Denver labor bulletin., 1915-11-13
IS STAND-UP COLLAR
PASSPORT FOR ARMY
Laborine Men Denied Entrance
to Training School
For Business and Professional Men,
Says Application Blank; Asks for
office" Address and Phone

The enrolment blank for military
training camp at Fort Sheridan states
specifically that it is for business and
professional men. 1t provides spaces for
insertion of "offiee address" and ~offiee
telephone" OF applicants. 1t asks what
institution he is graduate of and re-
quires $40 as tuition.
But. has the war department any
shoulder straps" for labor!
Is rank in the United States army
the exclusive privilege of wealth.
Is place in the ranks the special
privilege, of the laboring man?
Men who sought admission to the
citizens military training camp now oc-
cnpying Fort Sheridan put those ques-
tions-in effect-up to the war depart
ment and the answer that came right
back from Fort Sheridan sounded some
thing like this:
"Stay at home until there is blood
to spill. bodies to main, souls TO rack
on the battlefield; then you can follow
us into the fight, and there'll be plenty
for you to do"
Some of the laboring men who talked
about the war departments indifference
to their applications for permission to
train in the citizen-soldiers' camp. 1t
appeared thus:
Looks as if we Were trying to place
the army OF defense under the control
of snobs; looks as if our army is not an
impartial weapon of defense, but a
weapon to protect the plunder of the
wealthy"
Laboring Men Find ~Nigger."
The laboring man is awake to the
condition of affairs" says Honore Jaxon,
a leader of labor who recruited more
than 100 laboring men for training at
Fort Sheridan. only to find their appl-
cations rejected because they didn't
have the ~pocketbook passport"-the
necessary $40 tuition.
When the call for recruits for the
Fort Sheridan military training camp
was issued several weeks ago. so the
laboring men point out, il was not a
call for men. but specific call for bust
ness and professional men," Yet so
eager was labor TO offer its services that
100 plain men who work with their
hands We're among the first to volun-
teer.
They never got nearer to Fort Sheri-
dan than the office of Gen. ii. o. S.
Teistand of the United States army, the
adjutant general who directed the re-
cruiting
Pressure brought to bear upon Adjt.
Gen. Heistand removed the educational
barrier. but the labor rockies still had
the financial test to meet-a tax of $40
on their patriotism.
millionaire" Club Select Men
They appealed to the Association OF
Commerce, that organization having of
fered to dcfray the expenses of men at
the training camp. Their answer was
this letter from Carl Latham, chairman
OF the associations committee:
Il regret that I have found no way
penses. at Fort Sheridan. Mem
bers OF the Association of Commerce
who arranged for the sending OF desir-
able men have selected men in their
own employ"
Undaunted by this rebuff. the labor
ing men appealed to the Hamilton club,
an organization of wealthy business men
that had volunteered to pay the ex-
pcnses of men at the military camp.
But this millionaire club" which would
have lot at stake il some foreign
power invaded the United States. hav-
ing invested s., 2,400-s40 each for 60
rookies-in preparedness" decided that
was as far as they cared to go and
turned the workipgmen down.