Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-01-04

Don't Weep At
The Ice House

apparent impossibility to fill his place
has gone to his head, and made him
imagine that he is much greater q
man than he really is. is undoubtedly
the case, and accounts for the tactics
he has adopted in dealing with ques
lions before congress, where he has un
necessarily antagonized men to whom
organized labor must look for recog.
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
lied labor In this country would be
much stronger with a leader who was
more in touch with conditions as they
actually exist, and who would bring
to the front the new policies which or
I ganized labor must adopt if 1t expects
to even maintain its present standing,
/ to say nothing of making uture prog
ress."
We quote portions of another article.
a reprint, from the same labor paper:
Organized labor, through it's lead
ers, must recognize the mistakes of the
Z
organizations or to develop the move
ment which they head. No movement,
no organization, no nation can develop
beyond the intellects which guide
these organizations, and if the leaders
are dominated by a selfish motive the
organizations will become tinged with
spirit of selfshness, which has never
appealed to mankind in any walk of
life at any time since history began.
1T can be said in extenuation of GER
tain 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 neces-
sarily in labor unions alone, but in ev-
cry branch of society. The desire for
power and leadership and personal ag-
grandizement causes men who have
been earnest and sincere in their eff
forts in the start to deteriorate into
mere politicians whose every act and
utterance is tinged with the desire to
cater TO the baser passions of the
working majority in the societies or or
CARNATIONS 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 organization of labor which
has yet found itself in direct opposition
to the laws of the land. There are
other organizations of labor whose
leaders have made mistakes. but they
have always kept themselves and their
within the bounds of the
law and respected the rights of every
other man in considering the rights of
themselves and their constituents;
the motto of the Federation
is just the reverse, and unless the
leaders conform themselves and their
in accordance with the
laws of the land. the leaders and the
itself must be disintegrat-
ed and pass into history, for in Amer
lea the common sense in mankind IS
developed to a greater extent than IN
any other nation on the earth, and the
people. who are the court of last re-
sort in this country, will never allow
any system to develop in this country
which does not meet with the approval |
Of the majority of the citizens of the |
This must have forced itself upon |
the leaders of the Federation by this
-ime If it has not, the leaders must (
De eliminated. The organization which /
hey head has done many meritorious /
-hings in times past and the people /
are always ready and willing to ac-
the benefits which their cf-
'orts have brought to their constitu-
ency as a whole, but at the present
line labor organizations in general.
md the Federation of Labor in par
ocular, stand before the bar of public
opinion, having been convicted of sell
and a disposition to rule all
ne people of the country in the Inter
.st of the few. The people are patient
md awaiting to see If the object les
on which they have been forced to
i've to these leaders is going to be
ecognized and if they are going to
conform themselves and their future