Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-05-30
= NEW, LABOR. MEMBER

fOFd'1 Old Seat In Parliament.
Will Crooks, whose sensational cleo
ton to parliament gave the Balfoul
government a shock, is the hero Of &
romantic story that sounds much more
American than English.
AS a timid little urchin Of nine
Crooks lived with his mother in thu
poorhouse at Poplar, one of the work
ing class suburbs Of London.
Forty odd years have passed since
then, and today Crooks is chairman ;ot
the Poplar board Of guardians" the
same body which ordered his family
into the poorhouse; mayor Of the dis
trict,, member of the London county
council, the body which governs the
metropolis, and holder as we'll Of q
whole lot of less important Offices. Al
the recent election of member Of par.
lament for Woolwich to fill the seat
made vacant by the resignation Of Sir
Charles Beresford, Will Crooks was
elected by handsome majority.
The labor leader whose overwhelm.
ing victory in the nominally SAFE
Conservative borough of Woolwich
came as a serious blow to the govern
ment is another Of the men whose
mothers saw to it that they started
right, says a London paper: Mrs.
Crooks was heroine, no less. When
her husband died, she had seven little
children to provide for, Of whom Will
Crooks was the eldest She made a
plucky fight to keep. out Of the. poor
house, and it was against her will that
she and her babies were obliged to &C.
cept relief"
The first thing the guardians knew
she was out again and fighting for q
living once more. BY this time VIII
Crooks was able to work some-he was
ten-and his mother found him q Job
delivering milk, which kept him busy
all the time he was out Of school. At
eleven he left school and, as he says,
went to work at blacksmith's, blow
ing the bellows and striking with the
heavy hammer as we'll as my small
strength would allow"
He stayed at the smithy three years
and was earning $3.50 week when
his mother happened upon a cooper"
who wanted boy to learn his trade.
He was willing to pay only about so
cents week, but there was the knowl-
edge of the cooperage business to be
learned, and SO his mother determined
that little Will should become a barrel
maker.
Mother had struggle to make both
ends meet after the sacrifice was
made" says Crooks simply. To make
q long story short, he served as an ap-
prentice seven years and then started
out for himself. In the meantime he
had married, and there were children.
he soon got to be q leader in labor cir
cles and in consequence Of his part in
a strike not only lost his place, but
found himself q marked man In his
trade. He had to leave London and
went to Liverpool, where he had
rough time.
''Those eighteen MONTHS" he says,
"were the hardest in my existence. On
Christmas day in 1873 I remember l
tramped the streets of Liverpool on my
uppers and without a single penny In
my pocket"
But he went back to London, and as
luck would have it was employed by
the same firm that discharged him, al
most Immediately. With better times
his strong personality asserted itself
again, and he began to be a power In
labor circles.
The rest Of his story is like that Of
John Burns, the famous labor member
Of parliament. By the way, the two
men are good friends. Crooks, who 10
now t1fty-one, Is q man Of good hu-
NOR, much native wit, indomitable en-
orgy and sterling honesty. He is ''Will''
Crooks to hts admirers. He made q
great campaign in Woolwich, one Of
the features Of which was the half q
loaf" shibboleth. Drase, Crooks oppo-
nent, in making a speech incautiously
observed that half loaf was better
than no bread.
The Crooks workers were quick to
seize their opportunity -Drage's; was
identified Immediately ID the shalf
loaf' party. while the other sade adopt
ed whole loaf as their emblem. tho
Of which Immediately ap-
peared on banners and badges and:
probably was Of no small eervice In
p'ltne up Crooks: m 2
D-isk1.y.--s eas%sa.st L. Ease. Il ,
The Massachusetts, state conference
81 brtcklayers, heldsat Lawrence, With
delegates from thirty unions present,
declared in favor Of the tafnnations OF
the international Bricklayers and Ma
sons union with the American Federa-
bon Of Labor. :, ~ <H..'"
The editor Of the brickhyers, ofnctal
organ, commenting on the. progressive
action Of the Massachusetts state body,
writes: The friends Of afRliation are