Evening star., 1924-10-25
HITS LABOR STAND
! IN NATIONAL RACE
Friend of Unions Declares
Davis Record Merits Back
ing of A. F. of L.

An attack by q lifelong labor man
upon the Endorsement of the La Fol-
lette ticket by leaders of the Fedora
tion of Labor was the feature OF last
evenings meeting of the Mcdonald
Washington Blackburn Democratic
Club, when John j. Keegan, member
of the United States Employees Com
pensation Commission, upheld the
labor record of John w. Davis and
read a letter that he sent to Samuel
Gompers protesting against the de-
sertion of Davis. which, he declared,
was still unanswered.
-Four years ago" he satd,i labor
indorsed the Democratic candidates
and the party record. If what they
said then was true, it must be true
today, for the Democratic party has
not had an opportunity to make any
record since then" In the course OF
his letter TO Gompers he said:
After about 80 years Of friend
ship for you personally, and admira-
ton for your great services, not only
70 the workers Of our country, but TO
the Nation as whole, the writer,
like many others, will find Ii hard to
disagree with you in the position you
and the American Federation OF Labor
have taken in this campaign. Under
the circumstances you will undoubted-
ly pardon the solicitation of friend
if he asks that you more clearly de-
fine the reason for the action OF the
American Federation of Labor. through
the recommendation of its politlcal
action committee, accepted and adopt
ed by the executive council.
Action Held PuzzIing.
cit is very hard to understand the
motive underlying the action of the
executive council in recommending to
the workers of the country for their
support and vote candidate for
whom the majority of the council in
dividually did not intend to vote on
election day
in your reply to a letter from Will
liam b. Wilson, you set out positively
and directly a contradiction of Mr..
Wilson's statement that Mr.. Davis
had played any part whatever in the
fight for the Clayton anti-injunctlon
bill.
II have before me a Congressional
Record containing an address of Con-
greSSman John W. Davis, which
evoked considerable discussion in the
House. and one recognizes at once one
of the most forcible arguments ever
made in favor of the Clayton act.
Again Mr.. Wilson sets out that
John w Davis had volunteered his
services to defend the miners in Judge
Jackson'S court l think you will
agree with me that there were few
attorneys available at any price to
the trade unionists for the purpose
of pleading their cause in that court
Qnextfons Attitude.
Il recall that at the Democratic
convention the political action COM
mittee of the American Federation
waited upon Mr.. Davis to express
their wish and desire that George l.
Berry of the Pressmen's Union should
be selected as his running mate. II
would be interesting to know if the
record which makes Mr.. Davis an un-
acceptable candidate for labor was
made previous to the Democratic
convention or since, for surely the
political action committee did not in
tend to put Mr.. Berry on the ticket
and cruelty him with an unacceptable
candidate for the presidency.
I'm Congress Mr.. Davis was 100 pei
cent right with labor, never having
voted against any labor measure In
which the federation was interested
or advocating
Other speakers a the meeting were
Mrs.. Frank W. Hunt, widow of a
Democratic governor of Idaho. who
declared that the successful leader
would be the statesman who, settled
the freight rate question for the
farmers. and Mrs. Frank Hiram Smell
who advocated wider recognition OF
women on the Democratic committees
of the District.
The musical program consisted OF
songs by Miss Dorothy Reddish and
piano solos by Gertrude Smallwood.