New Britain herald., 1916-09-04

modities themselves. It is personal, human, part of life itself. Under the concept that labor was a com m.odity, and therefore property, em- Lloyers have tried to repress efforts Of workers for prograss and for larger liberty by punishing these efforts under anti-tru legislation and by at tempting to restrain them through the i1 junctive process. It was to protect the workers against these abuses and tC establish recognition of the con- Cept that the workers and all of their attributes were human, that the labor sections of the Clayton act were en- acted. In addition to these big achievem ents many other important humanitarian laws have been en- acted by congress increasing in num- her with every session of congress since the fifty ninth session.
 "As Labor Day 1916 comes in one of the most critical political cam paigns since the Civil war period, it is we'll to call attenton to the big issues of the campaign which has a national as well as an internatlonl relation The issue is the attitude of the political parties toward questions of humanity and human welfare.
 
 legislative achievements placed the highest valuation upon human life and human attributes that has ever been declared and enacted by any po- Htical party in power.
 The question that concerns the workers is how to hold their present advantages and how to secure from political parties still greater oppor- tunities for freedom. The thing | which is fundamental in Section of the Clayton antitrust act, the labor of a human being is not a ommodlty | or article of commerce. The repre- 1 sentatives of the American Fedora | tion of Labor went to the political 1 parties and asked them to declare 1 themselves upon this principle. The | answers that the political parties gave | are in their platforms where all may i read
 The democratic party openly and l favorably declared and emphasized it's position. The republican party took l, no notice of labor's request that they | declare themselves upon that which | the workers considered Of greatest importance to them.
 The international issue that now 1 comes closest to the labor movement | is the policy of our government l toward Mexico. The people there 1 are trying to work out their own ] problems and to establish their own ideals of political social and eco- | homie justice. The labor move ment in Mexico has developed; that is the most powerful and the most con- structive product of the revolution. Representatives of the labor move ment of Mexico have joined the rep of the labor movement | of America to insure to the workers and citizens of Mexico the rights of human beings, opportunities for freedom and for independence. Many of the problems of the Mexican workers are problems of the workers of the United States. Their welfare Is our welfare. The boundary line between the two countries is only an artificial division that has little or no effect upon the course and the nature of industrial and commercial development.
 The problem of industrial welfare in the the states of the southwest is largely a Mexican problem. With low standards of life and work prevail ing upon the 5,OO0,000 of Mexicans, there exists an obstacle to the estab-