The wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, 1908-09-05
Frank P. Sargent,
The. Prize Trimmer

Frank P. Sargent, commissioner of
immigration by appointment Of Presi-
dent Roosevelt, is making speeches
advocating the election of William H.
Taft to the presidency.
Frank P. Sargent is earning his
money.
But there are a lot of men who
would refuse to earn money that way
under the circumstances.
Who is this Frank p Sargent, COM
missioner of immigration?
He is the same Frank p. Sargent
who was grand chief of the Brother
hood of Locomotive Firemen in 1893
the same Frank p Sargent who pro-
tested so vociferously against the in
junction which divested him of his
authority as grand chief of the
brotherhood and overturned the
brotherhood by making its rules of
no effect.
Who issued that injunction?
| William Howard Taft, republican
candidate for president, who is now,
| being SO Loyalty supported by that
same Frank P Sargent, who is no
longer firing locomotive, but occupy
ing palatial Office in Washington
and draws more money week for it
than any fireman in American makes
! in month.
This is the same Frank p Sargent
| thof 10
issued by him to his brotherhood,
! and to send out in its stead one
framed up by the judge who issued
| the injunction that tied the hands of
the Brotherhood of Locomotive Fire
men in the strike on the Toledo, Ann
Arbor & North Michigan Railroad.
And the man Sargent is supporting
| is the same William Howard Taft that
| issued the Injunction.
This famous strike occurred in the
spring of 1898. In the May, 1898,
numEer of the North American Re
| view this same Frank p Sargent had
an article over his own signature in.
which he discussed that famous
strike, the equally famous injunction
and the even more famous judge who
issued the injunction. Among other
things Frank P. Sargent said:
| TN the case of the strike on the
Toledo, Ann Arbor and North Mich
igan Railroad, which occurred on
March 8, every precaution was taken,
and every movement on the part of
| the members of the order was de-
| liberate and unlawful. There was not
an instance of insubordination; moth
ing turbulent or seditious. Men had
appealed to their employers, like men,
to have serious and grievous wrongs
redressed in manly way, as become
good and law-abiding citizens. They
had been over-worked and under-paid
| Their employers had violated con-
tracts and had subjected them to out
rageous treatment and Knocked at their
complaints. Their pleadings and pro-
tests had availed not and when en-
durance and patience had ceased to
be virtues, when all efforts to find re
dress had utterly failed, then, and
only then, did they strike; only then
did they assert their manhood, their
rights as citizens and abandon their
| their work, preferring idleness and
| the sacrifices which idleness entails
to the degradation which injustice
and insolence force upon the unresist-
i ing"
| After thus stating the facts that
brought on the strike, and giving in
detail the grievances of the men he
represented, Frank p. Sargent went
on to pay his respects to the judges
who took official notice of the case,
and said:
''The strike on the Toledo, Ann
Arbor and North Michigan Railroad
had no extraordinary features, but the
interferences Of the United States
judges have given it national prom
inence, and if the dictum Of these
judges is to stand as the law, the
dearest rights OF the citizen are
swept away and an autocracy is estsb-
Iished. This view of the situation is
not strained, but is strictly in con-
sonance with the avowals of the press
throughout the country The ques-
tiOns of law involved are fundamental
and are commanding, as they should
command, the best thought of the ma.
Ation. 1t has hitherto been conceded
Vat railroad employees possessed all
the rights as citizens which attached
| to the employers, that is to say, that
if employers possessed the right to
dicharge employees, when it pleased
them to exercise such authority, the
employees also possessed the right,
unchallenged, to quit work when they
elected to exercise that right II