The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1922-01-13

self at home" and having gotten this
far will deliver my message, or rath-
er the message of the boys and girls
of our International Union, who ex-
poets me to advise you and all of our
friends, how greatly we appreciate
what you have done for our organ
ization during the past IL months as
we'll as your kindly efforts in our
behalf in the many years that have
gone before.
Speaking for them, as well as my
self. we tender to you and yours the
greetings of the season, in other
"We-uns wish you'uns" A Merry
Christmas and A Happy and Pros
porous New Year. When the use of
the collective eve" appears in the
average communication it generally
means but a few, it is different in
this case, the salutation and good
wishes come from approximately fif-
ty thousand girls and boys, every
one of them sincerely DESTROYS of
your continued good health and pros
perity and the good health and pros
perity of those whom you call near
and dear.
No doubt you are wondering how
it comes that, our organization man.
ages to keep going after all of its
trials and tribulations, some of our
friends expected that we would have
taken the count long ago and ceased
to stir up the waters in the industrial
pond, but pshaw, our girls and boys
are made of that kind of stuff that
when the Chamber of Commerce of
the U. S. pulled it's eve are going to
get rid of the labor unions" hurrah
junk, every Jack and Jill in our or
ganization. said right out loud SO
that anybody could hear their con-
versation: "Who is this Chamber of
Coercion anyway; where did they
get that noise; who told them they
were the directors of this place we
call America? They are going to
get rid of us, Ell? Well, it takes two
to play any game that we know
anything about-supposing that we
tell the Chamber of Con. Men that
we sort of banker to be privileged to
maintain our little local unions, and
anyway we were here first and we
will be Observation-Disclosures that
means-if any bunch of shine bust
ness men no matter under what ban
ner they may be meandering are 60
ing to tell us where to "head in or
where to stop off at" Of course ev-
erybody knows that the Shedding we
are having right now is tough, but
the members of the Chamber of Co.
ercion are not weighted down with
medals for getting up speed enough
to make the world stop and look at
'em. We are not the only wage earn
ers that show goodly number of
unemployed, and our organization is
not the only one that lost some of
it's membership because of the hard
times. We have been over that same
old route before, but we came back,
and came back strong.
Probably the Chamber of Coercion
carried the impression that, after it
made it's first proclamation, that
President Gompers would start for
the tall and uncut timberland and
that officers and members of every
labor union in the country would
follow suit. But no one has noted
the underbrush in the woods to have
been trampled more than usual, con-
sequently it is fair to assume that
no body shivered when the c. of C.
footed it's horn, and very few if any
can be found digging around the
city dump arying to locate the best
looking empty tomato cans, worn out
rubber boots and such delicacies as
rusty bed springs and weather beat.
en- excelsior stuffed mattresses; the
favorite menu of a goat. Do you
know that "a goat can live on one
tin can and rubber boot for ten
days?" But who the hell wants to
be the goat?
The Chamber of Coercion instruct
ed it's strategy board to get busy, to
in fact outline plan and originate
war cry. These "dollar a year
men" who had been helping the gov
eminent to win the war, reaping such
notable successes as were divulged
later in the reports covering the U.
S. shipping board and aviation &C
mostly financial-discovered
that they had growing pains" just
north of the collar button, and there
appeared on the blue prints what be-
came known as the american plan"
In grabbing off the word American
they figured that very few men
and women would dare to take a
wallop at anything with such sac
red word and that as a consequence
of that seeming fear, they would be
able to toss slathers of the good old
Durham and the public would swal-
low the dope without even looking to
see whether the white surface was
sugar or powdered alum. But what
an awakening? The ball bearing
rollers under the plan began to
show signs of too much weight, too
much speed and too little direction,
and without warning the c. of c.
juggernaut in making one of the
short. turns, just naturally skidded,
turned over on it's back and exposed
to the eyes of the multitude the
'whole works" There was the mech
anism exposed, the things that the
C. Of G.. supposed it had concealed
from plebian gaze was given sun
shine bath, and there could be dis
cerned, not only the names of the in
eventors of the DANCED thing, but the
names of the fabricators of the
plan which paraded the name Amer
lean, right there is where the Negro
golf phrase, "Read EN- and Weep,
obtained it's first impetus toward
popularity.
1t must have made that dear old
buccaneer, "Col. Mullhall," if he was
alive-chuckle with fiendish glee, to
see the old stuff that he had used
for many years revamped, repolished
and regalvanized, and the old name
obliterated by generous use of pum-
ice and paint; doing service in the
same old way and for the same old