The Washington times., 1922-05-29

Is the special faVorite candidate of
the farmers union" and Thcrne,
whose special strength is conferred in
the membership OF the farm bu.
reau."
In the days of "progressivism"
in the days of Roosevelt's "so.calJed
justice" and Of Wilson's new 1ree-
DON'T was not the farmers that
were the dangerous characters; II
was the people living in the cities.
Today we may see the cities voting
conservative. while country districts
| may be voting radical"
William J. Burke In Pennsyl.
Vania, relied on the labor bloc" in
the cities to vote for him TO defeat
George Wharton Pepper for Pen
roses seat in the United States Sen.
ate. He was crushingly defeated. /
! have attended trade union political
meetings and farmer political meet
ings. For size, for organization, for
! definite purpose and for confidence,
| the farmer meetings were way ahead
Their ties today are politically stag.
| nant compared with the countryside
| wherever the farm bloc" idea has
got hold.
This does not mean that nothing
is happening in labor. In Ohio
noticed a new bank which is owned
and operated by the Brotherhoo of
Locomotive Engineers. A year ago
it's deposits were about $4,000, 900.
Now they are about s12 200, 900. This
bank has recently paid a dividend
Of one per cent to savings deposl.
tors. 1t paid them their regular
interest on their money and then
IL also paid them the one per cent
dividend. This labor bank shares its
profits with it's depositors. And it
is getting on so well that the Broth
erhood Of Locomotive Engineers,
which already owns a fourteen story
building in Cleveland, will presently
put up an additional new building,
| which will have twenty-one stories.
Many remarkable things are
happening in labor, but they
are principally outside the field
| Of politics. In politics the ia
Dor bloc" is making only r1od-
crate progress. Some of that
justice has already been applied to it.
More will be. In 1907 I was a "radi-
cal" for writing in favor OF automatic
compensation to workmen injured at
their work. This year Major Reed,
OF Pittsburgh, corporation candidate
for Knox's seat in the United States
Senate and successful, was claiming
II as one Of his chief merits that
he wrote the workmen's compensa-
ton law for Pennsylvania. That
kind of justice is coming in many
ways. Perhaps 1t turns some work.
ers away from bigger things. In sny
case the cities are not bursting with
any great political uprisings by labor
this month.
And what about any great political
uprising by the elements in the cities
in question? Well, the answer is
Pinchot and Beveridge. They repre-
sent the present farthcat fling Of
| the business element and of tho pro-
fessional element toward change.
Pinchot ran on reducing dishonesty
and inefficiency in government. Bev-
eridge ran on reducing taxes snd
freight rates. This is progress. 1t
is not new heaven and a new earth.
How does it differ from normality!
| A Pennsylvania politician told me
the difference very we'll. He said:
'Normality means just standing.
People were afraid it would rock the
boat over. They wanted somebody
to stand on the bridge Of the ship Of
state and just stand 1t steady. Now
they guess it isn't going to get rock
ed over anyway. So now they want
somebody to sail It somewhere. The
labor bloc offers to sail II, but 1t
can't make its crew come up on
deck. Beveridge and Pinchot offer to
sail II and what they propose to do
is to clean all the barnacles off the
hull and throw out the bilge water
and put on all the canvas there is on
all the masts and sail just where
normality would have sailed II il had
been sailing instead of standing.
They are normality with a move on.
And that's where we are"
That's where we are in the cities.
Labor in the cities has internal
troubles of It's own. And mighty fe>
business or professional men are GO
ing to political meetings singing
Onward, Christian Soldiers" or
Jerusalem. the Golden" The city
lads who looked for the millennium
with Roosevelt or Wilson are mos:
Of them quite through looking but in
the country