The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-08-05
THE BIC CHIEFS
GETTING into FORM
CONTINUED from Page Nine. J

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of his contributors public by October
lis. as Bryan has pledged himself to do
The whole proceeding means that th'
public is sure to know a great deal
more this year, than it has ever before
known in a presidential year, about the
money that is used to corral voters fol
Ieither of the big parties and where il
comes from. There will hardly be any
big corruption fund this year for the
Republicans, although they will I'M
ldoubtedly have plenty of cash for their
Operations. Taft has made no appeal
for funds, but Bryan is already out
with a stirring circular letter to the
farmers. who, he and vice presidential
candidate Kern say, should come to
the support of the Democratic ticket
in this year Of grace.
The biggest of all the present politi-
cal rumpusses, however, seems to be
about the attitude of the organized
labor vote. For the time being the
union labor leaders certainly have the
center of the stage and are telling the
country whether they viii vote for
Bryan or for Taft, all of which leaves
the country in much doubt as to
whether the labor vote will be much diff
| ferent than it has been in former years.
Politicians of both parties are afraid
of the labor vote, viii always do much
to avoid offending such voters and yet
politicians of both parties agree that
there is nothing quite so uncertain as
the labor vote when it comes around to
election time.
Samuel Gompers, returning East
from Denver and exc from a confer
enee with Bryan, announced that as
President of the Federation of Labor
he should use his influence this year for
BRYAN s election. This was because the
Democrats at Denver gave the labor
people an anti-injunction plank that is
more satisfactory than the anti-injunc-
ton plank of the Chicago convention.
As matter of fact council of labor
leaders and of farmers, who met in
Washington during April directed Mr..
Gompers to go ahead and get the most
he could out of the political parties
and the council also voted in favor of
going into politics. These things
seems to have been overlooked in the
storm of criticism that has been piled
on the head of Mr.. Gompers since he
announced his position. But undoubt-
eddy there are many prominent labor
leaders against committing the or
ganization to the Democratic party
this year, anti-injunction or no anti
injunction, and any. such movement
will not be accepted with anything
like unanimity by union laborers of
many states.
The Republicans, of course, are com
batting this Bryanite movement among
laborers and they already have strong
men at work to keep the laboring men
in line. Taft has just joined the In
transitional brotherhood of steamshovel
men and henceforth the cry will go
up that organized labor must not do
aught to injure the chances of one of
their own men getting into the White
House. In this Taft is following in
the footsteps of President Roosevelt,
who. very soon after he became Chief
Executive. 1ofnea the brotherhood OF,
locomotive fremen. y
While it is doubtful whether Mr..
Gompers can swing by his own efforts
any considerable following of labor to
the Bryan standard, it is to be borne
in mind that he is acting within the
authority of the council of the Fedora
ton and that a vigorous campaign will
be waged inside the labor organizations
to help Bryan to the utmost this year.
The success it meets with will proba-
bly, be more apparent along in Septem-
Der and October than it is now. By
that time the labor leaders viii have
fought out their differences. The or
ganization is permeated with men who
are. in one way or another, tied up
to the party in power. One can never
tell at first blush what the general SEN
timent of the American Federation is
by the words of the men who rush into
print about a given issue. AS a rule
over IS per cent. of organized labor
votes with the Democrats, fact, es-
tablished by the careful observation of
politicians extending over a number of
years, which is well worth bearing in
mind during all the hullabaloo this
year over the labor vote.
Then, of even more Importance to
the parties than the union labor vote
is the vote of the non-union laborers
all over the Northern States. These
men outnumbeT by far the union labor
ers They comprise hundreds of thou
sands of workers in mills and factories
and are very intelligent class of men.
A large contingent of these non-union
laborers have been staunch believers in
the doctrine of protection and have
accordingly stood by the Republican
party in the last three Presidential
campaigns. VIII they continue so to
do this year? Strong arguments are
being advanced by the Republican
| management to that end-the necessity
for restoring confidence as rapidly as
possible so that the factories and the
mills will start again, the pleas of the
| merchants and manufacturers generally
| for Taft s election in preference to
Bryan s, which the Republicans are
claiming would further unsettle bust
ness, and defer the day when the un-
employed could get back to work.
| These arguments viii naturally have
| great weight with the army of unem-
| ploved and also with the army of work
ers who are employed only part of the
time and whose savings bank accounts
have been depleted in the stressful
| last few months.
As a matter of fact, it is almost
aur1Sinsr sometimes IN note The free.