Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-01-06
ALLEN WENT BACK
TO MIDDLE AGES FOR
INDUSTRIAL COURT
By MATTHEW WOLL

Out In the state of Kansas we have
an ambitious governor. He will even
admit that hs il q wise and generous
governor. Really no 0ps takes him
seriously. That Is why he is gratifed.
The fact that most people do not
agree with him satisfies his own judg
ment of superiority and a pity it is
that the ordinary folks are so lack
ing IN intelligence and unapprecia-
tive of greatness.
Like all wise msn Of the past, Gov
ernor Allen must become the savior
of the people of today, He shall be
the Moses to lead Gods children out
of the industrial wilderness into the
Promised Land of Industrial Tran
guilty of Glory and Plenty. He, too,
goes to the mountain tops and con-
suits the oracles and there hears the
voice of the divine man of the states
supreme bench, telling him what a
sort of slave law he will uphold
as constitutional and by which Gov
ernor Allen may lead the workers of
Kansas like innocent sheep wherever
and whichever way he may choose.
The enaetmsat Of the Kansas indus
trial law followed. Tbs Court of In
dustrial Relations was created and
Governor Allen is now proud of the
fact that the workers of Kansas can
strike no longer and that, therefore,
industrial tranquility reigns supreme.
Ii is, indeed, remarkable for one to
be possessed of faculty that can
find -glorification and extreme
happiness, not in seeing things as
they are, but in beholding them as
Al IN, .lfr ito, .lt
that which is CLEAR, but in failing to
comprehend what is understood by
everyone else. Governor Allen is,
evidently, abundantly blessed with
this virtue.
Despite the fact that the Kansas
Industrial law was intended to pre-
vent strikes, the most bitter strikes
have taken place in that state since
this law has been placed on the stat
ute books. Never before was tbs feel
ing between the employer and sm-
ployee so strained as ii is at the pres
ent time. Evidently Governor Allen
has been dealing in fiction and has
wholly overlooked facts. That, how
ever, is not strange to Governor AL
len.
The wage earners of America love
the principles of Americanism. They
not only manifest their belief in
American freedom on July of each
year, but they are willing to retain
it and fight for il all other days of
the year. They have high regard
for all benevolent and charitably
disposed gentlemen, even though they
be politicians, but they would rather
exercise their own will and judgment
even if they do err at times. That is
the beauty of a free country and the
great heritage of free people.
Governor Aliens law does not deny
the wage earners the right to belong
to union; neither does it deny the
workers the right to give up their
jobs singly and separately. But, low
and behold If two or more working
men combine or attempt to combine
to give up their employment, then it
is said in Kansas that a crime is
being committed and that Governor
Aliens legislative will is being dis
regarded, and that will never do;
therefore, the whole machinery of
the state must be put into motion to
suppress and punish such recalcit-
rant workers.
Brushing aside all technicalities,
the destruction of the right to strike
is equal to the recognition of a SER
vile slate. 1t may be a fine distinc-
ton to say that the individual worker
may strike, but that the union may
not. Common sense and experience,
however, sufficiently demonstrate
that industrial justice cannot be OBJ
tanned by one or even two men quit
ting work. 1t has long been recogniz-
ed that a strike justly called is an in
dustrial argument for securing justice.
Make this a crime and the state will
have taken the greatest step to en-
slave the workers that has ever been
attempted in America.
Governor Allen and his industrial
court law is nothing more or less
than a revival of the courts of the
middle ages. The courts were used
effectively at that time to keep the