The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-02-25
IN A WARM FIGHT
State Bureau of Labor Bill Be-
fore House Committee.
Employers and Lenna Bresette
in Row Over Measure.

In one of the warmest fights before
a legislative committee this winter
friends and opponents of the Gilman
bill creating a state bureau of labor
and industry provided three hours of
oratorical fireworks before the house
judiciary committee. Miss Lima Bre-
settle, secretary of the industrial well
fare commission, directed the fight to
herself when she challenged the crit
icisms of the commission by Kansas
employers. In fact Miss Bresette was
offered by the labor forces a the hui
man sacrifice which was to pay for
the sins of the commission.
Nearly 100 women attended the
hearing in the supreme court cham
bers. Many of these women and girls
are shop, store and office employee
most of them personal friends of Miss
Bresette. Some twenty or thirty Kan
sas employers were also present. Rep
resentatives of the Employers Asso-
citation urged a favorable recommen-
dation of the bill. which has for its
purpose the creation of a state board
which will give representation to the
employer instead of leaving the mat
ter entirely in the hands of the en-
ploye.
AL F.. Williams of Columbus pre-
sented the main case for the employ
ers and friends of the bill. Williams
was adroit and diplomatic. He be-
lieved the bill possessed merit and he
wanted it passed. But he didn't in
wife trouble or seek victim. He
proba bly, knew Miss Bresette was
loaded with a speech and he presented
the argument for the bill without
mentioning the secretary of the well
fare commission.
Then Came the Shot.
1t was the employers who scuttled
the ship. They gathered some paving
brick and started after Miss Bresette
and her job. They jumped on her
rulings with both feet They said her
commission was unfair, unjust and
rendered arbitrary decisions. They
said in short and in substance that
neither Miss Bressette nor her asso-
ciates had given the employers
square deal nor had they displayed a
tendency to reform.
Then Miss Bresette came right back.
If the bill is beaten it will be Miss
Bresette who was aided by the
thoughtless employers in smashing it.
The welfare commission secretary
reached down in the southwest corner
of her handbag and fished out some
letters from the employers. She read
those letters to the commission. They
said nice things about the commission
and approved its rulings and antici-
pated general prosperity peace and
good will under the commissions reg
ulatfons.
Not Proper Recognition.
1t was admitted by opponents of the
bill that the employers were given
slight if any recognition under the
present basis of representation. But
several labor leaders declared the la
Dor department should be entirely in
the hands of the worker and that the
man who signs the checks should sim
ply be told what to do and how to do
it. Miss Bresette's talk occupied most
of the time assigned to opponents of
the bill. Several labor representatives
who followed her sought to inject fear
that possibly the state might get
barkeeper or brewer on the commits
sion as an employer and that the pur-
poses and ambitions of prohibition
would be trampled under foot.
The bill now before the committee
provides for a commission composed
of a man identified with labor for a
period of at least five years. an en-
ployer of labor and a person who is
a statistician and has not been identi-
fled with the interests of labor or the
employers The bill also provides for
a welfare commissioner who has been
actively enga ged in industrial work