Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-10-17
YOUR TOO-PATlENT UNCLE
AND HIS TERRIBLE GUESTS
wayfsreEs, Invited In to Rest and Happl.
ness, Now Demand Your Gentle Rela-
tve's Watch and His Money


tIve's Watch and His Money
SAMUEL, that gray and revered Uncle
~ of yours, is a patient old gentleman
whose mystical faith in humanity has
led him into troubled ways. Into his
house he asked all sorts of people. lie
had always been proud of the compan
ionship of the poor and he flung the
doors wide. Stragglers and wayfarers
from the four corners of the troubled
earth were commanded to be happy, to
make themselves at home, to enjoy lib
crty of action and freedom of speech.
The place had cost your Uncle appall-
ing effort. 1t had been established
through heartbreaking sacrifice. The
guests trooped in without wiping their
feet.
"Wc are free, by Joveski" they said.
"He told US to be happy. Let us enjoy
the glorious liberty for which this gen
tlemans people have been oblging
enough TO die"
They trampled the flower beds and put
INT under the piano and planted
bombs under the foundations. In their
joy they wrecked the furniture and fur
lively sharpened knives for the owner of
the place. They expressed firm desire
for your Uncle's watch and his money.
Upon the premises was goose extraor-
dinarily prolific of golden eggs, and over
this interesting creature the company
went into a mad uproar. They demanded
that it be chopped up instantly for
stew. 1t was, of course, inevitable that
your distinguished relative should ven
ture delicately to demonstrate with his
guests.
"You told US we were free men!"
shouted the wayfarers. "You are liar
and hypocrite!" The windows of your
Uncle's house were flung open and the
newly liberated hordes bawled to the out
side world.
This man is liar and robber
baron," they said. therefore we shall
pull down his house"
Free speech is an excellent thing. 1t
is the most wholesome of human privi-
leges. 1t often subjects us to lot of
fiapdoode and noise and nonsense Out
of it good things inevitably must come.
| But nowadays he is an exceptional man
who has not some doubts about the limit
| less indulgence of that right.
! The Lie is the great weapon of the
| hour. 1t is being used as an instrument
| of incendiarism in the house of your
! Uncle. 1t is being used to inflame the un-
| fortunate and unnformed steel workers.
1t is the Lie that has left the miners
organization in a mood to strike. The
few extreme radicals who are striving
furiously to control labor in the United
/! States know that a six-hour day and a
| tive-day week and a so per cent increase
in wages are impossibilities in the soft
coal industry. They admit that their aim
is not better wages. So do the radical
leaders of the dock strikers. They aim
frankly to make privately directed in
dustry Improbable and impossible.
Theirs is the theory that, in practice,
left Russia helpless, hopeless and pros
trate to be warred over by rival armies
as dogs fight over bone. To apply it
in the United States the guerrillas of the
labor movement are willing to stop the
production of coal, to paralyze railway
lines, to put out all the lights in the cities
1t is by lies that industry is being
menaced and by lies that labor organiza-
tons are being misled, weakened and
discredited. The double betrayal is being
accomplished by the right of free speech
"You cannot stop u.s." say the pro.
Tossing anarchists. "You have pledged
your word. You guaranteed us freedom
of speech"
Men accustomed to freedom do mo-
feel that they are privileged to go abou
setting fire to buildings. The right o.
free speech does not permit citizen t.
blaspheme in the streets nor does it per
nit any one to teach vice or sedition
Gradually we shall have to realize tina
the right of free speech entails obliga
tions upon those who practice it.
There ought to be a curb on liars. !
is liars In the labor movement who arr
causing millions of credulous men to de
mand what cannot be given them an,
liars who are the cause of industrial con
fusion. These liars lie both ways-lik
thieves. They lie about Gompers. The,
lie about the President. They lie abou
the country-claiming always the "sacre,
right of free speech" The design of tn
housee your patient Uncle built doesn'
Il happen to appeal to their particular ant
v