Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1913-09-18

: IVA SAASAA WAA H&Av0GAOAA0 CAAS
3 American people would proba
bly, have never known OF tn,
: horrors of that struggle. This Ii
, just one illustration of wha,
, The women members of unlo1
!, mems families sometimes have
TO pass through, and what they
! accomplished In that strike
within itself entities them ut
] all the honors union men car
confer upon them.
: 1t is not the thought of the
: bene ut woman can be In time
OF trouble that has prompted
: me to insist upon their organi-
cation In Missouri Valley.
Among other reasons this insist.
: ance Is made because they are
the more thoughtful, fartnerest
seeing OF Inc sexes; their lntul-
J tlon is more highly developed
and living away from the Whlr
: OF wheels and the rattle of ma
chlnery, they have more time
Co get a clearer understanding
: OF conditions than have the
men who are penL up and whose
observations are necessarily
!. narrower, or more preiudiceu.
Let me give you a further
illustration of what the women
members of families OF working
men have done. In Cincinnati
the street car men were unor-
gained for Yeats. They had
60 accept anything the company
wanted to impose upon them. |
visited that city two years ago,
living with relative on a SUBJ
urban line. 1t took about an
hour TO make the trip from the
center of the city to the street
IN the fashionable residence
village where left the car, so
had plenty of time. Almos,
every trip | engaged the con-
ductor in conversation and the
subject always turned to the
probability of the org anization
Iof street car men. | boarded
/ The same car eyery trim. FIJI
nally one day he warned me to
talk in whispers. "Why" |
asked. Because he said,
there is a detective on the car
If they think that you are try
ing to get US to organize, or
even suggesting such a thing,
they'll make your life burden
They are employed by the COM
pany."
The frightened Cincinnati
car conductor, who was afraid a
/ private" detective might over
hear his conversation with me,
was not aware that | would be
more than glad that one of
that stripe was on my trail.
For a considerable time l had
been longing to have the OPP
portunity to slash into a system
that is one of the most brutal,
unjust and dishonest in Ameri-
can life. | mean, of course, the
fact that great corporations
are permitted to employ thugs,
under the name of detectives,
to intimidate workingmen.
Anyway, no private detective
followed me to find out if | was
trying to jnstill a spirit of indie
pendance and organization into
the street car men. Maybe the
private" detective agencies
understand that it is a bad idea
for them to get mixed up with
4 the agencies of publicity. You
know some so called business
es' cannot stand the white
light.
Well, TO make q long story
longer, the street car men Of
Cincinnati were organized
That was when ] was down in
Mexico and along the Texas
border, with sand for food and
coyotes and centipedes and
Mexican "greasers" for compa-
Mons, SO | knew nothing of the
event until read paper that
tie street car men of Cincinnati
had actually gone on a strike.
Then, by letter, made an in
vestigation. Names could be
given, and would be given any
union man in conversation, but
some fellows might lose their
jobs if the full story was told
here. In brief, it is this.