Albuquerque morning journal., 1922-12-26
PRIME PURPOSES
Of LABOR UNION
ARE ECONOMIC
-. tVEhINNkMV a
Political Action Should Not
Become Dominant Pur-
pose of Organized Labor,
Hays Declares
Special to The Journal.

Indianapolis, Ind, Dec. 25.-Po-
Iitical action should never become
the dominant purpose Of organized
labor in the opinion of ]. w. Hays,
secretary-treasurer of the Interna-
tional Typographical Union, ac-
cording to q statement Issued at
the union headquarters here in
answer to numerous inquiries as to
the organization plans in connec-
ton with the progressive" move
ment,
Necessity has compelled labor
to undertake the achievement of
some defensive and some reform
legislative measures" said Mr.,
Hays. THAT does not mean that
the typographical union is becom-
ing radical. On the contrary, we
regard ourselves as conservatives
with extremists on both sides.
What political course will best
serve to protect the interests of
labor Is matter in doubt at this
time.
zone thing, however, is certain:
Congressional blocs are going to
continue doing business in Ameri-
can politics. And labor is going
to develop strength in that way,
If efforts of labor leaders, l know,
count for anything. Objectionable
as blocs may be to some politicians,
they are a natural development
Geographic representation, alone,
no longer serves to give voice to
the aims of divels classes and in
terests of the country.
"The prime purposes of a labor
union are economic, benevoleAt and
educational, but whenever an or
ganization finds itself unjustly linn
tied in accomplishing these pur-
poses, it must strike back. The
progressive bloc in congress will
have our hearty support in efforts
to bring about the repeal of the
Esch-Cummins act and to end rule
by injunction. We also favor di-
rect election of president and vice
president.
Threatening the continued de-
velopment of America we have two
widely separated elements. One,
the so-called radicals, would pull
down many functioning institutions
to how to replace them. The 9TH
er, the powerful special privilege
class, would continue exploiting
the nation until their course
brought about their destruction.
Daniel Webster once stated this
conclusion: The form of govern
ment is determined Except where
. the sword rules) by the nature and
distribution of property And fur
ther: Government to be stable
must be founded on mems interest
True enough, and unless it is de-
sired to turn this country into an
incubator of socialists the interest
of every kind and condition of hon
est men must be considered. AS
Webster concluded: Universal suf-
frage is incompatible with great
inequality of wealth.
"The last contains a warning
which the leaders of America will
do we'll to heed. This is not a
government of the sword, although
recent actions Of Attorney General
Daugherty and others would indi-
cate that some persons think it is
such, and the people will not be
forever discovering who are their
foes. Money as power for oppres-
sion in the hands of unthinking,
unscrupuloGs groups is not the sort
of property the founders of this
government aimed to safeguard.
Participation in politics by the
International Typographical Union
for the present will be confined to
supplying members with data in
tended to show which candidates
for office are the wisest, fairest
and least likely to fall under the
domination of those who would ex-
plot farmers, workers and other
producers"