The Knoxville independent. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1894-current, 1918-03-09
HUGH NJ. TATE's REPLY TO CENTRAL LABOR
ASKING ATTITUDE TOWARDS ORGANIZED.

criminate against or try to i'm
exercised his moral and legal
right to become a member of
an organization in his trade,
would be immoral, sinful and
almost criminal.
S. You will readily see that
instead of answering in general
terms, have specifically an
sWered your every question, and
| do SO unhesitatingly and with
out fear of results, because |
know my answers are morally
right and just. Ii there are
enemies of organized labor who
do not like my expressions, and
desire to punish me for them, l
cannot help it. Furthermore, |
know that / state nothing that
is not absolutely within the law.
AS said in the verybeginning,
it would of course always be my
endeavor faithfully to construe
and uphold the law made for
my guidance by the legislative
branch of the government, and
that would be my guiding star.
But | have come to know that
the thinking and reasoning
members of organized labor and
of such organized labor is now
almost entirely composed, ex-
pect nothing from officials ex-
cept an absolutely square deal.
This they would get in my
court; they would stand not a
particle higher than, but alb
solutely as high as, the richest
man in Knox County, or the
greatest capitalist. In other
words, they would appear in
my court on one side or the
other, not as capitalists or labor
men, but as citizens, and one
would stand just exactly as high
as the other, and, unless | am
badly mistaken in the temper
ament and desires of the labor
ing man, this square deal from
an honest official is all that they
ask. ...,l
6. | believe that ''the labOr-
er is worthy of his hire" and
those who produce and preserve
the wealth of the country should
have fair remuneration for such
production and preservation.
And this is true whether the
labor and work are those of
both the brain and the Drawn of
the man on the farm, in the
railroads, in the mills or the
public works, OR whether it be
the work.. painstaking, time-re-
curing and health breaking, of
the man at the desk or the pro-
fessional man who has, through
the expenditure Of time, energy
and money, fitted himself to
make a living for his family by
that kind of work, and all, in
their proper place, are neces-
sary, and all are equally honor
able. The man who would not
insist for enough properly to
care for his family, whether it
be as the result of labor in the
Office, the court room, the shops
or the mills, will be equally at
fault.
May | be permitted just to
say in support of the fact that
my clean and unevasive answers
above are not just the answers
of the candidate for Office, that
| have never known anything
but to respect and admire a
working man. When | was born
my family had lost everything
it had ever owned through the
cholera scOurge, and my father
was running as mail agent on
the railroad. He belonged to the
nearest thing approaching a
union that existed at that time:
the Railway Mail Service Mu-
tual Benefit Association. AS /
grew up when a boy attending
the common school I worked on
Saturdays, and there are those
in my home town, the nearby
town of Morristown, who can
remember when your present
candidate for Chancellor drove
a delivery wagon on Saturdays.
Before coming to the law school
i carried ON horseback a rural
mail route in Hamblen County.
While in the law school / took
work on the side at $25.G0 per
month to help pay my way.
But these are not reasons
Why any perSOn should vote for