stated that it located in Indianapolis "because the location and facilities are ideal, and the labor conditions are conducive to harmonious relations between employers and employes." During the period of economic readjustment and business depression, other less fortunate communities labored under the serious burden of stagnation and unemployment while industrial and commercial Indian- apolis, owing to the diversity of its twelve hundred enterprises and eight hundred products was "recognized from one end of the country to the other as one of the bright spots on the Nation's business map." True we had some unemployment, more pronounced in some lines of activity than 9 in others, but taken as a whole, the working people here were generally more fortunate than in most industrial centers. Workers laid off by the industries most affected, were, to a large extent, absorbed by other busi- nesses more active. Recently The Indianapolis Star said, editorially: "Indianapolis is ranked among the fortunate cities of the country regarding unemployment. Conditions here are unusually favorable." Could there be any stronger demonstration of the civic value, the magnitude and the importance of local enterprises and open shops which in such large measure contribute to the health, progress and prosperity of labor and of the merchant, through the annual disbursement of millions of dollars in pay- rolls and the distribution and turn-over of millions of dollars worth of finished products. The population increase locally of thirty-five per cent in the last ten years can he traced to the growth of the open shop. An enthusiastic local manufacturer has made the prediction that: "Industrial Indianapolis will increase the city's population to 1,000,000 persons within the next ten years." Eighty new industries came to Indianapolis in 1920. About thirty new enterprises located here in 1919. Lastyear business immigra- tion to Indianapolis was halted by the generally unfavorable business aspect. Several hundred out of town enterprises have been negotiating to come here, however, and every indication points to a renewal of this influx with improvement in business conditions. STARTLING EVIDENCE OF GROWTH The most startling evidence of community growth, however, is found in the fact that in the year 1921, building operations in Indianapolis showed an increase over 1914 of more than ten million dollars. Building permits to the number of 10,135 were issued last year, representing a total valuation of $18,328,965. This was an increase of three million dollars, or more than 19 per cent over the 1920 total construction record, and an increase of almost 33 per cent in the total number of buildings erected. The 1921 valuation for new construction was also two and one-half million dollars more than in 1919 which up to that time, was considered a "peak-year in local building records. The fact that last year's building operations exceeded by several million dollars any previous period in the city's history at a time when construction work in most other communities was halted, indicates that this remarkable local growth is directly traceable to open shop development, through'the coming here of new industries because of desirable labor conditions. These new businesses brought thousands of additional workers with them, and helped to attract labor from other cities, necessitating extensive in- dustrial expansion and housing. iThat these new industries have added to our prosperity and population is indicated by the erection in 1921 of 1,700 dwelling houses, which was 192.68 per cent increase over the 1920 housing record. The value of dwellings erected in 1921 is given as $7,208,782-an increase over 1920 of 342.7 per cent. As a part of the city's extensive housing plans, forty-two new apartment houses were also erected last year-an increase in number over 1920 of 158.8 per cent, while the valuation of these structures increased 308 per cent over the previous year's record. A new bank building, a 10 hotel and some industrial expansion added to the total of last year's building valuation but about 50 per cent of the aggregate value was represented in new housing. The announced building program for 1922 indicates that new projects are planned that will exceed in valuation the high-water mark attained in 1921 and the prediction is made that building operations in Indianapolis during this year will exceed the figures of last year by many millions of dollars. Business blocks, office buildings and industrial erection will probably predominate over housing. Further evidence of substantial city growth and increasing population is found in the enlarged school enrollment which shows an increase in 1921 of 2,090 in the number of pupils over 1920. Bank clearings in 1921 were $798,000,000--only 18 per cent below the total clearings of 1920 which was a record year, and but $18,000,000 less than 1919. When it is considered that the years 1919 and 1920 were ones of abnormal values and prices, the bank clearings of 1921 in comparison with previous normal business periods, really show a material increase over the years prior to the period of inflation. DESERVES CORDIAL SUPPORT Your Officers and Directors have become impressed with several facts: First: There is no greater constructive force striving for the economic and business development of this community than the Associated Employers of Indianapolis; Second: The tangible and varied achievements of the organization are indelibly written into the city's history of growth and progress, and are daily of inestimable value and benefit to the citizenship at large; Third: The organization's usefulness and effectiveness in community development cannot be gauged solely by its activities in any one year, but more particularly by its achievements throughout the several years of its existence; Fourth: The prevailing open shop conditions industrially and com- mercially constitute a form of community insurance against labor troubles that is a civic asset of incalculable worth and one that the citizens