The Connecticut labor press., 1920-10-16

Campaign Managers. of Candi
dates Under Fire Apparl lnt1y :.
Underestimate the Situation.
OUT TO GETTHEM
Regardless Of, the Fortunes. Of
Any Particular Party In
dividuals Will Be Fought.

All over the state the committees
representing organized labor are busi1y
interviewing candidates for the state
senate and house in relation to their
stand on matters pertaining to 1abor's
interests and preparing to make reports
to their organizations on the informa-
ton gained.
he movement within the ranks sof
organized labor to prove its strength
politically is far mightier one than
some of the political leaders seem to
realize. The candidates who are being
questioned are beginning to realize that
the labor organizations are really in
earnest and that the concerted action ali
over the state is bound to result in
turning lot of votes toward the can
dldates that look right to the members
of the unions
In another article published in this
issue information is given of the stiff
hight that IS being given reactionary
candidates in other stayes and the rec
ord already previously published shows
that lot of them have gone down be-
fore 1abor's onslaught in the primaries.
Others who managed to slip through the
primaries and secure a nomination are
now finding themselves confronted by
the most active opposition from labor
that they have ever encountered.
In Connecticut certain prominent
candidates have been pronounced as re-
actlonaries by the special convention of
the Connecticut Federation of Labor
and the delegates to that convention
have gone back to their organizations
in all the larger cities of the state with
that report. Political leaders who have
the campaign of these candidates in
charge, however, do not appear TO be
particularly interested in any effort to
offset the charges against the men
whose chances of election they have
within their keeping. Nothing in the
nature of refutation or explanation
has SO far enanated from state central
committee headquarters or from the
candidates themselves.
If this situation is the result of a
delusion that the entire labor movement
of Connecticut is not working yigor-
ousiy toward the end of a defeat for
these particular candidates the leaders
are due to an unpleasant awakening and
the candidates for a fall Whatever
views the individual members of or
ganized labor may hold toward party
principles they are surely out this year
to get the men whom they believe
have consistently opposed them in
Congress and the state legislature and
no matter how strong the general tide
may set toward any particular party
the vote of these individual labor men
as individuals is bound to have a strong
effect upon the final result.
The only instance of an attempt to
do something for a republican candi-
date who has come under 1abor's ban, SO
far as noted, is story appearing in the
Hartford Courant, republican, during
the week, apparently intended to assist
United States Senator Brandegee It
states in effect that the attitude of his
opponent, Congressman Lonergan, in
voting for the Cummins- railroad
bill has alienated from Mr.. Loneran
labor's vote. 1t is true that Mr. Loner-
ans vote~on this bill is not approved by
labor men but it must not be overlooked
that the special convention of the Con-
necticut Federation of Labor went into
this matter at length and decided, in view
of Mr.. Loneran's labor record as a
whole in comparison with Mr. Brande-
gees, that Mr.. Lonergan should have
the endorsement of that convention
Inasmuch as Mr.. Brandegee also voted
for the Cummins-Esch bill the candi-
dates are a tie on that proposition and
the endorsement of the labor convention
cannot fail to be a strong factor in
helping to make many labor men make
up their minds as to which of the two
candidates they will vote for.
This is no time for apathy on the
part of candidates managers. If they
have anything to say to labor as to
why their candidates should be. sup
ported they should be saying il soon
and clearly