The Minneapolis journal., 1905-06-16

NOSo
are any good to him or not. He doesn It
know whether he has any business to
be at all. He is unlike the colored
man accused Of burglary, who was
asked by the county attorney, 8 Are you
the defendant?o "No, sab, - he re-
piled, ct done hired a lawyer to do
de defending; Ise de man who done
stole the chickens
The laboring man is not the man
who steals the chickens at elections, but
somehow he feels, after it is over and
the officers elected have all violated
their oath and made monkeys of them
selves generally, that it could not have
happened without his help.
Fairness to Labor.
I believe the union man should go
into politics, at least as much as the
merchants. He ought not to vote for a
man because he is a republican or
democrat, without inquiring little fur
anything any, hing to to ] entitle him e to to- eonsidera COZ
ton from labor? Has he been fair or
has he been dodger? Has he told the
working man the truth always 2 By
the truth, don't mean, has he al
ways fattered the union man. l mean
just the opposite. Has he been big
enough to stand a little temporary un-
popularity for saying things that hurt,
remained in office?
I believe in truth. It sometimes gets
man into trouble with the very peo-
pie in whom I am most interested: the
labor man, but there is one comfort
ing thing about the truth, if it gets
you into trouble it will get you out
again, while lying never will: ! be-
lieve labor men should do a little think
ing or detective work on candidates
l G
for an important position, one thing he
has done is better than a hundred
| things he will promise to do. But DO
| the laboring men do this9 No, they
| take every man at what he says, with
out any facts to back up his word:
Labor men should brush up. The world
| is growing smarter all the time. DO
you know what the farmers are do!!ng
with the apples NV They are putting
| the little apples on the top of the bar
| rels. Why? Because they have learned
that the people in the towns and cities,
as soon as they get barrel Of apples,
up-end it and open the bottom, They
find the big apples there, and they
think it all right. The farmer is NOV
ing just a little faster than the town
or city man, but the laboring man IN
politics is still looking at the top OF
| the barrel and when he sees some big,
nice-looking candidates there he votes
| the whole barrel, rotten ones and all.
Why Not a Labor Party?
Perhaps I have not yet answered
the main question. Should the unions
90 into politics? Across the Atlantic
in England we see labor parties organ
lied, and socialist labor parties IN Ger
many and France. Look away into the
far Pacific. You see Australia mapped
out into labor and antllabor parties;
Lift your gaze to New Zealand ana
YOU see a country organized entirely
on union labor lines.
Whv has not America labor party
of Importance? Does anyone doubt that
if the laboring men Of the country with
| half the votes of the country united on
a common platform could revolutionlze
the politics Of this country?. That Or
ganized labor has not divided from
the unorganized on political lines Is
from choice and not from fearY Inc
unions have decided for the present, at
least, that their movement is business
and not political. We have always
stood for American institutions. We
have felt that we were organized te
deal with employers and not to dea
, with the government. We have looked
to the government as an umpire from
whom we could obtain just decisions
If we were right we obtained laws that
, political organization. Ii we were
wrong, there usually arose party II
I: congress or the legislature that said so
r Unions are organized as much to pro
| tect and defend the identity and indi
viduality of their members as to secur'
L their material rights, and hence the,
r have kept their hands off the right Of
: union man to vote with whatever part,
he pleased. It has only been Whe1 ne
absolutely inimical to labor interest
that union men have fight on him, a
in the case of Governor Bates of Mas
: sachusetts, when the laboring men Wer
: strong enough to turn a republican ma
Y iority of 100000 on president into dem
a ocratic majority Of $4,000 on governor
= also the defeat Of all the state t1cke
5 Of Missouri, with the exception Keep; 10 Q
h Governor Folk, whom the labor peopl
Of that state supported.
e Duty of Laboring Men.
y Will this always be the policy 0
+ union labor? I wish I could say yes
a of organized capital in the governmen
+ makes it difficult to predict what th
- future is to bring forth. When tn
4 top-heavv trusts become strong enoug
= to defy the government, it may be tha
e the working men of America who hay
II always preserved the government, WI
+ have to take hand to save it.
I hope the time will come when
cannot be said that the labor vote c
the country can be gotten by the pc
o nicious habit Of treating. The polite
. Of late years have become so rotte
= all over the United States that the us
" " of money to jolly or bribe the voter {
- the election is so prevalent that a
~ honest, but poor, man cannot afford
- - run for office. The labor people can {
y, more to help make elections good an
+ + honest than any other class Of citizen
~ =, for to them will you find directed tt
= batteries Of the demagog and tt
~, CRATER at every election. When tt
r labor people will stop long enough
- study for themselves the candidate
- that are before them for their suffrag
~ and choose those who are the fairest
!. labor, and not be influenced by the II
:. scrupulous partizan, but go to the pol
~ and for fifteen minutes in the votin
% booth use their best Judgment and
ir will not be long before we will hay
a. men elected to office all over tn
. beautiful country of ours, the create
a. in war, the greatest in peace and be
v for the labor people Of the country.
ie Labor Notes.
~ A. G. Bainbridge continued on his western t.
- upon the adjournment of the State Federati
d convention, and will return to Minneapolis
al about two weeks.