The Western news., 1908-06-17

When L was quite little boy on my
grandfather's farm in Ohio was
startled one night by very fearsome
apparition. The COWS had delayed
coming home until after dark, and /
had been sent after them. Coming
home through the lane with them, l
was confronted with a grewsome ap-
pearance in the shape of a large, round
head staring at me, with wide-open
| acing and awe-inspiring. 1 left the
COWS to their fate and ran home terror
stricken. And afterward | was told
that what l had seen was only a hol-
lowedout pumpkin, with holes cut for
eyes and mouth, and lighted candle
set in it to give the impression of
| flaming hobgoblin. The name given
! to this "scare-head' was monkey
moonshine.'
! Well, that's what the labor vote is
in politics.
Understand, me, now, I am in SYM
pathy with labor and labor unions. Not
that l flatter myself this fact will
make any difference to either labor or
capital l am, of course, opposed to
violence and the "sympathetic strike"
Violence is both wrong and absurd,
\, &c, IOt1, I,I
ridiculous, the limit of folly is reached.
"Sympathetic strikes usually take the
liberty of utterly ignoring solemn con-
tracts; and they are basically ground
ed in intimidation, nor argument; and
fail of their intent, even when they
sometimes gain a point. They hurt
labor as whole.
l am with the labor end of it, be-
cause from the days of the pyramids
to now the men who work mainly with
their hands have had to hold up 'the
heaviest end of the log" AS boy
I worked at factory bench with fac
tory boys; and my playmates and COM
panions for years in baseball, foot
ball, hunting, fishing, fighting, skating,
and other sports were boys who were
very poor Boys who are my friends
today. I learned what poverty really
meant by my association with them
and my welcome in their homes. The
poverty of the middle classes is often
extremely mortifying to pride and
poor is hell
And yet l say, seriously and without
any possible prejudice, that the labor
vote in politics, with rare exceptions
is nothing more nor less than mon
key-moonshine" True, this vote oc
} casionally elects mayor in some OF
the cities, but these exceptions only
prove the rule. And l will show you
by the logic and reason of the situa
} tion in America that this is fact
Politicians who will attempt to dem
onstrate" that a candidate is either
strong" or weak by reason of the
support or antagonism of this element
in politics are either knaves or meI
who can not see further than their owl
noses 1t is idle to call attention tC
what has been done in Europe by the
leverage of the labor vote, for the con
ditions there are vitally different. The
question of what "is'' the labor vote
how it will be cast and how far it cal
: be depended on has been a will G
j. the wisp which has lured many an as
} piring politician into the quagmire o
: disappointment and defeat 1t is, il
it's last analysis, negligible quantit
in the voting strength; that is, a quan
tity to be disregarded, as it stands a
present And this statement is mad
with full appreciation of its actua
strength in numbers. But numbers
: not always spell cohesion; nor do a
the stalks in field of corn stand tn
same way.
During the period of my active pal
Z ticipation in politics l lived in a "ls
) Dor" ward, and, although drawing
good salary as a city official, was nc
4 credited with being one of the "pret
Z atory capital class. During my teri
: on the board of local improvement!
: when a dispute arose between the cit
II and a diSDute was referred tO arhitr;
ton, my name as a third arbitratO
: was chosen by the labor men then
selves, after the city had picked OF
7 one man and the union another; a
though the dispute was directly one i
which the board was concerned. Thi
fact is mentioned solely to show wha
l have said and will say about tn
labor vote is not because my relation