Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 January 1910 — Doh’t Weep At The Ice House. [ARTICLE]

Doh’t Weep At The Ice House.

Some people swell up on “emotion” brewed from absolute untruth. > It’s an old trick of the leaders of the Labor Trust to twist facts and make the “sympathetic ones” “weep at the Ice house.” (That’s part of the tale further on.) Gompers et a!., sneer at, spit., upon and defy our courts, seeking sympathy by falsely telling the people the courts were trying to deprive them of free speech and free press. Men can speak freely and print opinions freely in this country and no court will object, but they cannot bo allowed to print matter as part of a criminal conspiracy to injure and ruin Other citizens. Gompers and his trust associates started out to ruin tlio Bucks Stove Co., drive its hundreds of workmen out of work and destroy the value of the plant without regard to the fact that hard earned money of men who worked, had been invested there.

The conspirators were told by the courts to stop these vicious “trust” methods, (efforts to break the firm that won’t come under trust rule), but instead of stopping they “dare” the courts to punish them and demand new laws to protect them in such destructive and tyrannous acts as they may desire to do. * * * The reason Gompers and his band persisted in trying to ruin the Bucks Stove Works was because the stove company Insisted on the right to keep some old employees at work when “de union” ordered them discharged and some of “de gang” put in. Now let us reverse the conditions and have a look. Suppose the company had ordered the union to dismiss certain men from their union, and, the demand being refused, should institute a boycott against that union, publish its name in an “unfair list,” instruct, other manufacturers all over the United States not to buy the labor of that union, have committees call at stores and threaten to boycott if the merchants sold anything made by that union. Picket the factories where members work and Slug them on the way home, blow up their houses and wreck the works, and even murder a few members~oUtlrer boycotted union to teach them they must obey the orders of “organized Capital?” 4 It would certainly be fair for the company to do these things if lawful for the Labor Trust to do them. In such a case, under our laws, the boycotted union could apply to our courts and the courts would order the company to cease boycotting and trying to ruin these union men. Suppose thereupon the company should sneer at the court and in open defiance continue the unlawful acts in a persistent, carefully laid out plan, purposely intended to ruin the union and force its members into poverty. What a, howl would go up from the union demanding that the courts protect them and punish .their jlaw-breaking oppressor% Then they would praise the courts and go on earning a living pro-' tested from ruin and happy in the knowledge that the people’s courts could defend them. . How could any of us receive protection from law-breakers unless the courts have power to, and do punish such men. The court is placed in position where it must do one thing or the otherr—punish men who persist in defying its peace orders or go out of service, let anarchy’ reign and the more powerful destroy the weaker. Peaceable citizens Bustain . the courts as their defenders, whereas thieves, forgers, burglars, crooks of all kinds and violent members of labor unions, hate them and threaten violence-it their members are punished f or WHfeking the law. They want the courts to let them go free and at the same time dfepidnd punishment for.other, men “outside de .union" when, they break the law. • • * Notice the above reference is to “violent” members of labor unions. The great majority of the “unheard” union men are peaceable, upright citizens. The noisy, violent ones get into office and the leaders of the great Labor Trust know how to man thk kind of men.

in labor conventions and thus carry out the leaders’ schemes, frequently abhorrent to the rank and file: so it was at the late Toronto convention. The paid delegates would applaud and “resolute” as Gompers wanted, but now and then some of the real workingmen insist on being heard, sometimes at the risk of their lives. Delegate Egan is reported to have said at the Toronto convention: “If the officers of the federation would only adhere to the law we would think a lot more of them.” The Grand Council of the Provincial Workingmen’s Ass’n of Canada has declared in favor of severing all connection with unions in the U. S., saying “any union having Its seat of Gov’t in America, and pretending to be international in its scope, must fight industrial battles according to American methods. Said methods have consequences which are abhorrent to the law-abiding people of Canada involving hunger, misery, riot, bloodshed and murder, all of which might be termed a result of the practical war now in progress In our fair province and directed by foreign emissaries of the United Miners of America.”

