The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-10-11
WORKINCMEN OF
 AMERICA FOES
 OF B0LSHEvISM
Labor Most Prosperous Class In United States
 Today.
(By Noble Foster Hoggson. President
 HAPRSQIl RrntIno,.s. n..a1.l-----.A

failed and will continue to fail tn make any headway in this country ia that the American workingman. in spite of the high cost of living and other troubles, real or imagined, is the most prosperous laborer in the world. In fact, he is the represen- tative of the most prosperous class in this country if his prosperity be es- timated on a scientific basis of com parative values rather than money values. for he has made greater strides toward equaltzing income and outgo than any. other person in the social scale, and he alone has been able to demand and get an increase III Income as soon as living costs have risen. Business men who would postpone the resumption of in dustrial activities at full pressure while waiting for the wage level and other cost levels to fall, hopiner bv such action to force decline in the cost ot labor are unknowingly at tempting to blast holes in the dykes mat are protecting our nation from all the horrors of blood soaked Rms sia.
 The newspapers have told LIS of the concerted efforts that have been made for a year or more to intro duce Bolshevist doctrines and BoI- shevist methods of misgoyernnent in this country; but the same men who were terrified six months ago by the outlook for the immediate future are agreed today that the radical 0oc- trines of Russian extremists cannot be transplanted successfully to Amer ican soil. To some persons who know the workingmen of this country only through the uterances of a few of their more radical spokesmen, it has come as surprise to learn that the failure of the Bolshevists to gain a foothold here has been due largely to the American workingman him self, who heard the Bolsheyfsts' ar guments only to laugh them aside.
 The average laborer in this CORR try, even the unskilled Iaborer, is not an ignorant person. He knows that he IS prosperous, and that he will continue to be prosperous if ne con- tinues to watch out for his own wei fare as assiduoUsly as he has done in the past and does not become too lln- reasonable in his demands; he knows that as soon as the cost of living ad- yances his wages will advance and that, whatever the conditions of life may be for others, he will always be able to earn a living wage. Know
 
 special representatives in Congress and elsewhere are capable of looking out for his welfare in the future as in the past, the American working man is well satisfied to rely upon the machinery he has at hand without experimenting with the strange con- trivances of 8 disturbed Europe
 Leaders of industry who are dis turbed by the high labor cost of their products and who are hoping to see the cost of labor decline in the near future are due to be disappointed, for the relative cost of labor will re- main the same a year from today and the likelihood is that the actual cost will be higher rather than low CT. Those industrial leaders who. in addition to hoping for such a decline in the wage scale, are Intentionally or unintentionally helping to bring it about by deferring necessary busfne ess activities such as building operations are, as matter of fact, unwittingly helping, instead of checking tend ency which would give the Bolshev- ist the opportunity he seeks in Amer ica-they are threatening the sources of that prosperity which is today making the American workingman one of the strongest bulwarks against
 
 the workin gman's confidence in the good sense and far-sightedness of his employer.
 The danger that such a situation as this may be created is not, however, an imminent danger, because the in dustrial leaders who take this short sighted view are growing fewer every day. The number of contracts for new construction operations that have been let in the past few months and are due to be let in the next few weeks show that many business men are awake to the need of going full speed ahead instead of waiting for cost declines that will not come. The slower investors will be forced to trail behind their more progressive leaders and in the end will pay as high, or perhaps higher, for their postponed work. in addition to los ing time and profit that a little fore sight would have saved them.
 A lesson learned from the war it. self points the way out of the maze of uncertainty and unrest which has followed the sudden transition from war to peace. The employer, the merchant, the industrial producer, all are confident of the future yet few dare start ahead with firm tread. The reason for tho uncertair is lack of confidence The broa5 confidence which every man had in his neighbor while the war was on dwindled to pin-pofnt when the war emergency disappeared.
 Yet here lies the opportunity for making the industrial life of the na- tion better and more stable element in it's welfare If each class that is engaged in the task of restoring the country's prosperity would help re- vive the spirit of trust, confidence and cooperation manifested during the war, believeing that their better natures should stand revealed in peace times as well as during the stress of war, a happy start would be gained toward the reconstruction of America into a better, happier, more prosperous place in which to live. The trend toward such a movement for the substitution of cooperation for competition has already shown it. self, and it promises to bring busi- ness and industrial relations to a higher level than has ever been reached before-
 Without close cooperation the war would never have been won and with out continued cooperation along both ideal and practical planes it will never be possible for this country to meet successfully the vital issues ere ated by the complex reconstruction