The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1921-05-06
THE MAY DAY
CELEBRATION

/
Der of celebrators of May Day gath
cred at the Labor Temple and list
ened to speeches by five gentlemen
on five subjects.
Arrangements had been made for
a mass meeting and picnic at Forest
Park, but the weather god willed that
we should not have sunshine, so the
out-of-door meeting was called off
| sports and all.
J. H. Michel was called by Chair
man Wilson of the May Day Com
mittee to preside.
James Fisher
The first speaker was Mr.. James
Fisher, who has delivered a num-
br of lectures to the Workers Col
| lege, which meets every Thursday
night in the Labor Temple. His
speech was a fervent appeal to the
workers to stand together for their
rights, even to the point Of per-
sonal sacrifice and personal safety.
W. F. Boucher
Mr.. w. F. Boucher Of the Seattle
Food Products Association, spoke on
! Cooperation, its brotherly activity,
its power, its fight against capital
ism and its great benefits as an
| educator. 1t teaches workers and
other consumers how to conduct
! their own business. He dwelt at
| length upon growth of the co-opera-
tive movement in England and how
! it had become one of the greatest
if not the greatest commercial pow
ers in that country where it had
won nearly all its fights in the
! courts.
Cooperation is a great aid to
unionists especially in strikes. There
was big labor battle in Belfast,
Ireland, where the employers in COM
bination with the shipping interests
had undertaken to starve out the
strikers. The English co-operatives,
grown strong and powerful, secured
vessels in jig time and shipped hun
dreds of tons Of food to the locked
out workers. The economic power
of the many in cooperation has
proven invincible and its rapid
spreading will make it worldwide
and a great boon to consumers ev-
| erywhere.
William Bouck
VIM. Bouck, master of the Wash
| ington State Grange and candidate
for Congress on the Farmer Labor
/ ticket last November, was the next
speaker. He enlightened his audience
on the marketing question, showing
the necessity Of eliminating gamb-
ling in food products and other ne
cessities of life He delivered a
warning to consumers that there
must be cooperation between the
farmers and the workers and other
consumers in cities or the city folR
would be worsted when the change
comes.
He said to the Womens Legisla.
tive Council at the Y.W.C.A. rooms
in Seattle and in substantially the
same words to his audience at the
Labor Temple Sunday, that:
Two years hence, if the farmer
has not succeeded in persuading the
city workers that their cause j,
identical, that they should cooperate
or the economic and industrial field
the farmers viii begin the formation
of what will be the greatest com.
bination in the history of the worlC
they will teach even Judge Gary
tactics-and they will hold you, the
city consumer, between the upper
and neither millstones; you will be
crushed by the food trust
How will the situation be met
In one of two ways, Bouch explain
ed; the North Dakota way, through
political control of elevators, ter
minals, markets, banks. by which all
citizens of the state would benefit
or the Farmers Bureau way, where
| by producers plan to organize a
! 500, 100000 company to finance the
! transportation facilities, resulting in
the substitution of the farmer in
stead of the speculator and whole
saler, as the profiteer.
Mr.. Bouck denounced in unmeas-
ured terms the reactionary legisla-
ture and urged the people to in
woke the referendum to nullify some
of its bad acts. He especially
appealed to the voters to sign petit
tions Nos. y, IA and IS invoking
the referendum on the Certificate of
Necessity and Convenience law and
amendments to the primary election
laws.
No. y petition was on hand ant
received many signatures
Mr.. f. c. DALEY
Chairman Michel then introduced
Mr.. Z. c. Daley, chairman of the
Executive Committee of the Farm
er-Labor party in Snohomish Coun-
ty He said the worst provision of
the poll tax outrage was the see
tion providing that the employers
deduct the poll tax from the work.
er's wages. 1t was an insult to work
ing men and women. Mr.. Daley
denounced in forceful words the in
iquities of the legislature and adj
vised the people to sign the refer.
endum petitions.
(The remarks of Mr.. Daley OF
the poll tax law provision that EN-
ployers take the tax out of THEN
employees wages brings to mind the
remark of Treasurer Craigue that
the small taxpayers were the first
to come forward with their taxes
Also the declaration of Mr.. Ruckel
that he would not hold out the pol
tax from his employees wages as
Mr.. Whitfield was the man employed
to do the collecting.-Editor)
John c. Kennedy
The last speaker was Mr. Johr
c. Kennedy, Executive Secretary OF
the Farmer-Labor Party. Mr.. Ken.
nedy told the audience of the ac-
tivities of the party since the cleo
tion and not it's hope but its in.
tentions for the future The plac-
ing of the party in the second place
with only a few weeks of organiza-
tion and with the work of organ
izing to be kept up till the Novem-
ber election of 1922 would put the