Montana news. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-191?, 1908-10-01
kerr HARDIE ON POLITICAL
ACTION
Parliamentary Labor Leader of England Advises,
American Workers

4
addressed the delegates Of the Cen
trail Federated Union. New York. at its
regular meeting recently. The hall
, was crowded and the remarks of Mr..
Hardie were received with enthusiasm
and every sign Of approval.
Mr.. Hardie explained the develop
ment Of labor in British politics,
saying:
Gentlemen and Brother Trades
Unionists: am very glad to have an
opportunity OF meeting with the
members OF this organization. ] hap
pened to be in the city for a few days
on a personal visit to my friend. Rob-
ert Hunter. and | thought I could not
put Sunday afternoon to better use
than TO come and pay my respects to
yourself (Mr. Coakley) as the head
Of this great organization and to my
fellow trade unionists who compose
its membership.
II shall have much pleasure in con-
veying to the movement on my re-
turn the fraternal greetings which you
have been good enough to express,
and ] can assure you of this, that no
matter what the distance that di-
vides us. no matter IL you live under
one nag whilst we live under another.
we are all members of one common
brotherhood. the brotherhood OF or
ganized labor.
II remember when last I visited
New York, thirteen years ago, | had
as a fellow passenger on board the
steamer i'm which I cross, the duke
of Marlborough. He was coming out
with a business purpose. daughter \
He had a proposition to make, which
was accepted unanimously | believe.
But the morning after our arrival one
of the New York papers announced
that on the previous day two dis
tinguished Englishmen had arrived I'm
the city: one was the famous duke
of Marlborough and the other the
notorious Keir Hardie. Uaughter.)
Now the notoriety which was
supposed To possess at that time still
clings To me somewhat. its chief dis
tinguishing feature being that having
he, born in the working class. hav-
| ing worked i'm the pits of Scotland
from my childhood until my twenty
fourth year. I have never seen reason
to be ashamed of the class To which
l belonged. or To desert its interests
either in trades unionism or in poll
ties. ,Applauss.J
some Things In Common.
Il have said that we have many
things in common. We have a great
trade union movemon. on the other
sidH, as you have here, and am glad
to be able To report that never in the
trades union movement so powerful
numerically as a fighting force as IL
II at this moment tApplause.)
I'VE have our labor parades. We
have our unemployed professions. We
have all these things in common
1T will interest you to learn what
the organized labor movement on the
other side has done. and one of the
results shall name only one
which we have been able to achieve.
Previous to the last general clcc-
ton thr", years ago the working class
of Great Britain had Ia depend upon
the good will and favor of one or 9TH
er OF the political parties. The work
ing class vote decides every election
i'm the old country. and we went on
,lccting first conservatives. then lib-
erals and then again conservatives.
and after having elected these We
spent thousands of dollars every year
I'm sending trades union delegates to
lobby the members of parliament to
cndeavor to induce them to fulfil
their election pledges.
The method was not very success
ful and so at last election we tried
/ ~ u'N plaus w SNiplifu StI'llllE IT,
itions To parliament, We stopped
sending delegates to lobby in parlia
ment--a very demoralizing occupa
tion. | may say-and instead we sent
hfty-four direct representatives Of the
working class 10 parliament Cap
plause.)
"Out of that number, twenty-ninc
were sent under the auspices of the
Labor party. and the Labor party is
"A separate working calss political or
ganization. which is financed by the
working class. controlled 10y the
working class and allows neither lib-
cral or tory to put their dirty FIN
gers into our political affairs.
Some of the Results.
Now, what has been the result? |
could weary your patience by telling
you OF the results already achieved.
/ n n q