, 1919-10-02

crisis in Italy.
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 I'M be ar
bitrated nor compromised.
Samuel Gompers, testifying before
the senate interstate mme COM
mittee, gave the steel strike his APP
proval 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
dea 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 its 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, car 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 a 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
un-American and calling for the repu-
diation by congress of the special i'm
munity 1t 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 a union labor man, uttered a warn
ing against the danger of organized
labor being misled by such a ~''revolu-
tionary leader" as William u. Foster,
secretary of the steel workers COM
mlttee. 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-
vatlonists concerning the peace treaty.
he seemingly was mistaken. The pres
ident. on his way back from the Pacific
coast, delivered himself of speeches
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
Nyp1ld nfnannhnIa IL for tho nro~npt
and make ii the issue of next years
presidential campaign. To his audi
ence In Cheyenne he said IL the pro-
posed reservation to article ten were
adopted by the senate he would re-
gard II as rejection of the whole trea-
ty, and hat it would mean the nego-
tiation of a separate peace with Ger
any which would turn the whole
world against us. He predicted that
without the League of Nations COW
enant. including article ten unchanged,
the world would be plunged into a war
far more horrible thar the conflict just
ended.
Mr.. Wilson also continued to defend
the arrangement by which the Brit
lsh 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 o 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.