The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1906-02-10
LABOR IS big STICK"
THE STRIKE

In debate yesterday afternoon at the
Peoples Forum. in New Rochelle, Her
bert N. Casson defended strikes and
boycotts and said that the unions were
only following the example Of President
Roosevelt in his big stick" policy.
If any one can produce better weap-
ons," he said. "let them come forward"
Mr.. Casson attacked the argument
for workingmen to improve their con-
dition by demonstrating efficiency over
fellow-laborers. He asked what was the
benefit to workingmen as a class that
certain smart individuals had been able
to climb to the top of the ladder. Such
men, he said, generally kicked the lad
der down, SO that none of their fellow
workers could get up.
These men are the Ones" he said,
who, when their wives get old, trade
them off for actresses and build mag
nificent palaces on Riverside Drive and
equip their empty headed sons with
strings of automobiles
The trades unions have no Andy
Hamiltons to look out for their inter-
ests at Albany, They have no Houses
of Mirth. They do not own the senators
from this state. They have no railroad
passes to give to legislators. They can't
let their friends in on the ground floor
when the house is about to collapse.
The only remedy they have is the strike
and when men strike they grasp a blade
without. a handle, which cuts them
selves as well as their opponents. The
strike is serious business. No labor un-
ion strikes just for fun
1t was an American institution, he
declared, used by the founders of the
republic The Boston Tea Party was
big strike and boycott combined. Sam
Parks, he said, was better than men
like Mccall and McCurdy, who kept
pushing down the men who had helped
them, the policy holders.
Il have no doubt he added, that
the Big Three in life insurance, since
the recent disclosures, would give mil
lions if they only had regulations to
compare with the Big Three of the labor
world, Gompers, Mitchell and Duncan"
Opposed to Mr.. Casson. defending the
conservative side of the labor problem,
was James A. Emery of California, Sec
rotary of the Citizens Industrial AS
ISOLATION of America. the national or
ganization of open shop employers His
argument brought frequent applause.
No sane man. he said, would deny the
right of workingmen to strike, provided
they violated no contract 1t was as
unfair to the business world, he de-
clared. to compare Mccall and McCurdy
with the employers of labor generally
As it would be to call Sam Parks the
prototype of labor.
There has not been strike Of anv
magnitude he continued, (which has
not been accompanied by violence. I
have here the report of the commission
appointed by President Roosevelt to in
vestigate the conditions in the anthra-
cite regions Of Pennsylvania, which is
approved by John Mitchell himself.
What does it show? Why, that 1,1SO
cases of assault grew out of this strike.
In Chicago 726 men were found guilty
of violence in the transfers strike and
paid $1,000 fines in the municipal
courts. Point to me where any union
has punished or expelled a member
guilty Of such lawlessness and then I
will believe that the unions don't count
tenance violence"
There were more people killed play
ing football last year than in all the
Strikes Mr.. Casson retorted. "You
might as well blame George Washing
ton for the accidents which happened
on the Fourth of July as the labor lead
ers for the lives lost in Strikes"
The strike. according to his figures
had cost the workingmen an average of
cents a month, while it had paid i'm
mense dividends
DO YOU KNOW HIM.