The Duluth rip-saw. [volume] (Duluth, Minn.) 1917-19??, 1923-07-14
Can you beat It, dear old citizen

II free speech were permitted In
Coleraine, eloquent members Of the
proletariat mig"t stand on the
corners and crate in words some
thing as follows, viz:
care we, the citizens of Coleraine,
our own masters, or are we cring-
ing and cowardly slaves? Are we
real American citizens g. and free
moral agents, or are we owned
soul, body and breaches by Big
Boss Downing?" .... -..
Those whose names are on the
payrolls of the Oliver Iron Mining
Co. and the U. s. Steel Corporation
do not believ that the policy nf
Col. Hank Downing is the policy
of those corporations. They do not
believe that those corporations real
lie what harm men like Col. Hank
and his boon companions do them.
The employees Of the U. s. Steel
Corporation, especially those who
are American citizens, cannot
believe that 1t Is the policy of
those at the head of that great
industrial institution to permit their
bosses to disfranchise the voters.
The questions on which the voters
pass judgment in Coleraine are
purely local, mere matters Of village
business and management, there
/ fore they can do no harm, even If
the voters were dangerous radicals,
which they are not.
when Boss Downing smites i'm
self on his breast and proclaims his
undying faith in good citizenship"
recently said an humble but highly
intelligent miner, "let him remem-
Der that, in America, good citizen
ship includes careful listening
| to the voice of the people and
then needing the demands of that
voice."
Even the old Romans, whom
moderns call pagans, had saying:
''The voice of the people Is the
voice of God"
In Coleraine, with Big Boss
Downing, the voice of the people,
if they talk out loud, may mean
that lot of mighty good workers
a-e out Of none too well-paid Jobs.
Colonel Hank Downing has an
other way of pressing his thumb
into the jugular vein of a worker
when it comes to handling the
houses of the Oliver Iron Mining
Co. School teachers, for example,
get company houses, while lnine
workers get scanty consideration.
Those drawing good salaries, those
who can afford to pay, are most
apt to get the comfortable houses,
while those who dig ore, tram
cars, skillfully use tools and help
the old corporation to earn divi-
dends, are compelled to live in old
store buildings, shacks, barns or
other crude and uncomfortable
places Of shelter, otherwise their
families must sleep out Of doors,
with the star-studded sky for a
blanket.
The poor proletarians do not
blame the school teachers, but they
do blame Col. Hank Bowling, the
Big Noise in this neck O. the
woods.
If some humble worker plucks
up courage to ask the Big Boss
for a certain house, he is very apt
to be handed a string Of profanity
that would make the devil hide his
face in his shirt tail.
If not for his autocratic ways and
his utter lack Of regard for a
fellow man who Is not his superior
in money and job, Col. Hank would
be about like the. average of man
kind in and around CoIeraine. He
came from Negaunee, Mich, where
he once was pumpman for the
Oliver Iron Mining Co., hence he
has no truly royal blood in his
veins. He makes some Of the miners
think Of the old saying, viz: Put
a beggar on horseback and he'll
ride to hell"
Colonel Hanks judgment in real
politics Is shown by the fact that
he is a great chum of the late
lamented Senator Pat McGarry. He