The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-02-10
THE STORY OF THE PEANUT
SHELLS.

AS everyone knows, G. w. Post of
Battle Creek. Mich, is not only a max
err of breakfast foods, but he is a
strong individualist who believes that
the trades-unions are a menace to the
liberty of the country.
Believing this. and being a natural
born" scrapper for the right. as he sees
it, Post, for several years past, has
been engaged in a ceaseless warfare
against 1.-The Labor Trust" as he likes
to call it.
Not being able to secure free and un-
trammeled expression of his opinions
on this subject through the regular
reading pages of the newspapers he has
bought advertising space for this pur-
pose. just as he is accustomed to for
the telling of his Postum story and
he has thus spent hundreds of thou
sands Of dollars in denouncing trades
unionism.
As result. of Posts activities the
people now know whole lot about
these organizations: how they are hon
eycombed with graft. how they OBJ
struct the development of legitimate
business, curtail labor's output, hold
up manufacturers, graft upon their
own membership, and rob the public
Naturally, Post is hated by the trades
unionists, and intensely.
He employs no union labor, so they
can not call out his men. and he defies
their efforts at boycotting his pro-
ducts. The latest means of getting"
Post is the widespread publication OF
the story that car which was recent
ly wrecked in transmission, was found
to be loaded with empty peanut shells,
which were being shipped from the
south to Posts establishment at Bat
tie Creek.
This canard probably originated with
President John Fitzgerald of the Chica-
so Federation of Labor. who, it is said
stated it publicly. as truth.
Post comes back and gives Fitzgerald
the lie direct He denounces Fitzger-
aids statement as deliberate false
hood. an undetermined and cowardly at
tempt to iniure his business, having
not the slightest basis in fact. AS such
an effort it must be regarded. 1t is
significant that this statement about
the peanut shells" is being given
wide newspaper publicity. In the
patent inside" of an eastern country
paper l find it, and the inference nat
urally is that labor-unionites are insid-
iously spreading this lie.
An institution Tor a mani which will
resort to moral intimidation and to
physical force, that will destroy ma
chinery and burn buildings. that will
MAIN and kill if necessary to effect it's
ends. naturally would not hesitate to
spread falsehood for the same purpos-
eS.
We admire Post. While we have no
enmity toward labor unions so long as
they are conducted in an honest. live
and-let-live" kind Of way. We have
had enough of the tarred end Of the
stick to sympathize thoroughly with
what he is trying to do He deserves
support A man like Post can not be
killed. even with lies. They are a
boomerang. every time. Again we
know, for hasn't this weapon. every
weapon that could be thought of. been
used land not simply by labor unions'
to put us out of business too:
am going to drink two cups of Pos
tum every morning from this time on.
and put myself on diet of Grape
Nuts. Bully for Post.-Editorial in
The American Journal of Clinical Med
icine