The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-08-24
AT A TENSE time
Governor Allen Tells ROtarians
of Strike Condition.
"Veneer of Civilization Is
Wearing Or" He Declares.
AMERICANS HARB To MANAGE
They Have Neither Respect Nor
Fear of Law, Allen Says.
No Free Speech Involved in Ar
rest of Bill White.
AMERICANS HARD To MANAGE

| A complete review of the Kansas
methods of dealing with strikes and
strikers was given to the Topeka Ro-
\ tary club by Governor Henry J. Allen,
the speaker of today.
The states chief executive took &C.
| casion during his talk to say some
hard things about the lack OF regard
of the average American citizen for
the law.
"I've dealt with many strikes and
many strikers" he said. THE coal
strike brought us into contact with
| the strikers led by the radical foreign
reds If I ever have to choose the
strikers I deal with again, I'd rather
| have the foreign reds than the Amer
lean citizens.
THE foreigner hates the govern
ment but fears it. The American-born
striker. like the American citizen. has
neither respect nor fear for his gov
eminent.
cit is only when some great chal-
lenge arises. like the war or the coal
strike. that we are good citizens. When
things are going normally we are the
the poorest set of citizens in the
world
Strike Situation Tense.
The railroad strike is at the present
time at one of its most tense periods,
Governor Allen declared. 1.-THE re-
ports of violence which we have been
receiving in the past three days indi-
cate that people are getting angry,
and thai the veneer over our civiliza-
ton is Wearing very thin he said.
But while reports reach us from
other states that it is the so-called
strikebreakers who are going to the
hospitals, in Kansas it is the striker
who lands in the hospital.
This points to the fact that in
Kansas the forces of law are given to
the preservation of the sacred right
Al. g. ~.
reiterated mis-statements as to the
Kansas court OF industrial relations is
that it takes away the sacred right
of men to quit work. 1t does nothing
of the sort. But it says to him that
having struck, he shall not come back
armed to tbs job he has left and pre-
vent his successor from taking up that
work and going on with it.
THE right to work is as sacred as
the right to loaf, and the law of Kan
sas will protect every man in following
his own Individual inclination in that
respect"
But we need, and very greatly
need, a new birth in the hearts of
to the law. We need it far worse
than we need new immigration laws
Harding Uses Kansas Language.
Governor Allen declared that in his
message to congress urging that
teeth be given to the United States
1dDOT fDOdEUy 6TGSld0HL T1dEu-
ing was speaking, the language of the
Kansas Industrial court law" How
ever. when heSasked congress not to
hurry, he showed his own lack of
speed Any statesman who asks the
congress of the United States not to
hurry, doesn't know much about the
gait of that organization" the gov
ernor declared.
The labor boards decisions, the gov
ernor said, are to be enforced by the
Of a
The general public is a good
natured, protoplastic mass, with no
power other than passive resistance or
the explosion of righteous indignation
land ena1d, ]. it doesn't get mad often
Governor Allen recited the progress
of the shipments strike in Kansas.
saying that conditions at Parsons were
the first which justified the interior
ence of the state. He censured the
mayor there for putting sixty-five of
the strikers into the Katy shops as
deputieS-'not only to see that no
violations Of the law went on there.
but to see that nothing else went on
there" he declared.
Then Arkansas City. where the gov
ernor declared that citizens and even
might picketing," in intimidating the
workers at the shops, came in for the
governors attention. He told of the
argument with the mayor of Arkansas
City over the holding or a ku kIux
Khan parade, which wound up when
the mayor asked the governor, But
have you a constitutional right to pre-
vent this parade?"
'I told him thai perhaps I didn't
have the constitutional right. but i
had the troops" Governor Allen de-
clared.
No Free Speech Problem.
Then the subject of William Allen
Whites course at Bmporia came up.
We didn't arrest Bill White because
We wanted to prevent the right of free
speech. Nothing can prevent free
speech in Kansas but a general cpl
demic of lockjaw. william Allen
White was arrested not for the per-
sonal opinions which he expressed. but
because he conspired with the union
leaders in Emporia to build up an at
mosphere of hostility about the men
who were working.
bill White is at perfect liberty to
light a cigar and walk about the
streets of Emporia with 1t in his
mouth. but he shall not shove that
cigar into Q powder MILL the COVER
nor declared.
The Rotarians greeted several of his
remarks with cheers and applause. A
special song written in his honor was
sung as his introduction. Stanley
Copeland was chairman of the meet
ing today.