Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-09-01
KERN TO. PARRY
The Vice Prssldsnllal Candit ale Tblpk ihe Workmen Are
 BeJus Coerced
PARRY OPPOSED PLAN


 Association of Manufacturers and a prominent republican and manufac- turer of Indiana, in reply to letter from John w. Kern, democratic nom- inee for vice-president, announced himself as opposed to the posting of so-called prosperity placards in fac tories. The correspondence is as follows:
 indianapolis, Ind, Aug 27, 1908. Hon D. M. Parry, president Parry
 Manufacturing Co.
 My Dear Mir Parry: I am in- closing a newspaper clipping which reports the posting of so-called Prosperity placards in manufactur- ing establishments over the country. and I am interested in learning how the distinguished ex-president of the national association of manufactur- CTS, David M. Parry, stands on this proposition of beguillng or coercing the workmen of the factories to vote the ticket of. party which many believe has become the party of the tariffized trusts, rather than party of the people. You will note that these placards read to the effect that On the day after the election of Taft and Sherman, this factory will start up In full force. The intent of the placards Is obviously to frighten the public, as well as the employees di- rectly affected, into belief that the success of the democratic party would work injury to business and industrial interests. I, of course, re- sent as entirely unjust an attempt to place an imputation upon the demo- cratic party, and I must presume that the factory owners who post thess placards are beneflciaries of the tar if tax to such an unjustif1able ex- tent that they fear any revision oi the tariff except such as may revise it upwards.
 II have had much pleasure in the last year in reading several articles written by you, in which you show yourself to be sincere advocate of letting down the tariff bars between the nations to reasonable extent fo- the benefit of our exporting. indus tries, and I am led to believe that many others hold to your views. In the light of the fact that the pres- ent high tariff has not, maintained prosperity, would like to ask whether the posting of these pros, perity ,placards by the standzpat- ters, does not sayor good deal of trying 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, am,
 Yours very truly,
 JOHN w. KERN"
 Indianapolis, Ind, Aug 29, '08. Hon John w. Kern, Indianapolis,
 Ind:
 My Dear MT Kern: I have your very interesting letter concerning the prosperity placards' and, to disabuse your mind at once of any doubt as to where stand on this matter, will say that no such placards will be posted at the plant of the Parry Man ufacturing Co.
 T have had good deal to say in the past about the abuse of power by the labor unions-some people tell me have said too much on the sub ject-but I have yet to say word in favor of any abuse of power by the employer. And it is an abuse of the power of the employer to inti- mate 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 depend on how he votes, he is no longer free to exercise his own judgment-he is deprived of the most important of his citizenship rights. I believe it Is our duty to frown down upon all efforts to sway the judgment of men other than by methods of proper argument and per suasion nntinctured with coercion.
 T am sure that the great majority of the manufacturers of the country will refrain from the posting of the objectionable placards, and that mainly because it would be taking an unjust and distressing advantage of the employe. There Is the further reason that most manufacturers run their business in accordance with the demand for their products and not in accordance with the political barom- eter. It is poor business judgment, on the face of it, to. post~a promise to. run factory full time in the event of any one's election, for there is chance, you know, that the prom ise 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.
 T think it impossible to fix date for the return of prosperity. It | must be remembered that there aresl economic. causes for business reaction which are quite beyond the power of | political parties to control--this thing of looking to the governments to give us prosperity has its limitations. But | the recuperative powers of the ceun- try are such that we can assert with 1 that times of industrial de- pression cannot long continue, and | this also regardless of which of the | two political parties is successful Of | course ill-considered legislation and | the continued existence of public | evils obstruct the paths to prosperity, | a nd narhau if uy diefir ro,,iahod an