The Washington herald., 1920-05-04
MEN AND BUSINESS
BY RICHARD SPILLANE


There was one slightly unpleasant
incident to the proceedings of the
last days session Of the convention
Of the Chamber OF Commerce Of the
United States. This was when the
great audience called Time" on
Matthew woll, who spoke for or
ganized labor and especially. dwelt
upon the Kansas Industrial Rela-
tons Court as q great injustice to
labor. ...-.s
1t Is common for public speakers
to forget the time limit when they
warm up to their subject MIR,
Woll was to speak thirty minutes.
Three gentlemen of national promi-
nence were to follow him. One Of
them was Gov. Allen, of Kansas.
The audience wanted to hear Allen.
Mr.. wolI speaks well, but a man
must be great orator to hold thou
sands of people, more than an hour.
He spoke one hour and thirty-five
minutes. Then some persons, called
Time" and Mr.. woll apologized
and stopped abruptly.
As he was the only representa-
tive of the American Federation Of
Labor at the convention. there were
some expressions of regret that he
was not permitted to go on. no mat
ter how long he talked. Others ac-
cused him of overrunning his time
designedly. That charge was un-
worthy.
Apparently Mr.. woll is a good
sport. for he remained while the
three orators who followed an
swered him. Mr.. OLeary, in a very
graceful yet positive manner, took
issue with Mr.. woll on every point
and declared that, despite the
pledges Of labor in the war period.
the heads OF the American Fedora
tion of LABOR took advantage Of
the situation and the informant IN
they obtained to fortify themselves
for the future, IL not really to take
advantage of the employers in the
after-the-war period.
Charles Nagel. former Sc :retary
of Commerce and Labor, cut his
speech to five minutes, owing TO
Mr.. wo1rs long talk.
Then Governor Allen was intro
duced by Chairman Ernest T. Trigg.
Mr.. Allen is short OF stature but
long Of humor, satire and the brand
of plain statement that goes home
with the American audience, what
ever the kind or character. He said
he did not speak for capital or for
labor but for the body that. until
Kansas took action, met any and
every wrong by nothing more than
what you might term passive re-
sistance, Capital, he said, repre-
sented no more than ga per cent
of the public, organized labor 5iz
and the plain. ordinary people rep
resented 80 per cent.
1t made him somewhat weary to
hear the labor leader talk Of union
ism Increasing production when he
knew of union coal miners being
fined $45 each for producing too
much coal in one week.
The Kansas trouble that made 1t
necessary for the State to act was
caused by the employers. They had
raised the price of coal beyond all
reason. They gave a slight increase
to the employees. but the two-em-
ployers and employes-had banded
to soak" the public.
He ridiculed some of the state
ments of Mr.. woll as to the protec-
tion unions gave to labor. In the
Kansas coal fields, he said, the en-
ployers had for years plundered the
workers. II through vicissitnde or
or any other cause a
worker wanted his pay before the
regular pay day he always could
get 1t, but the boss deducted 10 per
cent. The boss was glad to have
workers for that rea-
son. Never, in all the history of
in the Kansas coal belt,
had union leaders made a move to
end this abominable robbery.
The state. through. the Industrial
Court. wiped it out in eighteen Sec
onds.
Never in the history Of unionism
had the leaders done a thing to pro-
mote welfare work among the
miners.
The state Is doing it--and doing
t in a fine way
There were 369 strikes In Kansas
N thirty-three months. They cost
abor In wages s1,soo, 900. They
ldded only $7sS.94 to labor,s wages.
Meanwhile, the union members had
% pay sf5e,eoo in strike beneffts,
There have been no strikes in
Kansas in the last three months.
He traced much OF iabor,s recent
lttempt At dominance TO Ithe cow
lrdice of Congress in passing the