The Connecticut labor press., 1919-04-26

In last weeks issue of The Connec- ticut Labor Press, selection was ] printed from Edward Marshalps inter view with Hugh Frayne, general or l ganizer of the American Federation of I Labor, about the growing feeling of un- ! rest i'll this country and how 1t could be l cured. An additional selection Is made l this wek and i'll view of the fantastic
 notions presented by many Unbalanced radicals the sane ideas of such a cap l able observer as MT. Frayne are worthy ! of careful study.
 Tt has been suggested" MT. Frayne l said, that the remedy to cure Amer ica's growing industrial unrest, the
 means by which to prevent tine spread of Bolshevism, is to shoot men down, to club them or throw them into pr1son l sonable. 1t may be that those sug- l gestlng it are as dangerously radical, as perilously violent III une1r ideas as l the workers who urge. riot, fire and
 DIoodshed as means whereby they may secure that which they denominate
 lnelr liberty
 ITO follow tactics of that sort would
 be to make martyrs of the men who
 are deserving, probably, of no such l glory. Men, though they be unworthy l martyrs, always have great 1oiioWtngs. l Dispose Of them by bullets or by bars, and new men will spring to take their l places ~ 5
 "The problems of today's industrial l unrest, 1 think, are among those which laws will not rightly toucn, let alone
 cure properly. They are not merely l national, in these days of quick, trans I portation and instantaneous eo;lliIlunt- I cation, which no censorship really can l control. They are fully international l and the law cannot cope with truly in- 1 ternational problems. You cant cure 1 discontent by legally forbidding It: You
 can't. cure sick society by punishment l any more than you can cure, a sick 1 man by sentencing him to prison or to 40 lashes. ..%-. ... -t.. /.
 "These things are problems, not l crimes, and must be dealt with as | problems, not crimes.
 | If workers are given more freedom l and better opportunities, If they are l given higher living standards, few if I any of them will be susceptible to any 1 destructive propaganda, will be toler- 1 ant of the so-called Bo1shevistic doc 1 tr1nes. 1t Is only the unemployed, the underpaid the overworked men. and,
 women who are susceptible to the l disease germs of such conragIon. The 1 moral of these facts is obvious. = l Do not misunderstood me. I have I | istence of many just causes for com l p1aint against the conditions under l which modern American workers are l compelled to live But while ready and anxious to proclaim th1s, | still. find myself out of sympathy with tine renl- l edy which Bolshevism offers, ;. . l T believe employers, from the small ones to the big interests must assume
 their full responsibility for that recon Il . .f1 A1e0 fo1x
 necessary in the theory of American, | industry. They must not deny the 1 existence of the problem. They. must l take serious thought, remembering l that no spirit of unrest arises without some excuse. l would pc s.1e last to say there are no oppressive conditions I in American industry, ,~ ....ec
 And there Is more redsv.s now why
 those in power should heed every, little l warning than ever there was before, | for there Is contagion which Is spread | ing in certain parts or Europe and which is absolutely certain to come ] acros the sea if any son nere fertile. 1 for it shall be found. The necessary reconstruction work to be done con esists of more than getting jobs for dis l charged soldiers. Personally I am cer- l tain that we need and that we shall
 have reconstruction of the whole | 1 victory which has been won and in l which we played ereditable part. ! "I shall go further now than ever l have gone before and say that whether or not that victory depended on the strength which we threw into the balance in the war of arms which has just ended (we all hope), 1t will depend 1 to a very great extent upon the in 1 te1ligence which we shall throw into ' x1- f.. A. @f
 construction. n
 l wrong. Profits are too high. Values
 are too high; the American dollar
 must be brought back to- 100 cents of 1 value from the 40 cents of value which
 it's shows at present. By doing this we can exercise stabilizing influence ! throughout the world. Compete sta- l bi1ization in America afmos. would | stabilize the world. We must not for get that. X /,
 "I believe that a vital economic
 error of our business men is. selling | they sell at home. Thousands of Amer ican families will be so per cent. under
 fed tonight.
 Don't let any one endeavor even l to convince you that we in t:le United States have, no underfeeding, that
 there are no children here who liter
 ally cannot be rightly cared for. | myself have known cases, ana far 100 l many of them, of families, some. Of
 them of five, which have been rorced
 to do with, one pound of meat. weekly,
 There are more of them tocay than ] there were --esterday, for the cost of living is up 80 per cent, and wages
 have not kept pace with this amazing I increase
 "If material is exported at a cheaper
 price than it is sold at home grave injustice is done, therefore.
 Some of our business men, like Henry Ford, have learned that low prices must mean high consumption. ] High construction would mean. higher development of the people, the raising of strength standards, the l elimination of disease, the increase of l happiness, the stimulation of ambition, the vast augmentation of production. "As a matter of fact wages are not
 too high this minute for the old time
 scale of living prices; they were too low before. They were too low both for the employer and for the employed, for l men respond to high wage with an increased production, and humanity in
 general responds to an increased pro-