Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 56, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1916 — Crisis for Nation’s Toilers. [ARTICLE]

Crisis for Nation’s Toilers.

What the laborer didn’t see under the Republican regime was that High Tariff does not regulate wages, but makes it possible for the manufacturer to so regulate prices that he can control labor. The farmer, with his characteristic self-reliance and naturally Independent spirit asked no favors. All he wanted was an equal chance with other business men. Wilson saw the farmers’ Interests In a big way. The Rural Credits Act alone, of more than a dozen big things thia Democratic Congress did for agriculture, gave greater direct benefits to the farmers than any legislation enacted since the creation of the Department of Agriculture a generation ago. There came a time when the laborer saw that hia labor was a commodity, a thing to be bought and sold, or restrained or enjoined by the unwarranted issuance of injunction writs in Federal courts; he saw that he did not have the right—guaranteed him by our constitution—of voluntary association for his own protection and. welfare; in short, he saw that he was a wage slavel He saw that he was up against Capital—organized and entrenched behind the Powerful Pull of the Political Bosses of the Republican High Finance Gang, and Organized Capital fought to prevent the organization of Labor! What did Labor demand? Merely this: That Labor be made part of thenational councils; that Its patriotism be conceded; and that Its knowledgeof its own needs give it paramount voice in legislation directly and peculiarly affecting its own rights. And what has been the spirit of this. Democratic Administration? Let Samuel Gompers, President of the American Federation of Labor tell: “In my experience with United: States Congresses during two score, years I have not seen anything like the fine spirit toward labor, toward the rights and welfare of all the people, pervading all the branches of the Wilson Administration. This fundamental right spirit has guided the Wilson Administration to wise and righteous labor legislation.” In the age long struggle between Capital, which has always had permission to combine, and Labor, which was denied the right to combine, the greatest step toward the full enfranchisement of labor was recommended by a Democratic President and put Into law by a Democratic Congress—the anti-injunction Amendment to the Clayton Law. Farmers and Laborers of America — biggest of all Big Interests—the crest of the crisis has come. You —the big element in our national life and the real makers of our prosperity—you are to decide: Are we to continue a democracy or are we to go back to the Good Old Piffle of a specious administration which would buy your vote by damning the man who has given you what you asked so gave it to you because it was right and proper and just! Make no mistake. The Issue of thia campaign is as plain as the nose on your face. It is: Big Interests vs. the biggest inter*, esta. Invisible Government vs. True Democracy. Big Words vs. Deeds. Promises vs. Accomplishments. ? ? Hughes vs. 11l Wilson I |j