The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1916-09-05


mum amount OF education which any
child should receive is certainly the
grammar school course, yet statistics
show that only one-third OF the children
in our public schools complete the gram
mar school course and less than 10 per
cent finish high school Those who leave
are almost entirely the children OF the
workers. Who Is weak and | am not
weaky Who is caused 60 stumble, ana !
burn notg They are human beings, not
dead metals. that are being melted. let
us look at the fire under the melting pot
of labor.
again. labor cannot always regulate
the fire. Other hands have been and are
doing the firing. The rich per cent
Of the people, own 90 per cent OF the
wealth. The middle class 80 per cent
of the people own 30 per cent OF the
wealth. The poor 60 per cent OF the
people, own 3 per cent OF the wealth.
Powerful influences have been at work
to prevent remedial legislation for the
workingmen. There are hostile assoeia-
tions OF employers that oppose collective
bargaining There are employers OF Ia
Dor who are still using the classic
phrases: It's none OF your business, J.
can run my business to suit mysei,
there is nothing 10 arbitrate.'
Three employers of labor, members oil
the commission on industrial relations
during 1915, made the following admls'
sions: we are free TO admit that the
investigations made by the commission
and the testimony brought 10 our publlc
hearings have made il plain that EN-
plovers. some of them, have been guilty
of much wrong doing and have caused
the workers to have their fullest share
of grievances against many employers
There has been abundance OF testimony
submitted 20 prove TO our satisfaction
that some employers have resorted TO
questionable methods to prevent their
workers from organizing in their own
self interests; that they have attempted
TO defeat democracy by more or less con
trolling courts and legislatures; that
some Of them have exploited women ana
children and unorganized workers; that
some have resorted 10 all sorts OF meth,
DDS TO prevent the enactment OF remedial
industrial legislation; and some nave
employed gunner in strikes. who We're
| diSreputable characters and who assault
ed innocent people and committed other
crimes most reprehensibe in character;
| that some have paid lower wages than
competitive conditions warranted worked
their people long hours and under un-
sanitary and dangerous conditions; that
some have exploited prison labor al the
expense of free labori that some have
been contract breakers. that some have
| at times attempted, through the authorl-
ties, to suppress free speech and the
right of peaceful assembly; and that
some have deliberately. for selfish ends
bribed representatives Of labor. All these
things, we find tend to produce industrial
unrest. with all its consequent and tar.
reaching ills. That was signed state
ment, too.
Mr.. President, ladies and gentlemen,
those are the fires that have caused much
Of our industrial unrest. Talk about
Iagitators. the only real agltator i mus
! tice: and the only way Is to correct the
Injustice and allay the agitation. Inc
mast we cannot mend its evil outlines
are stamped in immortal rigidity. Take
away the hope that ! can mend the iu'
ture and YOU drive me insane. There
comes time in the history Of man when
to remain in tranquility is TO riyet the
chains of slavery 1t is stated that am
partisan. If the securing OF Justice 70
those who earn their bread in the sweat
of their face. constitutes partisanship
then count me as partisan OF labor
Judge Seymour D. Thompson said
There is danger that the people Will see
these things all at once; see their en-
robed Judges doing their thinking on the
side OF the rich and powerful; see them
look with solemn cynicism upon the sui
ferjngs of the masses. nor heed the earth
quake when it begins to rock beneath
their feet; see them present spectacle
not unlike that of Nero fddling while
Rome burns. There is danger that the
people will see all this at one sudden
glance. and that the furies will then
break loose and that all hell viii ride on
their wings
INV friends, nineteen years have gone
bv since those words were spoken, but
the real danger lies in the fact that dur
ing that period we have done little to re-
move the evils cited by him, and that
there is even reason to fear that we
have simply moved nearer to the danger
line. instead OF away from it. There are
students of economies who say like the
students Of old. there il death in the
pot And yet | would say, as | look
again into the melting pot of labor
these are not the death throes, but the
birth pangs of a new consciousness and
will result in group solidarity 1t is this
dissatisfaction with the present which
is the hope of the future. 1t is the de
sire for better things which drives mer
forever forward If selfshness, indeed
cannot give place to love and justice In
the industrial world, sooner or later a
revolution must come, not moral anc
spiritual one, but one of force-of dyna
mite and gunpowder; not bloodless one
hut the bloodiest ever seen in human his
tory.
"There are those who imagine they
can crush labor organizations. There Il
no power in America at the disposal OF
the EMPLOYING class which can crush la
Dor organizations. Their opponents may
double the police, strengthen the militia
secure control Of the legislative author
itv. put the Judges under their thumb:
and buy up every paper in the United
States. and their efforts will still be II
vain. Kings and emperors and parla
ments have been trying Just such expert
ments and have not succeeded. The hrs'
fundamental fact 10 be grasped Is thai
the labor organizations are with Us. anC
I ~ there