The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1911-01-20
REPORT OF E. P. MARSH
EVERETT'S DELEGATE TO
A. F. OF I. CONVENTION

! wv 80 '1'''' Ao'lN~N w 'SN'AN' INV AAes y \
had so much bad judge made law The
| line of distinction, of course. it is ne
q cessary should be clearly drawn. While
r a case is under advisement it is mani
testify improper that that case should
be the subject OF criticism, to the ex-
tent that the man who is rendering the
= decision should be criticised in advance
q for decision he may or may not rem
der; but when the final decision is rem
dered and it then becomes the law and
: all people will have to obey it until it
is changed by a subsequent demand or
: an act of the legislature it becomes the
right and not only the right, but the
duty of American citizens to criticisa
that decision if they think it is wrong.
Otherwise progress would never be Sc
cured
FRATERNAL DELEGATES.
The British Trades Union congress
Iwas represented by two brainy, talent
ed men in the persons OF Ben Turner and
William Brace, the latter labor mem
Der of Parliament. Their addresses
were splendid efforts and the story of
the struggles of our fellow workers in
Great Britain emphasized the oft-re-
Ipeated statement that the labor prob
lem is worldwide. Though we live
under different flags, observe different
customs, have our distinct national
characteristics the same struggle
against the oppression of capital is
going on, the same ceaseless fight
against poverty and want the same eff
fort to bring in a new era into this
old world when the workers shall re-
Give the products of their toll.
Mr.. r. V. Pettipiece of Vancouver, B.
c., represented the Canadian Trades
and Labor congress and brought fra
ternal greetings from our brothers
across the border. Labor in Canada is
wideawake and progressive and is
keeping pace with the magnificent
growth and development of the New
| Canada.
President Gompers reply to the
speeches of the fraternal delegates is
worthy of reproduction here:
"WhiIe listening the thought came to
me. as the names Of few of the op-
ponents of labor were mentioned,
What, after all, do they imagine that
they can accomplish, by their bitter,
relentless hostility to organized labor?
Can they have in mind that they are
going to stifle the voice of discomfort
with wrong? Do they expect that the
hearts and hopes OF the workers of our
time can be crushed under their iron
heel? Do they fancy, in their Fools
Paradise, that if they can succeed in
killing our present labor movement
they will then enjoy unchecked sway?
The time is passed when the men of
labor yield on bended knee and bent
back. The men of labor of our time
stand erect.
"The declaration is made by the
greatest scientists that to obtain the
very best product of the human family
we must begin with the grandparents.
Thinking of that I am impelled to the
expression of this thought, that the
enemies of organized labor have allowed
their chance to 90 by if they hope to
ensave the masses, and that the
wealth possessors should be the abso-
lutte masters of all they survey. They
began too late, they allowed their op-
Iportunity to pass when they permitted
our grandparents to learn the alphabet,
the letters, A, and c, and all the way
through to learn the meaning of them
and to conure with them. They learn
ed by the use of the letters that man
meant man, that the letters woman
meant woman, that child meant
child, and then by coniuring other let
ters they formed the words right and
wrong, justice, liberty and humanity.
And we have come to learn the mean
ing of these terms and by the gods we
propose to stand by them.
Sometimes I permit my mind to run
riot in delving or soaring in trying to
understand whit could or would be
met or what could or would result if
the enemies OF our organized labor
movement could be at all successful
in crushing out our movement. / say
in all sincerity, woe to the men of
wealth in such an event Their very
possessions would prove a curse and
their undoing. The trades union move
ment of our time is the best and the
most rational expression of discomfort
of the masses, with a clear understand
ing and a purpose to work on and on,
day by day, in developing the best that
is in us and the best possible condi-
tions for all of us.
"As ! said, these opponents of labor
began too late. The organizations
have done so much for us that they
Continued on Page Four)