The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1920-12-20
CONSERVATIVE
LABOR LEADER
RECOMMEND
:oresident-elect Harding Is
Urged to Help Conservative
Leaders to Down Radicals
in Their Own Ranks.
W. G. Lee STANDS OUT
By MARK SULLIVAN

WASHINGTON, D. c., Dec. 90
Some things that occurred last week
have thrown some light on at least
one cabinet position. Those cabinet
appointments remain now, as they al
ways have been, subjects in which ac-
curate knowledge is in one place only
and that place is Mr.. Harding's mind.
But some of Mr.. Harding's advisers
have reflected certain considerations
brought up during the past week
In connection with the department
OF labor three sets of considerations
have been urged.
appointed, but one with political ex-
perience and officially affiliated with
the Republican party. The man COM
monty mentioned in this connection is
Congressman John Nolan of Californ-
Ia.
Another suggestion strongly pressed
Is that n great captain of industry
whose contact with labor consists of
having been an employer on a large
scale should he appointed. One man
occasionally mentioned in this connec-
tion is Charles M. Schwab. From an
other angle of this position, Herbert
Hoover is frequently suggested for
the department of labor.
Third Position.
The third position is that rec.
ognized leader of union labor who is
still identified with labor exclusively
and who has the confidence of organ
lied labor. should be given the post.
In this latter connection Senator
Harding has been specifically urged
to name w G. Lee head of the Order
of Railway Trainmen and one of the
three or four men acknowledged to be
the ablest and the highest in stand
ing among the leaders of organized la
Dor. Lee began life as a brakeman
on the Atchison and the Union Pa
cific, and has never held any political
years ago as deputy recorder of deeds
in Ford county, Kansas.
The argument that supports Lee is
to the effect that it Is the wisest pol
icy to give recognition and support to
organized labor.
To Combat RadiciaIisn1.
For some years past the conserva-
tive leaders of organized labor includ-
ing Gompers, himself have been con-
stantly under assault from radical Ia
Dor men. 1t is believed to be the best
policy to give to these conservative
leaders the kind of recognition that
will help them in their resistance
against radical opposition in their
own ranks.
President Wilson has followed this
policy frankly. He went out of his
way TO make an ddress at the annual
meeting of the American Federation OF
Labor at Buffalo three years ago. II
was generally accepted that his pres
ence on that occasion was partly due
To icl, - oiu =
Mr. Gompers and to help this veteran
lead of the federation against any at
tempt which ways just then acute to
Gust him from his position in favor OF
some one less conservative.
Selection important.
The selection of a Secretary of La
Dor is especially important now be-
cause the question of policy in that
connection is still in the making The
Department of Labor is new. 1t was
created just at the close of Taft's ad
ministration, and the first head of il
was appointed by President Wilson
This first appointment was given tC
William B. Wilson who still holds the
post. Mr.. Wilson was at that time a
member of congress.
But the choice of Wilson as Secretary
of Labor was not dictated so much by
his political experience in congress as
by his life time of experience as leader
of organized labor.
Mr.. Harding now has the second ap
pointment to make. and if he makes
it in the same spirit rs the first it will
tend to crystalize the policy of recog
milton Of the conservative leaders oi
organized labor and give them aid in
their resistance to radical insurgents
in their own ranks.
All this has been laid before Sen
ator Harding by advisers who are as
remote as possible from formal identi
fication with organized labor and
whose motives are solely those of far
sighted policy and the public good.