Denver labor bulletin., 1918-11-23
WALSH AND TAFT
MAY QUIT LABOR
WAR BOARD SOON
tContinued from Page One,

the unsympathetic among the collect
ors of internal revenue. Pomerene is
against woman suffrage and various
other steps in civilization.
Some Freak Mechanics.
Striking for the privilege of work
ing twelve and fourteen hours a day,
when ordered to work only eight hours,
is the latest freak of policy among
large numbers of building trades me-
chanics and other workers on govern
ment jobs in the East. international
officers of the Carpenters, the Paint
ers and other organizations are des-
Norfolk, Delaware City and other
points to go back to their jobs, and to
realize that the government can get
along pretty well without most of
them even now; that in a few weeks
they will remain at work only be-
cause the government does not want
them to be left unemployed. The
strikers answer that they are making
good money by working long hours,
and that the cost of living is now SO
high that eight hours pay will not
support their families. Reports made
by army construction officers are that
some of the men refuse to pay further
on Liberty bonds, until they are given
overtime work to do.
I'VE fought for years to get the
eight-hour day, and we conceded the
longer day only because the govern
ment needed our help in the war emer-
gency," said General Secretary Gal
lagher of the Painters, this morning.
Eve are now told by our own men,
bers that they refuse to meet the need
for reduction of war construction by
cutting out this overtime. They want
I L. l.,,
which is the law of our union. | am
telling our men that we have got to
stick to our eight-hour rule, and we
ought to be glad to cooperate with
| the government in shortening the
hours so that more men can be kept
employed until normal employment
shall be provided
There is sharp discomfort, already,
at the lack of definite suggestion
from the executive council of the
American Federation of Labor as to
how the great army of war workers
shall be transferred to permanent jobs
without loss of time or of industrial
standards. No surprise need be occa-
stoned if the confusion of the present
is reflected in the internal politics of
the Federation at the convention at
Atlantic City next June. The execu-
tive council is now evenly divided be-
tween the elements representing the
Mine Workers, Carpenters, Teamsters,
Typographical and their friends, on
the one side, and the elements follow
ing Mr.. Gompers on the other. Mr..
Gompers is reported to favor letting
the administration take the RESPONSE
bility for meeting the whole problem
of rehabilitation, while the opposition
is inclined to draw up labor" pro-
gram, just as has been done in Eng
land. Certainly if any large number
of men, on the closing of the war mu-
nitions plants, are thrown out of work
for any length of time, or have to ac-
cept wage that buys a poorer living,
the trade union halls of the country
will ring with it, and some one will be
held to blame.
The possible abolition of the national
war labor board is connected with this
promise of new labor politics. If the
board turns back 500 industrial dis
putes without an award, there seems
no way of avoiding that many strikes.
Organized labor will ask why the
board was permitted to die. when the
answer is given militant minority
will still be dissatisfied.
An Indictment of Labor.
Speaking of the prestige of organ
lied labor in this age of American
democracy reminds one of a clause in
federal indictment in California. 1t
reads:
defendants are charged with hav-
ing conspired to injure, oppress,
threaten and intimidate certain citi-
zens of the United States in the free
exercise and enjoyment by them re-
spectively of certain rights and privi-
leges secured to them by the consti-
@,.N L., -
by demanding stated wages and GER
tain terms from the employers of labor
thruout the United States, and unless
the employers Of labor will agree to
pay the stated wages and agree to the
certain terms demanded, the said de-
PENDANTS and the said persons with
whom said defendants conspired
would refuse to work for or give their
services to the said employers and
would engage in what is known in
everyday parlance as a strike"
1t is probable that when a hundred
congressional districts have followed
the example of San Francisco, st.
Paul, Duluth and parts of New York
City, and have sent trade unionists to
Congress, no more federal indictments
will include a clause like that. On
the other hand, so long as union men
stick political knives into the backs
of men like Heating in Colorado, Mey-
er London in New York and Lunn in
Schenectady, the brand of felony will
always be kept ready for the back Of
striker.
Choosing Peace Delegate.
Trade union officials are inquiring
every day, in Washington, about the
possibility that labor will have a place
on the American delegation to the