The Connecticut labor news., 1923-04-27
righteous cause without inconvenience and discomfort

righteous cause without inconvenience and discomfort.
 The labor movement of our country
 IS the expression, the intelligent expres- 1 sion, the rational expression, the natural 1 expression Ot d1SCOntent of the people to l establish through orderly and regular
 means and methods, right and greater
 opportunity for the uplift of the people of our country. Mistakes are made 1 Who IS there Ill all our country and our l time who has not made a mistake Which group of the citizenship of our ] country can truthfully claim that they 1 have not made a mistake? The or ganlzed labor movement of America Is
 no exception, but 1 invite your careful study and scrutiny of the methods en- plOyed and the work and history of the l American labor movement. 1 challenge
 anyone to say that its record is not clean, that its methods are not just, or l that its work has been unproductive of I true A1ner1can1sm and patriotism. That ] we may have made mistake IS but | human, but thank God time will forgive and forget the mistakes of the American l labor movement as they are overshadowed 1 by the great deeds 1t has performed and l the great work 1t will yet do in the com ! mon interest and welfare of the Ameri- can people. ] It was the coal strike-cal1 1t what you will, stlgnatize 1t as you wilt was the strike of the coal miners in the anthracite l regions that regenerated these people 1 from condition of servitude and 1 slavery. In the bituminOus regions it was the same. For twenty-five years while the coal miners in the bituminous 1 regions were working, they sent delega- 1 t1ons north and east to labor organiza- 1 tions with credentials from the mayor
 of the locality, or the governor of the
 state, conhding that these people were
 entitled to the sympathy and consdera- l tion and help of the people everywhere, 1 and particularly the working people, in
 order that they might eke out an exist | ence. The conditions of the men working
 at their trade as bituminouS coal miners
 in the strike of '97, were. changed and | these men, too, became regenerated and
 occupy positions in life and work equal l to the standards established by Ameri-
 can judgment and American conscience.
 1 say to you gentlemen that there IS
 no agency III all our country so potent
 to avert and avoid strikes as the much 1 m1srepresented and misunderstood
 American labor movement, but there are ! some things which are worse than
 strikes-a degraded, demoralized and
 servile manhood A republic built upon
 such a foundation would be like the house
 built upon the sands. It would decay
 and fall as even did the once nightly | Roman Empire
 Your attention is called to this fact,
 not simply to proclaim Labor's loyalty
 no necessity for such an assertion-the
 record has been made and is clear. I
 made reference to 1t for this reason, | that the d1sContent of the masses of the American people and American workers will find its expression somehow and ii
 the Legislature of Kansas shall be initiated by the legislatures of other
 states making 1t unlawful for the men of labor of America to exercise their right to stop work when 1t is to their interest and welfare, and contributing to the welfare of the masses of our people, l 1t will destroy every opportunity for us to be of service to our fellows and they will say to you and you and you as re- | presentatives of this idea: If the American labor movement IS incompetent to give Us the opportunity to aspire to a better life as result of our labors and services to society. labor and services | without which the civilization of our times and of our country could not exist, | then we will find some other way to express our discontent and dissatisfac- ton.
 Following the enactment of the indus trial court law in Kansas, numerous campaigns for the enactment by other states of similar legislation were start ed by organizations calling themselves Associated Employers" open shop associations and American plan associations Anti-strike legislation took many forms, but 1t Is not the purpose of this article to define the phraseology and weigh the iniquities against each other The basis for labor's opposition to all anti-strike legislation has been stated and applies to all legislative efforts to emasculate labor organization. Labor insists upon exercising it's manhood and on developing its ability to assume the responsibility implied in its use of the economic power of the strike. l