The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1900-07-27
A Slap at Labor,

Winona Republican: One of the
candidates on the Republican ticket
state for the office of railroad commits
sioner, Mr.. Joseph G. Miller, hap
pens to be clerk in the Office of the
master mechanic of a railroad in the
iron range of this state. He is man
of unusual intelligence, and has worked
his way up from the bottom to a
position where he has gained a practi-
cal insight into all the ordinary
methods of railroad operation. but be-
cause of the fact, he is being viciously
attacked by the Democratic papers of
the state, by which he is charged with
having been placed on the Republican
ticket at the behest of the railroad
companies and in their interest. How
false and dishonest this charge, the
ST. Cloud Journal Press well points
out in an article from which we quote
as follows:
"It will be observed that the opposi-
tion to Mr.. Miller is not on account of
lack of ability. fitness or honesty-but
because he works for living, and is
employed by railroad.
This is direct insult to every man
employed by railroad in Minnesota
According to the Popocratic theory
any man employed by a railroad can
not be trusted in public Office that
having worked for wages for rail
road every man thus employed neces-
sarily becomes the tool of these COR
porations, and will do their bidding,
regardless of the trust conferred upon
them by the people. This is the Demo
cratic contention.
''Does the American citizen lose his
manhood, and his independence just
because he works for a railroad? The
Popocratic party of Minnesota pro-
claims that he does.
"This attack on Mr.. Miller, simply
because he is railroad employee, is a
reflection on every railroad man in
Minnesota. 1t is well known fact
that he had the endorsement of the
men who run the trains, who build
the cars, who lay the rails and who
keep the road in order These men
occasionally have grievances in COM
mon with the people and they wanted
a man who had practical knowledge of
railroad affairs and who possessed
backbone enough to stand up for the
rights of the people, Of the thous-
ands of practical railroad men in the
state, organized labor chose Jos. G..
Miller as the right man for the place.
This is a high compliment for any
man. But, says the John Lind or
gans he is poor man and has to
work for living. He cannot be trust
ed because he is employed by rail
road company
What do the railroad men, what do
the farmers, what does every decent
man in the great commonwealth,
where labor is respected, think of this
kind of Democratic argument?
John Lind to be sure, has been en-
ployed by some of the biggest railroad
corporations in the country, as well as
the Millers' association, but then John
is lawyer, and not working man,
and so the Popocrats can overlook his
purely intellectual efforts for the COR
porations.
''The laboring men of this country
must understand by this time that the
only use the Democrats have for them
is their votes.
''That is how much love the Demo-
cratic party has for the workingman
and that is why the Democratic
papers of Minnesota are throwing mud
at Joseph G. Miller, of Two Harbors.
sit is an insult to every railroad
man and any man who works for
any corporation. -