The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1908-10-28

proved the original American Fedora
ton of Labor political program are
wondering how it could be stretched to
cover a campaign IN Indiana support
ing every candidate on the entire DEM
ocratic ticket. legislative and county.
ask one of the men who made this
new issue for labor to demonstrate 1t
so I could comprehend it, and he re-
piled;
You see, county local option will put
a number of our union bartenders and
brewery workers out of employment,
therefore candidates who favor the
county unit are enemiese of union
workers"
l then said: rs 1t not true that the
Moore remonstrance law has put some
of these men out of their jobs?" He
answered quickly: Yes" Then 1 said,
will not the proposed township unit OPP
ton deprive still more of them of their
jobs, and he replied it would. Now"
said /, how can union labor support
the party and candidates who favor
these measures if it is true that a man
who favors laws that may cause few
men to lose their jobs constitutes him
an enemy of union labor?" After hes
itating a moment he replied: Il am
democrat. and all things are possible
with God and democrats"
If it were possible for this erroneous
idea to become a dominant issue In or
gained labor it would force 1t to form
party of its own or go into theso-
cialist party, as that is the only party
that does not stand for regulating cor
porations. The regulating will, in
many cases, result in some workingmen
being displaced just as the concentra-
ton movement of industry and the in
PRODUCTION of labor-saving machinery
have displaced thousands of men. The
truth is. this is not a labor issue, and
never can be; ii is simply a cheap
subterfuge manufactured by the brew
cries and the democrats to catch labor
voters on the assumption that the union
voter is ignorant enough to be voted
for any thing that has the brand of union
on II, no matter IL the label was placed
| upon it by democratic convention for
the sole purpose of getting that party
in power.
The democratic party of Indiana has
no claims on the union vote from any
standpoint. 1t was in power eight
years of the last twenty-four. 1t
should have one-third of the labor laws
| on the statute books to its credit to
make its record equal with the repub-
| licans; but it has no effective labor
laws to its credit, while the republicans
have many Indiana has as many and
as good labor laws as any state in the
Union, all of which were passed by re-
publican legislature and signed by re-
publican governors. The factory in
| spection law, the board of arbitration
act. the child labor law, the mine in
| spection law, the mechanics lien law,
the law doing away with convict con-
| tract labor and making the prisons
| reformatory, the employers liability
| law, making Labor day legal holiday,
a law compelling stores to furnish
seats for lady clerks. an anti-blacklist
| law. All of these laws are valuable
! to labor, and they were all passed at
| the request of the Indiana Federation
| of Labor. that same body which now
| asks labor to vote the whole party out
| of power that passed practically every
| law that unions asked for. This fed
GRAFTON now asks labor TO vote the
| democratic party in power without a
single act to it's credit favorable to
labor. The republicans also passed two
| other important measures that were de-
| clared unconstitutional. The weekly
pay law and the act making it a penal
offense for an employer to discharge
a man for being a member of union.
| On the other hand. the democrats
have some acts on the opposite side
of the ledger. Governor Matthews call
ed out the state militia to suppress
labor strike softener than all the other
governors combined in the history Of
over the protest of the local authori-
ties at the request of employers. Mat
thews and Governor Gray did not re-
cognize organized labor in the appoint
ment of the clerk of the state printing
board: all the republican governors ap-
pointed union printers to this position.
What do the democrats offer to I'M
ions now that should induce them to
turn their backs on the whole republic
can ticket? Let US see. We note their
platform promises labor a compulsory
arbitration law. one of the most Of
fensive laws possible. 1t offers US
candidate for state statistician that has
record for giving organized labor the
hardest fight in its history during the
years when the unions were estab-
fishing the early store closing With
this record it is not to be wondered
that the party had to manufacture a
new issue to catch the labor vote
Now the question is, will union voters
go back on the party that has done all
1t was asked to do and vote in a party
that has done absolutely nothing for
labor, and do this solely on false is
sue purposely presented to catch them?
If they do, 1t viii prove not only that
they are ungrateful, but that union
men are not yet intelligent enough to
go into politics 1t will surely not be
following the original A. F. of L. po-
litical program, which read: Vote for
your friends and defeat your enemies.
| Myron W. Reed defined a friend as
man who gave you a dollar when you
needed it, not the fellow who professed
friendship but did no friendly act
Let no voter be misled or influenced
by the reported resolutions indorsing
this false position taken by the Vim
lcennes convention which were passed
by local and central bodies in which
majority at the meeting are democrats
who boast they never cut their party.
| not even in the case of old man Davis
four wears ago Fully two-thirdS of