New-York tribune., 1919-08-26
THE WALKING DELEGATE.

ILs
30 long as men are compelled L
Nc money in order TO work in peace
,.c! safety 1t is untrue 70 say this is
q. free country.
Men must be SIS free in the pursuit.
ef their vocation as they are to wor.
snip III the church of their choice.
lust now it seems to be the fashion
7sith set of men generally known as
fplifters to attack business men anc
- talk on industrial questions OF
hich they know nothing. These mer
20 a great deal of harm, for they
nanage to have their words printed
Ntile men who know the facts rarely
ak
In the early days of our country
''wn meetings were held. attended by
.ost OF the people Those who die
fom those who did. That is a thing
of the past. If the evil effects Of the
uplfters are to be overcome it must
be through the press.
Ihe upllfter has sometimes been de.
scribed as a parlor philosopher. Per
hapS that is as good a way to describe
HIM as any. The parlor philosopher,
in speaking of business, always uses
set phrases; by their use he is able to
convince himelf that ne has said
something when in reality he has said
nothing at all.
one Of the pet phrases Of the parloY
Philosopher Is that Labor" is not a
commodity and cannot be legislated
agalnst. The dictionaries tell US that
aoor is mental or physical effort di.
rected to the accomplishment Of de-
sired end. Commodities are materials
and there Is not the slightest relation
between effort Of any kind and mate
rails. Materials or commodities know
nothing Of laws. Laws are passed
only relating to the actions OF men
ana the only question involved In law
IL that the laws passed shall be ed,lit-
g BILE and shall be enforced impartially.
Another pet phrase Of the parlor
philosopher. and one he uses almost
Mcessantly, Is the right of "collective
bargaining" A synonym Of bargain Is
agreement. and men have the right TO
enter into any agreement they see fit
SO long as they violate no law or IN
sade the rights of others. Practically
ali agreement, bargaining or dealing
is done by committees. If q bank de-
cides to erect a building a committee
is appointed; club has membership,
house and other committees. Commit
tees do most OF the work for conpa-
mics Of men, as 1t would practically
ibe impossible for large numbers Of
men Ike the stockholders Of a bank
TO gather together and bargain col
lectively for anything.
Another choice verbal norsel of the
parlor philosopher Is the conflict be,
tween "capital' and ia hor." How cen
there be a conflict between the money
invested in q business and the effort
put forth in the business? OF course
there is no such thing If there is
a conflict 1t is between the employer
and the employed, but there is no such
a conflict considering the millions of
employers and employed. They get
along we'll together. The disturbances
that afflict our country are caused by
the idle mischief making walking dele
rates
Sometimes, In passing by a swamp
when all Is silent, suddenly peep is
heard the peppers note. Peep, peep
peep" So 1t Is with the parlor philoso.
pher. One OF them makes an assertion
based, not on facts, but on some
thing he imagined. Then all tho others
repeat his words without question.
One such remark is that because the
''employer has got so far from the
employed we suffer the interference
with the orderly course Of business
the rioting. the violence and the in.
vasion Of the rights OF the citizens
There was town we'll apart from
others where the people were happy
prosperous and free The walking dele
gates decided to get control OF the IN
dustries and the workingmen Of that
town. In order to get control 1t would
have been necessary to resort to the
Violence and lawlessness that always
accompany such efforts
II the shops In that town had beer
owned by men who had no other
source OF income they would have had
to surrender. but it so happened that
the shops We're branches Of a large
industry, so the owners sent word that
II there was any interference with the
orderly course OF the work they
would shut down the shops TIL peace
was restored.
AS that city was supported almost
entirely by that one industry, closing
the shops would have meant q great
loss TO all. So one night a number OF
the ciuzens went to the room where
the organizer and his band were gath.
cred and said: Come with us" The
organizer and the others were taken to
dock. put on a seagoing tug and
taken out TO sea. And peace and pros
perity and happiness continued in thai
city.
Only few ever knew what han.
pened; some say they were taken tc
another country and so deported.
1t would be an excellent thing 10,
our country If all the walking dele
gates were deported Most Of them
as their names indicate, are foreign
ers, or were born OF foreign parents
some Of them have never even been
naturalized. '''.--'
Peep. peep. peepl" We have all this
violence, rioting. lawlessness paralyz.
ing OF industries and invasion OF the
rights OF the citizens to 60 about a
town undisturbed because the "em-
ployer has got so tar from the en-
ployed."
An employer who had been in bust
ness forty years, who had been a
workingman, who called hrs men by
their first names, the sons OF some Of
whose earlier workmen were In his
amploy, had & happy shop One day
= walking delegate came to him and
said. Say, you have got to have your