Lapas attēli
PDF
ePub

B

BOLSHEVISM HOTLY CONDEMNED British Labor Leader Sounds Warning

Portland, Ore., Nov. 30

OLSHEVISM got a red hot condemnation at the hands of Frank Hodges, secretary of the British Miners' Federation, who addressed the American Federation of Labor convention.

Hodges declared that Bolshevism, "born in an Asiatic mind" made intellectual, moral and economic slaves and offering nothing to Western civilization. Hodges warned especially against the communist nuclei, "borers from within," who comes unseen, working by stealth to rot down the structure of trade unionism.

"You here," said the British Miners' leader, to the accompaniment of deafening cheers, "are going through the same battle of ideas as we are in the old country, and, for that matter, as we are in Europe; but as long as there are different mentalities there will always be a clash of ideas. In Europe, as here, the old idea of parliamentary democracy, and democracy generally, is being challenged; it is being challenged by an entirely new theory of government; it is being challenged by the cast iron theories developed in Moscow.

"Those theories are established with the purpose of showing to the world that democracy as popularly understood is played out; that liberty and fraternity are just figments of the imagination and that the British labor movement, as indeed they have said to the German labor movement and the French labor movement: 'You are on the wrong track. What is required for the emancipation of the working classes is the Soviet system of government.'

"Now, we don't regard that change as being something of which we take into account. We invite the apostles of this new theory of government to come out into the open and declare from public platforms how it is that this theory of government can be regarded as something infinitely superior to our ideas of democratic government. We invite them out into the open; we say, 'Table your arguments; let the world hear what you have to offer.' And the more you invite them on the platforms the more obvious it becomes to the ordinary mind that this form of government has nothing to offer or to improve upon our democratic form of government.

"I feel sure that the American leader and the American working man is something like the Britisher in this regard. He hates, despises and rejects dictatorship of any character or description. Why, I have often said we are so open-minded in the labor movement that we can scarcely tolerate each other's views, much less tolerate such a view as this. We treat a man's views

with courtesy and respect, but we immediately react and rebel against that man if he attempts to impose them upon us. That is as being individuals.

"When it comes to great and fundamental issues of the evolution of a great community of people whose degree of attainment in culture is marked by the free expression of the human spirit, then all that is best and noblest in us revolts against the idea that our opinions are to be taken ready-made from some superior authority.

"It is only, it seems to us, both in the trade union movement and in the political movement, when each individual regards himself as a living unit, conscious, full of individual feeling, exercising his own judgment in affairs of both himself and a nation that he is exercising the prerogatives of a man, not when he is accepting the dictatorship of anyone above or below. There is only one danger, not in the clashing of ideas, we can hold our own and show that our system, which implies the freedom of the human spirit, is the best system; but what is to be guarded against is what is described in Europe as 'boring from within,' the ruining of a movement from the inside.

"You cannot quite lay your hand on the guilty person, but his devastating work you can see in the crumbling of the trade union movement. In your trade union movement, whether it be in the local, in the branch, in the district or in the national, be on your guard against the individual who gets inside the organization and by stealth, by cunning, by methods which do not lend themselves to the light of day endeavoring to break up your organization for the purpose of making you become the intellectual, moral and economic slaves of the system that is hidebound, cast iron, developed in an Asiatic which bears no relation to our Western conceptions of democratic freedom."

If a man stumbles it is a good thing to help him to his feet. Everyone of us needs a helping hand now and then. But if a man lies down, it is a waste of time to try to carry him.

If you think your job is disagreeable, how about the poor bank clerk who spends every day counting other people's money.

A mule cannot kick when he is pulling; neither can he pull when he is kicking.

It is as hard to keep a good man down as it is to hold a poor man up.

Put things over with a punch-but not on the other fellow.

[merged small][graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]

Jo

OHNSON'S Floor Varnish dries dust free in two hours and hard over night. It imparts a beautiful, high lustre-has good bodywill give long wear-is absolutely waterproof-and will stand all reasonable tests. Johnson's Floor Varnish is tough and durable. It gives a beautiful high gloss which will not chip, check, mar, blister or scratch white. Also fine for woodwork and trim of all kinds. May be rubbed if desired.

FREE TO PAINTERS

Johnson's Floor Varnish is of the same high quality as Johnson's Floor Wax. To prove this statement we offer you a pint can absolutely free, all charges prepaid.

Use This Coupon for a FREE Pint Can

FREE OFFER

Fill out and mail the attached coupon for a pint of Johnson's Floor Varnish-FREE and all charges prepaid. There is no obligation whatever connected with this offerall we ask you to do is use it and compare it with other brands. You will find Johnson's Floor Varnish of the highest quality.

S. C. JOHNSON & SON,

Dept. OJ 12, Racine, Wis.

Please send me, FREE and all charges prepaid, a pint of Johnson's Floor Varnish. I will test it and report results to you.

