The evening times., 1900-10-08
AN INSULT TO LABOR
How ROOseveIfs Words of 1883
Are Regarded by Workingmen.
baltimore Leaders of the ToiIers
score the Republican Wee Presi-
That the Eastern Mechanic Is Not
to he Compared With the COWBOY.

BALTIMORE, Oct S-Many of the re-
marks made upon the stump by Theodore
Roosevelt, Republican candidate for Vice
President have raised the ire of Baltimore
labaring men, but nothing has gone
straighter home to them than a paragraph
written by Colonel Roosevelt and published
in the Century Magazine of February
1883. the article being entitled Ranch
Life in the War West"
In this article Colonel Roosevelt makes
the following statement:
When drunk on the villainous whisky
of the frontier towns they (the cowboys
and rough Ttders) cut mad antics, riding
their horses into the saloons. firing their
pistols right and left, from boisterous
light-heartedness rather than from any vi
ciousress- and indulging too often in dead
ly shooting affrays brought on either by
accidental contact of the moment or on ac-
count of some long standing grudge, or
perhaps because of bad blood between the
ranches of localities,
But they are much better fellows and
pleasanter companions than the small
farmers or agricultural laborers; nor are
the mechanics of a great city to be men
toned IN the same breath with them
Edward Hfrsh, an eX-president of the
Federation of Labor has this to say about
Rooseyelt's article:
Il cannot imagine what public man
could be thinking of to make any such
statement. In ranking the honest labor of
the country-as far as his tastes are con-
cerned-beneath the toughs who ride into
saloons on horseback and shoot their re-
VolVeFs at or over everybody who comes
near, he is talking like crazy man. | de-
nounee Colonel Roosevelt's Judgment of
men as absolutely erratic and false.
Baltimore mechanics should net-and
| don't think they NyiIl-fpf
pass unavenged at the polls. 1t braIds
Roosevelt as an ignoramus who doesn't
know the difference between a rowdy
and an honest man. and iaboring men
all over the country will remember on
election day that Roosevelt the Great
says that they are not 10 be mentioned
in the same breath with the rowdies
with whom he once associated
George Nachman, a prominent lator
leader and restaurant proprietor in Bal
umore ard also one of Iabor's eldest ad-
Yocates in this city, was not tardy in re-
cordlng his protest against RooseveIt's
slur upon laboring men and mechanics
Mr.. Nachman said:
If he prefers r0wdies, Gu laws, and
crooked gamblers OF the West to hon
est Worklngmen and mechanics in other
section of the country it would seem
to be Il good idea for him to move out
there aHd try TO be elected the Ruler of
the Roughs in stead of trying to be Vice
President Of the United States. Some OF
his specious arguments may have fooled
some people, but this statement is rot
specious. Upon it alone the vote o.
every laboFing man and mechanic in the
country should be cast against him, for
he has insulted every one of them TO his
face
Mr.. j. q. Schonfarber present assist
ant 10 the Chief OF the Bureau of Indus
trial Statistics and well-known labor
man. WAS asked his opinion On Mr. Roose-
veit's statement
'Roosevelr's whole career" he said.
has been one of bombast and ineonsist-
encIes utilized for campaign purposes
from the time he first entered public life
or StrenuousIy advocated civil service re-
form down to the moment he rushed to
the front and secured all the glory of
organizing the Rough Riders for the
Spanish war after someb body else had
conceived the idea and performed The
work. No workingman with a grain of
selI-respeet or common sense viii pay
much attention to what Teddy says. as
he seems to be the chief clown in the
Mark Hanna combine show
The working people, when they come
to consider the merits of the Two tickets
i'll the field this fail may have pity for
weak Mr.. Mckinley, the tool of monopo-
lies, but they will have utter contenpt
for American principles of government
than to advocate government by injunc-
tion and the abolition of trial by jury
whenever the corporations desire TO re-
duce wages or compel workmen to accept
their dictum-'
Harry c. Eichel5erger. Secretary Of the
Baltimore Federation OF Labor, said 1T
is a direct insult to the mechanics OF this
country. Mr.. Roosevelt ought TO have
known tetter than 20 have made such a
remark
George R Heath. I125 North CarrolIton
Avenue. ex-president Of the Carpenters
Union, and also of the Baltimore Fedora
tion Of Labor. said last night:
Il think Roosevelt is a fanatic on the
hobby of being elected Vice President-in
plain English. he's nothing more than a
bag of wind
James H. Sullivan, President OF the
Federation of Labor. said:
1T seems TO NE almost useless TO make
any comment on the utterances of Roose-
velt. He is always attacking somebody
Recall his denunciation of the negro troops
who, it is conceded, saved the Rough Rid
ers from annihilation on San Juan Hill. Ev-
cry intelligent person will recognize at
once the absurdity of Mr. Roosevelt's com
parison Of the enlightened mechanic and
the cowboy. There is no great love be-
tween Mr.. Roosevelt and labor unions in |
any part of the country. Wherever labor
is organized You can rest assured it is op-
posed to Roosevelt