The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-02-15

LIE
labor's mission, and under its strong
and conservative guidance there need
De no fear of any loose stones which
might turn our feet and cause US to
fall, or chasms into which we might
be submerged, to the end that this
great land of ours. teeming in great
wealth Of discovered and undiscov-
cred resources shall not be Frustrated
to degrading ends; that this demo-
cratic government as founded by our
forebears, in all its unsurpassed benifi-
cence, shall not be destroyed and
darkened to pages of history as an in
glorious discard to the end that our
manhood may not be exploited into
weakened surfs of anarchistic para
sites who seek, for their own selfish
ACKNOWLEDGMENT, places Of power and
personal prestige; to the end that our
womanhood shall not become common
property and the bearers of fatherless
children, but rather the virtuous
builders of homes in which the scored
nescs of her sex is protected and re-
spected and her equality maintained:
to the end that all men shall be free
and equal and be protected in pur-
suit of happiness and his paramount
right in the brotherhood Of man.
This, then, is a cursory review OF
the principles for which every Or
ganized laboring man m America is
working who has the true idea of serv-
ice. Our organizations cannot hope to
reach the summit of achievement with
out first eliminating from these bod
les the unhealthy sentiment fostered
and preached by radicals of the brazen
sort who wish to gain power by force,
if necessary; and such forces are in
imical to the fundamental principles
of the American Federation of Labor.
1t is needless to say that we have
these designing forces in our own or
ganization, but to a great extent they
have been shorn of their nefarious
power in the last two or three years.
This group has allied itself with the
Industrial Workers of the World and
other radical organizations. But we
have some of them still with us, and
these are pointed to by some people
as examples of the whole, which we
disclaim. Yet in this we are not un-
like other organizations whose propa-
ganda is not unlike that of organized
labor. The fraternal organizations
have their misanthropes; the church
has it's hypocrites; and the state has
it's criminals. And it will be SO as
long as society exists in its present
form, or until a new man is created
Hence. the only thing that can be done
in fraternal orders, in church and in
state is to back these men up against
the wall And to this end, the Ameri.
can labor movement, under the wise
leadership of her great men, is work.
ing. We do not want them in our
ranks to SOW the seed of hatred that
will bring forth the fruits of brute
force, turmoil and final dissolution
But there are certain elements in
our Industrial economy that gloat over
the fact that organized la Dor has these
elements to contend with and are
happy in the thought that the more we
have of them the sooner will come
the day of death, and hence are issu
ing vicious propaganda to incite and
maintain these evil inflences. Just
now millions are being raised to de-
feat the purposes of organized labor
But if the people of this country come
to a full understanding of our many
many benign purposes, our lofty and
hcneficent principles and the problems
ave are trying unselfishly to solve, we
know that no set of men, with mil
| lions of money behind them, can shake
the foundation stones upon which the
American labor movement is builded
We venture this statement. that il
the high-handed methods of the Manu-
facturers' association, the Meta
| Trades assembly and the Nationa
Chamber of Commerce are continued
against organized labor, the sooner
will we have in this country the sovie
or communistic forms now so destruc
tive in European countries. The same
methods of exploitation of men were
practiced by European aristocracJ
and which brought about these condi
lions across the seas are being prac
ticed by the kings of finance in thi:
! country, and there is no surer trutf
ever uttered than Like begets like
! And we further say that if 1t had no
! been for the American Federation o
Labor. in the light of past history, tina
condition would obtain now.
The sooner then, that capital ant
labor reach an understanding-get to
gether and perform for the service o
humanity. having service rather thai
monetary profit uppermost in mind
then will come the day of create,
deeds. of lighter burdens, Of enhanced
social life, of better men and women
working for the common welfare ant
| the supreme fulfillment of the desig1
of the Great Creative Force.
LUCIUS C. HARRISON.
, Socrates paid but little heed to the