The Connecticut labor news., 1923-10-13

III 1922 gave the employing interests and big business this to understand even if they succeeded in wage reduc- t1ons 1t would cost them more in the end than to pay the scale which pre- walls; and as for the losses to the work ing people, we have little to lose and can afford to lose 1t.
 With the prevention of wage re- ductions, to turn the tide of industry as we have, to secure that which we have lost and to go forward still, we will soon make up the losses which we sus- talned during the contest. 1 don't want any man to believe that I am an ad- vocate of strikes or strife, but I do hold that when the time shall come in the history of industry when men cannot maintain themselves and those depend ent upon them in a manner conforming to the standards of American life, if they would not strike they would write themselves down as towards and polt- rooms.
 "I have thought of this period even when there were more than five millions of American workers unemployed walking the streets and highways and by ways of our country vainly seeking for employment-to put into effect at that time a drive for wage reductions-was that the way out? To cut wages and reduce the using, purchasing and con su1fing power of the people whose wa ges had been reduced, and when you re- duce the purchasing, using and consum- ing power you necessarily throw others out of employment, and when they are unemployed the same thing goes on like an endless chain until it reaches the lowest rung in the industrial ladder hen hfc5T and the top down, cutting more and more. It there IS any one who can give men any good cause for the transition from this terrible situation of unemployment and the return to what we are pleased to call industrial activity and industrial prosperity, except the movement of la bor in America i'll resisting these wage reductions and in many instances sue ceeding in their resistance, which brought about the return of men to their efnployments, and as workers when en- ployed, giving the opportunity for others to work and use and consume-if there be any other cause that any one can ascribe than the one which I have just inadequately mentioned, I would like to know it.
 We are now in most fortunate position. Our movement growing. The spirit of our movement has caught the idealism as well as the practical men and women of America They are be- ginning to understand us better, that we have not a purely selfish motive and purpose to serve. Sel6shness? In part, yes, but that higher and nobler selfish ness which recognizes that this is a world of activity, that service and good faith, honor, progress, and civilization are the ends to be served.
 We have many grievances of which we justly complain, and giving credit to any and all countries which have stricken are striving to reach the. goal of freedom and democracy, we still hold yes, and I, as an adopted citizen of the United States of America, declare yer fly and on my honor as man that I believe the Republic of the United States of America IS the best government on the face of the globe. I said I was an adopted citizen Out of my seventy two years of life I have been in Ameri- ca sixty years, longer than most Ameri- cans have lived here. I repeat that we have many grievances against which we protest, and we are going to make our protest effective. Wonderfu and splendid as IS our American Republic, 1t IS not good enough for us or for those wo are yet to come, and we are going to do our duty under the laws of our country and our labor movement con- forming to those laws and to the ideals of our Republic, will help to contribute its share toward making this not only the most wonderf fully productive coun- try in the world, but the leader in the onwrd march of progress and civifiza- tion."