Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1921-10-03
UNREST IN THE
RANKS OF LABOR
| causes CONCERN
Leaders Say 1t Is No Secret
-bsThat There Is a Good Deal
ay'-of DriftWood in the Union
Movement.
w BY RALPH BURTON.
~ Especial Dispatch to Morning Journal)
:. IEnnvrirhf 1Nol hN AIhunnnrnuR .InurnnN

copyright 1921 by Albuquerque JournnI)
Washington, Oct. 2.-Unrest in
the ranks Of organized labor as an
accompaniment of unemployment
is, giving many members of labor
unions and sympathizers with
union organizations, considera-
bble degree of earnest concern.
They assert that it Is no secret
that there is good deal of dead
wood in the labor movement.
Neither can it be denied that there
are many labor politicians.
One indication of the unrest
which is stirring was the uproar
which arose at the miners con-
vention in indianapolis Thursday
over the question of the officials
salaries, which were cut very APP
probably. Then came a proposal
to make those officers refund some
of the money they had already re-
cleveland the officers We're sup
norted by an overwhelming vote,
So overwhelming in fact that more
Votes we're cast than the total to
which the whole convention was
entitled.
For long time, of course, row
has been brewing between the
Howat and Lewis factions of the
miners. 1t has been charged that
S'the' officials of the miners would
not permit any discussion of the
proposals for the naturalization of
mines to appear in the official
journal. This has tended some-
what to disrupt the organization,
There has also, ever since the dis
'ncpyery that q former high official
lot the miners died, leaving a for
tune OF $3.50 900, been suspicion of
leaders and their motives--suspi-
cion that has not been allayed by
the fact that a good many former
union leaders suddenly blossomed
out as officers of mining COM
panies. So unsettlslg has this
practice of shifting sides become
to the miners that a resolution was
prepared for presentation to the
convention, opposing any negotia-
tions whatever with former union
officials now acting as representa-
ttves Of the mine owners.
The BrindelI Case.
$50 much for the warfare in the
ranks of the miners, The Brindell
case, which split the building
trades in New York wide open, has
also tended to discredit union lead
orship. There was an effort at
Denver to dislodge President Sam
guel Gompers and his encourage in
the A. f. of L., but Gompers won
sout handily in the convention. The
sta3lroad unions have their own
syfpnbIes, whcih came to light OF
MtI61tifne of the outlaw strikes.
Their members think their organ
sfzntion unnecessarily top heavy;
they contend that they have too
nniany paid officers, and that they
ARE fnulcted for enormous sums in
sdues without receiving anything
proportional in the way of bene-
fits. The extreme hostility mani
tested by organizations affiliated
with the American Federation of
Labor to the Amalgamated Gar
ment Workers and their associated
union is another divisional force
in the labor movement. The
Amalgamated organized the cloth
ing workers after the American
Federation of Labor had failed, it
got rid of the sweat shop and made
the garment trades among tue
best paid and most Independent in
the country. The Amalgamated
moreover, contributed generously
to the striking steel workers when
other unions did nothing.
Movement is Floundering.
So long as labor is divided, its
success will be moderate indeed
However. the prospect of any ap-
preciable change is not bright. The
movement as whole is laundering
about with tendency to lose, rath-
er than to gain ground.