The Columbus journal., 1908-08-19

10 swim with fms of lead, or hew
| down oaks with rushes"
My experience regarding the labor
vote began early In the game. l met
the labor element at every meeting
attended in my city. Tney attended
political meetings where the 'busi-
ness" men regularly "side-stepped"
such affairs. They naturally looked on
speaker who addressed such meet
ings. if salaried politician, as a man
who was there for the purpose Of
holding his job" and they took very
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 cOmmenda-
tons of such man. But they did not
believe that a welldressed profess
sional man could really have any in
innate knowledge of their lives or
their ambitions, nor entertain any
genuine sympathy with them in their
struggles; so that any views of the
speaker in that line generally fell on
barren ground.
And that suggests, as a corollary.
the proposition that the ''uplift' Of
the labor element must come from the
ranks of the laboring man himself.
Men like Ruslin and Edward Morris
in England, mel like Phelps-Stokes
and Ernest Crosby in America-have
endeavcred honestly to better condi-
tions for the laboring man. and have
failed because of a chasm-like differ
ence in enl iroEment which precluded
the possibility of an intelligent and
sympathetic joining of forces
The labor vote in the cities is in
dustriously angled for, and is not sell
dom made the means of an advance
ment to Office, as far as the labor vote
happens to apply. of some demagogue
whose sympathy for labor is wholly
fictitious. The labor element is also
preyed upon by treacherous members
of its own class, who use their official
selfish personal aims. And yet at last
this element, and whatever political
cohesion it can ultimately command,
must depend on its own people for ad-
vancement. LabOr's chief hope must
lie in national enactments of laws, and
yet labor cuts the least figure in the
election of the men who go to Wash
ington. Concerted opposition of labor
to men who have been against 1t,
has almost always resulted disastrous
ly. The men who seek congressional
horors are not yet afraid of the labor
vote. except in possible instances in
some large city where the district is
largely labor district But Crdi-
narily. as has been shown in several
late instances the labor fights on
members of congress have been fail
ures.
And right here l wish to call at
tention to subtle undercurrent of
politics which comes in when these
labor" fights are inaugurated. The
timid and conservative voters of
party which may have the support of
labor against an opposition candidate
are very apt to shift their votes and
plump" them for the opposition can
didate just because they fear the ef-
feet of a possible labor victory: or a
victory where labor might claim to
have been the means OF winning. Curl
Gus, isn't it? But this has been proved
so often that it is almost automatic.
Labor has not yet gained the conf
of bn 4
business element, and they would
rather have its enmity than its sup
port.
The future of the labor vote
would seem to be most advantageous
where it attached itself to the right
party" where it stood no show of
e!ecting its own representative Which
party? Either of the two dominant
parties that puts up a candidate who
represents honestly a square deal"
to all men. Sometimes this may be
one party, sometimes another. ''Prin-
ciples. not men," used to be the old
war-whoop. 1t isn't worth its salt as
a maxim. The best set Of principles
in the world can be ignored by any
man who wishes to disregard them
The worst platform a political party
ever wrote can be shelved by a man
who has the nerve to do it. Men. not
principles, should be the bugle-cail
And things are trending that way.
The labor vote in the cities is popu-
larly supposed to favor the Demo
cratic party. Well. at a recent presi-
dental election, every ward In my
city except possibly one. went one
way: the most awful land slide in the
city's political history. Wards which
were counted on for thousands in
favor of the Democratic ticket went
the other way. And labor wards
didn't do thing" to the Democratic
ticket And after the election our
downtown organization held a meet
ing. And Billy" Brennan. shrewd
politician. and brainy. opened the ball
with some such remarks as these:
I'm glad to see so many smiling
faces here to-day. l want to congrat
ulate this organization and the cOun-
try or the victory We have won. The
Republicans put up Democrat. and
the Democrats put up a Republican.
and the Democrat Won" Applause.
Intelligent labor wants nothing
more than a square dcal." Convince
them that a man is fer them. ard they
will vote for him Put ignorant and