The labor world., 1922-02-25

Nnat N1OuCy '" ASuy'
81 So declares Senate Robert NJ. La
Follette of Wisconsin,, who recently
D delivered in the senate perhaps the
most sensational deliverance yet
made on the condition of the work
I ing people.
Sg In terms of what money will buy,
&fhe track-laborer on the railroads to-
day is receiving in exchange for his
a1stoil only $341 a year. Senator La
Follette said.
That means that these men. hum
dreds of them, have. been reduced to
a level of 81 day-which shows
THAT they have "got back to nor
Il malcy' with a vengeance.
..- Not satisfied with thrustins them
below the level Of subsistence. rail-
/ road managers are today before the
z United States railroad labor board
+ demanding still further wage cuts.
$1.50 for Laborcrs.
s1 The railroads ask the labor board
to make the daily wage of laborers
$50 for a ten-hour day. Measured
by the purchasing power of 19Oo'
this will be equivalent to only so
cents.
''This." says Senator La Toilette,
..would be less than Chinese coolies
we're paid in the days when the Pa
cific railroads were permitted to i'm
port them freely and exploit them
numerically"
Senator La Toilette directed the
attention of the senate to great
conspiracy that has been hatched by
the "masters of American finance
and business" to destroy labor
unions, which alone stand between
workers and serfdom. Labor is be-
ing, crushed. he said. by the pro-
cesses of unemployment and wage
cutting.
2'Today there are five or six mill
lions of toilers in the United States
who are out of work." continued
Il senator La Toilette, and their FAM
lilies are hungry, to the end that
their spirit may be crushed and a.
new generation of serfs may be
, bred."'
S.. An Evil Combination.
This evil combination against the
workers is made more formidable
1. and terrifying because it has enlisted
/, the active support and cooperation
z OF the national administration and
the courts.
"a #.sThe United States supreme court
/ and the lower courts" Senator La
FoHette charged, ARE depriving the
workers of their weapons of defense
one by one and seeking to bind them
with chains. so that their masters
NAV with impunity scourge them into
submission"
No such combination has ever
been arrayed together for an evil
purpose in the history of this coun-
try. Beside it. the slave power pales
into insignificance by. the record that
is being made by the Federal courts
at this time.
a@@ Would Crush Labor.
This effort to crush labor says
y Senator La Toilette. land reduce
free-born Americans to the condition
4 Of Russian serfs, may succeed. al
though still have such faith in the
A. courage and integrity of the Anneri-
VI can people that I believe they will
\ finally achieve glorious victory
al Overwhelming as that which
crushed the slave power in 1865.
But, in any event.: success can be
achieved by these sinister forces only
ss after a period of strife and chaos
, ( which is too horrible to contemplate,
and their success, however and
whenever accomplished. will mark
E the downfall of all tn, American re-
h public"
@ ANY attempt to further depress
IS wages, the senator said, would be
4 disastrous. He contended that the
kworker today is living below the
tta1evel Of decent subsistence. The
| worker during the war did not proft-
VI teer, contrary to popular belief, but,
like Alice in Wonderland, was COM
Il. pelled to run twice as fast TO keep
4 in the same place. The calumnies
rs uttered against labor. Senator La
y %Follette said. were shameless, wan
5e ton and wicked. While profiteering
was rife in business and finance, Ia
III Dor contributed Loyalty and gener-
], ously to the winning of the war. and
n ii getting in reward treatment sc
% brutal, so unjust, that decent opinion
w must stand appalled, at it's mere con-
8stemplation.
M XIX Labor Pleads for Farmers.
$as;sr 2s5s Members of the house committee
on agriculture the other day listened
4fn amazement to appeals made by
Y; the accredited representatives of or
e xanized labor for the relief Of Amer
lean farmers. These, workers asked
that the agricultural population be
# given government loan of $780,.
4F 100000 to stabilize prices. that they
III may tide themselves over the serious
situation into; which they have beer
@,s forced by the same interests that are
II now astride the necks of the Ameri'
can industrial workers.
% It is not surprising that members
,6f congress were stunned by thu
most unusual spectacle Of the con-
}suner demanding better prices fol
}the producer of the. food he con
: isumes. 1T was just the reverse Of tht
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