Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1903-06-24
HON. Law ]. klLauRa ON LABOR.
Short Address Delivered at Macon Before the
e Georgia Federation Of Labor.

SbVst HattOoo GUubvISu ~ matuu oOtOf6 tttb
Georgia Federation Of Labor.
The many friends of "Lew" j.
Kilburn, formerly of Walhalla, will
be pleased to le..rn of the prominence
he is gaining in the State of Georgia.
He is now in his second term as a
member of the Legislature from Bibb
county, and is also president of the
Georgia Federation of Labor-the
latter being position of trust and
honor of which SO enthusiastic a
trades unionist as Mr.. Kilburn may
we'll be proud. The fact of his
being chosen as the leader of this
representative body OF wage. earners
is evidence of the high esteem in
which he is held by his fellow-men
and the confidence they repose in
him. Mr.. Kilburn is one of The
Courier boys whose course in the
CITY of Macon we are watching with
interest. His address in brief was as
follows:
"Many important questions will
come before you, gentlemen and
ladies, for your consideration, but
none more 80 than the devising of
some method of putting the Federa-
tion upon a better financial basis. The
income of the organization has
hardly ever been sufficient to meet
the actual necessary expense account,
and such work as has been done has
always been paid for by the worker
himself. Your officers have been
compelled to give their time, and
ofttimes their money, toward the up
building of labor's cause in the State.
1t was not until the present year that
we were able to get assistance from
the American Federation of Labor
in financial way. Through the ex-
ertions of our efficient representa-
tive to that body an appropriation
was secured for organization pur-
poses in Georgia. l'nat the expen-
diture of this money has been bene-
fetal is proven by the fact that more
delegates have been elected to this
convention than were ever elected
to convention in Georgia IN a pre-
vious year. That the Georgia Fed
Grafton Of Labor should have fund
for the pushing of the interests of
organized labor in the State is clearly
apparent. How to secure this fund
| leave to the good sense and clear
judgment of this convention. I sim
ply point out what / know to be a
crying need of the organization. You
can apply the remedy. The Fedora
tion has passed the experimental
stage, and it would be very igno-
rant person indeed who would say
that it had not proven of vast bene-
fit to almost every class of skilled
labor in the State, and its influence
has been felt all over our broad land,
for in the estimation of the parent
body we stand second to no similar
organization. This being true, we
should stand ready to put the or
ganization upon safe financial basis,
and it is for you to decide how this
can best be done. This matter is an
important one and should receive
your most careful and thoughtful
consideration.
zone of the primary objects of
the Georgia Federation of Labor is
to secure passage of such legisla-
tion as is of vital interest to the
working people as class, and look
ing to this end great strides have
been taken in the education of those
who compose our law making bodies
to the knowledge that re are only
asking for equal rights in these mat
ters and do not want anything that
is unjust to others. At first the
friends of labor were few and far
between, but by persistent and intel
ligent work friends have been made
in all sections and the outlook is
bright for organized labor to get some
of the good things asked for at the
hands of the Georgia Legislature.
One of the most important measures
now before the Legislature, and one
in which we feel the most intense in
terest, is the one introduced by your
own secretary, Hon. G. G. Houston,
to prevent the working of children
OF tender years in the workshops and
factories of the State, commonly
known as the schild labor bill.''
Every effort should be made by this
convention to secure the passage of
this measure and if the right kind
of work is put forth the successful
finish of the matter is assured.
"There are several other labor
measures before the Legislature of
interest to the Federation, which