Omaha daily bee., 1903-05-03

attorney OF the Union Pacific and the
message was very suggestive. asked the
operators whether that message really had
passed over the wires and they said yes.
/ then asked them to bring me the original
message. II possible. E1thin a few min
utes they presented me the original. Mr..
Popplcton's handwriting was as familiar to
me as my own and I knew Il was his at
once. Immediately thereupon The Bee pub
lished an earnest appeal to the workingmen
Of Omaha, and especially to the Union Pa
cihc sh@smen. to spurn this attempt at
coercion as an insult and TO rebuke the
railroad magnates by casting their votes
for the republican ticket.
Under ordinary conditions It might
not have been proper for me
to make use OF a dispatch sur
reptitiously carried away from the tele-
graph ONCE, but inasmuch as this dispatch
was virtually an attempt to destroy free
government I have never yet seen At to
apologize for that act and l stand today
where l stood thirty years ago and where !
have always ~stood-against the coercion OF
the wage worker by his employer.
Brnve superintendent's Order.
At that time we had no Australian bal
lot. Every voter had to bring a separate
ballot and deposit It in the ballot box or
hand 1t to the JUDGE Of election, and 1t was
very easy for anybody who was a spotter
to see Just how any man voted; but these
Union Pacific %shopmen. almost to a man,
braved the order OF the general superin-
tendent. walked up to the ballot box and
voted the strai yht republican ticket from
top to bottom and elected the entire
ticket. (Applause.) They asserted their
manhood, and they braved the chance Of
3- - 49,
They demonstrated that American working
men are not slaves, but are free men, and
| will maintain their freedom, no matter
what comes. (Applause.) Are Omaha
workingmen of today Of a lower
standard Of public morals than
they we're thirty years ago? I do not be-
lieve they are. / do not believe that they
will allow themselves to be dragooned,
coerced or instructed into voting for any
man because their master. their employer,
their superintendent, asks them to do so.
(Applause.) ] maintain that the employer
has no more right to ask his employe to
vote his particular party ticket or for can
didstes he prefers than he has to compel
his employees to join the church in which
he worships. Every American citizen has
a right to cast his ballot according to the
dictates OF his own conscience, and that is
the highest and most sacred privilege of
an American citizen, and ought to be re-
spected by the men who employ others.
(Applause.) During the entire period l
have been an employer l have employed
thousands OF men, and never at any stage,
no matter how deeply interested. have l
dictated or sought to dictate the vote Of
any man in my employ. have had demo
Gratis, republicans. populists and socialists
and l have in my employ today men who
have been at times bitterly opposed to me
politically and yet they continue at their
work just the same as II they voted with
me. and will so continue as long as I
have anything to do with the publication
Of the paper that l founded. (Applause.)
Orders from Employers.
Now. an edict has gone forth in this city,
from certain jobbing houses and corpora
lions, that the men who are employed by
them must vote against Frank e. Moores
They have given them their instructions,
and given them the privilege Of voting
either for Benson or Howell. but they will
not permit them to vote for Frank e.
Moores. l want to known whether any
American wage-worker in the city OF Omaha
whether Indifferent or vitality interested,
who has got the right to cast a ballot, will
permit himself to be degraded in that man
ner? (From the audience: mol" Loud
applause.)
The fact that these corporations and job
bers are combining together to down the
present administration Of this city is the
most conclusive proof that the freedom Of
the city is in danger; that these corpora
lions want to rule the city instead OF being
controlled md regulated by 1t. That is
the issue OF this campaign. The person.
ality Of tho men cuts comparatively small
figure. 1t Is not half as important that
Frank e. Moores should be elected as that
you should elect a man that these corpora
lions and jobbers do not own. (Applause.)
Why is It that all these corporations and
jobbing concerns are opposed to Frank f,
Moores? Simply because he will not do
their bidding; because he Is not what they
would call a safe man, a man that will do
what they want.
Howell for Corporations.
Now, while I do not wish to decry or
berate Mr.. Howell. who lives in this ward,
and have nothing to say against him per-
sonally, we do know that as a public