The silver messenger. (Challis, Idaho) 1890-1912, 1908-10-20

make any difference to me who's
elected, but if this plant shuts down
lose my job. If lose my job I'm
on the street" To expect him to las
sert the God-given right of the fran
chise," as some orators put it, is to
expect him to ignore the rule that
"self-preservation is the first law of
nature" You can't hand that poppy
cock to a man with wife and fam
lily depending on him for their exist
ence. l don't mean for their comfort,
l mean literally for their existence.
A certain judge in our city was up
for reelection. He had hit labor's
head every time it appeared before
him. He had earned the title of the
Injunction Judge" He was a re-
spected and reputable citizen, a man
Of blameless private life. But he did
not decide in favor of labor unions. 1
am not impugning his motives nor his
integrity And the supreme court af-
firmed his decisions.
Our party made extraordinary eff
forts to beat this man. Circulars call
ing attention to his decisions were cir
culated among the laboring element
The labor unions had representatives =
among every class and race calling
attention to these decisions, and his
attitude toward the labor unions. Good
speakers, without in any way STOPPING
TO abuse or unfairness, showed the la
Dor element that this particular iur-
list, If reelected, could reasonably be
expected to drive a nail into labor's
coffin every time he had an opportu-
nifty There was no difficulty in the
way of labor Pumping" its solid vote
against this particular candidate. for
all that was necessary was to put a.
cross in the ring in front of the oppo.
sition candidate.
Day in and day out, week in and
week out the campaign was steadily
waged against this man. 1t was not
simply because Of his party; nor be-
cause his decisions had sent men to
cells for what they believed was exer-
clslhg the right to privileges guaran-
teed them by the state constitution
and the constitution of the United
States. These men may have er.
ceeded their rights. The supreme court
OF the state said they did. Let It go
at that! But he was candidate we
wanted TO beat, and his adversary was
an entirely reputable lawyer, standing
as nigh in the estimation of the conn.
munlty as our antagonist.
The day of election came and tho.
Judge we were trying to defeat. with
tne AID OF the labor vote in addition
10 our own strength, was triumphant.
~ elected. The labor" vote did NOT
materialize. 1t was voted all r,ob+
LOT the registration did not disclose
any great array of "stay.at-homes"
BUT the labor vote did not throw ito
s.rehgth against the man who had so
olteh decided against it in his court.
loon' II labor had gone soIldIv
against him, no possible defection
from our strict party ranks would
nave saved him, for the labor vote 60
lar as numbers was concerned $3.50
nave overwhelmed him.
mere are two sides to this granting
VI lnlunctons, you know. Roth oroat
f GO, eieS are now getting out state Mat.
ioihs protesting against the ahusa 30
mi thls power. But suppose we saw for
sne sake OF argument purely, that this
suuee was absolutely right in every do.
Diolon that he made. Even ~ tb,s
80 aunitted (Which deny) he was
a Juuse whom labor had every reosor
vate life. 'e'ire 10 pr1-
a,w rane IT. .,i from me, with my sympathy
Always with the labor element ao 10y
enurety because it has the bsrdaat
a aOs 70 hoe), that the labor vote"
ana all this pifie about the a, rJee
shin sb1 IS the merest "monkey-moon.
(Copvr,sh. ,,,o ERNEST M'GAFFEy
'''S"'' lSOS' by Joseph B. Bowiesj