Name

Address

City & State..

I Buy Varnish From...

(Enclose business card or letter-head.)

[blocks in formation]

IT IS QUITE AN OLD TRICK OF THE THIEF WHEN
CLOSELY PRESSED TO CRY "FIRE''
TO DISTRACT
ATTENTION FROM HIS WRONGDOING AND PREVENT
CAPTURE. BUT WHY TRY THAT TRICK ON MEN
WHO ARE KEENLY ALERT AND WHO CANNOT BE
SIDETRACKED BY ANY SUCH TRICKERY OR DECEP-
TION?

I

IN this hour and day, great invisible forces are at work, vainly endeavoring to impede the rapid progress being made by the organized American workers. Of course, progress by workers or influences against them, are by no means confined to our great country, but because of our direct contact with the situation at home, we naturally accept it with a greater degree of pride and sincerity, and rise to oppose the efforts of intellectual prostitutes to breed discontent.

I say, prostitutes, because it is a wellknown fact that certain individuals and institutions, deliberately set out with the full knowledge, that their erroneous teachings are only intended to hoodwink the unsuspecting worker.

A short time ago there appeared in an issue of "Literary Digest," under the heading of "The Open Shop as a Red Hot Issue," a number of cleverly selected news clippings from various papers throughout the country, touching upon the general labor situation. As is customary with this particular national periodical, the subject was handled in a liberal manner, giving the views from both sides. There also appeared in connection with the article two cartoons, one of which portrayed the mighty arm of Labor, with clinched fist, being restrained from striking by four apparently highly excited grotesque figures, representing the "Crooked Politician." "Open Shopper," "Injunction Judge" and "Wall Street." This brawny arm, which was causing so much anxiety, was labeled, "Labor's Political Power."

So far as this cartoon is concerned, it seemed to convey a message of great importance, and no doubt was accepted by many as such. But the other more than offset the boost given Labor, for it portrays a premeditated falsehood. for organized labor has never paid its officers too much. In fact, one need not be very studious to learn just how much good has come from organized labor, but just a few common sense deductions, will immediately dispel any alarm that its officers are being over-paid. Just as long as they can attract your attention with the argument that Labor officials are being paid too much, just that long they will keep you

from awakening to the fact that the rank and file, which is in a vast majority, is receiving too little.

If organization is good for bankers, doctors, lawyers, ministers or any other class, it certainly is equally as good for the workers, and right here it can be said that for every forward stride made by the organized worker, he has automatically assisted all other workers to make some degree of progress. The standards of the unorganized are always regulated by the organized, and the degree of progress made by a Labor Union is always measured by the competency of its leaders. The more brilliant the leaders, the greater the progress.

To the worker, who is kept hustling from morn until night, endeavoring to corral the wherewith to sustain life, why most naturally the $60,000,000 which Mr. Reid uses as the burden of his cartoon, does seem a stupendous sum. But just pause for consideration of the vast army of workers and the great number of dependents and then the cause for alarm vanishes. Mr. Reid may fool the "Coupon Clippers," but not the or ganized workers. Perish the thought, that overpaid officers are the cause for any worry, for the direct opposite is true. Without competent officers, there is no efficient organization. Without efficient organization, there is no progress. Without progress,

there is a lack of interest, and that eventu ally means dissolution and chaos, with its accompanying miseries.

We are, of course, at a loss to understand how Mr. Reid reaches the conclusion that $60,000,000 are spent annually for the ser vices of labor leaders. But accepting his estimation at his own and peculiar value and bearing in mind the fact that there are at least 5,000,000 organized wage earners, then, at most, the cost for the services of our labor leaders will not be more than $12 a year per member, or $1 per month per member. Surely this is not a burden to the American wage earners; to the contrary, this cost of leadership is insignificant when compared with the advantages, benefits and improved rewards and conditions of employ ment obtained through trade unionism and labor leadership. It is evident that that which Mr. Reid intended as a knock is after all a boost. Thus quite unintentionally Mr. Reid proves the case for trade-unionism rather than against it.

Then, too, it is extremely unfortunate that Mr. Reid failed to draw the pocket book that the American wage earners and the public generally must uphold for the owners of "capital" and the "salaries" paid to "cap

1

[merged small][graphic][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Over 300,000 People Send for It Each Year

This book is greatly in demand among architects, contractors, painters, people who are remodeling and building new homes. Your prospects are apt to refer to it. You will naturally want to be familiar with this authoritative manual on wood finishing. Use the coupon above.

LAHNCAN'S

ARTISTIC WOOD FINISHES

JUIIIJUNS

Johnson's Artistic Interior Finishes have been manufactured right here in Racine, Wisconsin, for the past 30 years. The Johnson Line of Artistic Wood Finishes includes Wood Dye-Perfectone Undercoat and Enamel-Floor and Finishing Varnish-Electric Solvo Varnish Remover-Paste Wood FillerPermacote Wall Finish-etc. The Johnson label on Artistic Interior Finishes is a guarantee of quality.