of Indianapolis will do well to conserve if the city's continued growth and future prosperity is to be assured; and Fifth: In order to perpetuate the desirable labor conditions now existing, the Associated Employers of Indianapolis must continue to receive the cordial financial support that it has been accorded in the past by merchants as well as by manufacturers. INCLUDES ALL EMPLOYERS' GROUPS The Associated Employers of Indianapolis is not strictly a manufac- turers' association, but is distinctly an organization of employers, regardless of business. It includes in its membership of about five hundred, a repre- sentation of practically every department of industrial and commercial activity-imerchants as well as manufacturers, bankers as well as lawyers, 11 the butcher and the baker-not omitting the proverbial "candlestick maker." Membership in the Association is purely a civic obligation and a business proposition-an overhead expense that is just as essential as any other form of business and community insurance. The employer who does not belong to an association which may properly claim his support, is not doing his full duty to himself or to his community. To make your efforts effective, you must co-operate with your business associates. If employers do not do this, they deny themselves the support that others can convey to them, and they deprive their business associates of strength and co-operation that can with little effort and expensebe contributed to the mutual advantage of all concerned. The Associated Employers of Indianapolis needs the moral and financial support of all employers and certainly the community needs this Association. That it is more economical to help forestall and prevent labor troubles than to invite and temporize with conditions that render necessary the combating of strikes, was shown by the recent case of the City of Chicago which was compelled by the Court to pay $180,000 to the Pennsylvania Railroad for strike damages to railroad property during the Debs railroad strike of 1894. The money was paid upon a court award of $105,000 damages obtained in 1905, with $75,000 interest during the period in which an appeal has been pending. The railroad sued the city for damages to its property during the strike, its contention being that through failure to protect private property, the city was responsible for the loss. The Courts upheldthis contention, finding that if the citizens of Chicago could not guard property within the city, they should be penalized for their negligence. The tax-payers of Chicago have settled the bill for strike disorders, the chief benefit of their experience being the knowledge that a state or city which tolerates labor violence pays a heavier price for such lawlessness than its tax-payers can afford. The question of membership in the Associa- ted Employers of Indianapolis is not, therefore, a matter for selfish concern. It is an unselfish consideration and determination to financially aid the Association inthe perpetuation of reasonable and desirable labor conditions in behalf of community welfare. In these benefits you daily participate whether or not you are a member, and you owe it to your business associates to help bear the financial burden of this civic effort. BENEFITS ALL EMPLOYERS Defenses once built through collective effort must be maintained if the existing and desirable labor conditions are to be perpetuated. If the Association should be allowed to decay through lack of support, then the results that have been accomplished after an expenditure of money, time and effort over a long period of years, would be utterly lost, and the ground that has been won would have to be again fought for and regained. Strikes are wasteful-prevention is economy. There are, however, a few employers outside the membership who should join the Associated Employers because they are daily participating in the benefits of the organization's work, without sharing in the expense and labor of its maintenance. The employers of Indianapolis who have the least amount of labor trouble because they conduct open shop businesses, are the greatest beneficiaries of this organization's work since it has created and maintains 12 the very atmosphere and conditions that enable such employers to con- duct their enterprises without union domination. Yet there are some who may say-" I don't need the Association because I run an open shop free of labor trouble." But suppose this Association had not existed, or having achieved community betterment industrially, it should now go out of existence, how many weeks would elapse before Indianapolis could be unionized "from street sweeper to bank president," and how much needless turmoil and loss would this inflict upon employers and to employesP Present members should take home with them the thought and deter- mination to help strengthen the Association by securing at least one new member during the next thirty days. Words of approval from present members carry great weight. Show your non-affiliated associates that you value membership by impressing its benefits upon them, and a material increase in membership will result. The larger the membership, the greater will be the Association's potential possibilities of usefulness and effective- ness. It has been well saidthat-"the individual employer should not be content with desiring an-association to help him when he has a strike, and to help other employers when they have strikes, but he should give his actie moral and financial assistance to the organized effort to make his city a place in which the spirit of the community forbids industrial warfare." MEMBERSHIP CARRIES COMMUNITY PRESTIGE Here in Indianapolis, the open and whole-hearted support which members and the citizenship in general give to the Associated Employers and its activities on all occasions, has enhanced the Association's value as a firmly established force for law and order which must be reckoned with, and membership in the association has become a distinctive privilege, carrying with it the