The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1919-10-16

speaking for himself, he believed the
board of directors could not negotiate
with Fitzpatrick and his associates as
union labor leaders and that questions
of moral principles, such as are in
volved in this struggle cannot be ar
bitrated nor compromised.
Samuel Gompers, testifying before
the senate interstate commerce COM
mittee, gave the steel strike his APP
prevail though he said he would have
preferred to have postponed it until
after the Industrial conference in Oc-
tober. He laid all the blame for the
strike on Mr.. Gary for his refusal to
deal with the union chiefs. AS a mat
ter of plain fact, the whole contest
hinges on the question of the open or
the closed shop and it's outcome will
go far to determine the power and
right of the unions to organize indus
tries that have not asked such action
and to enforce their closed shop pol
icy everywhere.
Mr.. Gompers also appeared before
the senate committee on the District
of Columbia, where he maintained the
right of policemen to organize, but
said they should not go on strike. "Pri-
vate employees" he said, "can quit
work, while policemen have no such
recourse" At the same time he de-
Tended the policemen of Boston by
asserting that the trouble there was
not really strike but a lockout. AS
for the constabulary of Pennsylvania,
he declared the events of recent days
have proved they are nothing but Cos
sacks, and they would not be admitted
to the Federation of Labor.
The resentment of the public, which
of course is always the goat" in in
dustrial disputes, is being reflected
in congress. Senator Thomas of Colo
RADIO leads the fight in the upper house
against tyranny by union labor, and
last week introduced a resolution con-
.demning the closed shop principle as
diation by congress of the special i'm
munity it has granted to labor unions
from prosecution for violation of the
antitrust laws. In the lower house
Representative Cooper, who is from
the Youngstown district and is him.
self union labor man, uttered a warn
ing against the danger of organized
labor being miSled by such "revOlu-
tionary leader" as William 2. Foster.
secretary of the steel workers COM
mittee. Foster is the author of a book
on syndicalism and secretary of the
Syndicalist League of North America
and in his book defends the syndical-
list methods of violence, sabotage and
lawlessness to win strikes. Congress
man Kahn of California, asked Attor-
ney General Palmer If Foster could
not be prosecuted in connection with
deaths and injuries caused since the
steel strike began, but Mr.. Palmer said
he thought any such action should be
brought by the various states rather
than by the federal government. Mr..
Gompers and other conservative" I'M
ion labor leaders must enjoy their
close relation with Foster and his like.
If anyone supposed President Will
son would compromise with the reSer-
vationists concerning the peace treaty
he seemingly was mistaken. The pres
ident, on his way back from the Pacific
i'll; Z, Of
that showed his spirit was, if possible,
more uncompromising than ever, and
he rather plainly intimated that if the
pact were not ratified as it stands he
would pigeonhole it for the present
and make it the issue of next years
presidential campaign. To his audi
ence in Cheyenne he said if the pro-
posed reservation to article ten were
adopted by the senate he would re.
gard it as rejection of the whole trea.
| ty, and that it would mean the nego-
| tiation of separate peace with Ger
many, which would turn the whole
world against us. He predicted that
without the League of Nations GOV.
enaQt, including article ten unchanged
the world would be plunged into war
far more horrible than the conflict just
ended.
Mr.. Wilson also continued to defend
the arrangement by which the Brit
ish empire has six votes to one for the
United States in the league assembly
The proposed amendment to this ar.
ticle was causing both sides in the
senate considerable worry, and they
lodged vote on it for the time being
The proponents of the covenant want
ed to wait until after the president re-
turned in the hope that he might be
able to bring some pressure to bear