The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1908-10-21

eran union labor leader of the south,
declared that he deemed it to be his
duty Ito disregard the advice of Pres
ident Gompers and to vote for..Taft
and Sherman" Norman E. McPhail,
president of the typographical union,
in lette to Willis R. Moore, .uttefs
a protest against the Gompers. propa-
ganda. g,
Mr.. Duncan's letter written to a
friend, follows:
Duncan's Advice to Labor.
Your inquiry Is similar to num-
Der Of other inquiries on the same SUBJ
ject, and, therefore, needs the general
answer.
"The labor movement of our coun-
try In, as far as the political situation
Is concerned, Is now, as heretofore,
Independent Of parties. Those who
have given the greatest thought to the
subject within the ranks Of organized
labor have been busy from year to
year. for long time, as part Of their
trade unionism, teaching, or at least
advising, organized workers to not
be bound to any particular party. but
to. vote for the principles they believe
were for the greatest good to the
greatest number of all the people, and
that II any person aspired to public
ONCE to deal with the aspirant upon
his merits, and not because OF his be-
longing or not belonging to any par
ttcular party. The intensity Of recent
events has caused more activity among
the organized workers, in as far as
political affairs are concerned, than
In the past, and we may expect, as
men become educated to the public
needs and study the science of gov
ernment, they will become still more
active politically.
The labor movement advises study
OF the different subjects and principles
OF the great political parties, and ad-
monishes each organized worker who
is citizen and voter (and all should
qualify as fully as possible in both
ways) to cast his vote on election day
In strict accordance with his consci-
ence as to what would be the best
for the whole people.
The hue and cry sent out by q por-
tion of the public press, that the labor
vote was being bartered, is but one OF
the forms Of political buncombe which
is used for exaggeration, and to befog
the public mind. The views, beliefs
and inclinations of candidates for pub
lie Office should in each instance be
carefully scrutinized by all good citi-
zens, and which includes all voting,
organized workers, instead of simply
voting for man because he may hold
certain party affiliations, and the cleo
ton this year and the campaign lead
ing up to 1t, as far as organized labor
Is concerned, will be no exception to
that rule"
Farley Endorses Duncan's Position.
Mr.. Farley emphatically endorses
Mr.. Duncan's attitude. In an inter-
view he said: "To me it seems that
Vice President Duncan has stated
with clearness the position that the
members of the Federation should
take. can see only one course to
pursue myself and that. lis, to vote
for the party that will bring prosper.
tty to the workingman of this coun-
try"
Soup House History.
There are three reasons why he
could not follow Mr.. Gompers into
the Democratic party, Mr.. Farley ex-
planned. The first of these was that
he did not believe it proper for any
one to attempt to deliver" its vote
to any political party The second was
that the bitter lesson the laboring men
of this country learned, while their
families suffered during the last Dem
ocratic administration was still fresh
in his mind. and the third cited by
the mine leader was that, as the Re-
publican party only had given THE la
boring man better conditions in the
past, so might improved conditions
be secured only from 1t in the future.
Il cannot understand how Mr.. Com
pers-and he is an able man-can ask
us to vote for the Democratic party.
when 1t has such record against la
Dor in the SOUTH" continued Mr.. Fair
ley Surely he cannot understand, as
we do, who have been crushed under
I'm the south, where Democracy
could have helped labor il 1t had car
ed to practice what it breaches in the
Denver platform, we have longer
hours and lower wages, with poorer
educational facilities for our children,
than in any other section Of the Unit
ed States. have found no one to
answer this impeachment of the Dem
ocratic party"
McPhail Takes Issue With Gompers.
"The vote of organized labor, as a
body, will not, should not and cannot
be delivered to any party or by any
man or set of men," writes Norman
e. McPhail, president of the typo
graphical union, to Willis L. Moore.
President McPhail's letter is as fol-
lows:
Dear Mr.. Moore:-Your letter Of
September % has just been received
and read by me, as l have today re-
turned from tour of some of our New
England cities for our organization.
I'm reply to the. question you ask
me, / will state that in my opinion
the vote of organized labor in this
country as q body will not and cannot
be delivered to any one party by any
one man or set of men. To allow
such thing would be suicidal to the
labor movement of the country.
~ III