mark of the highest order of community prestige. The Shield, house organ of the Shield Press says: "The agency primarily responsible for making this city so attractive to substantial concerns and their employes, is the Associated Employers of Indianapolis of which every employer in the city should be a member." A member of this Association writes: "There is no organization in the United States that is doing as effective work towardsstraightening out the industrial problems as the Associated Employers of Indianapolis." Another member whom the Association assisted during strike troubles last year, writes that: "The Associated Employers of Indianapolis has been a dete imining factor in maintaining not only the open shop, but also a state of law and order. The Association has proven itself to be a worthy agency for industrial peace and prosperity, and I sincerely hope the membership appreciates and realizes the good work the Association is'doing." In January 1914, exactly ten years after it was first organized, the Association was enlarged when it absorbed the Commercial Vehicle Protective Association-the temporary organization which was formed and so successfully handled the teamsters' strike in December 1913. An- nually since then, the organization has been numerically and financially strengthened. It has successfully weathered all business depressions and added new members to the roster during the past year. The organization's finances are in a healthy condition and altogether the Association rests today upon a solid foundation of constructive effort and community good-will. S 13 The fairness of the Association in labor matters has promoted its steady growth in membership and has attained for it an important place in the civic life of the community. The organization is now classed among the foremost civic bodies and constructive agencies in the community and is rated as one of the largest and most active organizations of the kind in the country. Its members include about five hundred of the city's fairest, most representative and progressive employers of labor in every department of industrial, financial, commercial and mercantile enterprise. No associa- tion of business men, irrespective of its field of activity, has ever been given more loyal support than this organization, both by members and the citizenship at large, and for all of which your Officers are duly grateful. It is their hope and belief that with a continuance of this patriotic and unfaltering co-operation of a law-abiding citizenship, the good influence and usefulness of the Association will be further and materially extended during the ensuifig years. ELEVATES STANDARD OF LABOR RELATIONS One of the many benefits the community has derived through the existence of this Association, is to be found in its constant effort to encourage all employers, non-members as well as members, to be fair to their employes. The inconsiderate employer is the exception today, but wherever found, he is pointed out by strike agitators as the example by which all other employers are unfairly judged. In elevating the standard of industrial relations, this organization is therefore setting a high standard in the employment of labor. The New York Herald has said: "Indianapolis employers express their aim through their organization-the Associated Employers-'to de- fend the industrial and commercial life of the community against the encroachment of uneconomic conditions and on behalf of both employer and employe, to build up a bulwark of defense about the industrial peace of the city, affording to industry and enterprise a safe place for investment, and to labor, good living conditions, steady and lucrative employment."' The Associated Employers of Indianapolis has always urged the em- ployers of the city to make the betterment of working conditions and the payment to their employes, of just wages commensurate with individual efficiency, loyalty and service rendered, one of the fixed policies of open shop business management. The members of this Association are pledged in the organization's Principles,-" not to countenance any employer who does not pay a fair day's wage for a fair day's work," and the further declaration is made that "we believe in harmonious industrial relations between employer and employe, and that the latter shall receive adequate compensation and timely advancement for his service measured by his individual efforts." Two yeats ago, at the Annual Meeting of this Associa- tion, a Resolution was adopted to the effect that:-"We as employers will continue the payment of just wages to our employes in proportion to the individual worker's efficiency, productive ability and loyalty, and we will see to it at all times, that every employer shall take the same fair stand to the end'that every employe in the city of Indianapolis will receive a fair day's pay for a fair day's work, and every employer shall receive a fair day's work for a fair day's pay." The business and industrial life of Indianapolis has made it possible for more working people to own their homes here than in any other Ameri- 14 can city. Wages and salaries paid by local employers compare favorably with those paid by the employers of any other competitive business center, and in many instances, they exceed the rates prevailing in some of the larger cities. "If every city in the United States possessed the same spirit as that of Indianapolis, employers and employes would more fully under- stand each other, and the strike promoter would lose his job," writes an eastern correspondent. An officer of a national association in Chicago, writing to a Dallas, Texas manufacturer, says: In no town in the country will there be found a more broad-minded, public spirited body of employers than in Indianapolis, where the open shops furnish better working condi- tions and more continuous employment, and enable the workers to earn better wages than is possible in union shops." A local labor union paper says: "Indianapolis is one of the most desirable places of residence