Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-07-19

not protect the people against the big
gest and most hurtful trust we have.
The authorities forget there are about
| thirty million workers in this country
and only about 100000 members of
the Labor Trust and that most of them
are coerced into membership.
How can the authorities answer to
the vast army of % million free work
ers, farmers and householders whose
affairs are from time to time interfered
with and who have to bear the loss of
wages and the general heavy loss Of
stopped industries brought about by
the leaders Of the Labor Trust in their
manipulation of men seeking to drive
them into fee-paying slavery?
The 100000 workers, not members
Of the trust, object to being driven from
work, or having railroad trains stop
ped with all the farreaching losses, or
the street cars stopped and men and
women prevented from getting to and
from work, or factories struck and
perhaps destroyed, the weekly pay roll
stopped and the sustenance of at least
rart and perhaps all of a community
Withdrawn.
The great Philadelphia street car
strike was forced by the big Labor
Trust, not on account of wages and
hours, but to throw out about 1000
men who had their own union, a peace
able one.
These men did not want to pay fees
to the trust leaders and be subject to
their whims, so they formed their own
union for self-protection. Thereupon
the big trust called strike, blew up
and burned cars, attacked and slaugh-
tered men, kept people from getting to
and from work, forced their other
slaves to quit work, and cost the peo-
pie of Philadelphia several million dol
lars and untold suffering and incon-
venience solely for the purpose of
Showing" them the power of the La
Dor Trust to force" people to mind
and force these independent men to
join the trust, "obey" and pay fees to
the leaders.
That Is a serious state of affairs in
this free country, and is enough to
awaken every American to the neces-
sity of curbing such men in their in
sane race for notoriety, power and fee
gathering.
Citizens want industry, commerce
and wages to continue without inter
ference from any set of men either
employers or employees who seek selfish
gain to themselves alone, without re-
gard to how much all the people out
side the trust may be inconvenienced
and damaged
The trust leaders, to make stronger
their control of members. fight valiant
ly to be allowed to boycott and con-
spire to ruin all free citizens either
employers or Yorkmen who do not
pay fees to the trust leaders
Therefore when this 100000 appro-
priation bill came up they deluged
congress with demands to exempt COM
binations of labor from prosecution if
they broke the law, and, startling as it
may seem, over a hundred congress-
men voted to so exempt them. In 9th
er words, voted to permit one set of
men to break the law and dominate
the great majority of citizens, while
the majority must keep the law and
submit to the damage, losses, inso-
lence and idleness put upon them by
the comparatively small band of trust
members.
why we're these congressman cow
erds?" you ask. Because the trust
managers sent word to their local
managers in all parts of the country
inslructing them to fire in letters and
kilograms to congressman whenever
q hill to give the trust more power is
introduced.
The great mass of citizens who are
to be tryrannized over have no organ
ization to warn them to notify con-