The Western news., 1908-06-17
THE LABOR VOTE
IN POLITICS
BY ERNEST M'GAFFEY
of
Copyright, 1908. by Joseph B BowlesD
Secretary Former Mayor arrison H. Chicago.

one sense. The majority of the farm
ers, except in the southern states, vote
the republican ticket as naturally, in
evitably and regularly as they do their
chores" So we can leave them out
in the calculation.
Very we'll, then! The labor vote,
you will grant, is largely vote of the
cities and towns, particularly the man
ufacturing towns; and the votes of the
miners. Here you have voting
strength which includes the well-in-
formed and the ignorant; the high and
the low in the ranks of manual labor;
the native-born American whose fore
the newly-arrived immigrant with his
first papers taken out, and who does
not yet know the language. Now, then,
are you going to solidify all these con.
flicting elements into a harmonious
and compact body of voting strength? :?
You are, are you? How are you going
to do it? The prejudices of the Euro
pean immigrants date back further
than the times of Romulus and Remus.
Racial and religious differences,
strengthened and cemented by wars of
conquest and subjugation, have been
drunk in with their mothers milk.
Slav, Celt, Frank, Teuton, the Latin
and Saxon. how sheer the wall which
divides, how deadly bitter the old
grudges which still exist Do you think
to do it. Men, not principles, should
be the bugle call.
And things are trending that way
The labor vote in the cities is popu,
to bring such conflicting opposite ma,
lures into 4 happy family of unified
voters without taking into account all
the ancient jealousies and racial and
spiritual prejudices AS we'll attempt
to swim with fins of lead or hew
down oaks with rushes.'
! All men are created more or less
free and equal. That depends on
heredity, environment, opportunity and
other things. But to get results in
voting you must have the votes. A
very trte conclusion, isn't it? Did you
ever try any other scheme? So to Sc
cure the labor vote you must show the
| 10 hnrino claimant thnt IL 'fnr
their interests that they should vote
in a certain way. Well, they can not
be depended on to vote for their own
interests. "'Tis true, it's pity, and pity
it's, tbs true" And you can not alto
other blame them, for they have been
flattered end fooled until they are
properly dstrustful of the promises OF
the various political MOseses who pro
pose to Iced them out of the wilder
ness.
My experience regarding the labor
vote began early in the game. | met
the labor element at every meeting
I attended in my city. They attended
political meetings where the "bnsi
ness" men regularly 'sidestepped'
such affairs. They naturally looked Oh
a speaker who addressed such meet
ings, if a salaried politician, as a MAJ
who was there for the purpose o
holding his job; and they took yer,
little, if any, stock in his protesta
tiOns. If the man whom he was talk
ing for was one who had made good
in their estimation, so far as fairness
to labor was concerned, they agreed
with the speaker in his commendation
of such a man. But they did not be
lieve that a well-dressed professional
man could really have any intimate
knowledge of their lives or their am
bitions, nor entertain any genuine sym
witty with them in their struggles; 81
that any views of the speaker in tha
line generally fell on barren ground.
And that suggests, as corollary
the proposition that the "uplift' of tn
labor element must come from tn
ranks of the laboring man himsel
Men like Ruskin and William Morri
in England, men like Phelps-Stoke
and Ernest Crosby in America-hav
endeavored honestly to better cond
tions for the labOrng man, and hav
failed because of chasm-like diffe
ence in environment which preclude
the possibility of an intelligent an
sympathetic joining of forces.
f The labor vote in the cities is il
= dustrionsly angled for, and is not seldol
, made the means of an advancement
; office, as far as the labor vote happen
t to apply, OF some demagogue who's
2 sympathy for labor is wholly Fictitious
S The labor element is also preyed upo