and employment. The city holds a distinguished record for industrial peace. Its large industrial population is more than passing prosperous. Wages are good and living conditions for families of the workers are not bettered anywhere . . . as the result of a real desire on the part of the employers to do their share to better the conditions of labor." In a symposium of labor conditions prevailing in twenty-two principal industrial cities, the New York Herald said of Indianapolis that-"Employers there have achieved community betterment through the establishment of the open shop. The spirit of the community is one of harmonious co-operation between employers and employes." A DISTINCTION IS DRAWN In support of the Herald's assertions, let the distinction be drawn that the members of this Association do not co-operate with paid union business Sagents and professional strike organizers, who cannot be considered as employes. It has been well said that "the worst foe of union labor is the reckless agitator who arouses the mob to riot and violence;the leader who, in the name of labor, tries to excite hatred and destroy the institutions of our country." There can be no co-operation with men of thischaracter since the keynote of harmonious and sympathetic understanding between those-who employ and those who work is "direct co-operation" between employer and employe "as such." This end is not achieved when em- ployers negotiate or temporize with professional outside disturbers who do not represent their employes, and whose ultimate aim is to unionize all business and disrupt the co-operative employment relations previously existing. The Declaration of Principles of this Association clearly state that our members "will resist those selfish interests which through coercion, false statements and violence, disrupt the relations of peace and unity existing between the just employer and his employes." In perfecting their member- ship, each member of this Association has declared through the organiza- tion's Principles, that- "We shall defend the right of every workman to be free to dispose of his time and skill advantageously, and we shall maintain the right of every employer to conduct an open shop-. . . We are un- alterably opposed to the principle of the closed shop. It is un-American, illegal and unfair to the independent workman who does not desire to join a union; to the employer who prefers to operate an open shop, and to the public." Indianapolis employers, and members of this Association in 15 particular, are working directly for the betterment of labor and for the entire business life of the community through the creation and perpetuation of inviting labor conditions. With a wider recognition of this fact will come a still larger and better city through a bigger output of products, increased sales, extended distribution and resulting prosperity which will be in turn reflected in the homes of the workers and hence in retail trade: WELFARE OF ALL CITIZENS INVOLVED Indianapolis was characterized in a recent publication, as "the national center of open shop effort," while the statement that "Indianapolis is pre-eminently an industrial city because of the excellence of its labor conditions," appears in the preface of Polk's 1921 edition of the City Directory. The Indianapolis News has said editorially, that: "Indian- apolis is particularly fortunate in being regarded as one of the least disturbed industrial centers in the country, and is fast gaining a national reputation as a city of industrial harmony." The Literary Digest said: "As a result of the work of the Associated Employers of Indianapolis, one of the most active open shop organizations in the United States, Indianapolis has becoine recognized throughout the country as an open shop city." The Industrial Digest of Cleveland says: "To those who desire to see our country more productive and a more co-operative spirit existent between employers and employes, we express the belief that the industrial principles established by the Associated Employers of Indianapolis will greatly attain this end." The Iron Trade Review has said: "The principal in- dustrial organization in Indiana is the Associated Employers of Indianapolis one of the pioneer organizations of the country and one of the most effi- ciently organized, most active and successful associations of the kind in the United States. It is accomplishing as much good for the average employe as for the employer." The desirability of local labor conditions, necessarily merges the personal and property interests of every citizen and tax-payer with the city's prosperity. Nothing that interferes with business can possibly benefit labor. Elbert Hubbard said: "When you attack men who main- tain pay-rolls, you hit the wage-earner, kick his wife and cuff his children." With employment gone, the merchant suffers. A city prospers and de- velops only in proportion to the extent that its businesses are enabled to provide uninterrupted work for labor. Each individual is, therefore, personally concerned in all industrial questions involving the welfare of the city which either promote or adversely affect the community's in- dustrial stability and its business growth. Law and order among other things is essential to the commercial progress and industrial expansion of any city, and the members of the Associated Employers of Indianapolis stand pledged in the organization's Declaration of Principles-" to support the properly constituted authorities in the impartial enforcement of law and strict maintenance of order at all times and in all places, so that our community may enjoy its constitutional and inalienable right-to peace, liberty and security for life and property." At the Annual Meeting of the Associated Employers of Indianapolis on February 17, 1920, the following Resolution was unanimously adopted: "Resolved: That we support, and urge upon our elected representatives and duly appointed Officers of the Government, the enforcement of all laws directed against revolutionary 16 and un-American