The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1919-03-14
Red an Appellation
Much Abused in
Treatment Of Labor
Organized Workers Warm
ed That Spokesman Are
Being Prosecuted When
They Disagree With En-
plOyers.

Detroit, Mich.-Organized labor
should today watch It's step more
carefully than ever before in the
memory of the present generation.
Ignorance and reaction are digging
pitfalls for the most conservative
union organizations. Whatever is to
rebound to the benefit of labor is be-
ing called Red and "Bolshevist,"
and whatever may be for the benefit
of grasping employers is dubbed
American.
This city is no exception; in fact
it furnishes glaring examples of the
hypocritical postwar call to patrio-
tism and anti Germanism. Labor
"agitators" have been bounded all
over the state Of Michigan because
they dared proclaim that now the war
is over labor must look out for itself
and demand the democracy which
Woodrow Wilson went abroad to de-
fend
In regard to the proposed nation
wide strike of building employees, a
well-known labor leader of this city
was asked what would be the atti-
Detroit.
There have been no meetings"
he was told; how can we guage the
sentiment"
Meetings" he exclaimed DO you
want US to hold meetings now, when
every word you say may be criminal
under the espionage law, and strike
talk is treason?
IF you want to know what senti-
ment is, come to me. Sentiment is
all fight. That's what sentiment is
Don't let them get away with a cent
We bled for democracy We starved
for democracy Now we want de-
Imocracy
Don't let them scare you by what
they say at Lansing They are talk
ing up there about the red flag and
all that stuff. We are not talking
at all And, mind you. do not quote
me.
I'VE know who is being paid by
the Marquette people Yes, and by
the Detroit people, too We know
what the size Of their checks are and
just how often they get them And
what they are being paid for is to
confuse in the minds Of the public
the real difference between demands
for a living wage and demands for
the whole hog, or Bolshevism
''How about the machinists' organ
izer in Jackson who was tarred and
feathered as a Red? What was the
result? Today the town is more
firmly organized than it has ever
been And the same will bestrue Of
Detroit We aren't saying a word;
we are just marking time.
But don't let people kid you and
persuade you that every true blue
union man is German lover That
day is past and such talk does not
go
I'VE are all Americans, and we
want our American rights in the good
old American way And perhaps we
have imbibed bit of the British
spirit of doggedness from the boys
who have come back after years Of
association with the Canadians and
British in the trenches.
'Flags-red, yellow or green
don't matter much in the trenches
All that matters is how good fight
er you are. The same with US. We
don't care if they legislate us-that
is, all our unions-out of existence
If our spirit is there we will go over
the top when the time comes Just
the way our boys did over there, nC
matter if we have in our hands {
flag, a trowel, shovel or just :
handful of the mud that is beine
thrown at US today
"All we need is the love of dem
ocracy. And, boy, we have it toda!
We have bled for it, we have died fol