The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1900-11-03

OfEN1ON, 0kA AHl;INlJAY ~
sion of territory is but to welcome. an
excuse to accomplish that purpose, ana
to use such increased army, as in time
past it was used, to further subjuRate
the working people. ~" -
| Your committee submits the follow
ing resolution:
Resolved, by the Nineteenth Annual
Convention of the American Federation
of Labor, that we are opposed to all
wars of conquest, whether carried on
in Africa or the Philippines; that we
most emphatically protest against the
forcible annexation to this country of
ether Porto Rico, Cuba, Guam. or the
Philippines, and that we are equally
opposed to any increase in the regular
army of the United States beyond the
limit of twenty-five thousand enlisted
men and officers.
| II believe that it is the intention of
the men now in control Of the govern
ment at Washington to not only hold
the Philippines, with their enormous
Chinese population, but seize and hold
a portion Of China itself. The object
Of this oriental expansion is cheap la :
bor-an unlimited supply Of Chinese la
Dor. Men who are brought under the
American flag cannot, under our Con-
stitution, be prevented from migrating
to any place where the flag flies. 1t is
not the intention or desire of the men
responsible for the new policy that they
shall be prevented from coming to COM
pete in the mines and workshops of
| this country. For this reson, am I'M
alterably opposed to all oriental expan-
sion, and to any man or party advo-
eating it.
american laboring men should be
opposed to any interference by US in
the affairs of China. The Chinese peo-
pie have chosen to live by hand labor.
They have discouraged invention and
the use of motive power. They have
sacrificed production to population. We
have taken the opposite course; have
fostered invention, and have displaced
hand labor with machinery. We have
sacrificed population to production. If
our system Of civilization is forced upon
China, it will mean that millions will
be suddenly thrown out of employment.
These millions, trained to industry and
submissiveness, are not going to starve
in China. They are wanted by the en-
Dloying class III Europe and America
for their skill and humility, and will
| come because wanted. Z: IS inevitable
that such an industrial invasion Of this
country and Europe by these millions
| will follow as will arrest: it not destroy
all the hopes AM! aspirations CT labor.
Chinese competition will cause, a lower
ing Of the actua. standard Of life, and
so far separate it from the, ideal stand
ard that any increase cf the white pop
! ulation viii be impossible. II, indeed,
a decrease does not srfsul 81 To the
Chinese, on the ether hand, tthe wages
their actual living, and
they VIII incr,:aae accos 1irgly. u
I'm this threatened industrial invas-
| ion. the Pacific Coast and Mountain
states will be the first to suffer. The
| immigration to this coast of white men
will stop, and life will become harder
and more precarious for those already
here.
II am opposed to the present policy
of the Administration for the further
| reason that officials of the United
| States, both civil and military, will be
sent to live for years in subject colon
les where their wills will be law They
will, therefore, absorb ideals of abso-
lutism through every pore, and will
come home to practice what they have
learned abroad. and to distribute their
un- American feelings to others.
| From all this the wage worker will
be the first and creates, sufferer. To
d rich man any system is bearable.
He can worry along in Russia; there
are good many millionaires there. He
can even be comfortable in China;
there are a good many millioaires there
so they say. It is probable that abso-
lutism is even more desirable than lib
erty for the rich man. because a part
Of it's unlimited power is delegated to
him to be used at his will and pleasure.
The poor, however, bear every burden
which those above them may choose
to impose.
| I'm all this, let me say again, am
discussing politics, not parties. The la
Dor movement knows no party as such,
and cares for none. The, laboring man
who is a partisan Is forced, either a
rart of the :ine or all Of the time, to
be false to himself and his fellows. It
makes a tremendous difference to the
labor movement, however, whether mill
itarism, oriental expansion, and the
influx of millions of coolie -laborers are
endorsed or not. The only way in
(which these ideas and purposes can be
beaten is by beating the men who stand
for them and who will fasten them UP
on the; country If they have the power.
have never before cared which party
should win. On the present issues, /
hope with all my heart that those i'm
posed to Imperialism may be success
ful."-San Francisco Star. -
| Superintendent of Schools.
Mary B. Foster, who received the
nomination on the Democratic ticket
for superintendent of schools is the only
woman put up by either party for Of
flee. She is lady of fine educational
and executive abilities, and has had