Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1920-05-14
FREE SPEECH FIGHT LOOMING
CLOSER

IlIC S%ClIIlANC vi IllC NlISllIlPIO OLhNC
holder, Mayor Commissioner Presi-
dent Judge Magistrate, James S.
Crawford of Duquesne that he can
prevent meetings of representatives
of organized labor is doing more than
almost anything that has yet happen
ed to awaken the forces of labor and
progress to the danger that confronts
free speech and free assembly in
Western Pennsylvania.
1t will be recalled that this NUM-
cipal tyrant who has grown fat and
impudent feeding at the crib Of the
steel trust has declared "Jesus Christ
cannot hold a meeting in Duquesne
under the auspices of the American
Federation of Labor" and added that
as fast as organizers appear in the
city where he owns most of the prop
erty and holds most of the offices,
they will be thrown in jail, and that
if they keep it up the city Golfers
will soon be bulging with the in
creased revenue through fines levied
against them. This declaration caused
the Pittsburgh Central Labor Union
to recommend that all its affiliated
local unions agree to pay the wages
of the men who may be thrown
in Jail, and urged that all who are
arrested refuse to pay any fines, ac-
cepting jail sentences instead. The
response to this on the part of the
local union is passing all expecta-
tions. Scarcely a single union but
has annuonced it's intention to call
the bluff of the Czar of Duquesne.
Several of the Mine Workers
Locals have in addition to this chosen
delegates to attend the meeting to be
held on May 9th and report back the
sort of treatment accorded the work
ers. If the policy of filling the jails
is carried out by the city's clustering
despot then some echoes are likely to
be heard in the halls of the Mine
Workers in the district shortly after
wards.
The story was told the District Con-
vention of the Mine Workers as
sembled in Pittsburgh last week and
the Convention went on record almost
Immediately to the effect that it
would stand solidly behind the Ma
tional Committee for Organizing
Iron & Steel Workers in the effort to
force recognition of some Of the
fundamental rights guaranteed by the
State and Federal Constitution and
written into the Declaration Of IN
dependence.
To add further emphasis to the
Importance attached to this proposed
meeting, DR.. Harry F. Ward has sent
word that he will be one of the speak
ers. DR.. Ward is Professor Of the
Union Theological Seminary in New
York City and also President of the
National Civil Liberties Union. In
coming to Duquesne DR.. Ward is
showing the finest spirit of the mod
ern crusader. Frail of body but strong
in the conviction that the principles
of freedom must be defended at all
costs, he is proving that this year
organized labor is going to get power
ful support outside its own ranks in
trying to pry open the halls of the
Monongahela Valley, the very center
of the steel industry in America.
1t now appears as if, in spite of
the conspiracy of silence on the part
of the newspapers in and around
Pittsburgh, some publicity would be
forced before the thing is over. Men
of the prominence of DR.. Ward can
not be thrown in Jail, without some
notice being taken of the event, not
to speak of the couple Of hundred
others who are prepared to share his
probable fate on the 9th Of May.
1t might be worth mentioning that
not satisfied with the group Of offices
he already holds, James S. Crawford
is aspiring to be delgate to the
Republican National Convention.
Certainly a fine type of citizen to
be entrusted with the responsibility
of picking a candidate for President
of these United States!