The Connecticut labor press., 1920-11-06
ORGANIZATION OF
 LABOR IN MEXICO
 WILL HELP PEACE
Bandit Bands Found Ready Fol lowers Because of Demoral-
 ized Industrial Situation.
WAGES GOING UP NOW
Labor Unions Beneficial Effects Are Rapidly Making Them
 selves Felt in All Quarters.

Washington, D. C., Nov. 5.-Mexican labor is building up one of the surest possible guarantees of internal peace. Political economists and fnanciers will either overlook this or scoH at 1t. But it is a big truth.
 Mexican bandit armies have been composed largely of men who went into them for living. l have no refer ence to the great, bona f1de revolution ary movements directed against un- endurab1e oppression. l mean the ban dit armies that have roamed and rav- aged for the sake of the game. There have been many of these and only such as they could by any possibility disturb the present situation.
 Tn the past it has been possible for a general to muster an army on the promise of steady wage of ridiculous has looked big and it has been big. Less than tRat has been enough to bring i'll many a recruit The chance to get a living has been, an argument.
 When industrial and agricultural wages were low the general had an easy time finding soldiers. Army pay has been high in bandit armies, high as compared to the chances in peaceful pursuits where often enough there has been no living at all.
 Industrial wages are going up be- cause there Is labor movement III the field and because 1t is functioning free 1y Agricultural wages are going up. Workers are being. organized. The men in the big, basic industries are coming into trade union organizations at tre- mendous speed Conditions are being improved and wages raised.
 There is in Mexico no such guaran- tee of future stability and constructive progress as is offered by this elevation of the economic position of the work CTS. The workshop is going to com pete with the banditti for wage supre- macy
 It must be understood that the Mex ican bandit soldiers have not gone into the fields alone They, have taken their families with them. It has been a case with them of ! breaking up house keeping" and going on the road, gypsy fashion, living from the country.
 Of course Mexican industry is far from thriving at this date. It is far from adequate And frequently enough it may be that rising wage scales will put upon this young growth a heavy strain. But that Is problem that will be solved because 1t must be solved, and the key-truth of the whole matter is that steady labor movement, strong and fairly paid, working eight hours a day and developing home life is for Mexico going to be the great and surest antidote for armed upheaval.
 As matters stand today Mexico has finally solved the issue of political free dom, That is to say, the right to pol1tl- cal democracy has been secured. The ability to exercise this right and the ability to safeguard 1t call for eduea- ton and for economic safety. These things, together with industrial progress and industrial development are calling to the Mexican workers for industrial organization-and the cal is being an- swered.
 As I see it, there lies the greatest set of facts in Mexico today. What America can do is to watch in sym pathetic spirit while this phase of .na- tional development and labor progress works out. What American labor can do-and what it is bound by duty to do is to offer its counsel, tell of its mls- takes and successes and of its machin- cry and policies and in so doing give encouragement and sustenance to the spirit that is rising south of the border.