Bluefield evening leader. [volume] (Bluefield, W. Va.) 1906-1911, 1907-10-26


carry the Wild scheme OF forcing
he eight hour day IN digging the
Panama Canal. rhe federation off,
Gals projected TO inssrrogate mera-
bers of congress on their attitude az
The next session OF congress on the
various measures whihc IL was do
handing. All OF the Democrats. sr
practically all. answered that they
would gladly support any bill that n
labor union advocated Some OF the
Republican members replied that
they would do the same thing. Some
of them sail thcy would not.
Some did not answer at all.
Tho result was that the fedora
,ion printed in lis journal. the Tcd-
srationist. list In which Il enforced
Almost every Democratic canlisato
aa1 blaeklistef nearly every Repub-
lean candidate. II even put on the
prescribed list some of the Republl-
cans who had said that they would
support all the labor hills.
But the federation Went farther
than this. II marked certain men
for its especial dlsfavor and an
nounced that they were to- be de-
feated by a union OF the Democra-
cy and the trades unions. Among
those who We're especially attainted
were Representative Littlefeld, of
Maine; sherman. of New York: Dale
and Deemer. of Pennsylvania; Crum-
packer and Overstreet. of Indiana;
Lorimer. Wharton, and Cannon (the
latter speaker of the house,, of I'LL
nois. and Kennedy. of Ohio.
AS the Maine election came in
Sctember. all the resources OF the
American Federation of Labor were
concentrated on Mr.. Littleheld in the
second district of Maine. 1t was
felt that If he could be defeated
II would help the tight on the other
members marked for slaughter In
other states that elected their con-
ressmen in November. Money was
spent like water In the Littleield
district Forty sub-presidents and
either union officials under the or
ders of Mr.. Gompers we're quartered
for six weeks in one OF the hotels
of Rockland. Mr. Gompers himself
stumped the district. To meet the
Democratic labor raid the Republ-
cans accepted the issue. Secretary
Taft who. when on the bench. had
issued injunotiops against labor or
ganizations went TO Maine and spoke
for Mr. Littlefleld He boldly stated
his belief, that what the labor men
were seeking was unconstitutional
and II granted would rob the govern
ment OF It's most effective weapon
against trusts and monopolies
Speaker Cannon also went TO the res
cue OF Mr.. Littleheld. AT the pre-
yious election Mr.. Littlefield had
been elected by 3,419 plurality Ow-
ing to the prevalence OF state issues
and the liquor question, the Repub-
lican vote was diminished all over
The stats, but Mr., Littleneld won by
l ,462 plurality.
Another point of fierce attack was
the Cannon district of Illinois. The
labor unions induced the Democrats
TO surrender completely to them.
They nominated a thorough social
list against the speaker, and made
every effort to array the solid la
Dor vote of the district on the Dem
ocratic side. But the result met
with disaster AS he had done many
times before, the Speaker appealed
ingmen and The result was never
in doubt He had received nearly
5000 plurality in 1904 as a result.
Of the Roosevelt tidal wave Now
With Roosevelt not running and no
state issues to bring the vote out,
his majority was just 10000.
In the eighteenth Ohio district
here the American Federation
picked John T. WeBty to defeat Rep
resentative Kennedy. the most des-
DeFate tactics were utilized TO win
success. II was very strong labor
district. Mr.. Kennedy had been
eoted IN 1904 by nearly 900 ma
jority. This time his majority was
cut down to about 1000, But he
was elected and II is probable Ahe
last time the Democrats and labor
organizations win unite I'm that dis
trict
Representative lessee Overstreet
III che seventh Indiana district hal
been elected i'm 1904 Roosevelt
y ar" by about 1000, the Bryan
Democrats very heavily supporting
the Republican nominee. The ma
iority was very much above the nor
NAL that year. The DemocraUc-labor
combination picked Gavin Dent a.
the opponent Of Mr. Overstreet, but
Mr. overstreet was elected by about.
5000 in 1906.
One Of the most determined as
asuits OF the Democratic Federation
combination was that made on Rep