activities, whether in individual or collective form; we especially call upon all citizens to uphold our established institutions; the perpetuation of the rights of property; the sacredness of the law, and the inviolableness of the courts, and to militantly oppose any man or organization of men opposed to these principles." BUILDING TRADES SITUATION The foregoing review of remarkable local conditions that have promoted community growth and prosperity, brings us finally to a consideration of the deplorably unionized condition in the printing and building trades and which have been frequently referred to as "the black spots on the industrial map of Indianapolis." The building and printing trades are locally the strength of union labor, just as they are in the allied labor union councils all over the country. They constitute the backbone and sinew of the American Federation of Labor. Outside of these two trades, Indianapolis is worthy of its name as an "open shop city," but during the period of extensive building operations last year, five thousand unionized craftsmen in the building trades monopolized this prosperity to the detriment and exclusion of owners, unemployed labor and the public. The effect of this closed shop building condition has been to make the labor costs of con- struction and repair work higher here than they should be, and the cost is reflected in the standard of housing rents. With the return of normal conditions which will force a reduction in rental property, many owners will probably have high priced property on hand that will not bring the returns that the investment should afford. It is a foregone conclusion that rents must come down. Monthly surveys have shown that while the cost of all other commodities in the family budget is decreasing, coal and shelter have maintained the highest level with an upward tendency in many places. Another uneconomic phase of the unionized condition in the building trades is to be found in the fact that where the closed shop prevails, any prosperity that the citizenship might otherwise enjoy in finding employment on building operations, is denied to all who do not belong to a craft union. As an -example-during the past year of extensive building operations, while ten thousand workers in other lines were displaced and needed em- ployment, and at a time when President Harding called his unemployment conference, the five thousand unionized workers in the building trades monopolized the prosperity and employment afforded them locally, and profiteered at the expense of owners, builders, unemployed labor and the public. No person outside of these unions, no independent worker no matter how capable, was permitted to go on any job and work without a union card-and the unions are under no compulsion to grant the "card." And this, regardless of the fact that this building was due to the open shop conditions existing in other lines and that the labor out of employment was efficient, worthy and may have needed work very badly. Some of this unemployed labor consisted of home-owners who pay taxes to promote the community welfare, yet -because they belong to no union, they were and are deprived of participation in building operations that could have ac- commodated hundreds of them with employment, while a select and unionized minority maintain a closed shop strangle-hold on building and prosperity. 17 IS IT FAIR TO LABOR? Is this fair to the community; is it fair to the tax-payers; is it fair to the property and home owners? Is it fair to the public that pays the freight? Is it fair to labor itself? Out of a total city population of 350,000, of which number the government says 146,300 are gainful workers, the allied unions of Indianapolis claim a total membership of 10,000 which is but 3 per cent of the city's total population, and 6 per cent of the gainful workers. And of these ten thousand unionized workers, the five thousand craftsmen in the building trades, therefore, represent a minority group of 1 per cent of our citizens who say to the other 98 2 per cent of the total unorganized population that: "You have no right to participate in this building trades prosperity, because you do not belong to our minority union group. We unionists reserve the sole right to dictate to the majority, the wages and conditions of our employment and the 9812 per cent unorganized citizenship must in high rents and other living costs, pay the freight whatever the cost to the community may be, or we will tie up the city's whole building program by a strike, until you do." These are reasons why a closed shop clause in a building contract for public institutions, specifying the employment of union men only on the erection of structures built with the tax-payers' money, is illegal and can and should be enjoined. It discriminates in favor of a minority group of citizens as against the majority of tax-payers. Along with it all come the economic losses represented in the closed shop jurisdictional union strikes and restrictions in production, which add enormously to construction costs. In Cleveland, Ohio, theGrand Jury investigated the building trades unions and found that while hourly wages had gone up two hundred per cent in some instances, the limited work schedule which necessitated payment of overtime wages had actually increased the labor cost almost four hundred per cent. In its report the Grand Jury said: "Testimony adduced before us indicates conclusively that it requires twice as long, with the same number of men, to erect a house today, as it did in pre-war times. Impartial tests show that it takes twice as many carpenter hours to do carpenters' work on a building, as it did five years ago. Bricklayers lay less than half the number of bricks; paperhangers, painters and plasterers all do less than half the work in the same time that they did five years ago." Such conditions are general and not uncommon. The files of the Associated Emploers are bulging with evidence of this nature from all parts of the country, showing a general practice on