The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1919-11-14
PRESIDENT ADOPTS
!" kEM LABOR POLICY
Administration Reverses Attitude
Adopted During Passage of
Adamson 6-Hour Law.

WASHlNGTON--It is daily be-
coming more apparent at the national
capital that the forces of organized
labor and the administration have had
a falling out which is likely to be re-
Elected in the campaign of 1920.
That there was q close alliance be-
tween them which it was possible to
fall away from may be pointed out by
recalling that in 1916 labor supported
President Wilson as the result Of his
permitting the heads of the railroad
brotherhoods to hold up the country
with stop watches and successfully de-
maud the Adamson law, as the result
of his expressed intention to keep the
ration out of war, and as the result
of the statement made by the Demo-
cratic national committee that he was
responsible tor the provision in the
CLAYTON act that labor should no lon
ger be considered . commodity or ar
t,cle of commerce. AS 2 matter OF fact,
this last provision was purely Ne
publican measure, but labor swallowed
the Democratc professions, hook, line
and sinker.
During the war labor was coddled
by the president and has ADVISORS as
never before, and properly SO because
OF the necessity OF tine utmost solidar-
ity IN order to win. Samuel Gompers.
president of the American Federation
OF LABOR, was frequently initiated into
the mysteries Of the inner councils II
the White House. he and all labor
speeded up TO the limit and turned out
immense production. After the con-
fllct had ended the workers were
some tune in returning to normal
state OF mind. The espionage law
had had the effect OF . dose OF ether,
and 1t required several months to-
come out from under. but when they
were restored they discovered that
prices, winch MIR. Wilson had been
promising since 1918 to reduce. were
soaring beyond all reason. And 80
they demanded more adequate return.
1t is generally believed here that in
their demands they went entirely LOO
far. They mad caught the glare o. the
societ. They demanded through the
Plumb plan tnat they be permitted to
take over the railroads and threatened
revoluuon ii they were not. In spite
OF Judge G2rys admission that the
common stock OF the steel corporat,oI.
pays 10 per cent and that the average
wage OF the steel worker is $4.6I per
day, they employed as the secretary
OF the strike committee notorious
4preacher ~ revolution. They de-
manded 90 per cent increase in
wages and . six-hour day in the coal
mines. and the leaders of half =
million strikers held up the balance OF
the population.
President Wilson met with the APP
prevail of both Democrats and Re-
publicans in letting the Plumb plan
leaders know that the nation would
not brook threats from any class any
more than it had brooked threats from
the Hohenzoilersn, and he gained
further support when he denounced
the methods of the leaders among the
miners. But it is believed here that
he went too far in his general attitude
of animosity toward labor and that his
influence in this respect has begun
to permeate the entire administration.
As result, the resentment Of labor
is becoming keen.
When the industrial conference adj
journed without action, largely be-
cause Of the men appointed by the
president, though all that labor asked
there was the adoption of the principle
Of collective bargaining enunciated by
President Taft through the war labor
board, the cleavage was widened.
Labor felt it had lost its great and
good friend at the White House. On
top Of this, and probably actuated by
the same influence from his superior
in office, Secretary of Labor William
B. Wilson refused to welcome the
delegates to the international labor
conference of women or to permit
any one to represent him. Delegates
had assembled from every civilized
country. including the new states oil
Poland and Cxerch- Slovakia. But the
labor department, through its chief
held aIoof.