Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-07-19
N1Ob-COddling
by Congressman

A measure to protect the people was
butchered by cowardly congressman
and saved by a brave president, to
whom honor is due for his protection.
100000 was to be appropriated for
use by the department OF justice In
prosecuting offenders against the Sher.
mar antitrust law, which is intended
TIC protect men at work. whether they
De working with hands, heads, or both.
Protect them from combinations and
. caonspiracies IN restrain of trade"
That means combinations of men who
ccnspire 10 prevent other men from
earning living.
Two or three large oil companies
might combine and conspire" 20 freeze
out small dealer.
He has q right to conduct his bust
ness and earn living for his family
and should have protection from com
binations" which ''conspire" to ruin
him
1t also applies to Combinations" OF
workmen who ''conspire" to drive other
worknen from work.
The great Labor Trust" has been
seized by certain men who now have
control.
They force every member to pay
fees, which aggregate several hundred
thousand dollars year.
They intend that no men who refuse
to pay fees to them shall work.
Whenever independent men or those
who form their own union seek to
work, the big trust orders strikes on
the jobs, to force the independent men
or Independent union men out of work
until they join the big trust and pay
fees to the leaders.
One illustration will suffice:
On June %, 1910, the New York
Building Trades Council (part of the
Labor Trust) declared a strike of all
trades on a history building at 35th
and 9th avenue, because of the employ
ment Of members of an electrical
union, not members of the trust. Work
on the entire building was stopped.
Z The secretary of the trust" said that
; general strikes would be ordered on
every building where the obnoxious
electricians" are employed.
& These electricians belong to a union
: formed under the arbitration plan
some time ago and kept their jobs.
The employers afterward contracted,
under pressure, with the big trust and
were told to and did order the indie
pendent union to join the Labor Trust.
3 The men refused because they did not
( like the trust method of coercion. bull
lying, smuggling and general violence.
This is only one illustration of hun
dreds of cases where the trust "con-
spires in restraint of trade
That is, by combination they con-
spire to and do stop work, interfere
: with industry, and prevent men from
earning a living unless they pay fees
E to the trust leaders.
}, There is perhaps never one single
; day in a year but what the Labor
! Trust is engaged somewhere in Amer
: lea in restraining trade" preventing
! men from working and stopping the
: flow of industry. No trust in this
: country breaks the law one-tenth as
many times or takes the bread from
mems mouths as frequently as the La
: Dor Trust.
( No trust has ever restrained" such
! volumes of work or stopped the pay
. ment of so much money.
No trust has manned and killed so
many men or blown up and destroyed
so much property, and yet the attor-
ney general has been held back from
prosecutions for some unexplained rea-
son. What does a workingman care
about the prosecution of the oil trust
when the big labor trust keeps him
out of work every now and then.
Suppose you write President Taft
and ask why the attorney general does