The labor world., 1922-12-02


Civil war and the kind Of slavery
that the miners have in the valleys
and gulleys in West Virginia, Rev.
Mordecai W. Johnson, pastor of the
Colored Baptist church Of Charles
ton, in an address before the West
Virginia State Federation Of Labor,
sounded warning to the world
against waSc-savery and the Bour-
bon rule in industry
Political democracy without in
dustrial democracy is forever des-
tined to be a sham and a failure"
ne said. and he continued that as
long as small group Of men, in a
conference over night, can deprive a.
large group of citizens of West Vir-
Einia Of their work and their" homes
and put them out on the streets
, without job and without a home
freedom and justice cannot maintain.
The address of Rev. Johnson was
the most constructive and educa-
tonal add rcss delivered before the
convention and should receive the
most careful consideration of every
wage-worker in West Virginia, says
the West Virginia Federationist. The
address in full:
Speaks For COlorcd Race.
Mr.. Chairman and Members of
the West Virginia Federation of La
Dor; l am happy to have the pleas
ure of speaking to you today. The
~anXtation was such surprise and
ca, II on such short notice that
may not be able to say to you as
fully and as exactly what 1 would
like to say.
But for a few minutes I want to
speak to you from my heart as a
representative of a group Of colored
people Of West Virginia and Of the
United States who desire, as you de-
sire. an opportunity to sell their la
Dor for living wage.
l represent Il group Of people who
are bccocinS increasingly weary of
the promises of politicians who give
evidence from time to time that they
have no fundamental knowledge of
the relationship of labor to salvation
and no knowledge of the relationship
of wages to politics.
we are anxious to be Joined in
spiritual fellowship with some move
ment that really looks forward to the
betterment of the plain people Of
America.
Sees Good in Unions.
We want you to understand today
that there are numbers of colored
men and women who really study
and appreciate the trades union
movement not only in this country
but in the world, who believe from
! the bottoms of their hearts that the
trades union movement is one Of
the powers Of the coming day and
that you have in your hands, as no
other group of people in America
have it in their hands, to redeem
America from Industrial slavery, and
to purge our politics and our insti-
tutions from the damning influence
of predatory wealth.
AS long as we have body polite
which is controlled behind the cur
tains by men Of money, against the
interests Of the folks who cast the
ballot at the polls, we will never have
democracy.
Pblitical democracy without indus
trial democracy is forever destined
to be sham and failure. 1t is
impossible to have political democ-
racy without industrial democracy.
Story of West Virginia.
If there exists a small group Of
men in the state Of West Virginia,
today who, because Of their auto
cratic industrial power, can at will
deprive a large group of citizens Of
West Virginia Of their work and their
houses and put them out on the
street without a job and without
home at the same time, it will be
absolutely impossible for those peo-
pie to do anything effective with
their ballots as long as that condi-
tion exists.
l was down here in little town
In West Virginia some days ago Wis.,
iting my own people. They are down
between two hills. There is a group
of unpainted houses beside an old
and sluggish stream with no fences
around the houses, no gardens and
no cultural conditions for the people
at all. There is no public institution
except small church. L was told
by the people of that community
'that. not only did they not own their
own houses but could not own them;
SO 1t Is possible for the people who
run that coal mine over night to
take the Jobs away from those men,
to take their houses away from them
and set them out into the world PEN
nlless. homeless and jobless at the
same time
Political Democracy Remote.
There is nothing in the world that
small group Of people can do in
that little gully to better themselves
POLITICALLY as long as it is possible
for one. Or two individuals to have
that terrible control over their lives.
Until the plain people OF America
who work with their hands and
sweat with their brains make it i'm
possible for one man or a few men
to control the Job, the house and the
lives Of the people, we will never
have political democracy, it makes
no difference how many ballots we
cast
We look upon the trades union
movement as great movement
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