The Irish standard., 1912-10-12

and in behalf of square deal for or
;sanized labor took it upon my shoul-
ders and refused to sign an agree
ment for the contract system, al
though ordered and directed to do so
by a meeting called for that purpose.
l refused to sign as manager and then
when the meeting authorized me 20
sign l still refused to comply, the
contract system was put in effect in
spite of my protests. or course, If
they had not signed a contract sys-
tenn they would have to run their
own plant and hire union men and
run 1t according to union rules, and,
of course, they could put in the con-
tract that it be gotten out by union
labor. But the contract system takes
away the blame il help are exploited,
and If real union labor conditions
should at any time be lacking it
would give the chance to blame the
ono having the contract to do the
work. This strikes me as very Pc
culiar, as Socialists howl so much
about exploitation and how the con-
tract system enables it and why they
should use the excuse of It's being
cheaper and adopt it, l cannot figure
out. If a contractor can do the work,
why couldn't they themselves, as long
as they have their plant? II they
didn't have n plant ! could see some
reason for 1t. 1t does give n chance
for exploitation when the contract
system is used, and plenty of the So
cialists know the conditions of tho
Citizen plant, and such IL contract
that exists there could never get my
signature. 1t was signed by the Ciii-
zen Publishing Company through It's
president, George r. Lunn.
A Catholic Cannot Be Socialist.
Another important reason for my
total disgust Is that to study Social
ism and become saturated with its
teachings and follow out it's doctrines
leads absolutely to a disregard of the
holy teachings of the churches and
synagogues and those early religious
teachings received from our mothers.
\ l. believe in God and my experiences
and study with Socialism convince ME
absolutely that it Is impossible for a.
person to he u sincere Christian or
jew and n sincere Socialist. How
anyone can be II sincere Catholic and
sincere Socialist is beyond my un-
derstanding. Speaking of religion,
didn't they go on record at their con-
Vcntion only recently to tax church
property the same as private real as-
tate. Socialists arc opposed to reli-
gion on principle and must ncccss;lr-
lily place all the obstacles in the way
of religious progress. George Wash
inSton once declared that national
morality could not prevail if religious
principles were excluded.
Socialists, you must wake up to
this fact that your doctrines cannot
prevail and you know we'll that So
cialism has failed whenever and
wherever 1t has been given trial.
Socialism is II fantastic dream, ut
terly impossible, impracticablc, and
can any sane man suppose that the
great mass will ever vote for such u
system?
Socialism is an insult to the Labor
ing man. 1t reduces him to the con-
dition of the brute Figuring for him
mostly their great cry of food, cloth
ing and shcltcr), dogs, horses and an
imals get that in the way of feed,
blankets and place to sleep.
my advice to meaning Social
lists is to get out of the rut and don't
fool yourself with this ridiculous So
cialist dope, and remember I.incoln's
words, and Lincoln knew when he
said You can't fool the people, The
only way to build up an absolute and
lasting success is to play square with
the public and give the best you can
TO this great public. Let everyone get
this great point and when men of
any party are doing the best they can
for labor give them credit-1ve credit
for the splendid work of the Amer
lean Federation Of Labor, and / be-
lievc the American Federation has
done more for the real cause of labor
than all the red flag gents combined.
What have the Socialists done for la
Dor, and still they condemn every
thing, even IL it is a whole lot, If It
can't be lined up as Socialism. Why.
it is difficult to find many Socialists
that agree on the same brand - yet
they expect to give us that dreamy
community of world comradeship.
o Get into the common sense crowd
of live workingmen who have to be