New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-09-02
VIII Not?

WI ANON
Since President Wilson, alone and un-
aided. issued society's Endorsement oil the
railroad brotherhoods' demands Tor teC
hours nav for eight hours work and Con-
gress has madly rushed to grant the de-
mands by legislation it is manifest that an
industrial millennium is at hand. NO
longer must the downtrodden worker walt
for the slow processes of arbitration TO
bring to him his measure of what reform
crs term social justice" The greatest
and the highest in the land will hasten 70
obey his lghtest word-if only he con-
vinces them that he has votes enough,
power enough to cause trouble and de-
termination to use the power, however
lCthlessly.
Out i'm Minnesota some 10000 iron
r.;ners of the Mesaba Range have been on
strike for many weeks. The miners
wanted So a day for eight hours work
nav most of the railroad men would refuse
TO take with scorn-and pay twice month.
They have suffered the usual hardships at
tendant on a strike. Credit has been re-
fused them by their provision dealers. Iney
have been evicted Company guards have
fired on them and several of the miners are
now in Jail on a charge Of numbering a
deputy sheriff in a fight between miners and
the deputies. Families are undergoing prl-
vations. and only the raising of funds by
local groups of Industrial Workers of the
World, TO which organization most OF the
miners on strike belong, has prevented act
ual starvation, if the stories which come
from the range are to be believed.
Thus it can be seen at glance there is
far more need for social justice to be done
here by swift and summary action than
was the case with the railroad brother
hoods.
Therefore, The Tribune without know
ing one whit more about the merits Of the
Minnesota case than Mr.. Wilson did Of the
railroad case, suggests that Bill Haywood
Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, Arturo Giovan
nitti. and other leaders of the Industrial
Workers of the World travel post-haste to
Washington before Congress adjourns
They should see the tender-hearted Presl-
dent and the deeply sympathetic Demo
cratic leaders of Congress and lay the case
before them. Iron is an article in great
demand in interstate commerce; therefore
Congress might about as well regulate the
conditions of its production as lay down
laws concerning child labor on articles to
be traded in in interstate commerce. And
if anv question Of legality of Federal inter
ference here should arise, let Haywood and
Miss Flynn show the President that an
election is near at hand that the /. W. w
is a countrywide organization controlling
many votes in many states, Is not at all
averse to the use Of violence and is rather
more willing to strike than eat. That will
settle the business.
If there is to be dispensing Of social
Justice by Congress, let it be passed around
generally, 1t would be shame to con-
fine the uplift TO those who need it least
Let everybody who has any power use 1t
TO grab a piece Of the plumber while any
remains. The President and Congress
having established the precedent of aiding
the "vultures," as Mr.. Garrison so aptly
termed the brotherhoods, would scarcely
find il in their hearts TO refuse any other
organization. SO on 70 Washington, SC
long as the public has anything left worth
taking. Get it while the getting's good
must be the new American motto.