New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1919-01-10
SOLDIERS DO NOT
C0NDONE PERFORM
ANCES OF SLACkERS
BOYS WHO WENT TO FRONT
WILL HAVE MUCH TO DO
WITH PUBLIC POLICIES
AND HAVE NO USE FOB
THOSE WHO SHIRKED

Washington, Jan. 8-(Special Cor
Observation-Disclosures from the
Western sections of the United
States as we'll as from British CO.
lumbia show very pronounced de-
termination on the part of returned
soldiers not to have anything to do
with those citizens of the United
States and Canada who adopted him
dering and hampering policies during
the war. The soldiers will take no
chance of becoming in any way al
lied with the "slackers" or worse
From British Columbia comes the
report of studied efforts on the part
of labor leaders to bring about a
reapproachment between the return
ed soldier and the union man." Labor
leaders, it is asserted, recognize the
influence the returned soldier is to
WELD in business and politics in the
future, and they are anxious to as
sociate him with them. Their ex-
treme concern in making an early
connection has apparently had the
opposite effect to that intended, and
has made the soldier hesitant and.
cautious. In fact, reports that reach
the National Capital show that the
soldiers have made it very definitely
clear that they will not have any
thing to do with any individuals or
organizations that were either di-
rectly in sympathy with the I. w. w.
movement, with the American Boil
sheviki. the Socialists, or pro-Ger-
man influences.
"The soldiers do not forget" says
a.
only a few months ago, when the
allied war effort was at its greatest.
declared in favor of a 24-hour strike
in order to show sympathy with an
alleged draft evader." Apparently
the attitude of the returned soldiers
is not one of opposition to labor
unions and their legitimate purpos-
es. but to the manner in which the
power of the unions was exercised
when the nation was in peril and the
means the union leaders were some-
times willing to adopt in order to
accomplish their ends, even though
injury might result to the allied
cause.
An instance of this was shown in
the threatened strike as protest
against the execution of Mooney,
who had been convicted of bombing
preparedness parade. The return-
ed soldiers do not seem to have any
objection to the labor unions exc
pressing their .opinion regarding the
merits of the Mooney case or using
any proper means of securing a
change of the sentence. But they
do feel that wholly unwarranted
and reasonable policy was adopted
when it was proposed to call a gem
erai strike. thus holding up war worte
and perhaps causing the loss Of
thousands of soldiers over in France
in order to try to save one con-
victed man here in America. Natur-
ally, the soldiers who were on the
firing line over there do not see how
the end can possibly justify the
means.
And the same frame of mind il
sad to exist among soldiers in their
attitude toward others than labor
union leaders who gave the national
welfare secondary consideration.
There are instances of ship-yard
workers who loafed on the job-of
workers who were SO
laggard that four men scarcely did
the work one man would ordinarily
do-of boiler makers who took Sat-
urday half-holidays over the pro-
tests of employers who knew how
important it was to speed up the
work.
Now that the war is over, all these
classes of people are anxious to ally
themselves with the men who went
over the top in the face of the with
ering machine-gun fire of the relent-
less Hun. The overtures, however,
will apparently fail unless the or
ganizations seeking such alliance
can show a clean record of patriotic
service. Throwing out the |. w. w.
and Bolsheviki element now will ap-
parently not be accepted as atone
ment for keeping them in at the
time when they could do the damage
to the Allied cause. In their at
titude toward the slackers, the
American and Canadian soldiers are
in complete accord.