Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1903-09-01
Is LABOR VOTE MYTHICAL ?

The New York Commercial the lead
ing commercial daily of New York
City, comments in an interesting.
though considerably mistaken. man
ner on what 1t terms the mythical
labor vote" In going over the annual
report of the New York State Labor
Commissioner, II finds the total num-
Der of labor union in the State up 10
March 3lst last to be 1865, with an ag-
gregate membership of 1924. Be-
tween September 80 and the date given
there was a net increase of 1856 unions
with a membership of $4,000 divided
approximately as follows among the
leading cities of the State: About
Is, 600 in New York City, 1000 in Buff
falo, 100 in Schenectady, 900 in Troy,
900 in Rochester, $50 in Albany, $50 in
Syracuse, i5O in Utica and the same
number in Gloversville.
The Commercial remarks that a
great deal is heard of the labor vote
and its demands upon employers and
wants to know where II comes from.
what it represents numerically. To
find this, 1t attempts to analyze tia
election returns Of 1900:
Mckinley received S2l 992 votes in
this State at that election; Bryan 67S,-
1856, Woolley 22,043, Debs 1859, NAL
| loney l2,622--a total of l.547.912 votes.
! There we're not, OF course, as many
| labor-unionists in the Autumn Of 1900
as there are now. But suppose there
were as many? And suppose, also, that
they were all duly registered voters,
and that all of them actually went to
the polls and voted? In that event
they they cast only about 20 per cent
of all the votes polled. The great bulk
OF them must have voted for either
Bryan or Mckinley, for Debs, the can
didate Of the so-called Social Demo
Gratis, got only 1850 votes, and NAL
| loney, the candidate of the Socialist
Labor party, even less-only 12,622
Those two candidates who stood most
closely for labor principles got about
$4,000 votes between them-almost ex.
aCtly per cent of the literally con-
coded labor vote and less than pei
cent of the entire vote cast! AS mat.
ter of fact. the labor candidates in
1900 received only about / per cent Of
the entire vote thrown"
The Commercial makes me appar'
ent error Of holding to the text that
Figures don't lie" In its reckoning
with the labor vote" no accounting Ii
made Of the indC finite but all the more
politically forcelul quantity OF labol
symplthi2ers. Figured on the mem
bC.sh!p OF unions or the radical vote
that goes to distinctly labor canll
dates the labor vote appears insight
iCant Able political leaders recognize
however, that behind the sentiment
for the Improvement and advancement
OF the laboring man is a conservative
force of sympathy and selfish interes
which is a rover in the elections. Il
comes from the merchant and from tn,
farmer. When the laboring man Il
prosperous they profit They may no
support, they may strongly Oppose
the action of unions in certain in
stances, but throughout the length anC
breadth of the American nation Their,
is an underground and very positive
feeling of favor for the men who toll
Europeans would possibly call 1t tn,
middle class. Many who must be fig
ured in the indefinite labor vote MAJ
not favor the attitude Of unions bu
when choosing between the soulles
corporation and labor demands" the!
almost invariably side with labor ant
thus influence the shaping up of ma
tlonal party policies. The labor senti
ment is decidedly real in event Of po
litical leaders refusing to pay 1t PROF
er respect.