The Topeka state journal., 1919-11-01

bill and, grant our demands? When
/ the shoe clerks draw, a minimum of
1875 a week. and shoemakers 500,
will we be able to see the inside of a
| pair OF gEound- -grippers for less I'll an
| a fifty buck note?
'Wl4ea bank messengers and clerks
I get their 5000 a year, must We pay
| a. rental to the banks in order to de-
posit our surplus funds (if we have
any) and draw no Interest," When
the aristocfatf tfc|coaI miner rides to The
| scene of his few odd hours of en-
deavor in his tin limousine, can we
look-at a ton of ceaf in the face? Or
| will we, as many of our illustrious
gentlemen who advocate Russian So
vietism declare, enjoy princely in
comes and buy eggs for about a dime
a dozen and milk at cents a quart
and union made Clothes at $12 per aIT>-
wool suit?
Mr.. etsemf,ers's Attitude. q
The venerable head of the Fedora
| ton of Labor, Mr.. Gompsrs, says that
! the. present industrial unrest was
| brought on by Wall street and thru
that famous mart of finance by the
| lesser potentates that employ labor.
He believes that the margin of profit
for the manufa acturer, the jobber and
| the retailer, should be lessened, and
that a living and not an existing wage
/
| is an excellent one and probably could
| be We rked out practically, oTly things
| are rushing along at too swift a pace
| to solve a problem of such ma gnitude.
| NO one should object to paying a
wage to every man that would be suf-
| ticient to keep himself and those de-
pendent on him provided with the
| necessities of life and even what were.
formerly termed some of the Iuxuries.
These wages, however. should be in
proportion to the kind of work per
| formed and the capability of the work
man.
There is no question in anyone's
mind that we are on the brink of
an industrial crisis which may lead
| to chaos and possibly ultimate disas-
ter. In an effort to stave this off, the
| president convened the Industrial con-
| ference with Secretary Lane at its
head. This ended abruptly, due to the
| wide differences in opinion between
| capital and labor ,delegates,
1t is essential to have capital and
| labor get togetheG. That seems to be
as easy task as for zone of the Ger
man kaiserss six brave sons to form
| a matrinionial union with a princess
of the royal houses of Great Britain.
! italy or Rumania. 1t is unimportant
! whom the farrier sons of Kaiser Will
| helm Cand not one of 'en ever saw
she'll explode except thru field glasses,
a1tho they all sport iron erosses) Sc
| lect as brides, but it, is highly impor-
tant that something be done in the
near future to save this country from
becoming a second Russia.
RoIsheviks in Washington.
Tt would be a crime to see the Great
Unwashed running things at~Wa shing-
ton and taking bed bugs and Ameri-
caniZed cooties into the White House
and the prosaic but honorable Smith
sonfan institution, where a soup line
! sAr111 I, Ill
that Fe are doubtless permitted to say
something about Sherman and war
but there are some things worse than
war One is the present situation in
the troublesome realms of the heavily
bearded Carranza to the south of u.s.
and the other is the unhappy predic-
ton of the citizens of Russia B oIshe-
visits, Ukrainians, Firms. Cossacks and
Jews alike-where a reign of terror is
in progress which makes the period
| preceding Napoleons entrance into
French affairs seem like chiId's play
| Monsieur Dantoh' and the wintry
bIooded Marat are probably b1ushing
with shame down in the lower regions
where they are prodded by little red
Fellows with sharp spears. The
Spanish inquisition was a Sunday
school picnic and AttiIa, the original
Hun, could himself take a few point
ters from present. Russian affairs,
something must be done. and done
quickly, and there is lot of buck
passing in progress. Congress passes
the buck to the administration and
the administration to Gompers and he
to- Gary and other large employers of
labor and hence back to congress ana
the result is that there are plenty of
investigating committees and hearings
and strikes and loekouts while in the
meantime we find that a small plate
or beans in the Greasy Spoon cafe
costs a nickel more than it did last
| week because the AmaIgamated Asso-
citation of Hashers and the Cooks fed
GRAFTON needed more funds to paw the
rent Old-fashioned army "slun1' is
a dream of delight con1pared To the
presentsstate of affairs.