The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1919-09-11
LET'S ALL STRIKE.

If it's going to remain the fashion
among workers snd on atbe eroley mnef
alton institutions to exist: in a
chronic state of idleness, owing to
protracted and continuously inter-
mittent strikes, we fail to see why
that class of people should have a
monopoly of this kind of stuff.
Let's all go on strike!
Who is a trolley man, anyway, or
a brakeman or a fireman on an en-
CINE that he should tie things up,
any more than the rest of us?
tuition for any class Of the people to
be favored over another class.
Why should we stand for it?
| Let's all strike!
Clear down the line, from presi-
dents of corporations to the janitors
of the dog pounds, let's all strike
strike for our affairs and our fires,
strike for the green graves Of our
sires; strike to beat the band, and
Ha.tenn-shun! Everybody strike!
| If the trolley lines are to be. tied
up, let's tie up the soda-water foun-
| tains, the dairies, the blind pigs, the
sauerkraut orchards, the banks, the
restaurants, the lawn-tennis courts,
the skin games and everything else
| from soup to Walnuts.
! For, by the great horn spoon, one
man is as good as another in this
country; and a blamed sight better,
| if it comes to that.
If one class of people won't let the
public ride, then let another class OF
people shut off the grub and another
shut off drinks and another shut up
the stores and another shut up the
laundries.
Let everybody shut up.
But maybe that's too much to hope
! for. Everybody shut up? Oh, boy,
if only that could be done for just
one hour every million years. what a
wonderful world this would be.
| Imagine 10000 walking delegates
of 10000 unions. including the Act
hour. But why think of it? Earth
would be. too much like heaven then.
| So what can't be can't be and the
next best thing is for everybody to
| strike.
Let the iceman strike, the sausage
grinders, the potato peelers'
ers, and puddlers. tailors and bushel-
men, chaffeurs, hair dressers, bak-
ers, butchers, poets, street sweepers.
| BARRIERS, cigarette makers, bankers.
chambermaids, drummers and jass
| orchestras.
Let's all strike while the striking
And let mother strike. What
mother? Yes mother. Pull down
your sleeves, mother, put on your
bonnet and walk out and strike.
And strike good.
Gee! That would be a strike
worth talking about. Then that fell
low who was one of Emma Gold
mans husbands for awhile could
write another book about "To He'll
and Back''-if mother strikes.
These trolley fellows say that the
reason they are on strike is that
| they have grievances. If that be
true, then mother should have been
out on strike ever since Tubal Cain
was an apprentice in a blacksmith
shop. She has had grievances ever
since SIM On Noah Sln $ Sltepned out Of the ark
:, And y d, she has grievances now worse
GO on. mother. Strike. Strike for
fair and tie up the whole works from
! Dan to Reersheba and from He'll to
| Omaha. Let us see a strike that is
a strike.
But as far as that's concerted we
would like to ask who it is that
| hasn't got grievances why man,
| life in all it's walks and rides. life in
all its angles and circumstances and
| conditions, is one vast grievance.
There are as many grievances in
| this world as there are grounds for
divorce. And that's more than any
| man can count.
| Everybody has grievances. The
producer has a grievance against the
jobber, the jobber has a grievance
against the wholesaler, the whole
saler has a grievance against the re-
| taller and the retailer has a grievance
against the consumer And the con-
sumner has a grievance against the
whole world.
| IN the labor unions the walking
delegates have a grievance against
| pay envelopes. So We see that griev-
ances are common. They are uniyer-
sal. immemorable and perpetual
| Grievances contracts run to the end
| of time.
And it is we'll. We couldn't get
along without grievances. They are
the species of life. They are our
| safety valves, our exhaust pipes with
out which we. would blow up and
| bust
| When Gladstone put Disestablish-
ment through and Presbyterians and
Catholics in Ireland didn't have to
any hnger or didn't have to go to
church at all if they didn't want to.
which some of them naturally didn't
there was an orator at big meeting
/ who praised Gladstone eloquent1y for
his great act.
/ But man arose in the meeting
| and said: Gladstone be damned:
he took away from US the ~randest
grievance we ever had" He was q
man from Tipperary, and he spoke
the truth.
Wherefore, since a grievance is a
ground for strikes, and since we all
have grievances, let's all go on