The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-05-10
WANT TIE PRESIDENT 10 ACT.
ALARM IN THE WEST OVER THE
LABOR OUTLOOK.

WaPning 10 the Labor ASttatoss--Tho
Kansas CITY Hack Incident-ThS PYeej.
dent Thinks He ID Fair 10 Both ssdes.
SHARON SPRINGS, Kan, May 4.-One who
has travelled with President Roosevelt
through the West cannot help being inn
pressed by the growing unrest among
business men everywhere over the inoreas-
ing menace OF the agitation carried on by
labor managers. In Omaha and In Kansas
City especially the members Of the reception
committees, all OF them business men OF
prominence have made 1t a point to
seek Eastern members OF the Presidents
party and ask them some such question a.
this:
swhat are you people out East going 10
do about this labor businese3 Are there
any symptoms Of disposition to band to-
gether wage payers. East and West, to say
to these people: Stop! You have gone fur
enough for your own good, a. we'll rs for
ours7 Does the East realize that our wonder
full Western progress Ii on the verge Of
general hold-up?"
Then they 60 on and discuss the influence
Of the Presidents attitude on labor matters
on the situation. Guardedly, as is natural
In conversations with guests OF the Presi-
dent, they ask with great anxiety whether
1t IL not. possible for him to interject word
OF warning to the labor leaders against
aggression 10 the point OF ruin. He Ii
letting the labor organizers know their
power and helping them to advertise II
among themselves, they say. and they
wish that he might also caution them more
impressively against abuse Of 1t.
These Western cities have built up their
prosperity by unceasing aggression and
combination OF all possible means Of adver-
Using and attracting trade They have
fought for what they have gained, and they
prize 1t as men prize possession hardly
won.
To one who has no direct concern with
the things that are worrying them.
the perfectly apparent depression which
comes over them when they speak on the
subject cannot but be pathetic The busi-
ness men OF Omaha. when the President
passed through, were in a state Of veritable
panic. Kansas Citys test IL TO come later,
but the rumbles are already plainly heard.
Said one business man of great prominence
"a Democrat-to THE SUN reporter to-day:
-We like President Roosevelt out here.
In disposition and in thought he is our kind
out straight and he likes the open air. But,
good Lord! what time have to think OF
men and politics when I see what We are
going to face.
sThree times a week committee Of four
men who were never employed by me
ami whom I never heard Of before, core
to meet tho employees Of my factory
fifteen hundred men-and urge them to
organize to take orders from the union.
Il pay high wages. like my people
to be happy. like to attract the best
workmen can get from the East. / can
not raise wages without hurting my bust
ness 90 much that it Is hardly worth while
for me to keep my factory open.
1T is not In human nature that my men
will let these fellows organize them without
demanding some tangible evidence Of the
lettering OF their condition; that evidence
can only take one form, raise OF wages.
And that means thai, I must shut down.
That means that fifteen hundred people
are to be thro wn out OF work while try
to find some other way Of investing my
capital.
Yet II is hard for them to see any reason
why they should not organize; these leaders
tell them that they need only to see how
the miners organization made 1t possible
to enlist the active aid and friendship Of
the President OF the United States on be-
half Of demand for higher wages In Penn.
sylvania.
They are lured straight on to trouble
and starva ton: they will not drag me down
with them, because am going to get out
before the crash comes. But it Is awful
to think of those fifteen hundred good
friends Of mine being seduced into position
from which they must regard me as their
worst enemy.
Il beg your pardon, sir do not mean
to burden you with my personal troubles.
But there Is not business man here who
will not toll you that he has the same dread
in his heart.
.The agitation is active. continuous,
all embracing. They have 30 nearly got
US down that they know that it Ia but a
few more years, perhaps few more months.
before they will have US down altogether
We can't forget 1t for a moment.
But let's talk about something cheerful
Weren't our school children pretty to-day?'
That is q typical talk. It Is one Of seven
or eight that have occurred during the
Presidents tour.
In no case has the talk been the result
Of inquiries by the reporter. In every
case the local committeeman he's brought
UP the subject. apparently because he
could not keep 1t down.
Other members OF the party have re-
ported similar experiences. There 10
great fear In the air.
A significant story 10 that OF the trouble
about the carria ges in which the President
and his party we're to ride through the
streets of Kansas City.
As has becn told in the dispatches. Mrs.
Armour, the wife Of the head Of the Armour
packing interests in Kansas City. had offered
tho use Of her carriage and her coachinan
for the President. The labor men threat
ened to withdraw all the hacks from the
parade II the offer was accepted. They
also threa tened to write to President Rocse
welt to ask him not to ride In any carriage
which had not the approval OF the union.
Mrs. Armour's goodman, II seems, 10
not member of the union. The members
OF the committee before this decided
that IL the hackmen persisted they would
bring out their own carriages and their
own horses and drive themselves In the
procession. Extra committeeman were to
have been drafted in to take the places
In the carriages Of those who served on the