The Northwest worker. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1915-1917, 1917-05-03
LABOR DAY
IN EVERETT
Bradford Reveals Startling Con
ditiOuS Existing Through
out the World

evening with timely subjects being
discussed by President Ernest 7.
/ Marsh, of the State Federation of
Labor, and James +. Bradford, of
Seattle, both Of whom preceded an
entertaining program held under the
auspices of Everett organized labor
at the Labor temple.
Both speakers emphasized univer-
! sal economic conditions brought
about by the world war. That a
great blessing has resulted from the
war-the procession of Russian eX-
! lies from Siberia, the realization of
democracy, its exposure of conditions
was declared by Ernest p Marsh
during a brief, but pointed discourse
on the origin and progress of the
war
In discussing conditions of local
Importance, Mr.. Marsh laid stress on
the paramount Importance of food
regulation, He lauded the plan of
food regulation as one of utmost inn
portance to labor Relative to the
position of the employer during the
twar, Marsh declared that it was to
the interest of capital to increase
wages and offer the best conditions
possible to the workmen. He said
at is the best investment of the
employer to give the best of condi-
tions to the workmen. The aver
age employee, the rank and file of la
Dor, have their Ideals, although they
may have different methods of ex-
pressing their principle.
The average is more good than
bad; they want to do what is right,
All they ask is the opportunity and
it is the mission of all forces in So
ciety to put this opportunity in the
path of the common worker"
/ President Marsh said that the big
problem was not the matter of in
creased crop cultivation, because, he
asserted, there were big crop sur
pluses last year, followed by large ex-
ports.
The real problem is to solve the
problem of the $3.50 per day work
men who are compelled to pay $12
for flour. Wheat has been trans
ported through the European subma-
rine blockade, put on the market at
Liverpool and sold for $40 per
bushel, while the Chicago stock ex-
change in America regulated the To-
cal price at $2.25.
The only agency broad enough to
handle this problem is the govern
ment. 1t is to the interest of the
common worker to demand that the
food situation in all its phases be
assumed by the nation"
During his discourse on "The
Significance of International Labor
Day." James f. Bradford revealed
startling conditions existing through
out the world. He quoted from au-
thorities and American census rec
cords the distribution of wealth.
''The workman is too busy with
the smaller details in life to study
the basic principles that are to his
interest. The worker struggles on
the surface of things; he is told of
prosperity, political prosperity, which
IS a snare and a delusion."
One of the points emphasized by
Mr.. Bradford was the assertion that
intolerable economic conditions which
existed in larger cities of America
were responsible for the frantic de-
mands of the nation for enlistments
in the army and navy.
Startling economic conditions were
exposed in statistics quoted by Mr..
Bradford on the distribution of
wealth.
Seventeen Rockefellers could
gather the cash moneys of all the
countries Of the world" he said zone
hundred and eighty Rockefelers
could possess the wealth of all the
WI 4A' II lkOChclcllGI WOIhGu SIX
days week since the birth of Jesus
Christ he would have earned an av-
erage Of $1,700 per day in order to
get the wealth he possesses"
Mr.. Bradford said that three quar-
ters Of the male wage earners of the
nation and -tWentieths Of
the female workers existed on an
average Of $500 per year. He said
that the average family, with three
children could not live under nor
NAL conditions on less than $3.50 a
year, while many authorities boosted
this figure to $1,000 annually.
"One-third Of the industrial fam
lilies in the United States are not fed
sufficiently" he declared. "A great
percentage Of workers are property
less; conditions are deplorable in our
larger cities. Over. 5000 children
are habitually hungry in Chicago
and $4,000 children are suffering
from bad teeth in Chicago, with
l2,OO0,O00 in the United States. And
this is our future citizenship"