Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-10-04

Pa, and Joseph Smith, of Home
stead, Pa, attacked the methods by
union organizers in the mills, Davies
declaring that their activities had
all the elements of a conspiracy"
Expect Soviet Operation
Activities of union organizers in
steel districts before the present
strike was called had "all the ele-
ments of conspiracy" T. J. Davies.
tin worker told the Senate investi-
eating the strike to-day. Foreign
, workmen In some cases he said, ex-
pect it to result in Soviet operation
of the mills.
/. These men moved mysteriously
around the plant" declared Davies,
who said he represented the senti-
ment of five thousand tin workers.
I'VE kept hearing that they intended
to cripple the plants, paralyze oper-
atoms.
These foreigners, when we asked
them. explained they were going to
get the closed shop
Workmcn Intimidated
President Wilson, President
Gompers.' they all say. are with us.
You Americans can't work here af-
terward. Nothing but union men.
Some OF them explained to me
we won't need bosses after this,
j Will Tull
Davies said some workers were
| intimidated because they are told
their houses will be blown up and
their wives killed.
Armed with books which Foster
has written during his career in la
bor circles which advocated revolu-
tionary socialism and sabotage, and
! with copies of the I. w. w. organ
Solidarity" containing articles con-
tributed by him from Europe where
he went in 1911 as q representative
, of that organization, Foster was
pressed into a lengthy explanation
of the doctrines and views he advo-
| Gated in 1914 and earlier years.
Lying Newspapers"
Foster first attempted to parry the
, questions at the outset, refusing to
answer until newspaper reporters
were excluded from the room. on
the ground that Lying, prejudiced.
| newspapers have misconstrued and
misrepresented my personal opin-
ions with the whole idea OF inturing
the cause of 100000 steel workers"
He was finally crowded into q declar-
/ alton, when Senator Mcclellan.
Democrat, of Tennessee. reading
many quotations from his works,
demanded that he say whether or
not|he still adhered to this belief.
Those are not my views now"
he said, in a subdued tone. after
listening to his own words repeated,
| declaring "the state to be a med
ding. capitalistic institution" and
advocating violence in strikes. and
calm acceptance of bloodshed as
necessary to forwarding of the rev.
olutionary cause.
Gompers Breaks In
President Gompers, of the Ameri-
! can Federation of Labor. broke into
the examination in irritated fashion
Mt one point. when Foster was
standing on his objections to news
per reports of his testimony.
We'll. they can't say anything
worse about you than they have"
, the aged head of the Labor Fedora
ton adjured him.
Foster would not, however, COM
pletely adjure his old works and
| ia ced with one line to the effect
that the syndicalist worker will not
| be held back from direct action by
| the capitalistic code of ethics. duty
honor. patriotism" he told the COM
| mittee:
Put quotation marks around
some of those, and Til stand by
! them vet. They'll show how the
| WOrOS are used.
Has Own Ideas
Other excerpts from later writ
! ings. stating that government as
we know it will shrivel up and die"
and Industries now in the hands
of the state, municipalities and the
nation, will be given completely over
to the workers in them" he was
quite we'll prepared to defend.
II have my own ideas about gov
ernment," he said of the first, and
of the second:
That's not so startling nova
days"
Not Syndicalism
well, that's syndicalism, pure
and simple. isn't it?" Senator Sterl-
ing, Republican, of South Dakota,
one of his most persistent interro-
gators, demanded.
"I think not" Foster said. The
witness endorsed his own advocacy
OF race suicide with the statement
that 'it is foolishness for workmen
| to undertake to raise big families"
President Gompers with apparent
amusement listened to Senators
! read Fosters essays on the Amer
! lean Federation of Labor-written
| before he Joined 1t as an organizer
wherein he asserted that the
American Labor movement is in
tested with hordes of dishonest Of
/ ficials and labor fakirs. These men
must CO." He explained that to-day
| he considered the blanket charge
not tenable.
One letter, written to "Solidariy,"
| wherein Foster explained that 1t was
the true duty of a revolutionary to
work through existing trades unions
and quit trying to build up new Or
ganizations, interested the commit
| tee considerably. Foster admitted
authorship. but would not say 1t
described his present course.
Spelled Fight
"An these things. these doctrines,
spelled violence. didn't they?" SEN
ator Mcclellan asked him.
"They spelled fight" Foster re-
turned.
His remarks on the present strike
were comps ratively brief.
1T came because the workers
were denied opportunity to present
their grievances" he said. "It could
not be delayed at President Wilson's
request, because of the steel cor
poration's policy in instituting
| wholesale discharges"
Foreigners made up the largest
membership in the unions at pres
ent, he explained, because higher
paid Americans. knowing of the fate
| of past attempts to organize the
steel industry. stand back to wait
and sce."
"of course, we'd like to take the