The Johnson Line of Artistic Interior Finishes is a high-class specialty lineeverything necessary for finishing floors, trim and walls. We do not manufacture paint-we concentrate on interior finishes. For this reason we are able to furnish union painters a perfect line. Let us help you solve your interior finishing problems.

[graphic]

RACINE,

S. C. JOHNSON & SON

"The Wood Finishing Authorities"

Dept. OJ 12
Canadian Factory-Brantford)

WISCONSIN

italistic" managers or "leaders." Compared with the amount paid in "salaries" to "capitalistic leaders" and managers, the amount spent for the services of labor leaders is like a drop in the ocean. It is evident that Mr. Reid has not told the entire story in his cartoon. He has only illustrated one-half of the story and that he has told very badly and unconvincingly. It is half-truths of this kind which are the most dangerous and it is just that sort of subtle propaganda by which the employing interests attempt to blindfold labor and lead the workers astray. But labor leadership is alert to all these cunning devices and subtle reasoning of capitalistic hirelings like Mr. Reid and hence we can well understand the attack made directly on labor leadership, but indirectly intended to destroy trade unionism.

Considering all things, labor leaders are not overpaid; if anything, they are underpaid, especially when we compare their wages or salaries with those received by capitalistic leaders. Unlike some of our "capitalistic leaders," officers in labor or ganizations do not acquire their positions of responsibility by any other qualification than efficiency, and invariably receive less than their talents would command if applied elsewhere. There might have been a time when a few rough-necks worked their way into power, but those days are gone forever. Today we find some of the most brilliant minds in the country guiding the destinies of Labor Unions. And they are worth every penny paid them.

So let us cheer up, and not be sidetracked by the mere psychology of erring cartoons.

TAKING LID OFF HATTERS' TRADE

Deadly Cost of That Winter “Felt”

LEASE note that "Today Your Nice Straw Hat Becomes Passe," read a headline in the New York Tribune of September 15th. It might have added "if you knew at what sacrifice of human life felt hats were made, you might resolve that you would do your share in helping Organized Hatters change these conditions."

Do you know that soft felts, fluffy velours, stiff derbies, start as bits of rabbits' furdampened and blown together to form a "felt?"

Do you know that this fur is treated with a deadly poison, "nitrate of mercury”—to make the smooth hairs stick together?

Do you know that of a hundred Union Hatters of Danbury, Conn., examined by experts, forty-three had mercury poisoning, or as it is known in the trade "hatters' shakes?"

Do you know that boys 20 and 21 are already so badly poisoned that their hands shake continually, while many of the men who have served longer at the trade cannot even feed themselves?

Do you know that those beautiful fall shades of faun and taupe and brown are dyed into the hats in hot dye; that the men in these departments work in rooms where walls, ceilings and floors are dripping wet with steam so thick in winter that a man cannot see his fellow worker opposite him? These hot dyes stain bare arms up to the elbow, get under fingernails, cause ulcers, infection, gangrene.

Do you know that hatters have a death rate from pneumonia 173 per cent above the rate for the general population, that 39 per cent have a high blood pressure, 45 per cent loose teeth and inflamed gums, caused by the poisoning, and that 32 per cent have chronic bronchitis?

The United Hatters of North America, organized for 60 years, did not realize the ex

tent of the dangers nor how to get rid of them. The Workers' Health Bureau dug these health facts out of scientific reports. brought them to the Hatters' Convention last May and secured their endorsement of the Workers' Health Bureau-with the object of adopting it for their membership.

The campaign to carry out this health program was begun in Danbury, Conn., just as you were buying your new fall hat. The Danbury Hatters voted unanimously to af filiate with the Workers' Health Bureau, organize their own health department and put a stop to this health exploitation.

Help the Danbury Hatters by insisting on the Union Label in your fall hat.

WORKERS' EDUCATION STANDS FOR TRUTH.

"Workers' education stands for the freedom of truth," declares R. V. Holwell, director of the Denver labor college, "for education that has not been stereotyped by prejudiced minds.

"It stands for textbooks free from the trust and exploiter, text books founded on scientific truth and made for the use of the people, text books that will not prostitute the intellect, text books that the people can buy and still have bread, textbooks free from isms, superstition, tradition, and artificialities.

"Workers' education stands for and secures only teachers who refuse to bow to mammon, whose minds are open and in search of truth (possessing an abundance of the same), whose highest motive and aim of life is service, who are fearless, who would rather teach the truth than be the richest man in the world.

"Workers' education stands for a new day-the day of the people, the day of freedom, the day of life.

"It is human education."

« iepriekšējāTurpināt »