That is an honest Canadian view of our infamous “Labor Trust.” A few days ago the daily papers printed the following: (By the Associated Press.) Washington, D. C., Nov. 10. —Characterizing the attitude of Samuel Gompers, John Mitchell and Frank Morrison of the American Federation of Labor in the contempt proceedings in the courts of the District of Columbia, in connection with the Bucks’ Stove and Range Company, as “a willful, premeditated violation of the law,” Simon Burns, general master workman of the general assembly, Knights of Labor, has voiced a severe condemnation of these three leaders. Mr. Burns expressed his confidence in courts in general and In those of the District of Columbia in particular. APPROVED BY DELEGATES. This rebuke by Burns was in his annual report to the general assembly of his organization. He received the hearty approval of the delegates who heard it read at their annual meeting in this city. “There is no trust or combination of capital in the world,” said Mr. Burns, “that violates laws oftener than do the trust labor organizations, which resort to more dishonest, unfair and dishonorable methods toward their competitors than any trust or combinations in the country.” Mr. Burns said the action of “these so-called leaders” would be harmful for years to" come whenever attempts were made to obtain labor legislation. “The Labor Digest,” a reputable workingman’s paper, says, as part of an article entitled “The Beginning of tjte End of Gompersism, many organizations becoming tired of the rule-or-ruin policies which have been enforced by the president of the A. F. of L.” “That he has maintained his leadership for so long a time in thb face of his stubborn clinging to policies which the more thoughtful of the workingmen have seen for years must be abandoned, has been on account partly of the sentimental feeling on the part of the organizations that he Ought not to be deposed, and the unwillingness of the men who were mentioned for the place to accept a nomination in opposition to him. In addition to this, there is no denying the shrewdness of the leader of the A. F. of L., and his political sagacity, which has enabled him to keep a firm grip on the machinery of the organization, and to have his faithful henchmen in the positions where they could do him the ml&t good whenever their services might be needed. -..... “Further than this, he has never failed, at the last conventions, to have some sensation to spring on the convention at the psychological moment, which wouli* place him in the light of at; martyr to the cause of unionism, and excite a wave of sympathetic enthttsissm for him, which would carry the' delegates off their feet, and result in his reflection.

“That his long leadership, and this apparent impossibility to fill his place has gone to his head, and made him imagine that he is much greater a man than he really is, is undoubtedly the case, and accounts for the tactics he has adopted in dealing with questions before congress, where he has unnecessarily antagonized men to whom organized labor must look for recognition of their demands, and where labor measures are often opposed on account of this very antagonism, which would otherwise receive support. v “There Is no doubt but what organized labor in this country would be much stronger with a leader ivho was more in touch with conditions as they actually exist, and who would bring to the front the new policies which organized labor must adopt if it expects to even maintain its present standing, to say nothing of making future progress.” We quote portions of another article, a reprint, from the same labor paper:

labor, through its leaders, must recognize the mistakes of the past if they expect to perpetuate their organizations or to develop the movement which they head. No movement, no organization, no nation can develop beyond the intellects which guide these organizations, and if the leaders are dominated by a selfish motive the organization will become tinged with a spirit of selfishness, which has never appealed to mankind in any walk of life at any time since history began. “It can be said in extenuation of certain leaders of organized labor that the precarious position which they occupy as leaders has had a tendency to cause them to lose sight of the object behind the organization. The natural instinct in man for power and position is in no small measure responsible for the mistakes of the leaders, not necessarily in labor unions alone, - but in every branch of society. This desire for power and leadership and personal aggrandizement causes men who have been earnest and sincere in their efforts in the start to deteriorate into mere politicians whose every act and utterance is tinged with the desire to cater to the baser passions of the working majority in the societies or organizations and this is undoubtedly true when applied to the present leaders of the Federation. We mention the Federation of Labor particularly in this article because that organization is the only organization of labor which has yet found Itself In direct opposition to the laws of tfia land. There are other organizations of labor whose leaders have made mistakes, but they have always kept themselves and their organizations within the bounds of the law and respected the rights of every other man in considering the rights of themselves and their constituency; whereas; the motto of the Federation is just the reverse, and unless the leaders conform themselves and. their organization in accordance with the laws of the land, the leaders and the organization itself must be disintegrated apd pass into history, for in America the common sense in mankind is developed, to a greater extent than in any other nation on the earth, and the people, who are the court of last resort in this country, will never allow any system to develop in this country which does not meet with the approval of the majority of the citizens of the country. “This must have forced itself upon the leaders of the Federation by this time. If-it has not, the leaders must be eliminated. The organization which they head has done many meritorious things in times past and the people are always ready and willing to acknowledge the benefits which their effortabav ejtfUßgfiC Ui liteir coastUnency as a whole, but at the present time labor organizations in -general, and the Federation-©f Labor in particular, stand before the bar of public opinion, having been convicted of selfishness and a disposition to ruty ell the people of the country in the Interest of the few. The people are patient and awaiting to see if the object lesson which they have been ferefd to

