The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1925-02-24
AS WE SEE IT
BY 7. J. o'FLAHERTY

The conference for progressive po-
litical action adjourned sine die
after short and sweet discussion
during which words of praise were
showered on the heads of the hard
boiled railroad labor leaders by the
beaming Morris Hillquit, and the
labor leaders had returned the favor
by paying tribute to the mental nimb-
eness of brother Hillquit. No doubt
Morris had visions of briefs from the
watchful labor takers, which more
than compensated for the regret
socialist would feel in seeing the
work Of three years of manouvering
and belly-crawling going for nothing.
THE conference took place in a
room at the Lexington Hotel.
The walls were appropriately decor
ated with dead leaves. Whenever any
body passed by the leaves, they (the
leayes) ratified. In fact the leaves
were the Invest things in the gather
ing, unless an exception may be made
in the case of a vocal delegate from
Idaho, who opposed everything that
came from the direction of Morris
Hillquit, until an S. P. lady delegate
.ook the platform, made a few ap-
propriate gestures and knocked the
Idahoan as dead mentally, as the
leaves on the wall. But he voted for
her motion and so did his wife.
THE officials of the 16 rail labor
organizations felt uncomfortable
from the start. One could sympathize
with them 1t was the greatest col
lection of human freaks out of cap
tivity. The inevitable J. A. H. Hop
kins was there with his brief case
and as usual he had an organization
packed inside of it. He is head of
the committees of forty-eight." That
committee was represented by Hop
kins and three kilograms, which Hop
kins read. After Hopkins got the
floor and floated his organizations, he
was satisfied and did not care how
soon it would sink. Indeed it SEEM
ed as if most the delegates came
there to make the audience laugh,
cry, cheer or go to sleep as it the
case might be. After they had per-
formed their particular acts, they
went around bearing and air of salts
faction as if to say: 81 have made a
.ipple in this little pond
THE conference was as cheerful
when it reconvened in the after
noon as a condemned man giving his
last interview to the press prepare
tory to going to the gallows. For one
thing there was a burden of debt
around the c. P. p AS neck. At first
the figure was set at $4,000 but in
the afternoon, bills began to emerge
from all sides. 1t was learned that
the c. p. p. A. had skeleton to the
tune of $4,000 in its closet for quite
some time. This appeared to shock
the socialists who expected in inherit
a solvent organization. Various
speakers mostly socialists, when
delivering orations with the object
of impressing the labor leaders with
their technique, never failed to men,
ton that besides rolling up votes for
LaFollette in the last election they
also were adopts in the art of rolling
up debts. This, was not so good to
ears of the business men,"
THE writer had the pleasure Of
seeing the great comedian De
Wolf Hopper play the leading, tho not
the title role in 1.-THE Mikado." II was
an enjoable experience but for rib
tickling merriment the last act Of
the c. p. p. A. ran Hopper off the
boards. Not that the stolid leaders
OF the brotherhood organizations with
one exception, are comedians. No,
they are very serious persons and
stand on their dignity. They are not
comedians, but there is one clown
.(Contfnuad On naga ol