Fitzgerald leader enterprise and press. (Fitzgerald, Ben Hill County, Ga.) 1921-1964, 1921-04-19
Tribute to Labor

L IS distinguished nOIlOT 10 iSpi e.
sent these men; that | represent any
man that has the courage to pull the |
throttle in the dead hours OF the
night, carrying full steam ahead,
your loved ones back there asleep, !
IS man that the people Of Fitzger
aid can certainly trust as brave, cour
ageous, honorable man. We are not
asking for favors, we are not asking !
for sympathy. We are asking YOU
for an unbiased and unprecedented
opinion as to whether you viii stand
with the men within the law or with
! the men without the liw.
Let's see that the people OF i'itz-
! gerald are getting out CT this. They
have been running around here like
a cat shot with d paper of tacks, tell
ing you that they arc going to move
the shops to Cordcle The peop,c
there are not alarmed about it. They
are not tearing down any houses to
make room to move the shops there.
Also tell me they arc going to move
them to Alma. 1t would take four
detectives and a pack of blood hounds
to find Alma. The next thing they
are going to do is to scrap it, tear it
up, amt going to hear another whistle
blow. If they keep on burning out
out flues they won't be far from it.
Col. Bugg came down here looking
. Ike Methodist presiding Elder and
said they were going to scrap it. Do
you think that the bunch that Mr..
Colt read you are going to scrap it?
Not when 600 miles railroad can
be bought for three million dollars.
Where Farmer Comes In
See where you come in on that Mr..
Farmer? They say business is all
chargeable to the wages the men re-
ceve, that the reason the price of
} cotton is so low I'll tell you WHY
the price of cotton is so low---the
, farmer is not organized I wish to
the Lord he was. l don't blame the
farmer. Every time he turns around
somebody sticks him for something;
and that bunch that sold the stock,
! tall watered) they say that cotton is
gong down because freight rates are
| so high. | can take Col. Bugg and
| will let him pick u men in Fitzger-
} aid for jury and | will take one man
as witness and let him make a
statement and will convict him in two
minutes of cheating and swindling.
He came down here with petition
asking for increase in rates, and he
sad if you all will do that we will
never have to reduce wages and you
signed it. Your Congressman and
mine got scared because you signed
that petition and we voted for most
anything, and they granted increase
OF practically SO l-3 per cent, the high
est freight rate we can accumulate
? necessary betterments and we can
give the men living wage. We give
It to them, they got it.
Figures On That
/ he Railway Age is a Railway
York. They made an estimate of the
Management paper published in New
increased rates and they said these
increased rates would amount to an
additional $l,1340O0,OC0OO annually
ne Labor Board estimated the num-
Der OF men and th2 character Of the
occupation engaged IN and the in
creased wages that the men received
according to the railroads fia1rcs
was $55S,OC00C0 or 5 0per cent Of the
increased revenue, or increased rates
"ates granted by Congress. The next
statement made was that since the
"ar they had entirely lad off enough
employees 10 make the sa1in,- ~
%oS70CC oC000 per year.
Now since you give them the in
crease they hay, cut off $687 0G0 600
in labor; they were making $685. O0
WH.00 in increased revenue That
difference gave then a net sum OF
$l,544 ,C0O,OO0G0 over and above She
rates that they said were for the pur-
pose ct paying wages of employees
Now If we give them that and he
stated that we give them what the Pc
ton calls for, would you not CON
Wet him OF cheating and swindl;ng:
What are they Offering you merchants
down here: These men come ~ and
spend every cent lhcy make with YOU
WHat are you all getting out OF this
business Of reduced tlcse mems vag-
es?
The Rights of Labor
Gentlemen, let me tell YOU some
thing, these men, zoo of chem. own
homes in your town. they have been
operating that railroad for 20 loqq
years and Col Bugg on the stand
after raising his hand on the Hoiy
Bible stated that these men had been
! as loyal and efficient as ans. g..