Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-11-07

ing Mr.. Nlaurcr called "Bolshevist'
session. when Mr.. Maurer said he was
not satisfied with the American Fed
Grafton of Labor, and urged his hearers
to ''go on the inside and make it what
you want it to be-"
Mr.. Palmer closed his attack with thu
following statement:
at will be glad day for Labor il
America when men of the Muurcr type
lose their influence in its councils. Until
that day comes we can give the honest,
patriotic workingmen of the nation
no greater help than by preventing the
Maurers and the Fosters from accom-
plishing their thinly concealed revolu
tionary plans"
"Strike Weapon Denounced
The immediate inspiration of Mr..
Palmer's speech was the action taken
last Sunday by the State Federation
of Labor in authorizing a general strike
as a protest against what its mem
bers and leaders. and Mr.. Maurer in
particular, had represented as an un
Just curtaitment of free speech. Mr..
Palmer said
zone of the most insidious attacks
upon our government and its inStitu-
tions is the proposed use of the strike
weapon for political purposes. Griey-
ances against the laws and their ad
ministratiou must be settled in the
ways which have been provided by the
people. Reforms in our body polite
may be accomplished only through the
methods designed for the purpose of
change and improvement in response to
r the popular will. They cannot be
forced by methods which seek to ter
rify suffering people into submission,
''There are men i'll the country VINO
have no sympathy for our form of gov
ernment and no respect for our insti
tutions. They would transplant the
chaos of Russia in American soil. They
have gained influence in the councils
of organized labor, some of them as
leaders in positions of authority i'll the
unions and others as blatant advocates
of ultraradical doctrine seeking to force
the hands of sane and patriotic leaders
In their organizations.
"a striking instance of this tendency
was the action of the Pennsylvania
State Federation of Labor in its con-
vention at Pittsburgh last Sunday,
when, under the leadership of James
III. Maurer, it authorized general
strike in all trades in Pennsylvania as
a protest, unless steps be Immediately
taken granting the constitutional rights
of free speech and liberty of public
assembly.
Pays Honor to Gompers
"The Guaranty of free speech must be
carefully preserved and the wise men
who wrote it into the Bill of Rights
were careful to provide the methods by
which it should be preserved. The law
full remedies are at hand. 1t is not
&I.-A -l,1a 1I
be deprived of the necessities of life
In order to enforce those remedies.
II cannot believe that the vast body
of the membership of the State Fedora.
tion of Labor, which is loyal and pa
triotic, will support this revolutionary
plan. Such methods will set back the
righteous cause of labor for half cen
tury because it will undo much that
the wise. able and patriotic leaders of
organized labor have been able to ac-
complish in America. The high posi-
ton of American labor today is due
chiefly to the splendid leadership of
men like Samuel GOmpers, president of
the American Federation of Labor, and
William B. Wilson, secretary of labor,
But Maurer is not of their kind
''He has avowed his purposes in no
uncertain manner. At mass meeting
of Socialists. at Arien Hall, Portland,
Ore, July %, 1917, Maurer said:
why are we in war; Because
Morgan. Schwlb. Wilson and others are
afraid of losing millions of British Sc
curity and because the moneyed powers
want war so as to sell more munitions.
The people do not want war. What is
conscription? Today the conscript is
called before an examining board and
given n similar examination as the slave
to determine his fitness for the army.
If any of you people can show me the
difference between the cOnscript today
and the slave of '61 | will gladly listen
to you.
/ "Now Is Time to Rebel
n 4" What little democracy the United
States has had the government today
has taken away from its subjects and
given to the people of Europe, and, in
turn, given us straight plutocracy. He
lthe President) has buffaloed us all.
We are afraid of him. We will take
anything he gives us. Why wait longer!
Now is the time to rebel
I'm this same speech Maurer entered
upon n bitter denunciation of the daily
press, which he stated was controlled
throughout the United States by British
capital and that British capital had
purchased newspapers in order to keep
the people of the United States from
KDOWlnH IHe TRUE cOuulllOus, WHlCu IL
they had known they would not have
tolerated but rebelled 1t will be noted
that this speech was made subsequent
to the enactment of the seective service
law and at time when the government
was bending every energy in the strenu
Gus prosecution of the war.
eat meeting held at the Moose
Temple, Detroit, January 8. 1919
Maurer was the principal speaker and
used as his subject, Democracy Must
Co. go,
i'He called the meeting a 'Bolsheviki
meeting and discussed at length what
( he called the arbitrary laws of thu
United States limiting free speech. Or
March "a. 1919, at the Workers Hall
East Pittsburgh. Pa, under the auspices
of the Westinghouse organization
committee. a meeting was held at which
Maurer was the principal speaker. III
the course of his speech Maurer de-
nounced the capitalistic and subsidized
press in trying to psychologist the pub,
IL by poisoning their minds against
boIshevism. He further said:
- Let me say to my Socialist frlendi
md to my anarchist friends that yoI
cannot be too revolutionary for RE, FOL
\ .em as revolutionary as the next one
h,;f II am not preaching that bomb ant
t1fcA stuff. a.,
t<sI am not altogether satisfied witt
a. American Federation OF LABOR ant