The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-11-18
A DisastrousIy Radical Proposition

S-~'F sAd6aSol fF0ROSibtQn.
Jacksonville Courier: Ii union la
Dor II America Is solemnly conteu-
plating going on two weeks strike
as protest against the punishment of
Gompersy Mitchell and Morrison for
contempt of court, the organized work.
ing people Of the nation are making
Inc mistake Of their lives. Such tao
tlcs Will not go in the United States.
They may be tolerated in France and
Spain and other foreign countries n
IS beyond dispute that such proDosi-
ton put into practice here wiz alien
ate the friends of organized toll, and
there IS no getting away from the fact
that union labor hasn't an overDlus Of
friends outside its own ranks. And
friends are becoming fewer each year.
Radicalism is gaining too strong
hold IN the ranks of the to;Iers
Mitchell. Gompers and their kind win
soon be unable 10 longer control the
turbulent element which is daily
gaining strength-and which is in
large measure made up of men who in
their native land were all but unable
to keep body and soul in the same suit
OF clothes
It cannot be denied that John Mitch.
eli has saved the United Nine Work.
ers from becoming a body Of outlaws
similar 10 their fellow miners in the
far west II VII not be disputed that
il has required ali the strength and
yreo1 c>-r~- rcSsr - sL,s
man. Samuel Gonpers, 10 keep the
socialistic CROWD from controlling the
national labor organization.
And such tactics as the fourteen
days strike Of protest against a court
order win not even in the least fmagfn-
abe measure add 10 the regard IN
which union labor is held On the
other hand il wiz cause many of those
who heartily sympathize with the
worker IL his struggle against high
prices and slov-rising wages to shift
their affections 10 some cause which
Is controlled a. least IN part by reas-
On and calm judgment
Gomperg wfE do more for Iaboy's
cause By meekiy submitting TO punish
U1ent-no matter hov apparently IN
iust-thau by countenancing a general
strike Of protest Gompers is q splen-
did specimen Of intelligent American
manhood and he is and has been de.
voting his best energies 10 the cauzs
ne has esponsed. He is rational, mod
crate and reasonable He is cautious
and careful 10 an extreme. No man
can reasonably SAP that Gompers
hasn't BEEN one Of the best friends toy
has ever nad-and few viii MAKE an
exception Of thar prince Of worrying
mea, Jonn Mitchell, than whom M
worker has even been more highly
honored or respected. II is such mar
a. Gompers and Mitchell WHO hare
been largely responsible for the hfgn
standing labor as an organized and
important American institution.
Such radical surrender 10 ne AZ.
turbeTs VIII work only injury ana
viii undo much Of the good which has
been brought into being as resur. Of
the best thought Of those who are
real leaders of men. Surrender n tho
! principles Of Debsism and tho vana-.
iHgs Of such misrepresentation o. tho
true laborer as the Appeal to Reason
can bring about but one result-the
lowering OF organized labor from III
present plane Of striving and endaavo-
10 that Of strife and insane radical;sm
As rule il Is safe to venture that
/ cold skillet hasn't hot handle. but
there may be exceptions.