Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1922-09-15
By c.. F. Alfordson

This is the eleventh week of the
great walk-out, and the f1utter of the
wings Of the dove of peace is again
sounding. AS to what this will bring
forth is hard to tell, but from all ap-
pearances it looks as though a settle
ment is not far off, when we all will
return to our respective places.
There are number of fair-minded
railway executives who are willing to
make fair and just settlement, and
would have done so before had it not
been for few rattle-brained Wal
street gamblers who have been a
curse to the inhabitants of the United
States. How much longer are we
going to stand by and allow an or
ganization like this tell US what we
are going to pay for each and every
article we consume and say what rate
of wages we must accept for our en-
ployment, or tell our employer if he
pays more than they say his bank
cfedlC VIII stop!
Yet they talk of conspiracy! If
that kind of work is not conspiracy
what do you call it? They call it
business. But on the other hand if
number of honest hard working
citizens refuse to allow their wages
to be reduced below the living stan
dard and cease work because of the
valuation fhny ol. Of
spiracy, Wall street sets up howl
and someone comes out with an in
junction. The workers are forbidden
to talk or try to persuade the man
who is stealing his job to leave it
(this is conspiracy. But Wall street
can tell a railroad company or some
other corporation, "do as we say, or
your bank credit will STOP" (this is
business).
Now any man with a fair and un-
prejudiced mind can tell which is bus
mess and which is not. The injunc-
tion of itself is all right, only it was
served on the wrong class. Had it
been served on Wall street and en-
joined them from interfering in any
I manner, shape or form with any rail-
road executive how long would this
strike have lasted? Two weeks would
have seen the end of it all. Just think
of the millions of dollars lost in wages
alone; then the inconvenience to the
public, to say nothing of the billion
and more lost by the railroad COM
panies. Is there no law to get these
conspirators that keep the country in
constant turmoil all the time?
Tho IUnl,L inu o1occoc do NOT ctpikp q
just for the sake of striking, as can
be seen by past events. They have
had a number of causes since 1920
that would have justified strike;
but that is our last weapon, and as
long as there is any honorable means
to get by without using it we have
done so, for we know the amount of
red tape and hardships that follow
in the wake of all strikes.
When President Harding drew up
his plan of settlement and the Fed
Grated Shop Crafts accepted the same,
where was our attorney general, and
why did he not get out an injunction
and enjoin Wall street from inter-
fering with railway executives? Had
| he done this the strike would have
| been ended, and he would not have
interfered with the Constitution of the
| United States, and the heart of the
public would have been with him.
But as it is, he will go down as the
Benedict Arnold of 1922. He has
violated and set at naught Article
of the Amendments to the Constitu-
tion which says Congress shall make
no law respecting an establishment
| of ra1iuion or nroh ihitinn tho frn,
exercise thereof, or abridging the
freedom of speech or of the press, or
the right of the people peaceably to
assemble and to petition the govern
ment for redress of grievances. If
one of our men had made a blunder
equal to this he would have been i'm
prisoned at once, and it would have
been just. But how about Harry? Is
he going to be allowed to get by with
it? If that be the case, who does the
Constitution of the United States
cover?
From infancy we have been taught
to respect and obey that Constitution,
and up to the present time we have
followed these teachings, and it GER
tainly grieves US to see it violated;
not because of the effect of the injunc-
ton, for we are law-abiding citizens
but because of public opinion. What
will the other countries think? There
is only one class of people who want
the Constitution done away with, and
that is the anarchists, and during
the war the United States unloaded
the greater part of this class. If we
are going to stand by and see our