The toiler. [volume] (Cleveland, Ohio) 1919-1922, 1920-04-23
BY FELIX MORLEY
Staff Writer The Federated Press
Article 4-The Labor Press

Article 4-The Labor Press
LONDON-A favorite saying in the
navy is that the fighting power and
general efficiency Of any squadron
must be calculated on the speed, arm
ament and other characteristic Of the
weakest unit in that squadron; that
one up-to-thc minute batteleship does
not make the whole fleet weak; that
for instance, there is no advantage in
possessing ship capable of steaming
thirty miles an hour if it has to stay
in line with another whose top-most
speed is fifteen miles an hour.
As the navy is one of the encum-
hrances from which labor suffers i'll
the form of wasted production, in
direct taxation, militarist;c spirit and
lowered standard of living, labor at
least should appropriate any idea which
lmay emanate from "service" for
the maintenance of which it pays SO
dearly. In particular it should realize
the truth Of the "weakest unit the
cry and note how trnly it holds in
the labor movement. For the weakest
unit in the labor movement of every
! lcapitalist nation today is undoubtedly
| the highly important unit of the la
Dor press.
This is clearly recognized in Eng
land, and at the present time the en-
tire labor movement is devoting n
great deal Of time, energy and money
to building up a powerful labor press.
The cooperation of every element, OK
tremists, modcrates, and the various
shades Of opinion in between, is as
marked a Characteristic of this effort
as it is Of every phase of the Bri-
fish Labor Movement The results of
cooperation are already apparent in
the increased circulation and freedom
from government persecution which is
enjoyed ly labor papers over here
| asked one Of the editors of the Daily
Herald whether that powerful organ
Of labor thought is in anyway hamp
cred by government censorship, denial
of second-class mailing privileges, OF
other more or less subtle efforts tC
curtail its Influence in behalf of so
cial progress.
"They know that if they tried tC
suppress the Herald now the Tripl;
Alliance would stop every wheel il
the country" he replied.
"And what would happen if a bill
were introduced in Parliment EN-
powering the Postmaster General tc
suppress labor newspapers at his dis
cretion. as has been done in Anne
rica with us2" 1 inquired.
The reply was a heartily laugh
i"Why LLOYD George knows only to-
well that it was tactics of that sor
, which made a bloody revolution il
Russia inevitahle", he said, addin.
that the same realization of the in
tention of the workers to maintain tn
right of free press is held by tn,
government with a respect to paper
more directly propagandist in thoi
: outlook, usch as the Glasgow "For
wGrd."
r ANY article on the British Labo
t Press at the present time must ccnte
on the Daily Herald. 1t is the on
y daily newspaper of British labor;
already a very vital factor in the j.
D Dor movement on this side, and
+. steady gaining in Importance. r;
markable success in getting accurat
news from Russia is only one rcaso
why it is so cherished by the Britis
Labor Movement. The special trad
union committee of which Arthur Hel
derson is chairman, appointed las
November to assist in developing til
|, paper, stated recently that "durin
ire trying period of reconstructio
through which we are passing our wor
G would appear wellnigh hopeless wit
ont the Daily Herald"
II was the great railway strike la
fall which really made the Daily He
lali. The capitalist press united
icharactcri2ing the attitude of the raj
way men as something little short
anarchy. As the only daily giving
true account of the strikers case Il
r lIerald's fundamental importance
the whole labor movement was rec
gni2ed everywhere. It's daily circ
Il laticn leaped to half a million and
{ city news stands there were thrOni
every morning asking for "the lab,
parer." Tho the circulation since tn,
has dropped to daily average
II something over 100000 is due sole
g to the fact that the papers preser
! printing equipment in London can n
, meet the full demand.
Imagine an honest labor newspap
!. with circulation approximating TIL
. Of TIE New York Times and reachi,
= every corner of Great Britain, n p
y per which subscribers to every pre-
u association operating in England o,
/. in addition is now spending upwar
d lcf $4,000 year on special forei,
correspondence, paper which not Q
'' ly covers the industrial news
81 Great Britain from the workers stan
Is point, but which can be relied up
n to contain all that is essential Of t
news printed in other papers,-a,
y y you have good idea of the positi
ID already cached by the Herald. A
1" yet it is of comparatively reco
IL origin, founded in March 1912 MS
=, daily, becoming a weekly in Scpte
y ber, 1914, (after the outbreak of wa
'e and starting up as 4 daily again on
50 in March 1919. 1t should he not
10 that the Herald would not have be
! able to resume publication as a da
=, last year had il not been for {
* generosity of small group Of wealt
OF Sympathi2ers who made the paper
" unconditional gift of half n million d
lars, without any suggestions
strings as to policy attached.
M At first glanc the Daily Herald
" not impressive to American eyes,
hs lowing the general English custom
ny small size and extreme eondensati
co Of all but the most important nc'
ho There are only five columns to
-