The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1912-02-01
OR WASHINGTON LETvi ER.
(IIy Charles II. Tavener, special
Washington correspondent Of The
LbNtANl.fL |

Ncportvr.)
Washington, y. c., Jan 27th.-
! ,!rrl Is some more evidence OF how
No! hin2mHn.
lun following is an extract from
an a,p.dl sent by the 5000 men,
Wou,n aud children striking textile
workers at Lawrence, Mass, TO VIM.
Nj. Wood, president OF the MoolIen
Trust:
1--WE are OF the opinion that YOU
HAVE nsu ample time TO consider the
| demands OF the men, women and
children who have made the .\meri-
lean WoOllrn company what it is to-
! day. In view Of the fact that ma
,hincry has been improved, the
| workers turn Off more and more
work, but they are not paid accord
ingly, even though the price Of food
| clothing and shelter has in many
cases increased so and even 100 per
cent within the last few years.
I'VE, the committee, are willing
to meet the officials of the company
at any time and submit the griev
ances of the strikers. So if you be-
lieve in square deal you will not
refuse to meet with us, but will come
forward at once and try to bring the
trouble to a final conclusion. You
must bear in mind the fact that
these men, women and children have
not gone on strike for light or tran
silent causes, but because they could
no longer bear up under the bur-
dens laid upon their shoulders. The
American Woollen Company has
within the last few years built sew
eral mills, which are paid for, ac-
cording to your own figures, and the
company has even in the worst of
times managed to pay dividends.
1.-The workers are of the opinion
that the only competition left is the
struggle among themselves for a
miserable job at Sc, 81 or IS a
week.
This is how Schedule X "protects"
the workingman, solely for whose
benefit the Payne-Aldrich bill (ac-
cording to Payne and Aldrich) was
passed.
Since the protectionists admit
! that Schedule K, which places a
heavy tax on every article of woollen
clothing sold in the United States,
was designed solely to benefit the
workingmen in the woollen industry,
and since the Sc, 81 and IS wages
paid by the woollen trust demon
strates beyond successful contradict
ton that Schedule K does not pro-
tect the workers, why should the
American people longer tolerate
Schedule X?
| Important Data Disappears.
| Several months were spent by
Hon. Jonathan Bourne, progressive
republican senator from Oregon, in
gathering data on the subject of the
use of Federal patronage to control
national conventions. One night re-
Gently his office was entered, and his
files were looted of all this material.
The Fallacy of Protection.
Whenever an American trust
wants the tariff tax increased, it
bases it's plea on the argument that
american manufacturers cannot
compete with the cheap labor of Eu-
rope"
In eleven months of last year the
exports of iron and steel products,
together with agricultural imple-
ments and freight and passenger cars,
amounted to nearly $27O,00O, 000-l
an increase of about $54,0O0,O0O
over the corresponding period of
1910.
These materials are exported from
this country to all parts of the world,
in the face of the competition of
England, Belgium, Germany and
France. The steel trusts foreign
competitors had the advantage of
that 'cheap labor" which the trusts
pretend to fear so greatly whenever
a proposal is made to lower the tar
if. Yet the trusts trade in foreign
markets is constantly on the in
increase. How much longer will the
American consumers allow them
selves to be fooled by the trust
"logic?'
Taft and the People.
President Taft, in his recent
words: "The people are not always
able to decide what is best for them
A great many men who believe this
to be true lack the courage to say it"
In explaining that the people do
not always know what they want,
the President made no mention of
the fact that the people do not al
ways have a chance, under the pres
ent cumbersome election methods,
to give expression to their opinions
The people, for instance, probably
would not be in favor of allowing
hundreds of office holding republi-
cans in the south to nominate the
candidate for president, but how can
they help themselves? Moreover,
when the people decide almost unan-
imously that they want a certain
thing, such as the recall in Arizona,
the President steps in and says they
shall not have it. When both Houses
of Congress pass a bill revising the
tax on woollens downward, the Pres
ident makes the legislation impossi-
BILE with his veto. Apparently it
makes small difference to Mr.. Taft
whether the people know what they
want or not. ~ r.. ...
Railroad Wrecks.
The tragic deaths of former presi-
m a..