Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-10-13
Dor legislation or trust restraint made
by the president.


Dor legislation or trust restraint made
by the president.
What did it do?
Not a single labor measure was
passed by the Fifty-sixth congress.
Not a single measure was passed to
protect the passes against the exac-
tions of trusts. Where was Mr.. Nc
Kinley, the union man and bricklayer,
while this was going on? Congress
refused to pass the S-hour bill, apply
ing to government work. When
Samuel Gompers. president of the
American Federation of Labor. called
on his fellow unionist. President Nc
kinley, and urged him to say the
word which would have insured the
passage of the bill. Brother Mckinley
was courteous but evasive. He didn't
say the word and the bill was buried
in the committee on labor and educa-
ton in the senate.
The armor plate ring and numb r
of other concerns which do govern
ment work were on the ground with
their protests against the S-hour
bill. they didn't want to share even
a small portion of their enormous
profits with their employees. The ar
NOR plate grab got through congress
all right. The republican majority
saw to that.
Then there was the anti-injunction
bill and the prison labor bill. They
both fell by the wayside. Brother
Mckinley. the bricklayer. did not come
to the assistance of his fellow union
lists.
Then the antitrust amendment to
the constitution and the amendment
To- the Sherman trust law occurs to
us. The repu blicans would not al
low an amendment to their constitu-
tioual. antitrust farce. They did
not intend to pass it anyway, but if
they had it would have been applied
to sweep organized labor out of ex-
istence.
MIR. Mckinley and his party did not
intend to have the amendment to the
Sherman law passed. No: that it
would have hurt the trusts. but it
would have made good campaign bun
com be.
When the labor unions insisted on
having a clause adopted stating that
the amendment should not apply to
their organizations, well the house
adopted the amendment. but the sem
ate was afraid to pass the bill. 1t
might offend the trusts. The Sher-
man law had never been used for any
purpose except to crush labor unions.
Mr.. Mckinley, the unionist and brick
laver, could not afford, it seems, to
have even this bit of justice done to
organized labor.
The country is familiar with the
application of martial law in the
Occur D'Alenes and the horrors of
the bull pen which followed. Mr..
Mckinley did not remem Der his brick
layers union membership when he
approved the order sending United
States troops to that district and de-
claring martial law when no necessity
existed for il.
His memory continued to fail him
when letters came from every trade
and labor assembly in the country
asking him to withdraw his troops
and see that justice was done in
Idaho.
Ii the republicans want to assume
that President Mckinley is a union
man on account of the pleasant little
shown him by the bricklay-
ers, they must be willing to have
his record searched and let him abide
by the result. Organized labor eX-
poets no favurs from any open enemy,
but when an alleged friend and hon
orary member of a union has so bad
a non-union record as the president.
they are disposed to. feel rather
on the subject.
Calling attention to President Nc
Kinley's union card will lose him |
thousands of votes