Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1908-09-23
PROTEST FROM LABOR
Kind of Letters Unions Are Send.
ing MIR. Gompers.
DIsTRUST PARTY OF BRYAN


the Democracy Responsible For De-
pIorable Condition of Workers In tho
Southern States.
at the regular semimonthly meeting
Of the Camden On. j. Central Labor
union held Aug. IS, 1908. communica-
ton from national headquarters was
received in which the work Of the ma
tional convention of the dominant par
ties was set forth and commented
upon. The letter closed with an ap-
peal to stand faithfully by our
friends; oppose and defeat our enc
miles," Accompanying this commune
cation was request for a contribu-
ton to help make it possible to wage
a successful campaign for the estab-
fishing of labor's rights. The matter
was disposed of by the secretary being
instructed to forward to the national
Office the following letter:
Camden, N. j., Aug. 49, 1908.
Samuel Gompers. Esq. President of the
American Federation of Labor:
Dear Sir and Brother-We beg to ac-
knowledge the receipt Of an address is
sued by the executive council Of the
American Federation of Labor under date
of Aug. l. Accompanying this is an APP
peal for funds to carry out the political
programme set forth in the address in
which you call upon the workers of our
common country to stand faithfully by
our friends. We hereby return to you
both documents. not that we do not think
the wageworkers should stand by their
friends and defeat their enemies, but
for the reason that we fail to agree with
you as to who are our friends and
who are our enemies You claim to be-
ieve the Democratic party to be friendly
to labor because at its last national con-
vent1On 1t promised to do certain things
II elected. For this reason you ask the
trades unionists Of the country to do the
utmost to elect its candidates and to fur
nish means for carrying on it's campaign.
The Central Labor union of Camden
believe they have sufficient intelligence to
designate who are the friends of labor
and who are its foes. We take no stock
in any party's promises made Just prior
to election when we have the record of
that party to guide and direct us. We
refuse to believe that any political party
that has continuous record for permit
ting the most degrading forms of labor
to exist in states where its jurisdiction
is complete can or will reverse itself
When it comes into possession of the ma
tional government. Labor has found the
Democratic party faithless and tyrannical
in state government By what legerdemain
are we to believe it will do better when
1t has still greater power to Cypress? In
the southern states where Bryan Democ-
racy has been in the saddle for years and
where 1t dominates every office from
the highest to the lowest are the places
to get the party's record in it's relation to
the working class. Let us judge it by
what it has done and is now doing in
places where it is in power, and not by
any promises it may make to gain our
votes The rule of the Democratic party
in the south has produced conditions that
rival the worst in the world. In the fac
tories over which they have legislative
control We find wages the lowest, the
hours the longest and child labor the
severest. Only under Democratic rule do
we find peonage and convict labor farmed
out by the state, with thousands of men
and boys working with ball and chain.
sentenced there by Democratic official
upon trumped up charge Of vagrancy.
Nowhere in this broad land do you find
the misery Of the worker so hopeless or
his poverty so degrading as you do in
states ruled by the Democratic party.
Mr.. Gompers, how can you ask the
| working class to support any party with
such a damnabie record? Are you so
piqued because the Republican national
| convention handed you lemon that in
order to defeat its candidates you would
| foist into power political party that for
the past fifty years has never had the
manhood TO raise It's voice in protest
against any injustice or indignity suffered
by the working class? The rule Of the
Democratic party whenever in power ha 8
been most tyrannous and degrading to
| labor. Upon what line of reason should
the working class help party that has
never missed an opportunity to Cypress it ?
William Jennings Bryan, the stand
ard bearer you ask us to support, has
never done anything to merit our votes.
There has never yet occurred a crime to
labor of sufficient magnitude to induce
him to protest
Mr. Gompers, the working class cannot
trust a man to be high in power who is
not brave enough to assert his belief in
the innocence of men prosecuted by par
ties who furnish the sinews Of war to
carry on his campaign. At no time has
Mr. Bryan squarely faced the enemy of
the working class and denounced their
crimes. He has beheld the tragedies that
have befallen labor with stony eyes and a
muzzled jaw.
When Packingtown struck against a re-
duction of wages to $3.50 from $7.20 per
week no Democratic politician raised his
voice in protest. What the working class
has suffered in the last few years for the
sake of principle would stir the heart of
Washington monument. If it had one. yet
throughout IL all Bryan, who STANDS as
the champion of labor because he needs
our support. has been as silent as the
tomb.
If labor's friends are to be found In the
Democratic party, labor. would have no
problem to solve and nothing to complain
of in states controlled by the Democratic
party. The fact that the worst blows
labor is today receiving come from DEM
ocratic Alabama and by persons high up
in the national councils of the Democratic
party is conclusive proof that the work.
ing class has nothing to gain by support
ing the party or its candidates.
Free press and free speech, the bulwark
of the workers path to better condition.
have time and again been attacked, and
never once has any prominent Democratic
paper or party leader raised a voice to
protest. Our friends are they who stand
J by us continuously and are ever willing
to fight our battles. Whenever trades
unionism is attacked it is not the Demo-
cratic party or press that comes to our
, assistance, but the party and press Of
our class. If labor owes any allegiance
; to political party it is certainly to a