The Connecticut labor press. (New Haven, Conn.) 191?-1921, 1919-11-15

This week there occurred in Pitts
burgh something of the widest signif-
canoe to the steel strike. Further than
that, something of wider significance to
all labor in America. The steel workers
themselves have nothing to do with it.
Probably the maj ority of them did not
even know about it. What had hap
pened was this-the reactionary powers
had been over-reaching themselves
inevitable result.
They had aroused the generous and
liberty loving portion of the commun-
ity to action. A. convention of the
Pennsylvania State Federation of Labor
came together to find out if the con-
stitution of the United States existed
for the privileged classes or whether it
applied to all men. 1t came together to
demand that the governor restore civil
liberties to the workers. Suddenly
something important had happened,
something new. That feeling Of dis
comfort which so many of the workers
had felt, that feeling of manly revolt
against suppression, was crystalliZed in
to action. 1t has long been in solution
among the workers of this country.
Oppression clothed itself in words and
acts.
of daily routine, and when righteous
indignation takes men out Of their
homes in the name of Liberty, you find
fis dieTsRt eas in t hse at
Liberty. They came to register their
protest You couldn't enter that hall
and look at those 500 delegates without
feeling something unusual in their tenn
per, without feeling feeling that peculiar
electric thrill which is developed in
crowd which is met together to further
humanity's aims; five hundred delegates
come together not to gain anything for
themselves; five hundred picked men
representing every trade and craft in
the great state of Pennsylvania, meeting
in the name of Liberty. A great crowd
of men gathered under one roof, in
dignation and purpose meeting in their
hearts.
One of their first resolutions was that
coal, steel, and the railways should each
not settle their difficulties without the
other. This is symptom of the times.
A fu11-throated recognition of labor on
the part of the state of Pennsylvania,
of labor's solidarity. An acknowledge
ment of the ,inter-dependence of all of
labor. A cry for a closer union, fore
shadowing of mighty power, when the
wish of this,reso1ution should be clothed
in the flesh of action. There was one
man who spoke against it. His name is
Francis Feehan,' formerly miner, and
now a. state employee.
He served to crystalize the spirit of
solidarity of the convention. His op-
position brought it to the boiling point
Because of the oppression they had
suffered, because of the injuStices which
had been dealt out to them, because of
the intentions which the employers had
expressed of crushing their .organiza-
ton, the steel strike has 1eftfthe mills,
has left the river bottoms, and the en-
tire state of Pennsylvania has become
involved. History was again proving
| that we are all members one of another.
Oppression was again demonstrating
that an injury to one is an injury to ALL
and because of this injury that had been
done to the striking steel workers, labor
in Pennsylvania asserted ites1f. Labor
| in all Pennsylvania voted the recon-
mendation of general strike if the
| liberties of the people were not returned
| to them.
| Think for moment what this means.
| 1t means that for a principle all those
| 500 delegates were unanimously willing
to face the gravity of general strike,
and all the loss and inconvenience that
| such grave measure would entail, not
for gain, not for the status of their
unions, but to preserve the fundamental
rights and liberties of their country.
l was sitting part of the time facing
that assembly. Across the hall from she
arched windows, shafts of sun shone
through the tobacco smoke white and
clear as searchlights. There was in
: those men an absorbed earnestness
which meant resolution. They were in
famed with purpose. A latent excite
ment was always in the air, an excite
ment which time after time threatened
to run away with the meeting. It took
Maurer''s firm hand to keep it in con-
| troll.
And here was another significant
thing In many convention, in many
labor meeting, the enthusiasm and
passion are communicated from the
| platform to the audience. These men
needed no oratory to feed them; they
were impatient with it when action was
under consideration. They brought
| their enthusiasm with them. 1t was a
spontaneous matter: Five hundred men