The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1920-05-14
LABoR's CHALLENGE.

federation of labor oppose GOV. Rob
erts for reelection. Gov, Roberts Is
not to be opposed because Of the fiscal
policy Of his administration; he Is not
the object of opposition Of the fedora
tion by reason Of any shortc0ming OF
his Administrations The sole and only
reason given for the hostility Of or
ganized labor Is that the governor has
kept the oath of his Office and as chief
executive OF the state has attempted
to assert the sovereignty of the state
and execute its laws. This is the sim
gle offense for which the governor is
to be denied the customary endorse
ment of second term.
In support of its charge that the
governor, by reason of his hostility to
labor" is unfit for reelection, the fed
Grafton cites the organization of the
''law and order league OF Tennessee"
which 1t with fragrant disregard of the
truth, declares was organized to OPP
press labor and reduce 1t to 'serf
dom" 1t would have been wholly to
the credit of the governor If he had
organized and been the charter men,
Der Of the law and order league of
this state, but decent regard for
the facts forbids that claim The
law and order league was organized
during Gov. Rye's administration and
followed an especially outrageous and
unusually fragrant example of mob
violence. Labor, organized or unor-
ganized, was in no sense involved
in that lynching and in the organiza-
ton of the league there was no init
nation from any speaker that the
right of labor to organize or work
individually was in any sense in the
minds of any one.
After Gov. Roberts Inauguration
the state law and order league did
hold several meetings. Whey were all
attended by leading member of the
state federation of labor and no word
was ever uttered at any Of these
meetings either by the governor or
any member of the league that could
be, by the widest stretch Of the i'm
agination, construed into an attack
upon union labor Witnesses from all
parts Of the state will testify to the
truth of this statement. Gov. Rob.
erts attended all of the meetings, one
of which, at the capital last fall, was
entirely open to the public, and while
he did announce In unmistakable
terms his determination to, so far as
was within his power, execute every
law upon the statute books, he never
once intimated that he believed there
was one law for organized labor and
another for unorganized labor. He
inveighed against all forms of law
lessness.
Gov. Roberts greatest sin, in the
eyes of the labor agitators, was the
preservation of law and order at
Knoxville during street car strike
there last fall. The governor did not
use his power to coerce any one He
never once denied labor the right to
strike, but when the street car oper-
ators quit their jobs he insisted that
If other American citizens wanted
these jobs they had a perfect right to
obtain them. He did announce that
lives and property in Knoxville would
be protected If it should be necessary
to call into service all the resources
of the state and 4he made good this
declaration. In doing this he perform
ed very disagreeable but stern duty.
He could not have done anything else
without violating his oath of Office and
his state.
There. should be and there must be
no classes in Tennessee. Our laws
should be executed against all alike
in any order, fraternity,
church or organization must give no
one immunity that every other citizen |
does not enjoy. If membership in a
labor union gives or confers upon any
citizen special privilege to riot and
raise hell" that other citizens do not
enjoy then the labor union must 60 |
When one citizen in Tennessee by rea-
son of adherence to any sect, creed or
faction enjoys freedom from RESPONSE
bility for his lawless acts, that other
citizens do not have, then democratic
government has ceased to exist in this
state and in so far as Is possible Amer
Ican institutions have been dishon-
bred.
II is worse than puerile to say that
Gov. Roberts would reduce labor to
serfdom. The governor is poor man.
His rise from poverty and obscurity
% the highest Office in the state is of
tself the best possible evidence of the
falue of our institutions. 1t is proof
hat under American institutions there
S equality of opportunity. 1t is equal.
Cd lt- 20 hoN -