The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1919-03-01


wondering to myself if it was worth
while. Now they are going so fast
it keeps me busy to keep up with
them, and l sometime harbor the
thought that l am getting into the
reactionary class.
On second thought, however,
know that I am still progressive. I
am not slowing up with age, but I
am not as impatient as 1 once was.
l know from experience that the road
over which labor must travel is
rough and treacherous, and is
fraught with many pitfalls. There
Is no shortcut route to labor's
emancipation. We must climb every
industrial mountain and descend into
every economic valley with the ut
most caution and care. One mistake
or unwise move may cost many years
of effort. So our present mission as
we see it, is not so much to. agitate
as it is to direct.
/ The Labor World has been sort
of ballast to the local labor move
ment in the past. We have dragged
conservatism from it's moorings and
have held radicalism at bay. That
we have had some influence with
Duluth workingmen is evident from
the fact that such organizations as
the I. w. w. have not been, able to
get foothold here, and the Boil
shevist spirit of the times has not
found it's way sufficiently into the
Duluth labor organizations to up
heave them as was recently done in
Seattle. And who is there to say
that labor in Duluth is not better
paid and better treated than in most
cities OF the country?
say it without fear of contradict
ton that our workingmen have
clearer vision and a better under
standing of their needs and wants,
and how to get them, than most
workingmen have. The employees in
union and In 11on-union shops fare
better in Duluth than most anywhere
else. The managers of our whole
sale houses, retail stores, factories,
shops and other work places have
hearts in dealing with labor, and
The Labor World has played no small
part in creating an atmosphere for
such treatment.
Now as look back l begin to feel
that our work has not been in vain.
The course mapped out early in
my newspaper life has been justified
by time and experience. In the long
run it pays to be careful. At times
incidents have come up in labor stu
atoms that have irritated me, and l
have felt like tearing loose in some
such manner as the I. w. w. has
done, but deliberation brought out
better judgment, I took the patient
course, abided the time, looked at
all issues from the human standpoint
and treated them as such. Now I
have few apologies to offer. I made
many mistakes, but not so many as
would have made, had rushed pell-
nell into labor difficulties as inn
pulse frequently prompted me to do.
A labor paper is capable of doing i,
a great deal Of good or great deal
of harm to both labor and the COM
munity in which 1t is published.
. There are many temptations today
TO go off on a tangent. The air is
rife with radicalism. New born ad-
vocates are reckoning labor to the
fairyland of complete emancipation
They think they have found an air
line route to the promised land, and
their eloquence is alluring, but we
have seen that rainbow a thousand
times, and we know it's deception.
We will continue to travel over the
hard beat roads, and by sticking to
them we are morally certain labor
will make safer and surer progress.
Dnring the trying and uncertain
period of reconstruction much will
depend upon the attitude taken by
the labor press Of. the country. Its
influence for good or evil is not to be
underestimate. l hope to play my
part as editor of The Labor World
in helping to direct the minds of our
readers to right thinking in dealing
with every situation as it arises. We
have got our country to save; its
the best country on earth, and it is
the duty Of every man and every
woman in it to hold its welfare first.
There has never been such a call for
real, unselfish patriotism as there is
today. The Labor World will not be
found in the wanting column. Con-