The Connecticut labor news., 1923-07-27
BY THE WAY Comment and Criticism About Things Doing in the World. e

ing big majority.
 Long staunch republican state,
 Minnesota is no longer bound by precedent. Her people demand pro-
 gressive legislation As President
 Gompers of the American Federation
 of Labor said in telegram of con-
 graduation to Johnson:
 To have won so magnifcently
 against all the power of high finance
 IS not only personal tribute to you
 and the fundamental principles for
 which you stand but also demon stration that the people are tired with mere word-mongers and insist upon progressive, constructive legislation
 for all the people, for the wealth producers on farms and in factories. The people of Minnesota are to be congratulated In their choice" Now watch the attitude of the re- actionary newspapers toward Mime sota's new senator. They will make desperate efforts to be humorous at J Johnson's expense and their funny"
 men will work overtime grinding out comments on the power of his voice and on remarks he may or may not have made on books and other sub jects. They will do their best to convince the public that the most striking thing about Johnson Is his voice, thereby seeking to convey the inn pression that the senator-elect Is more noted for noise than brains.
 But it's not likely that the reac- tionary press will worry Minnesota. With two Farmer-Labor representa- tives in the United States Senate, Dr.
 Hendrix Shipstead having been elected on the Farmer-Labor ticket last fall, Minnesota will most em- phatically bet "on the map" and can afford to loftily ignore the press "humorists."
 Illinois does not seem ashamed of permitting employers to work women 10 hours day as the Io-hour day for women toilers remains the legal standard of the state despite attempts to get more progressive legislation. An eighthour bill day passed the
 Illinois house by in the senate this
 bill met with the Hicks amendment
 which removed the eight-hour provis- ion and authorized the State Indus
 trial Commission to make rules con cerning the working day for the prin-
 cipal industries The amendment
 proposed that until ruling should be
 made by the commission, women
 were not to be employed more than
 nine hours in any one day nor more
 than 5o hours a week. Even with
 these changes the bill failed to pass,
 being beaten in the senate, g to I8.
 It was reported that the chief op- position was due to the fact that the
 bill did not take care of possible
 emergencies"
 One of these days the women workers of Illinois will organize and
 then they won't have to depend on the legislature to save them from ex- cessive toll. They'll be in position to fix their own hours of work
 Wage increases don't help the worker when he can't get work Thousands of toilers in the textile mills of New England, including those of the American Woolen Com pany (the woolen trust) are finding this out They are now being em- ployed only part of the time and are receiving only a fraction of their former weekly wage. The corpora tions which have adopted this policy of intermittent operation are among the biggest benehciaries of the Ford ney-McCumber prohteers tariff, which they urged Congress to enact as a means of Safeguarding Aneri can standards of wages and living"
 While the mills are reducing their output ,the prices of woolens and other fabrics remain at the high level to which they were raised by the tariff. At the same time raw wool IS falling in price and the increase of &o 1a workers of the Wool Trust and other concerns in April has in reality left them with less pay than they had be- | fore, since they are now on the pay roll only two or three days week, | if at all.
 Heartening news from New Mex | ico Gov. Hinkle issues full pardon l for Carl C. Magee, editor of the New | Mexico State Tribune, who was con victed of libel and contempt of court 1 for fighting a political machine in San | Miguel county.
 The governor didn't mince words | in pardoning Magee, who seems to have been a victim of that judicial | usurpation which frequently disgraces the courts of the United States. He declared that the indictment for libe, on Which Magee was tried seemed to be conspiracy and more of a persecution than a prosecution"
 In the pardon in the contempt sen tence, Gov Hinkle said he believed 1 the contempt cases also were perse- cution, that the sentences "are harsh and beyond reason and that this whole procedure is a disgrace and blot upon the name of New Mexico"
 Magee was sentenced to the penl- tentiary for one year to IS months