the part of union labor in the building trades to restrict production. And the public pays the freight-since the cost is passed along to the consumer, the renter and the property owner. And with those restrictions come limitation of apprentices in all building trades unions-whereby no more than two or three boys can learn a trade at one time in any closed shop. The ultimate result will be an utter lack of building trades mechanics, unless the youth of our country are permitted to equip themselves for a livelihood. And the fewer the mechanics, the higher the price of labor will go, just as in the case of com- modities and necessities. That these uneconomic conditions adversely affect every other line of business and industry in Indianapolis, is indicated by this paragraph from a letter issued by the local machinists' union. It said: "Measure up your wage scale with the lesser crafts. See how they 18 compare with the wage of steamfitter, the plumber, the electrician, the carpenter, the bricklayer and the hod-carrier. See how much difference there is in the hourly rate." COMPARISON WITH CONDITIONS ELSEWHERE Union wage scales prevailing in the Indianapolis building trades generally average much higher per hour than the wage rates paid in most other cities of equal size and business importance, and for the different unionized crafts, range from about 90 cents to $1.15 per hour. Recently questionnaires were sent by the Associated Employers of Indianapolis to one thousand cities and the tabulated replies show that Indianapolis is on a par with New York, Chicago, St. Louis and other metropolitan cities where the closed union shop prevails in the building trades, and where living and labor conditions have no comparison with prevailing conditions here. A letter from St. Louis says: "The building trades in St. Louis are thor- oughly tied up by the unions on a strictly closed shop basis. Wages paid here are as high or higher than in any city in the United States. Millions of dollars worth of construction is being held up in this city. The Builders' Association has not yet been able to secure a reduced wage scale of any kind. Membership vote on Chamber of Commerce referendum for open or closed shop, resulted in vote of fourteen for closedshop and six hundred for the open shop." The St. Louis situation is not unusual where the closed union shop is enforced in the building trades. From New York, Chicago and scores of other cities, comes the same wail. In numerous cities, votes of the citizens are being taken by various organizations to ascertain the community sentiment with respect to the open shop. Invariably the vote is over- whelmingly in its favor. In Cleveland recently, the vote of the membership of the Chamber of Commerce for the open shop in the building trades was 3,794 in favor and 224 against. Your Association is in receipt of letters from all the important industrial centers of the United States, and they unanimously recite the same tale of building stagnation where unionized craftsmen monopolize construction work. Letters from cities where the building trades are conducted on the open shop basis all show activity and decided community growth. As far as known, Indianapolis is the only city in the country that presents the unusual spectacle of having exceeded all previous building records last year, under a closed shop condition in the construction trades. The answer is that this is entirely due to the open shop conditions which prevail here outside of the building and printing trades, in all other lines of industrial and commercial activity. Indianapolis simply "paid the freight" in higher labor costs and the owner and the public will in the end be the loser. With reference to the general effect of unionized conditions in the building trades, The Iron Trade Review of Cleveland says: "Where unions in the building trades have considered themselves strong enough, they have proposed to dictate the purposes for which the buildings they erect may be used. If this tendency is not checked, trades unions ultimate- ly may be powerful enough to refuse to erect any structure intended for industrial purposes, the owners of which refuse to commit themselves to the closed union shop." It remains with the property owners and citizens of Indianapolis to determine for the future, how far the unionized condition 19 in the building trades shall tend to make this a 100 per cent unionized community as it was two decades ago, and thereby undo the good work that has been accomplished by setting this community back for years to come. REMEDY RESTS WITH OWNERS Present wage agreements between local contractors and the building trades unions expire April 1st, and at the time this is written, it is said that the sheet metal workers union, at a time when costs should come down, have made a demand for an increase-in wages from 922 cents to $1.00 per hour. It is expected other unionized trades will make similar demands, in the hopes that compromises will be reached that will maintain the existing exorbitant rates which should be readjusted downward. A news- paper publicity campaign has been carried on in local papers for several weeks by the allied building trades unions, the purpose of which is to prepare the public mind for the wage demands that are to come and for the continuance of closed shop-conditions which will be asked. Certainly the public has a direct interest in these matters and should assert its right to be heard. It will be a great day for Indianapolis labor and citizens when all branches of the building trades are placed on the open shop basis, which will provide employment to all labor without limitation or discrimination. It seems that the time has arrived for property owners to pledge them- selves not to build or repair except on the open shop basis. Architects should be encouraged to discard the closed shop clause in building contracts and promote the owners and renters' economic interest by insisting upon the insertion of the American Plan clause instead. "In common with the contractor, there