The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1920-01-29
JUDGE AMrs IN THE IIMtIIGnT.

Judge g. y. Amcs Okhhoma's near cabinet
member. Is receiving his mede Of attention from
the editors Of tho country for speech delivered
Ia oklahoma City time back Leslic's
weekly quotes the oklahoma man az saying
"orgonl1cd capital is greater menace TO
tho country than organized labor. be-
icy" tho United states steel corporation
s the father Of an our economic problems.
consider John T.. Lewis and Wliam Green
TO be better citizens than Ebert H. Gary
In fairness TO Judge Amcs let 1t be said rhat
In the local reports OF hs speech at the time
no such statement appeared But neither has
;he gentleman corrected the oft-rcpcated state
mcut that hc used such words Nor the addi-
uonaI statement attributed to him: Labor Is
fighting for what it believes to be right while
capita! !s fighting for power"
II is difficult to treat such absurdiy false
statements with dignity. THAT difficulty Is all
the greater when coming from man OF Judge
Amos' wcll-known standing ana practice. II
s impossible to even account Tor Charles B.
Ames taking this position without attrbuting
base motives. which is tantamouut to saying
that Amos the citizen docs not believe a word
that is here uttered by Ames, the assistant to
the United states attorney general In Wood
row wilson's cabinet with prospect Of pro
motion to n cabinet position. And that does
the reputation Of charles H. Amcs N Oklahoma
no service.
II the assistant to the attorney general really
believes that labor Is fighting for what u be
leves to be right while capital is only fighting
for power" then he is probably the ono well
informed man in the United states who does
believe that And he forms his opinion too
In direct defiance OF the established facts.
We hold no bricr for Elhert Gary or the steel
corporation, but the record In the recent steel
strike proves beyond even question that Gary
was assalled by organized labor quito as un-
Justifabe was Belgian assailed by Germany.
And the offensive came from without ana not
from within the employed. forces OF the steel
corporation. Gary never became the nEgressor
lie simply stood firm and wihstood the re-
pcatod assaults of tho ablcst shock troops of the
political leaders of organized labor.
Does Judge Amcs mean to say TO the country
that in this Instance labor was the noble de
fender of It's rights, and Gary the aggressor
seeking power? such a proposition Is absurd
or is the Oklahoma gentleman one of those who
assert that capital ls always wrong and labor
always right2
1t has boon charged from almost every
vantage point that iabor, for several months,
has been engaged in an attempt to wrost poliu
cal authority from government and Industrial
domination from employers, And in not a tow
instances union mon themselves have admitted
thai, and are now demanding that this element
OF labor he effectively squelched.
Judge Amcs, at indianapolis, commanded the
respect OF the nation. His public uterpnces in
challenging the defiance Of the political leaders
OF union labor in the coal strike were ad-
mifable. But his Oklahoma city uttcrance Sc
riously indicted his previous words ana acts II,
a8 a matter OF fact, labor was fighting for It's
rights against so-called capital fighting for
power then Judge Ames was appearing in an
unworthy cause when he opposed labor ana
necessarily espoused the cause Of capital In the
coal strike action.
The country understood that the coal capt
talists were asking for nothing but the enforce
ment of law and the protection Of their property,
while the labor leaders were dcfying not only
the law but the authorized agents Of govern
mcnt as we'll
There are few greater capitalists In Okla
homa than Charley" Ames. The state has no
citizen who has moro assiduousy devoted his
life to the cause OF capitalism than has he In
his practice as corporation lawyer, why,
let II be asked in all seriousness, has ne never
sought a retainer from that side on which
Justice. according to his prcachment, always
rests2