The Connecticut labor press., 1920-04-17
PROFITEERS AND
PAID PRESS HAVE
Lied TO PUBLIC
Their Own Reports to Govern
ment Show Them Up
Fully.
FABULOUS RAKE-OFF
Greed and Graft, Not Labor, Re
sponsible Solely for High
Costs,

They say man can tell lie so
aften that he believes it himself. Our
kept press has lied about labor until
it has reached point where it has
placed labor before the eyes of all as
a robber or one of the worst enemies
of mankind Some of the weaker ele-
ments of labor have adapted an atti-
tide of guilt by merely being accused,
but no man is guilty of crime until
his guilt is proven; this rule should
also apply to labor. Some of our dis
tinguished profteer manufacturers will
give figures to show how labor is get
ting more today than before and they
will juggle figures that would do credit
to any star iuggler. on the stage and
when they are through they say,
labor is convicted and we of the labor
movement should crawl around and
find hole, crawl into it and pull it in
after us. We are, in their eyes, the
reprobate of mankind and they are
trying to make all others see us
through their eyes. Undoubtedly these
gents have not heard the story of the
man that killed the goose that laid the
golden egg, says Machine Shop News
of Newark, N. J. They have played us
for suckers, but they are about at the
end of their rope. AS the saying goes,
Every dog has his day." They have
exploited labor to the point of physical
exhaustion; they have fooled labor with
false promises and now they are tor
menting their victim and holding him
UP for ridicu1e and scorn They may
find pleasure and enjoyment in these
tactics, but there is an end to it ALL
Labor is ground down in industrial
despotism, his finer senses are crushed
and destroyed through long hours and
low standards, but he is gradually
waking up to protect his. rights and
good name. While he is the producer
of all wealth and Injuries, yet he lives
this and asking the wherefore He is
asking, "Am / to be always the ex-
plotted of mankind? Is my burden
always to be as heavy? Am I going
to be always the slave of a system
Is my day ever coming?" He knows
things are wrong, but has never had,
as whole, the experience, education
and opportunities of his masters to
change them and therefore he has been
the victim.
Are these profteer manufacturers
sincere in their accusations against
labor? Is labor the cause of the High
Cost of Living? Is labor the cause of
all the present-day evils? The repre-
sentatives of labor say mo" and use
our opponents figures to prove it. The
following figures were furnished our
government and should be authentic
They prove the high cost of the neces-
sites is not due to high labor, but to
the greed of profteer manufacturers.
Endicott-J ohnson Co, shoe manu-
facturers, increased gross sales in 1919
to 62,713,03e, an increase of 5000.
Net profits increased to $10218019, an
increase, of l0126.
Cluett, Peabody & Co., shirt and
collar manufacturers, increased net
sales in 1919 to 32,421, $40, an increase
of 5089o; net income increased to
$,81o,613, an increase of $3.50.
Stutz Motor Car Co. increased sales
in 1919 to 7,274,249, an increase of
1929; profits increased to 1897, 148, an
increase of $3.50.
Corn Products Refining Co., manu-
facturers of syrups, showed decrease
in operating profit to $22,O15,4 14, a
loss of 9.39a; net income increased to
$13,7l7,480, an increase of $3.50.
And so the merry list goes on and
could be made to fill pages. Those
figures were compiled not for informa-
ton to the public but for the govern
ment When pro6teers publish figures
as information to their employees and
the general public they are twisted and
juggled to suit purpose. They say
figures do not lie, but liars often figure,
so when you see figures find out the
reason and for whose information they
are given.
The profteers and exploiters not
only believe in organization but are
organized; the worker who is exploited
must follow suit he must organize and
stay organized. The International
Association of Machinists has continu-
ally been striving to awaken the I'M
organized machinists, toolmakers and
machine shoe workers and have them
join with their organized shopmates
in order that they may enjoy greater
degree of freedom and more just
share of the wealth they produce.
Can the unorganized not see that much
could have been accomplished if the
International Association of Machin-
lists could have conserved its funds and
energy for the work of establishing de-
cent wages, hours and shop conditions,
instead of spending it in urging and
begging the unorganized to organize
to do that which they should have done