Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1910-02-24
THE STORY OF THE PEANUT
SHELLS.

As everyone knows, G. w. Post Of
Battle Creek, Michigan, is not only a
maker of breakfast foods, but he is a
strong individual who believes that the
trades-unions are a menace to the lib
erty of the country.
Believing this, and being a natural
born scrapper for the right, as he
ees it, Post, for several years past,
has been engaged in a ceaseless war
fare against "HThe Labor Trust" as he
likes to call 1t.
Not being able to secure free and
untrammeled expression Of his opin-
Ions on this subject through the regular
reading pages of the newspapers he
has bought advertising space for this
purpose, just as he is accustomed to
for the telling of his Postum story
and he has thus spent hundreds of
thousands of dollars in ~sdenouncing
trades-unionism.
AS a result of Posts activities the
people now know a whole lot about
these organizations: how they are
honeycombed 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. Natu-
rally Post is hated by the trades
unionists, and intensely.
He employs no union labor, so they
can not call out his men, and he defes
their efforts at b~oycotting his products.
The latest means Of getting" Post is
the widespread publication of the story
that a car which was recently wrecked
in transmission was found to be loaded
with empty peanut shells, which were
being shipped from the south to Posts
establishment at Battle Creek.
This canard probably originated with
President John Fitzgerald Of the Chi
cage Federation Of Labor, who, 1t is
said, stated 1t publicly, as truth.
Post comes back and gives Fitz-
gerald the lie direct. He denounces
Fitzgerald's statement as a deliberate
falsehbod, an underhanded and coward
ly attempt to injure his business, hav-
ing 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
find it, and the inference naturally Is
that labor-unionites are insidiously
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 Its
ends, naturally would not hesitate to
spread falsehood for the same pur-
poses.
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 a 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.
Al man like Post can not be killed, even
with lies. They are a boomerang, every
time. Again, we knoic, for hasn't this
weapon, every weapon that could be
thought Of. been used (and not simply
by labor ~unions) to put us out Of busi-
ness, too?
am going to drink ttoo cups of
Postum every morning from this time
on, and put myself on a dict Of Grape
Nuts. Bully for Post!-Editoridl IN
me American Journal Df ClsnsccI Med
tcino.