Denver labor bulletin., 1916-11-25

week, laid special stress upon the
achievements of organized labor in Sc
curing remedial legislation for all class
es OF wage -earners. His address in full,
as printed in the daily official proceed
ings of the convention, follows:
Mr.. Chairman and Fellow Trade I'm
ionists: / have not come here this
morning for the purpose Of making a
speech. l am very much in the position
that Granny Murray was in my little
home mining town of Blossburg, Pa, a
great many years ago, when her son,
Jack, went out one evening and shortly
after Granny was informed that he was
engaged in a fistic encounter with sew
eral young men down the street. She
was excited at the news, and imme-
diately grabbed broom and started for
the scene of the conflict. Her neighbors
endeavored to hold her back, saying:
Granny, there is no use Of you going
down there; you cannot help Jack out
any" She said: Let me 90, | can at
least show which side l am on!" And !
am here today, not TO make a speech,
but for the purpose OF showing which
side ] am on.
The allegation has frequently Decl
made that trade urionists are selfish,
that they are seeking to promote their
own welfare. to Gdvance their own in
terests to the exclusion OF those who are
unorganized; yet everyone who has OBJ
served and studied the trade union
n. movement Of our own times, and Of the
times gone by. knows that The most al.
trui-;ic movement the world has ever
produced Is the trDie union movement.
Reference has been mad TO the splen-
did legislative measures that have been
enacted in the state Of Maryland In
other states and in our federal govern
meut. Everyone familiH- with the fact
knows that legislatures are not prone to
act on humanitarian legis. .'Ipu. on legi--
lation for the promotion nf the welfare
of the great mass unles- there l- some
pressure at home to cau-. thcm to act
With an uuorEunized bo-y Of workers
al home they are ineffective in bringing
that pressure to bear upon legislatures
which Is essential in order 10 secure the
humanitarian legislation necessary for
the welfare OF our peoplg Il has been
only by virtue OF tho association to-
gether OF numbers of the workers in or
ganization and the concentrated pressure
that organization has enabled them to
exercise that We have been able to Sc
cure remedial legislation lu the state OF
Maryland, in the other states and from
our federal congress.
The remedial Legislation we have Sc
cured was secured as a direct result OF
organized wageworkers' efforts
" hen it is brought about the non-union
man-nay. the man we speak OF not
simply as a non-union man but the man
who deserts and betrays the union
movement that we speak OF as a "scab'
secures the benefit of the legislation
as we'll And what more altrustic move
meut could we have than the movement
& at hands out improvement: 10 its enc
mes.
IT, reliability is that wcrId not ts
here on this platform today, bit might
be one of the delegates from my trade
union were il not for the ia : that The
org -ized labor movement. after rcarlv
fifty years agitation succeeded in Sc
curing the creation of a department of
labor. Away back in 1855 the old Ma
'i,nal Union. in existence 1t that tine.
at IA convention in Louisv'l, Ky. de-
ned for a department OF labor We
had numerous other depar ;ucutz, al
most every other industry in our coun-
try was represented in the >ourc'ls OF
the president of the United States. lut
labor was unrepresented.
We had our foreign affairs represent
cd by the department of sta.e. orr fl
nal, al affairs represented hy the treas
ury department, our .cgsl affair, I,p:c-
seIited by the department o. Justice.
cur military affairs by the dsTSrtmcnt
OF war and the department OF 'he navy.
our transportation of intelligence. and to
some extent OF freight, by the postoffice
department, our educational facilities
and our interior development by the de
partment of the interior. our agricultur-
al interests by the department of agri-
culture, our commercial interests by the
department of commerce: but that great
body of citizenship comprising more than
one half of the workers of our country
was unrepnsented in the councils of the
president of the United States.
In 1865 the old National Union de-
elared for the establishment of such
department, and after nearly twenty
years agitation in the early part of the
eighties a department of labor was ere
ated The department of labor at that
time created had a commissioner as its
executive head. There are many people
who imagine that somewhere in our con.
stitution or in our statutory laws body
has been created known as the cabinet
of the president of the United States
No such body exists by virtue of any
written law constitutional or otherwise;
it is in existence purely by virtue OF the
fact that the first president of the Unit
cd States called into his councils the
heads of the five departments then in
existence. From that precedent the cab
met was established, and it had been
further established that no one would
be called into the councils OF the presi-
dent rs an executive adviser who did
not hold the status of the secretary of
n department. When department of
labor was created in the carly eighties,
with y commissioner as its head organ
lied labor believed the commissioner
would be called into the councils, while