Twin city review. [volume] (Champaign, Ill.) 19??-1929, 1922-03-24


women have the ballot they will use
better judgment than had the men
that would not be a difficult thing to
do.
Mr.. Blainey urged his hearers to
support the labor press, which, he
said, was their paper, through which
they may learn the truth about mat
ters concerning the labor movement.
The worker will spend his money for
the subsidized press, he said, through
which he is misinformed, but seldom
thinks of supporting the labor press,
whose mission it is to set Alright the
misstatements of the kept press and
place before the public the truth con-
cerning labor matters.
The speaker laid much stress upon
the manner in which the railway
labor board is conducting the rail-
road disputes, taking every opportun-
ity to reduce wages and lengthen
hours, and do away with working
conditions that have taken years to
secure, and at the same time working
with the national administration and
the railroads to shackle the workers
with can't-strike laws. He told of the
was thought for time that the en-
was thought for a time that he en-
tire railroad systems of the United
States would be tied up in a gigan-
tic strike. At that time, he said,
representatives of the railroads held
a two and a half hour conference
with President Harding, at the con-
clusion of which the president told the
committee that he had been elected-
by the people to run the affairs Of the
country, and that he proposed to run
the railroads to the best interests OF
the country. He had one regret, he
said, and that was that he was going
to disrupt the railway unions. I'm
mediately after this he took trip to
the South, when he should have re-
mained at Washington waiting for
the impending crisis.
Its regard for suffering humanity,
said Mr.. Blainey, was the important
factor in preventing the strike. Inc
railroaders realized what strike OF
the proportions contemplated meant
to the people of the country. In the
large cities, he said, there is rarely
more than as hours food supply, and
in New York, where hundreds OF mix
trains arrive daily, strike would
shut off this supply, and dead bodies
would lie thicker than soldiers on
Flanders fields. With these thoughts
in mind, the speaker said sand not
because of threatened jail sentences)
the strike was averted. So much
for the humane side of the railway
workers organizations.
Non-partisan participation in poll
teal matters was strongly urged. 1t
is pretty nearly time the workers
woke up and elect the right kind of
representatives. The lesson now
confronting them should be sufficient
to make any man or woman under
stand the necessity of united action
in the selection of public servants.
The working people represent 80 per
cent of the entire population OF the
country, vet those in the halls OF con-
press are found always representing
the minority. The workers must
band together and vote together. 1t.
seems they haven't suffered enough
vet. When they have suffered enough,
the people will see to it there are the
right kind of representatives at
Washington and Springfield. When
the people know how to vote there
will be no need of strikes.
The drone in the labor movement
is the man who will accept the condi-
tions and wages secured for him
through the union, and who Will not
support those who have been lnstru-
mental in obtaining them. That man,
the speaker said, was not very good
citizen.
Because you don't personally like
the leaders in the labor movement,
he said, is no reason you should cease
to support the union.
Congress side-stepped the soldiers
bonus because it knew that if 1t put
over" the administrations sales tax
scheme to pay the bonus, they would
lose their chance of being reelected;
Labor is not against the. soldiers
bonus, said Mr.. Blainey, but is OPP
posed to the proposed method of pay,
ing it with sales tax that would
make the purchaser of the necessities
of life pay for it, instead of the war
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