The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-09-12


 negro vote This one discusses the labor vote. Subsequent articles will treat the farm. foreign born. klan and wet and dry
 By RAYMOND CHAPTER tLeascd Wire to The Age-Herald.)
 WASHINGTON, Sept, 11.---One of the first questions which must be am swered before predictions as to the com ing election are worth anything is this Will labor go solidly to La Toilette?
 The Davis candidacy is vitally- af- fected by the labor vote--far more so than that of Coolidge. Organized la bor.. .and a large section of unorganized labor as we'll has been traditionally democratic. It is the nest-egg of the democratic strength in the northern in dustrial states where the business and professional classes are predominantly republican,.
 If Davis should lose the labor vote, he would have serious difficulty in states like New York, Illinois, Ohio and Indiana, where he will need every thing in sight to win. If he must split his main source of strength with La Toilette, Coolidge will be able to step in between and walk off with the electoral votes, in the states named.
 Plan Special Drive
 Democrats will go into these states with speci alappeal to labor on the arguement that in view of the circum- stances, vote for La Toilette has no chance in those states, and that the only way tO beat Coolidge and Dawes will be to concentrate on Davis.
 Republicans are making some show of cultivating the labor vote, notably in, Coolidge's Labor Day speech at the White House to selected group of la bor representatives. But the record of Charles c. Dawes and his open shop activities prove serious handicap in this work. Dawes has great points of appeal, but they are to other groups than labor
 The question is whether the organized labor leaders can deliver their follow CTS to La Toilette. Almost without exception the leaders are for La Fol lette. They are using the powerful ma chinery of the A. F. of L., the gar ment trades and the railroad brother hoods to canvass for the independent ticket. Democrats have placed their labor campaign in the hands of Will liam B. Wilson, Secretary of Labor, under Wilson, former member of Congress, and an old associate of Samuel Gompers. Wilson has a gilt edged labor record and has always been on the inside with organized la bor. But he failed to block the en- dorsement of La Toilette by the labor leaders and having lost that fight, he has uphill work now.
 Total Five Million
 Organized labor strength is va usO kal hut { Ahoh bers about 5 5,000, 900, one-half of which the other half divided between the rail trades. The garment trades, being the b ealmost solidly for La Toilette. The loyal Gompers faction in the A. F. of L., will likewise line up with the in- dependent ticket. Most of the rail- road brotherhood groups will do like wise.
 The hopes of the democrats lie in holding the unorganized workers, and in that portion of the organized labor ranks which refuse to break their old democratis ties. There will be a cer- tain stubborn vote also from working men who object to the attempt of the leaders to commit them to a particular candidate. Gompers has always preached policy of economic rather than political action and there will be certain percentage of his followers who will decline to go over into the new political game with him.
 Appeals To Pride
 Yet, after all arguments are in, it is probable that labor in general will vote for La Toilette. Aside from the influence of the leaders. which is tre- mendous, the mobilization of labor in an official way appeals to the pride of it's leader to the premiership has forci- bly, impressed upon American labor the possibility of playing a greater part in national affairs than hitherto. The idea appeals to the imagination of the workingman. He sees an opportunity now to become a political force which will be as powerful, maybe more power full in time, than that of the employers and the business interests.