The Connecticut labor news., 1922-10-20
National Manufactur- CTS Head Tells Nut meg Followers That Pilgrims or Warriors of 1912 Had Nothing
 On Them -B B a r d O Speaks a Piece for the Railroad. x

The open Shop crowd of Connecticut gathered in Hart ford on Tuesday of this week and after getting their respective feet nicely placed under the mahog- any had real good time telling themselves what saints they are and what an awful thing 1t is for humanity that the workers have the right to organize into Labor unions and they cannot stop them. They had the chief Open Shopper" of them all, John E. Edgerton of Lebanon, Penn, head of the National Manufac- turers Association, with them and he compared the gathering to the Pilgrims. the heroes of 1912 and of the recent World War in that they are trying to save the world from. devastation by the Labor Unions. Then C. l.. Bardo, general manager of the New Haven road. whose efforts to establish the open shop on the system are throwing the road into turmoil got up and tried to explain what a great success he is making of it. Cheers loud and long fof Hero Bardo. Further, according to the Hartford Cour- ant, which announces that it in- tends to carry double pages week iy devoted to putting over the Open Shop, one Emory, chief counsel for. the manufacturers nationally. said the public must know the facts but that's as far as The Courant let the public in on the facts as stated by Emory in the editions sent about the state. But it was a regular joy fest all around.
 Ex-Mayor Newton C. Brainard of Hartford, head of the Open Shop" and unofficial state printery, presided and told the gathering that the open shop is far wider and deeper project than the people are aware of There were thanks for Brainard and just to show how sincere they were the gang elected him chairman of the state branch later. While. there was no golf, not even clock golf, on the schedule 1t is stated that the roth" hole was made in one very often by some of the leading lights in industry who object to their employees having even light wines or beers MT. Brain ard for starter told the assemblage the object of the conference was to get better understanding between employers and employees, but so far as reports were received, there were no employees present to share in the bet ter understanding. Then he introduced Chief Mogul Edgerton and to pass the glorious tiding and some of what he and Bardo spake Is herewith at tached.
 Edgerton told of the ancient stand ing of the open shop idea and histori- cal sacrifices which had been made for it in it's older and wider form. He argued that the Pilgrim Fathers had crossed the stormy and dangerous un- known Western ocean in protest against the closed shop idea in re- igion; that the war of 1872 was fought for the open shop principle on the high sea and that the World War was caused by the kaiser's view that Germany should impress a closed shop on the trade and activity of the world. He maintained that while men had alright to organize labor unions the right was related to the purpose and the manner in which they organ ized, that other workers had rights and that organizers must respect these and keep within the law.
 MT. Edgerton said that he lived III a smal town and was a nanufactur- CT, that he had the principle that he should cal his people together oc- casional1y for a conference, that an organization in a factory should seek to improve conditions and efficiency While employees had full right to or ganize they had not right, MT. Ed gerton believed, to seek organiza- ton by an outside party against the management of the factory and the business.