The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1907-11-07
LABOR MAKES REPLY
State Federation of Labor Sends
Out an Open Letter In Regard
to Conditions In Kenosha
URGES SUPPORT OF UNIONS
Claims That the Plan Of the Manu-
facturers Is to Rout Unions and
Paints Dire Picture of the
Future of This City

Sud Oh ouuudy Wnen l6LCeT sig uCu
by the members of the executive
board of the state body was very
generally distributed about the
streets of the city. The letter is an
urgent appeal for the support of
unionism In Keuosha and bitter
denunciation of the newly organized
Manufacturers Association. The.
letter is dated from Milwaukee and
bears the date of Nov. l. It follows:
Wisconsin State Federationof La Dor
Office of Secretary Treasurer,
Ssh Orchard street, Milwaukee.
Friday, November l, 1907.
To the Public of Kenosha - Ladies
and Gentlemen:
We deem it duty to you and our
selves to call your attention to seri-
Gus danger threatening your beauti-
FIJI and growing city, and especially
your economic interests as produce
ing and consuming public.
We presume it is well known to you
that the Badger Brass Works Co. and
other manufacturers have decided to
rout the unions of Kenosha. They do
not say so III the same language, but
experience has proven that wherever
a so-cal1ed Citizens Alliance or Manu-
facturers' Association has been organ
Of your city have planned, their aims
and objects have been to destroy the
labor unions and replace we11-paid
mechanics and union men with cheap
and degraded labor.
The contention of the Citizens AL
lance and Manufacturers Associa-
tons that they propose to run their
business as they please, on ''the pub
lie be damned plan, is absurd and
detrimental to public interests; if not,
then regulation of public service cor
porations is equally ridiculous. For
without the intervention on the part
of the public in our modern method
of production we are sure to have a.
reign of anarchy by the possessors of
the national wealth.
In the city of Beloit, Wis, they vir-
tnally ruined the small business men
by their methods before they got
their eyes opened to the selfish and
ruinous policies of the Citizens ALI
'auce.
In the state of Colorado they in
stituted a reign of terror and, as is
we'll known at this time, met with
complete defeat, which carried with
it an exposure of the greed, avarice
and unprincipled action of the A1li-
ance, which hypocritical1y poses as
the friend of union labor and public
henefactor. What the Citizens Alli-
ance and Manufacturers Associa-
tons and all employers associations
above all desire is cheap and ignor-
ant labor, lower wages, longer hours,
and that the commands of brute SUI
perintendents and straw bosses shall
be obeyed without murmur.
It can certainly not be said that the
Kenosha population has suffered from
the presence of union men, nor from
the fact that the unions have procured
humane treatment for the workers
and raised the standard of wages to a
higher level.
For long time it has been said by
the travelling public that your city
was thriving and prosperous town.
Do you want this reputation to be
maintained? Then lend your aid and
continue your friendly attitude toward
organized labor. If not, you will live
to see your population augmented
with degraded scab class, cheap
foreign labor and possibly Asiatic
coolie LABOR, and with IT the attending
strife, disorder and public menace
which are commonly found in the
s1um districts of the large cities.
We hope that we have not addressed
you IN vain, but that you will see the
logic and truthfulness of our argu-
ments, and, if so, we rest assured that
you will not approve of the plans of
the notorious Citizens Alliance and
Manufacturers Association to under
mine the advantages you today enjoy
by the presence of organized Ameri-
can workmen.
Thanking you in advance for any
favors you may confer in this matter,
we are Very respectfully yours,
Executive Board Wisconsin State
Federation of Labor.
J. J. Handley, Milwaukee,
James Sheehan, Milwaukee,
VIM. Kaufman, Kenosha,
Vim. Albrecht, Madison,
JOS. j. Wilke, Racine,
Frank ]. Weber, Milwaukee,
Executive Board.
Fred Brockhausen,
SecretarY.Treasurer