The labor world. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1896-current, 1920-01-10
. BY BEN GOGG1N

Organizer International Union OF
Mine, Mill and Shelter Workers.
With the workers asking for their
rights and being forced to strike to
secure some measure Of justice. g.
great cry went up over the land that
a conspiracy was on foot to over
throw the government and it's institu-
lions. A clamor akin to madness was
made by the press to deport all alien
radicals" and those who could. not
be deported should be Jailed. Ac-
cording to thir views this method
would settle all the problems.
What turn and what a change of
face? Just a few weeks or months
prior these same people were being
lauded for the great service they rem
dered to the government in its time
OF need, but now when they ask for
the privilege of being permitted to
Join with their brothers to secure a
living wage, and some other things
to. make life more tolerable, they
are heralded to the world as being in
league with the imps of the lower
region.
This is the thanks they are receiv-
ing for the sacrifices they made dur
ing the great conflict. No more
word Of praise or gratitude is heard
for them. From one end Of the coun-
try to the other they are maligned
and abused, held up to ridicule and
scorn. It reminds me Of John who
was kneeling down praying God to
help him mind his lost purse. When
he found it, Billie, his pal, asked
John why he did not kneel down and
thank God for helping him find the
purse. John said to Billie. ITO HI
with him, I got my purse now why
should I thank God for?" And so is
Mr.. Grab-it-all.
But great soullless corporation
like the steel trust continues to vio-
late laws and pour it's venom on all
who do not bow to its will. It's blight
is felt in many industrial hamlets:
it knows no laws and respects no
right, other than it's own, which is
often usurped. It can think only n
dividends which it has for years
coined out of the sweat and blood Of
thousands Of men. Backed as it is
with unlimited money and power it
controls legislators, governors, sher-
IFS, county and municipal authori-
ties, newspapers, and all sorts Of In
stitutions, and not the last tho I'M
speakable "Cossacks."
And while this is going on "the
law-making. body at Washington, D.
c. is endeavoring and using every
effort to enact laws to make it a
crime to strike.''
Why not enact laws: to hang a
hungry workman and be done with
it?: Yes, why not punish the victims
and send the guilty to congress?
From the state of Pennsylvania the
blood of the martyred Fannie ellins
and others cry fro mthe ground: Yes,
if these legalizeda apurderers, thieves
and stomach 'ffobhbesfrs could see the
body Of w. e.: Foster, some bright
morning floating down the Monan-
.gahela river, what Joy it would be
for the poodle dogs and monkey din
ner parties? Cars and kaisers of the
great steel trust? And don't have the
idea that they would hesitate to do
1t If they knew they could get away
with 1t. Their hired Hessians in the
shape Of gunner are omnipresent to
override all liberties supposedly pos
sessed by the people. They enter
homes. browbeat and intimidate;
they coerce and threaten dire ven
geance on all who will not go back
to the industrial infernos Of their
masters. They plant the Shiny spy
In the union and. in the meeting to
frame up a report that the strikers
are plotting treason.
Those are only a few Of the sinister
workings Of an industry that is pre-
sided over by that great liberty CO
loving citizen e. H. Gary and its
kinds. And yet with such conditions
prevailing you will hear the SNUG
gentry wondering or protesting to
wonder why there is much unrest.
Come with me you silkhatters. for