give to these leaders Is going to- h¥ recognized and if they are going to conform themselves and their future work and actions in accordance thereto.” Let the people remember that comment, “The Federation of Labor in particular stands before the bar of public opinion having been convicted of selfishness and a disposition to rule all the people of the country in the interest of the few.” The great 90 per cent of Americans do not lake kindly to the acts of tyranny by these trust leaders openly demanding that all people bow down to the rules of the Labor Trust and we are treated to the humiliating spectacle of our Congress and even the Chief Executive entertaining these convicted law-breakers and listening with consideration to their insolent demands that the very laws be changed to allow them to safely carry on their plan of gaining control over the affairs of the people. The sturdy workers of America have cOme to know the truth about these “martyrs sacrificing themselves in the noble cause of labor” but it’s only the hysterical ones who swell up and cry over the aforesaid “heroes,” reminding one of the two romantic elderly maids who, weeping copiously, were discovered by the old janitor at Mt. Vernon. i. “What is it ails you ladies?” Taking the handkerchief from one swollen rqd eye, between sobs she said: “Why, we have so long revered the memory of George Washington that we feel It a privilege to come here and weep at his tomb.” “Yas’m, yas’m, yo’ shore has a desire to express yo’ sympathy, but yo’ are overflowin’ at de wrong spot, yo' is weepin’ at de ice house.” Don’t ge,t maudlin about law-break-ers who must be punished if the very existence of our people Is to be maintained^. —• — . , v ~’ _ If you have any surplus sympathy it can be extended to the honest workers who continue to earn food when threatened and are frequently hurt and sometimes killed before the courta can intervene to protect them. Now the Labor Trust leaders demand of Congress that the courts be stripped of power to Issue injunctions to prevent them from assaulting or perhaps murdering men who dare earn a living when ordered by the Labor Trust to quit work. Don’t “weep at the Ice House” and don’t permit any set of law-breakera to bully our courts, if your voice and vote can prevent. Be sure and write your Representatives and Senators in Congress asking them not to vote for any measure to prevent the courts from protecting homes, property and persons from attack by paid agents of this great Labor Trust. Let every reader write, and write now. v Don’t sit silent and allow the organized and paid men of this great trust to force Congress'to believe they represent the great masses of the American people. Say your say and let your representatives in Congress know that you do not want to be governed under new laws which would empower the Labor Trust leaders with legal right to tell you when to work. Where! For whom! At what price! What to buy! What not to buy!’ Whom to vote for! How much you shall pay per month in fees to the Labor Trust! etc., etc., etc. This power is now being demanded by the passage of laws in Congress. Tell your Senators and Representatives plainly that you don’t want them to vote for any measure .that will allow any set of men either representing Capital or Labor to govern and iHntatn tin ttw rtnirnntrn jyimftln; who prefer to-be tree tago and come, work or not, and vote for wboth they please. Every man’s liberty will disappear when the leaders of the great Labor Trust or afly other trust can—rough shod over people and mass their forces tc prevent our courts from affording protection. "There’s a Reason.” a W. POST, Battle Creek, llich.