The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-01-02

thuslasm for him, which would carry
the delegates off their feet, and re-
suit in his reelection.
"That his long leadership. and this
apparent impossibility to I'LL his place
has gone to his head, and made him
imagine that he is much greater man
than he really is, is undoubtedly the
case, and ACCOUNTS for the tactics he
has adopted in dealing with questions
before Congress, where he has unnec-
essarily antagonized men to whom or
ganized labor must look for recoet
milton of their demands, and where
labor measures are often opposed on
account of this very antagonism, which
would otherwise receive support
There Is no doubt but what organ
ICED labor I'm this country would be
much stronger with leader who was
more In touch with conditions as they
actually exist. and who would bring
to the front the new policies which or
ganized labor must adopt II II expects
to even maintain it's present standing,
to say nothing of making future
progress"
We quote portions of another article,
q reprint, from the same labor paper:
organized labor, through it's lead
ers, must recognize the mistakes of tn 9
past IL they expect to perpetuate theYr
organizations or to develop the mov&-
ment which they head. No movement.
no organization, no nation can develop
beyond the intellects which guide these
organizations, and II the leaders are
dominated by q selfish motive the or
ganization will become tinged with a
spirit of selfish ness which has never
appealed to mankind in any walk of
life at any time since history began.
ut can be said in extenuation of
certain leaders of organized labor that
the precarious position which they oc-
cupy as leaders has had tendency to
cause them TO lose sight of the object
behind the organization. The natural
instinct in man for power and position
is in no small measure responsible for
the mistakes of the leaders, not nee
Sessarily in labor unions alone, but in
every branch OF society. This desire
for power and leadership and personal
ACKNOWLEDGMENT causes men who have
been earnest and sincere in their eff
forts In the start to deterforate into
mere politicians whose every act and
utterance f. Hinged with the desire 10
enter 10 the baser passions Of the
working majority in the societies or
organisations and this Is undoubtedly
true when applied to the present lead
ers of the Federation. We mention the
Federation of Labor particularly in this
article because that organization is
the only Or9anizatieu of labor which
has vet found itself In direct opposition
to the laws Of the land. There are other
organizations OF labor whose leaTers
have made mistakes, but they have al
ways kept themselves and their organ
izations within the bounds of the law
and respected the rights of every othe err
man in considering the rights of them
ua1x Ho(r c<p oft ttta nov Il
the motto Of the Fede Grafton IL just the
reverse. and unless the leaders con-
form themselves and their organization
in accordance with the laws of the
land, the leaders and the organization
itself must be disintegrated and pass
into history, for in America the COM
mon sense In mankind is developed to
a greater extent tbrna'n any other ma
ton on the carr the people. who
are tho court At resort In this
country. will ne, allow any system
not meet with the approval of the ma
jority OF the citizens OF the country.
"This must have forced itself upon
tho leaders OF the Federation by this
time. Ii 1t has not. the leaders muEe
be eliminated. The organization which
they head has done many meritorious
things In times past and the people are
always ready and willing to acknowl-
edge the benefits which their efforts
have brought to their constituency as .
whole, but at the present time labor
organizations In general, and the Fed
Grafton Of Labor in particular, stand he
fsrs the bar Of public opinion, having
beea convicted 81 se1nshness and dis
poeatIcn TO Hale all the people Of the
osuNtry In the interest 81 the few. The
poonle ere Datasut ana awa1ting to see