Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1903-01-07
BUCHANAN'S LETTER.
NOTES ON THE RECENT MEETING OF
THE CIVIC FEDERATION.
The Cold Facts Concerning Labor
Unions and the Militin-The Great
Danger That Turks In the Juris-
diction Quarrel.


Danger That Turks In the Juris-
diction Quarrel.
The daily newspapers of the country
contained daily accounts of the pro-
ceedings of the National Civic fedora
tion during its recent session in New
York, but 1t may be interesting to the
workingman to take a peep at this
unique organization through the spec
tacles of the "labor editor" Well, at
tended during all Of one days session
of the federation and part of another
day. frankly confess at the beginning
that 1 now have better impression of
the society, its aims and possibilities
than l had a year ago. The change
may be due to the fact that this year
there was less palaver and love feast
ing and more real hard knocks, the
champions of labor speaking right out
in meetin' " and the opposition showing
why it opposed trades unions.
AS tothe personnel of the assemblage,
there was undoubtedly top heavy per-
centage of representatives of the three
p's-preachers, professors and politi-
cians-though fortunately, the latter
were not SO numerous as either of the
other members of the irresponsible tri-
umvirate. There was noticeable i'll
crease over last year in the number of
business men in attendance.
Mr. Grover Cleveland was present,
but all he did was to sit up near the
front, look wise Tor sleepy couldn't
make out which it was) and shake
hands with the professors, preachers,
etc.
Mr.. Alfred Moseley Of England was
there-very much there. If there was
any subject, division or subdivision of
a subject before the federation dur
ing its three days session upon which
Mr. Moseley didn't have something
to say, usually under the guise Of a
question, the records are wrong. 1t
will be remembered that Mr.. Nose
ley is the English capitalist who came
over to this country, accompanied by
twenty mechanics, representing many
trades, to investigate our industries
English mills and factories any meth
ods of ours which impressed him
as superior to English ways Of doing
the same things. What he learned
along these lines Mr.. Moseley didn't
tell us before he sailed for home, but
In several interviews he took occasion
to speak strongly Of the industrial
nf ba ITpit ta1 IN
predict a future for us exceeding in
industrial and commercial greatness
anything ever achieved by any people
in the past or possible to any other
country than this in the future. Mr..
Moseley tied little string to his rosy
hued prophecy, however. All this mag
nificence was contingent upon 'con-
tinued confidence" l asked the gentle
man what he meant by the use of that
term. 1t had given me many sore
headaches in recent political cam
paigns in this country. His answer
was that if there We're no more free
silver scares" or too serious labor dis
turbances or things of that kind to
frighten the men of money business
would continue to boom and we would
fulfill his prediction. OF course we
argued, for, whether right or wrong,
l have always had an impression that
confidence was an effect and not a
cause-that is, that when things are
booming men have confidence and not
that things boom because there is con-
fidence, but | have been little ret-
cent on this point since the successes
of confidence" in politics.
To return to Mr.. Moseley at the Civ
ic federation: Whatever may have
been the real object of the gentleman,
there was a strong impression among
those who watched him at the meet
ings Of the federation that he was op-
posed to labor unions Notwithstanding
his protestations. His antagonism to-
ward the shorter workday was appar-
ent to all, and his captious contentious
on the questions of apprenticeship, non
union workmen and the minimum
wage clearly showed that there was
little in the policies of the American
unions that he approved. 1t appeared
to me that Mr.. Moseley was bent upon
convincing the workingmen who came
over from England with him that there
was nothing in the trades unions of
this country that they need place favor
ably before their own unions when they
got home.
The trades unionists who participated
in the proceedings Of the convention
conducted themselves creditably. Their
task was not an easy one, with the
preachers, professors and business men
all pounding them, some with small
pattern tack hammers, others with
sledges. President Gompers of the
American Federation of Labor was the
preferred point of attack for sledge and
tack hammer alike, but he met and re-
sisted every attack like veritable Gil
braltar.
Mr.. Lewis Nixon, the shipbuilder,
made the best talk from the employers
standpoint that l heard during the con-
vention. He was business from the