The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1911-06-07
George F. Hedrick of Painters,
Decorators and Paperhangers
GUEST AT BARRE BANQUET
Pres. Hedrick Lauded Unions and De-
clared That Combinations of Capital
Have Their Place Just the Same
as Combinations of Labor.


OF Painters, Decorators and Paper
Hangers Of America, in honor of their
national president, George + Hedrick,
OF Lafayette, Ind, on the occasion of
his first visit to this local. About 30
members of the local and invited guests
were present, and il was evident from
the interest and enthusiasm displayed
By the company in the remarks Of
their honored guest and other speakers
taat unionism had been given another
successful boost in Barre.
/ OF the guests present besides Mr..
Hcdrick were Mayor James Mutch.
Daniel J. Sullivan, who performed the
office OF toastmaster very acceptably,
James Cruickshank, Alexander Iron.
side President Henry of the Barre G.
I. u, Fred NJ. Suitor secretary.
1 treasurer Of the @ w. j ", and
/ d. S. Elliott, all of whom made brief
addresses on the labor movement in
Barre
/ The members of the local held a
meeting with their national president
at their hall before the banquet and
then adjourned to the hotel at $50
o'clock Landlord Snow as caterer for
the banquet left nothing to be desired
end after full justice had been done to
the good things President VIII Averill
raped for order and introduced the
toastmaster. The local speakers were
called upon first by the toastmaster and
owing to the lateness of the hour and
their wish to give all of the time pos.
sible to the national president their re-
marks were very brief During this
part Of the program songs were en-
| ioyably sung by John Kesson, d j.
Sullivan and Alex Ironside.
In beginning his remarks National
President Hedrick said that this was
the first time that he had been privi.l
legged to sit at the table at an occasion.
of this kind with real live mayor.
mayor who carries In his pocket clean
card in an affiliated branch Of the
American Federation of Labor, and hs
said that Mayor Mutch was to be
congratulated; also the city of Barre
on having such an excellent official Mt
/ its head The speaker said that if it
was not for the jealousy that exists
among the labor men of the country
they could have mayors in all the
cities, and representatives of organized
labor in the state and national legis-
latHres He declared that some day the
laboring men We're going to wake up
ara have them there.
In speaking of his own organization,
the Brotherhood of Painters, Decora-
tors and Paper Hangers of America, he
said that they had about $4,000 mem
beIs in good standing and were now
the third largest organizations of the
"A. i. of Il During the past ten
years, he said the organization has
increased its wages in 700 cities and re-
IL hours per day to 5 hours, and thar
the organization was doing everything
that it could to promote the labor
movement in this country.
In speaking of the A. +. of L. in
general he said that, reports to the
contrary Notwithstanding, the officers
Of the A F Of L stood ready to show
its expense accounts at any time that
the manufacturers associations stood
ready to show up theirs, and he asserted
that the A f. of L. would show that
not one dollar of their funds had ever
been hpent for the purpose of doing
harm to any manufacturers association
while, on the other hand, it could be
shown that the manufacturers had
squandered much in attempts to break
up organized labor The president said
that since coming to Barre he had been
asked for his opinion on the case of
the arrest of the labor leaders charged
with blowing up the Los Angeles Times
building Mr. Hedrick said that he
bai a. IL
guilt or innocence of the men under
arrest other than that he had known
John Mcnamara Of the Iron Workers
union for the last 10 years and he did
not believe that he was that kind of
man In the men are guilty. he said,
they shuld be punished, but If it was
another Hayward -Pettibone case the
men should be freed What he did
protest against. and what every other
honest laboring man in the country is
protesting against, he said is the man
ne; in which the men We're taken out
OF the state of Indiana without due
process of law He claimed that this
Vas a disgrace to the country and
would never have happened to men in
an other organization However, he
said that the men were now to have
far trial and the facts in the case
would probably be brought to light
In speaking of the trusts he said
that he was not a man to be continually
howling against the trusts He said
that he. believed in the combinations Of
capital Just as much as he believed in
the combinations Of labor organizations
"l believe an employer has his rights
and that they ought to be respected,
but when they bear down unjustlv
rpon the rights Of their employees it is
time for the laboring men to act. II
II had not been for the labor
unions he working men of his coun-
try would be even worse of than they
we're years ago when working 10 and
II hours day But now through the.
efforts OF the unions the time has come
tlat if You asked the manufacturers TO
oo hack TO 10 hours a day and no
Saturday half holidays hey would hold
,m his hands in holy horror at the
xefy thought of doing it Still when
the movement was first advanced they
said that the unions were running their
brsiness But it has been proven that
tie labor organizations are doing
Great work towards lettering tie con-
-. #IEa