has been a tendency for the architect to make concessions and compromises to the unions, in order to avoid delays over labor questions," says Mr. Walter Drew in his book entitled-"A Letter to The Architect." He states: "By reason of this policy of concession and compromise, closed shop unionism has obtained a stronger foot-hold in the building industry than in almost any other. The demand on the part of the unions-that the architect shall join with them in strengthening their closed shop control, is becoming more in- sistent. As the representative of the owner it would seem to be the duty of the architect to investigate the closed shop and its practical operation and effects most carefully before he gives heed to the unions' demand. "The architects' employment depends upon-the interests of the owner, the general good of the community and the growth and development of the building industry. American cities as a rule, furnish ample demonstration that closed shop domination of building trades operations directly militates against the majority welfare and progress of the city as a whole, since it means on the economic side, an abnormal building cost, high rents and a community uninviting to outside capital.. Architects should be the last group to lend themselves to such a movement,." says Mr. Drew. The call of the hour is for efficiency, economy and production in every avenue of human endeavor, and the people of this community should insist upon equitable building trades conditions, in order to give both labor and enterprise unlimited opportunity to expand and prosper on a square deal basis for independent labor and the public. 20 This will not mean the disruption of the building trades unions or the precipitation of an issue between employers and employes. It will simply mean that in the interests of justice and fair play for all concerned, tie minority of organized craftsmen in the building trades shall no longer arbitrarily dictate the'terms, conditions and costs of erection and repair at the expense of the community and other labor, and shall cease their monopoly over labor and employment conditions. The unions may con- tinue to exist the same as any church, lodge, club or society, but they shall have no more rights under the law or beyond the law, in attempting to restrain trade or deny employment, than any other legitimate organization or group of citizens. And all labor as such will prosper not just an organized minority. OPEN SHOPS DESERVE PATRONAGE As long as the professional labor union agitators' assumed and un- warranted attempts to dictate over business, industry and labor are met with indifference and passive resistance, the injustices arising therefrom to employers, employes and the public, will increase in scope and effect. If the labor unions are to be judged by the un-American tactics of their self-constituted misleaders, then no true friend of labor-organized or unorganized-should wish for it the attainment of ends that tend to undermine the recognized standards of humanity, loyalty and justice. The New York Times once said: "Whoever buys anything bearing the union label, subscribes to the theory of the closed shop, and the merchant who submits to sell such articles because of the label, bows his neck to the yoke." So commonplace have the abuses of the labor unions become under bad leadership, that many citizens pass them by unnoticed, apparently unmind- ful of the fact that through their indifference, or shall it be said cowardice in remote instances, the power of commercial life and death hangs in the balance. When the consuming public fails or refuses to patronize open shop firms that are fighting against closed shop strangulation, the union boycott and kindred evils, and for the right to conduct their own business and for the right of independent labor to employment, such lack of patron- age tends to weaken the defenses of good citizenship while the funds of the unions at the same time become enriched to enliven their onslaught on society. Leaders of labor unions annually spend thousands of dollars out of organization funds merely for the purpose or ultimate effect of throttling business. Recognition of a wholly fictitious right of none but union men to work, is a weapon-not a principle. In a case where a non-union man had lost his job on account of his refusal to join a labor union, and in which he recovered damages, the Supreme Court of Massachusetts said: "The gain which a labor union may expect to derive from inducing others to join it, is not an improvement to be obtained directly in the conditions under which the men are working, but added strength for such contests with employers as may arise in the future." .Locally, the Associated Employers of Indianapolis has saved both employers and wage-earners many thousands of dollars that might other- wise have been expended in useless and wasteful strikes, and it is now 21 possible for Indianapolis to give assurances to the business man who is solicited to invest his capital here, that he and his employes will be protected, both in the spirit and the letter of the law, in the enjoyment of their contractural right to hire and to work. In conclusion, and on behalf of the various Committees, your President and Secretary extend to the in- dividual members of the Association, the thanks and appreciation of your Officers for the loyal support you have accorded them. It is through your unfaltering and unanimous co-operationthat your Officers in the performance of their duties, can help guide the destiny of the Association "with malice toward none and charity for all," and impartially enforce and defend to the fullest extent, the Association's Declaration of Principles. With your continued support, the scope of your Association's good influence will be materially extended in helping to sustain the good name of Indianapolis as "a community free from industrial disturbances," where labor and enterprise find a "haven of refuge;" where "co-operation between employer and employe" is the watchword, and where their mutuality of interests is both promoted and protected. Respectfully submitted, HARVEY G. SHAFER, President ANDREW J. ALLEN, Secretary ASSOCIATED EMPLOYERS OF INDIANAPOLIS, Inc. February 16, 1922. 