The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-08-13
ID. nj. Parry, President of AS
sOciation of Manufacturers,
Makes a Fierce Attack Upon
Organized Labor.
LAWLESS BODY OF MEN
Says Unions Are the Most DAN
gerOus of MObs.
Chautauqua Address on sc Mob
Spirit in Organized Labor"

Chautauqua, N. Y, Aug. I'D. NJ
Parry. president of the National Asso-
citation of Manufacturers. today deliver
ed one of the most important addresses
before the conference on THE Mob
Spirit in America"
Mr.. Parry spoke on Mob Spirit in Or
ganized Labor" He said in part:
In this country in the last year there
have been many mobs of different kinds
but to my mind the most dangerous OF
them all is the mob of organized labor.
No man, 1 take 1t, can object to any
kind of an association. labor or other,
which is organized for lawful and bene-
ficent purposes. but organized labor as
it is conducted today, stands convicted
by its own leaders as a lawless organi-
zation.
In that it seeks by physical force to
override individual rights and is contin-
ually railing against the laws and de-
nouncing courts and public officials for
enforcing these laws, 1t fulhlls all tina
requirements of the definition of mobo-
cracy. Unlike the lynching bees and the
vigilance committees it is what might
be termed standing mob, under fair
discipline by its officers, and ready upon
occasion to commit the overt acts of
outrages and destruction which are the
outward manifestation Of the mob spir-
1t. 1t declares in effect that its will is
superior to customs. traditions, govern
ment regulations and even the constitu-
tion of the country. 1t asserts that the
individual has no inherent rights thai
can not be taken from him and that
therefore it has the right to say that
no man shall work and that no industry
shall run without its consent.
In its attempt to compel a recOqni-
ton of its pretenSionS to sovereignty it
relies not on reason but upon coercion,
intimidat ton and the bludgeon. In its
continual preachments against law and
its constant appeal to the baser pas-
sions of men. it is doing more than any
other agency to inculcate the mob spirit
and to encourage the unfurling of the
red flag of anarchy.
The president of the Chicago Fedora
ton of Labor, recently declared in en-
interview: The president deals a death
blow to organized labor when he de-
clares that he can not discriminate in
its favor. 1t sounds fair on the face or
it, but without discrimination we are
Just where we started. What we have
been fighting for is union labor to the
exclusion of all other
These are the words of a conserva-
tive among union leaders, and they
voice the sentiment of the agitators the
country over. To their minds if you
deny the right of their organization to
commit illegal acts you are attempting
to crush it, If organized labor has only
lawless purposes it ought to be crushed
During the last year the attempts to
force men to give allegiance to strike
bosses in their plans to set up an OIL
garchy that will control industry in
dependent of the laws of the country
have resulted in mob conditions in
MANY of the leading centers. Supremacy
of law and order has sustained not only
many severe shocks, but the nation mas
also lost millions of dollars by the or
ganized idleness of thousands or men,
This loss must fall heavier upon the
man who depends on his daily wage
than upon those having something to
fall back on. 1t is time that the work
men of this country were learning tnat
for the millions of dollars they pay in
salaries to the agitators, they are Great
ing in return nothing but ceaseless trou-
BILE. enforced idleness and loss OF the
comforts of the life They are also bid
ding for the destruction of their most
precious possession-that of industrial
liberty. Their investments in mobocracy
are mighty poor investments"