The Butler County press. [volume] (Hamilton, Ohio) 1900-1946, 1920-03-26
COLLECTIVE
BARGAINING
Favored by Governor Cox In
Cincinnati Speech, Who
Is Much Cheered AS
Next President"

CltlOHlildIl new ldDOf temple was
dedicated on Wednesday night of last
week with auspicious ceremonies.
Governor James M. Cox was the
principal speaker. The new temple
was the building formerly known as
Workmans hall, and recently was
bought by the Boot and Shoe Workers
of Cincinnati and vicinity.
The speech of Governor Cox was
notable in that it was the first that
he has made before distinctively
labor union audience since his formal
entrance as a candidate for the dem
ocratic nomination for president of
the United States.
Something of test of his standing
as candidate with organized labor
came when William Prout, toastmas-
ter, interrupted the diners to intro
duce the governor with the remark:
when next | introduce him it will
be as president of the United States. /"
In the course Of the governors ad-
dress, he was frequently applauded,
and at the close the diners stood and
cheered
Governor Cox came out strong for
collective bargaining. He said "This
is day of large units. There is econ
omy in it short of absolute MONOPOLY.
For one thing, it reduces overhead ex-
pense. No ole disputes the right or
propriety of capital combining. Now,
in all sincerity, | ask why, if capital
can act as it does act, collectively,
there should be any objection to labor
acting collectively We can not justly
affirm the right of the one while deny
ing the right Of the other
What we should stand for is the
square deal equal rights to all, special
privileges to none. We have all sworn
allegiance to our government, and this
entails upon the government the duty
of seeing that all are treated alike; no
one class preferred to another. Labor
in America is enjoying a prosperity it
nowhere else enjoys.
"You are to be congratulated that
you live in a country where there is
that full measure of freedom of action
that allows its citizens to work out
their lives in the manner they choose.
There is one thought that | want to
stress. If there is such freedom of ac
ton, such liberty of choice in America,
it is due to the preservation of the in
stitutions that our fathers founded
with wisdom that seemed from on
high Yet we must not only pre-
serve our institutinos in all their es-
sentials, but we must make them more
efficient, adapting them to the chang
ing conditions of life in its never
ending march of progress. But this
must be not by revolution, but by
evolution
your toastmaster referred to my
efforts for the new constitution and
the laws enacted to carry out the man
date Of the people. That marked the
close Of the books on the old order
and the record opened upon the new.
Nothing has given me more satisfac-
tion than the opportunity | have lately
enjoyed of telling some capitalists
few truts. ! have told them that
much of the trouble around them has
been of their own making; that they
themselves sowed the seed for the har-
vest we are now reaping ! told them
they had brought the aliens to this
country and had paid no attention to
converting them into American citi-
zens-had only exploited them, so to
speak.
"We use the word 'Americanism' too
| lightly, It's not a matter of blood or
race; it is a question of loyalty to the
| flag and what it stands for. All of our
ancestors came from across the sea.
While / believe there is only red blood
in this audience, doubt whether there
is any of the blood of the red men, the
only true native Americans in the
sense that for perhaps from the be
ginning of human life they and their
ancestors were born on the American
continent. Let US not then mind the
name of man or woman, but their
conduct. know no one more cordial
~ hated by few than | because of
my pursuit of the traitors, and yet |
know that many patriot was under
unjust and unfounded suspicion dur
ing the war merely because of his or
her name and blood.
"We believe in the brotherhood of
snan. In your unions you discuss many
| things This leads to a consolidation
of veWs. 1t then becomes part, an
element, in the opinion of the entire
community. You believe that you are
900 per cent Americans. In America
1all things will come out all right, and
in what seems the darkest clouds we
can ever see the rainbow
Governor Cox gave a rapid review
of labor legislation in Ohio, and re
ferred particularly to the workmen's
compensation act, which, he said, had
often been attacked, but which had
been preserved.
- "a Pa
WCETT Void