22 ECLARATION of Principles-Associated Employers of Indianapolis, Inc. We, the members of the Associated Employers of Indianapolis, Inc. hereby declare the following fundamental principles which shall govern us hereafter in our industrial relations to each other, to our employes and to the public. 1. We believe in harmonious industrial relations between employer and employe and that the latter shall receive adequate compensation and timely advancement for his service measurerd by his individual efforts. We shall not countenance any employer who does not pay a fair day's wage for a fair day's work, nor any employe who shirks a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. 2. We are unalterably opposed to the principle of the closed shop. It is un-American, illegal and unfair to the independent workman who does not desire to join a union, to the employer who prefers to operate an open shop and to the public. Therefore, we shall defend the right of every workman to be free to dispose of his time and skill advantageously, and we shall maintain the right of every employer to conduct an open shop. 3. We are strenuously opposed to lockouts, strikes, sympathetic strikes, boycotts and kindred evils. We will resist those selfish interests which thru coercion, false statements and violence, disrupt the relations of peace and unity existing between the just employer and his employes. 4. Law and order are essential to the commercial progress and devel- opment of any city. We pledge our support to the properly constituted authorities for the impartial enforcement of law and the strict mainte- nance of order at all times and in all places, so that our community may enjoy its constitutional and inalienable right to peace, liberty and security for life and property. 23 APPLICATION for membership in the Associated Employers of Indianapolis, Inc., 1406-07 Merchants Bank Building. We, or I, the undersigned, appreciating that manufacturers and mer- chants, bankers, business men, employers, employes and citizens generally of Indianapolis, are greatly benefited by the existing labor conditions which have promoted the city's growth and prosperity by reason of the fact that Indianapolis is known as "a city free from industrial disturbances" because it is ninety percent open shop industrially and commercially. And with a desire to promote the perpetuation of these conditions, and in support of the open shop and the Declaration of Principles of the Associated Employers of Indianapolis, Inc., do hereby apply for member- ship and agree for a period of three years, to pay the fees and dues as provided in its Constitution and By-Laws to-wit: MEMBERSHIP FEE-$10.00 payable on presentation of application. MEMBERSHIP DUES--$12.00 per annum for the first twelve employes or less and 50 cents per annum additional for each male and each female employe in excess of the number of twelve, payable semi-annually Signed (FIRM) D a te By (Proper Executive Officer) Address No. of Employes(Male )Female 24 OPEN SHOP EMBLEM (SPECIAL BULLETIN) "When You Attack M Who Maintain Pa ~~ ~ ROllS, You Hitth THE ASSOCIATED M We-Eer, Kick Wife, and Cuff Hi IOF INDIANAPOLISINC. SHOP -Elhert Hnh 1406-1407 MERCHANTS BANK BLDG. ANDREW J. ALLEN. SECY. YOUR ANSWER WILL EELP DECIDE. Feb.17192 TO NON-MEM13ER EMPLOYERS OF INDIANAPOLIS:Z As a juror in the "Court of Public Opinion", what is your answer to these questiona:- "Shall Indianapolis continue to increase in point of population and industrial importance? To what extent have open shop labor conditions promoted the growth and prosperity of the community? Is it best that the city should be open shop or closed shop industrially and commercially?" The answers to these questions seriously affect the welfare and progress of the community, and it-is for the citizenship and business interests to decide. As a tax-payer whose prosperity is necessarily merged with the development of Indianapolis, you are personally and vitally interested in these problems - It matters not whether you are manufacturer, banker, merchant or professional man. No greater civic duty and responoibility confronts you than to help promote and maintain the id-eal labor condit-ions -that have enabled you to enjoy the fruits of a peaceful industri-al community, - fre-e from labor troubles. You can in no better way befriend labor as such, nor promote the welfare o1 the- orking -people or your own- business,-tha to help maintain the conditioff that make it possible for all employees to normally enjoy steady and lucrative employment which reacts to 'the benefit of the entire business life of Indianapolis, You owe it to yourself and to your business associates to become full acquainted-with the accomplishments in the foregoing respects, of the Associa-Led Employers of Indianapolis, the daily work of which is of inesial au oyu and member-ship in which is a plain business proposition - an overhead expense thath is just as necessary to your business as any other form of insurance. NO TE In fairness to yourself and in fulfillment of your duty to this community, we ask you to carefu lly read the enclosed report of Officers of this Association as presented last Thursday evening at the organization's' 18th Annual Meeting. community, won't you please execute, detach and return the application for membership printed on 'the back outside over of the enclosed report? Very truly yours, FOR TIP] MEMBERSHXJ. COMMITTEE. B < Y w~eta~9 This book is a preservation facsimile produced for the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. It is made in compliance with copyright law and produced on acid-free archival 60# book weight paper which meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (permanence of paper). Preservation facsimile printing and binding by Northern Micrographics Brookhaven Bindery La Crosse, Wisconsin 2010