The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-05-31
Verdict of Public and Press for
Kansas Governor.
Down East Newspapers See Vic
tory Over Gompers.
COMPRESS ONE, BIG FAILURE
His Refusal to Answer Allen
His Only Weakness.
"The Right to Live" Is Feature
Tribune Editorial.

New York. May Ex-Governor AL
len was easily the popular winner in
the debate with Samuel Gompers.
That is the verdict of the public and
the press following the show in Car
negie hall Friday night. Because the
speakers were never really close. to-
gether on issues, disappointment was
expressed on several occasions that the
representative of the public and the
defender of organized labor's right to
lay down its tools did not really clash.
The debate was not restricted to a
definite subject.
Gompers's real trouble was his fail
ure to answer Governor Aliens ques-.
tons, according to common verdicts as
expressed thru the New York papers.
The first expression from the New
York press came in its news stories.
Editorial comments will follow.
Effects of the debate as extending
to Governor Aliens presidential pos
editorialIy by the down-east papers.
The action of the governor in an
nouncing he would place General
Wood in nomination may in a large
way control the comments, particu-
iarly from papers which are now sup
porting favorite candidates.
"The Right to Live"
The New York Tribune's editorial
under the caption. THE Right to
Live" Immediately followed the de-
bate. 1t says:
Governor Allen, in his debate with
Mr.. Gompers, repeatedly asked the
question of whether the public has any
right in the disputes between capital
and labor. Mr.. Gompers first evaded,
and then fatty declined to answer.
He fell back on the irreleNancy that
to. deny to men the right to strike is
to. makes slaves of them"
The Tribune editorial continues:
was whether the right to strike is SUI
perior or inferior to the right of others
to live." The tactics of the labor
unions confronted the instinct of
self preservation. 1t is safe to bet
that in the duel the instinct of self
preservation will win If real tests
come, 80 per cent. of the population
will not consent to perish because it
will not or cannot do what the re-
naming 10 per cent dictates. The
right to strike is strongly funded in
custom, but the right to live is more
deeply founded on the laws of nature"
Public Rights.
1.-THE fact is,' says the Philadelphia
Public Ledger, that Governor Allen
easily tore aside the sophistries with
which Mr.. GomperS sought to sur
round the new industrial court laws of
Kansas, as an invasions of personal
rights For not only did the COVER
nor set out clearly and distinctly the
| inherent public rights that are sI-'
preme in any dispute between capital
and labor, but he got at the cruxeof
the whole issue when he said 1.-THE
Kansas law does not take away from
the individual workman the divine
right to quit work. it takes away from
Mr.. Gompers the, divine right to or
der him to quit work"
1.-The governor also got the better
of it when Mr. Gompers fatty refused
70,
any right in a controversy affecting
the production or distribution of the
necessities of life, or is it merely
private war between capital and Ia
bor?' and also refused to answer any
variation on this question that the gov
ernor put before him.
THAT the state and the public have
rights as against those of capital and
labor that must be secured by law,
Governor Allen established in striking
manner"
East Meets the West-s
The New York Evening Post de-
scribed the debate as the East Meet
ing the West
tissues upon which the attention OF
both labor and capital are focused at
present are clearer today because OF
their detailed and authoritative pub
lie discussion the Post commented.
ct was a heterogeneous crowd, ma
tives of the Sunflower state, wearing
their emblem proudly, sat side by side
with eastern labor leaders so that, al
tho the east and west could not un-
derstand each other. they met" this
newspaper continued.
Physical Contrast.
After summarizing Gompers's case,
the Post said of Allen:
Governor Allen presented a great
physical contrast to Mr.. Gompers in
his breadth of shoulder and vigor and
he presented no less psychological
contrast in his manner of going
straight to specific points and dealing
with them in a direct, businesslike
way, but giving little attention to gem
eralities or abstract considerations"
The Post concluded:
"Mr Gompers remained the elo-
ouent champion of labor and plainly
disappointed his own partisans on the
stage. Governor Allen, standing for
| the submerged nine-tenths. the pub
| lie, between the employers and union
workers of Kansas had to answer
| himself the question Mr.. Gompers
evaded.
1.-THE state" he declared, "can do
better thansthe private wars of CAPT
tai and labor"
It is significant that the Post, the
only newspaper that attempted any
thing like an editorial analysis. gave
| Governor Allen all of the best of it.
A-5 DoSf hoa SfS of liberal fem