Waterbury Democrat., 1901-08-06
USE THE BALLOT
Tn It Labor Unions Have a
 Powerful Weapon.
FALL CAMPAIGN IS STARTING.

The Topic at Present Will Be the
 Mayoralty Candidate The Represen-
 tatiye to the Constitutional Conven-
 ton Is Not Given a Thought-Wa
 terbury Should Send a Man Who
 Will Be of the People and For the
 People.
 The public is very much interested
 these times regarding the probable out
 come of the local election, and it IS
 safe to state that interest in the mat
 ter will be on the increase from now
 until after the smoke of the battle has
 cleared away and the names of the
 successful candidates announced. At
 present the principal question asked IS
 who'll be the candidates for the office
 of mayor Some feel confident that
 the democrats will not think of chang
 ing horses this year and that Mayor
 1Silduff and Alderman Blakeslee will
 head the tickets. Many feel that the candidates will be Dr John F. Hayes
 for the democrats and Alderman x. w. Chesson for the republicans, while others are of the opinion that the race will be between Captain Fitzpatrick and whoever the republicans decide to pit against him. Then the people are talking about aldermen to represent the different wards and candidates to fill the other offices to be voted for at the fall election, so that no matter which way one turns he hears nothing but politics, and one would think by the way some discuss the subject that the welfare of the city from now until | the crack of doom depended upon the | nf tho of their choice These matters are of considerable importance to everybody, sufficient to warrant little thought on the part of | every good citizen, but they are trivial | indeed when compared with other | things which will come up at the Oc- 1 tober election and in which no one ap- pears to have any particular interest. | How much do you hear about who'll | be elected to represent Waterbury at | the constitutional convention? Not a | solitary word. Of course there is time enough for the laboring men to get to- gether on this question, but it does not l seem that th -as a great deal to | spare. that is they want to be | caught nappina hey usually are l It is said that the iaDoring men of Wa I terbury are thinking of running a | whole ticket of their own. While there may not be any truth i'll this, still it would not surprise some folks to learn | that it were fact, for the moneyed parties will lose no opportunity todivert l attention from the constitution, and | what better plan could they adopt all | over the country than to get the com I mon people squabbIing over candidates I for local offices.
 The tendency in this country to-day, | as any one can see who is not blind to l what is going on around him, is to- 1 wards imperialistic power. The ln- crease of our military forces, the ad- l ministration's policy in Cuba, Porto | Rico and the Philippines all tend in | that direction. The government of the l people by injunction is another straw l.pointing towards the centralization of 4power and growing disposition to rob 1 the people of the rights and privileges I guaranteed to them by the men who l fought for and won the independence | of the country. The recent injunction l of Judge Gager in AnSonia restraining I working people picketing or endeayor- l ing to persuade fellow laborers to join 1 the union. shows what judge can and | may do, and should act as an eye opener to every man who does not | want to see his rights bartered away in the interest of those who control the l capital of the country. In the opinion Il or IuOSI cltlZGuS lllttI lIlJ uhSIiOA Wdo NAA outrage upon the liberties of the work | ingmen named in the order as we'll 2s l that of others whom it was aimed Ut, | and the belief seems to be almost gen. l erai that no judge ought to wield such | power. It is true that no workingman | has a right to commit a breach of the Ipeace by mocking others, calling them l names, threa tening or resorting to vio- lence. Every man is master of his own labor and he should be accorded
 the right to dispose of it at such value as he sets upon it himself; but this l must not be understood to imply that workingmen are not within their lines
 when they band together for mutual 1 advancement and endeavor to induce l as many as possible to join their unions and work for a common end. l But when a court steps forward and issues an order prohibiting men from | so doing. then, indeed, labor organiza- tions and working people in general 'l have reason to complain that their lib- critics are at stake, and it behooves T them to be on the alert and use every I means at their disposal to avert the l impending evil.
 I No judge should have the power of governing by injunction, especially in such matters as we are talking about, and the present is a most opportune I time to make a commencement to put I stop to the business. Workingmen 1 all over Connecticut should get togeth- CT on this constitutional question and l see that delegates are chosen to repre- sent the different towns and cities who I will see that a constitutional amentl-
 ment is enacted doing away with I judges governing by injunction and
 substituting the jury system instead. If the working people allow this oppor-
 tunity to change existing conditions to
 go by without making a struggle 10
 get such laws passed as will put them
 in position to be tried before a jury
 of their peers, they will soon find themselves in a worse box than they
 are to-day. Workingmen what are
 you doing toward that end?