The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-09-01
REPUBLICAN METHODS
 SEVERELY CRITICISED
Posting of Prosperity Paeards in Fao- tories in Advocacy of Taft and Sher- man Is censured By Member
 of Republican Party.


 Parry ex-president of the National As-
 sociation of Manufacturers, and a prom
 inent republican and manufacturer of
 Indiana, in reply to letter from John
 W. Kern, democratic nominee for Vice
 President, today announced himself as
 opposed to the posting of so-called pros
 perity placards in factories in behalf of
 Taft's election, and against business
 scares," gotten up for political effect.
 The correspondence is as follows
 Indianapolis. Ind, August D. 1908. Hon. D. M. Parry, President of the Parry Manufacturing company. My Dear MT. Parry:-I am enclosing a newspaper clipping which reports the posting of so-called prosperity placards' in manufacturing establishments over the country. I am interested in learning how the distinguished ex-president of the Ma tional Association of Manufacturers, Da- vid M. PArry, stands on this proposi- tion of beguilinG or coercing the work
 men of the factories to vote the ticket of | a party which many believe has become the party of the tariffized trusts, rather
 than a party of the people. You will note that these placards read to the effect
 that on the day after the election of 1 Taft and Sherman this factory will start up in full force The intent of the | placards is obviously to frighten the pub l lie, as we'll as the employees directly af- fected into a belief that the success of | the democratic party would work injury l to business and industrial interests. l. l of course, resent as entirely unjust an attempt to place such an imputation on
 the democratic party. and I must pre-
 sume that the factory owners who post
 these placards are beneiciaries of Che l tariff tax to such an unjustifable extent
 that they fear any revision of the tariff
 except such as may revise it upwards. l T have had much pleasure in the last year in reading several articles written | by you in which you show yourself to 1 be sincere advocate of letting down the tariff bars between the nations to 1 a reasonable extent for the benefit of our exporting industries, and I am led | to believe that many other manufacturers hold to like views. In the light of the fact that the present high tariff has not maintained prosperity I would like to ask whether the posting of these pros perity placards by the 'stand-patters' does not savor good deal of trying l to obtain money under false pretenses? Believing that you do not sympathize with this placard scheme and hoping to hear from you fully on the subject, 1 am, yours very truly
 JOHN W. KERN" Indianapolis, Ind, August %, l9os Parry's Letter. Hon. John ". Kern, Indianapolis. Ind. My Dear MT. Kern:-I have your very 1 interesting letter concerning the pros perity placards, and to dsabuse your mind at once of any doubt as to where I | stand on this matter 1 will say that no such placards will be posted at the plant of the Parry Manufacturing company. "I have had a good deal to say in the past about the abuse of power by the labor unions-some people tell me I have
 said too much on the subject-but 1 have yet to say word in favor of any abuse of power by the employer. And 1t is an abuse of the power of the em- ployer to intimate to the employe that his services will not be needed if he does not vote a certain way. When a man is made to believe that his bread and butter depends on how he votes he is no longer free to exercise his own judgment-he is deprived of the most i'm
 portant of his citizenship rights. 1 be-
 lieve it Is our duty to frown down upon
 all efforts to sway the judgment of men
 other than by methods of proper argu-
 ment and persuasion untinctured with coercion
 q am sure that the great majority of
 the manufacturers of the country will
 refrain from the posting of the objec-
 tionable placards. and that mainly be-
 cause 1t would be taking an unjust and
 distressing advantage of the employe.
 
 most manufacturers run their business in accordance with the demand for their products and not in accordance with the political barometer.
 "It is poor business judgment on the face of it. to post a promise to run a factory full time in the event of any ones election, for there is a chance you know that the promise may have to be made good in the face of adverse business conditions. Should the promise for any reason not be made good the employer would be guilty of bad faith with his men, and if the employer does not keep faith with his men he cannot expect his men to keep faith with him.
 for the return of full prosperity. r. must be remembered that there are economic causes for business reaction which are quite beyond the power of political parties to control-this thing of looking to the government to giv. us prosperity has it's limitations. But the recuperative powers of the-So,antry are such that we can assert with con---> fdence that times of industrial depres- sion cannot long continue, and this also regardless of which of the two politi- cal parties is successful. Of course ill-considered legislation and the con tinued existence of public evils ob- struct the path to prosperity, and per haps if my distinguished acquaintance w. J. Bryan, and my esteemed friend and fellow townsman. J. W. Kern. were really anarchists or socialists, enemies of individual and property rights. might feel justified In posting up scms