Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1900-09-27
THE CHICAGO STRIKE.
MANIPULATED so AS TO BENZ
FIT DEMOCRACY.
All 81 anches of Labor We're Expert
encing Good Times Until Democratic
Schemers Began to FOment Trouble
for Political Effect.

Chicago correspondence:
The prosperous, steadily employed
workingmen of this country express
themselves as well satisfied with the
changed conditions of the past lew
years. 1t requires no campaign oratory
to convince them and their Well-fed ana
Well-clothed families of the advantages
that have accrued to them in the change
from Del,zecratic to Republican control
Of the affairs of the nation. The better
ed conditions are so evident, ana the
contentment of laboring people SO uni
yersal, that no one is able to deny the
great and rapid increase III the pros
perity of the workingmen generally.
Labor organizations of all kinds nave
flourished and grown as never before,
and when wisely and conservatlvely
managed have added to their strength
and good influence. The machlmsts,
bricklayers, carpenters, railroad men,
bod carriers, plasterers, lronWorkers'
and in fact all trades, have reaped the
benefit of the good times. AS might be
expected, this condition of things mas
alarmed the Democratic campaign man
ayers
The off-year elections in the different
States indicated that workmen OF all
classes were supporting the Republ-
can tickets. It became necessary IN the
mind Of Chairman Jones and others Of
the National Democratic Committee,
and local party bosses in Chicago, thaI
to secure the labor vote in the coming
Presidential contest something must be
done to stem the wonderful industrial
tide, as otherwise the wall Of the Ca
lamity bowler" would surely fall on
deaf ears and De1nocracy's appeals go
unheeded. They saw an opportunity IN
Chicago to bring about conflict be-
tween laboring men and their employ
ers, and how we'll they have succeeded
can best be told by the thousands OF I'M
suspecting workingmen and their fam
lilies who have been made to suffer.
Strikes were inaugurated in the build
ing trades wherever possible. Leaders
in the building trades have been placed
on the City Hall payrolls. Men acting
as officers of unions connected with the
Building Trades Council, as business
agents of the union, were given posi-
tons paying from $500 to $3.50 per
month. By means of ''sixty-day" ap-
pointments, and by the connivance of
Commissioner Edward Carroll and his
Democratic colleague, the civil service
law has been trampled under foot.
Is it strange that efforts to bring
about settlement Of the labor troubles
in Chicago have been fruitless?
What matters it to such men, carried
on two payrolls, that the laborers of
Chicago are without work? What care
Chairman Jones, Willis J. Abbot and
Edward Carroll? The Presidential cleo
ton is almost at hand, and they must
not permit this warfare to cease until
after the ballots are cast. If they can
cause discomfort and unrest among the
working people, they hope thus to gain
a few votes, and the welfare Of the peo-
pie must not stand in the way.
The public's first Introduction to the
methods Of the City Hall ''hold-up'' la
Dor gang was during the Fall Festival
last year.
This, experience and others of like
character was the direct cause of the
lockout of last winter. Chairman Jones
and Willis J. Abbot, Secretary Of the
Democratic Press Bureau then had
reason to feel that calamity of great
proportions was settling over Chicago,
and they were accordingly cheerful, for
calamity is Democracy's friend.
Every department of business and in
dustry Of great city has been made to
feel the direful effects of this shame.
full scheme on the part of the Demo-
cratic campaign managers to obtain
votes.