The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1927-09-03

BY WALTER SNOW

So EIAki OIL Cne W0fiu Is d Inouel TSpOflSI, JonH
L. Sullivan, newly reelected president of the New
York State Federation of Labor, told the pres
ent writer Leaning forward until his portly stom-
ach wrinked the labor leader and Civic Federation
member explained "He gets things right"
Sullivan is not alone in his high opinion of Mr..
John ]. Leary, Jr., dean of New York labor re-
porters The socialist "New Leader" recently re-
ferred to him newspaperman who can be
classed among the best in town.
Thinking workers. accordingly, will be interested
to know what such highly praised man believes
is labors future and whom are the men he admires.
The furriers know that every time those esteemed
Civic Federation members, Matthew Woll and Hugh
Frayne wished to justify their strike-breaking
tivtes and efforts to smash the Joint Board, Leary
quoted them at length In fact many times all
Leary did for his days work to write lead"
and paste it top of a Vol or Frayne statement.
Now, it develops, Leary admires another master
strike-breaker. In the World" of August 2oth, ne
sings praises of Premier Baldwin's determination
in pushing through that Trades Union Bill which the
"World" once editoriay said took away with one
sweep all the rights British labor had in fifty
years of hard fighting.
Leary however, speaks for the leaders of the
American labor movement.
He tells story after story to the effect that Brit
ish labor is demoralized because its leaders are
more less openly" accused of taking graft from
the "Arcos House and the Communists of Russia
Where did he get these tales? Proudly he boasts
they are reports from London to leaders of the
American movement from sources that are depend
able and which have proven to be accurate in the
past"
Reading them one wonders if Leary is still carry
ing on the -Frayne- McGrady graft fiction cam
paign in an attempt to smash the turner's JOINT
Board.
But no. he is not. Leary and the Civic Federation
members, whose spokesman he is, hope there will
never be Labor Party in America. To discourage
all attempts form and thus take voters away
from Tammany Hall, Leary seeks to discredit the
British Labor Party
Listen: aThere is as | have said, confusion in
the movement and distrust of leadership that may
in some measure at least explain the determination
of Premier Baldwin in pushing through the recent
bill that among other things, ends the collecting,
willy nilly of funds for tn Labor Party from mem
beers of trade unions. One wonders in the face OF
all reports, if in opposing this part of the law the
Labor NJ. P's spoke quite much for the rank and
file of English labor for themselves.
Leary voices the hope that this confusion may
end in "swing back to straight trade unionsm
as advocated by William A. Appleton once secre-
tary of the British Federation.
at would not be inconsistent if in accepting
American production methods English cousins
adopted American trade union methods" he con-
cudes.
The abandonment of the Labor Party in England
would mean that the workers could once more vote
for Liberals and Tories who, OF course, never take
any graft No more than Tammany officials. =
Leary strikes US as being almost profound
an optimist as the late Judge Gary. The open shop
confederates of Vol, Frayne and Sullivan IN the
Civic Federation certainly must be chucking to
think that American trade unionism is held up
as a model for countries much more widely organ
lied.
. But if the masses of organized American work
ers were not hoodwinked into believing that their
unions were the best managed in the world and
that voting the democratic ticket voting for
labor how long would Green, Woll, Frayne, Nc
Grady and Sullivan keep their jobs
And if the workers supported a Labor Party
how could their leaders graduate into fat Tammany
jobs as James P. Holland did last year when he
resigned as head Of the State Federation to accept
Mayor Walkers appointment to six-year term
on the Board Of Standards and Appeals?
But there won't be a Labor Party if Leary and
the "World" can help it. Doubtless he instru-
mental in persuading the present weakened So
cialsit leaders to take Woll Frayne and McGrady
close to their bosoms in spite of the vtrioc things
Eugene Debs used to say about Civic Federation
members. Smart boy, this Leary. He gets things
fright" And tens of thousands of workers read