Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1919-10-04
Radical Element Cannot Prevail.


The Republican Publicity Associa-
ton, through its President, Hon.
Jonathan Bourne. Jr.. today gave out
the following statement from its
Washington headquarters:
with the steady return OF the
striking steel workers to the mills one
fact is clearly demonstrated, that the
hold which the radical elements OF
organized labor has over the workers
is but transient and cannot prevail
against the influence of good wages.
comfortable living conditions. and
permanent employment. All of those
are to be found in the surroundings
Of the steel workers. There are diff
ferences in wages according to the
classes of work, but it has been prov
en- that in no class is the wage so low
as to warrant a general strike.
1.-The steeltindustry furnished per-
haps the most fertile field for the
fermentation of labor unrest. involv-
ing the application of direct methods.
The man in charge Of the strike, Will
liam z. Foster, was an advocate OF
such tactics, had made an intensive
study of conditions in the steel dis
tricts, and was probably better
equipped than any other man in the
Federation Of Labor to make the
strike a success. OF all classes of
our citizens, direct methods" are
supposed to make stronger appeal
to the foreign elements. They are
popularity credited with being emo
tional. easily led, possessed of but
little love for American forms of gov
ernment and ready at a moments
notice to fight their imaginary OPP
pressors. But with such leader and
with that sort of human material
with which to work, the steel strike
has been a signal failure. The bet
ter judgment Of the men has asserted
itself and they have taken up again
the work of providing for their homes
and families.
The same considerations of self
interest that prevented the steel
operatives from being swayed to any
great extent by the eXhortations of
the radicals will be found even more
pronounced in other lines of industry
as the scale of general intelligence
mounts upwards. No class of labor
occupies a higher intellectual plane
than the railroad employees, and it
can not be conceded for a moment
that they have less regard for the
welfare of their families and the per-
manence of their government or pos
sess n smaller capacity for forming
Independent judgments than the for
eisn mill operatives.
I'm spite of the fact that the con-
stitution Of at least one of the rail-
road brotherhoods prohibits the
members from differing with the
heads of the organization, it is ridicu-
lous to suppose that if the leaders
order a general walkout it necessarily
follows that every man quits his;
work and gees home. And so it is
with all unions. In Boston the
younger members CT the police force
struck but the older ones remained
at their posts. The radical element
at the Massa chusetts' capital now see
the error of their ways.
The fact is that the whole cause
of labor, as in everything else, is de-
pendent for success upon public APP
prevail. Lacking that endorsement it
is bound to fail. The people are will
ing that labor should have Il fair
wage. and that legitimate efforts
should be made by the workers to OBJ
tain it. But when increases are de-
manded merely because it areears
that the power is at hand to enforce
those demands, or when the public it
self is made to bear the brUnt of n
strike. popular sympathy is forfeited
and the aims Of the men are lost,
The uniform failure of every strike
thus far to attain the ends for which
it was called. serves only to intensity
the deep-seated conviction that must
DE in the heart of every intelligent
American-that it does not pay
When that fact is fully borne in upon
the minds of labor. the radical ee-
ment will lose any power that it pos
sesses at present, and the country
will return once more to the indus
trial sanity upon which our prosper
ity is built"