The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1946-11-28
7. J. Duffy Delivers Stirring
Address At Celebration

can defy the government and
bluntly tell the people of the ma
tion that they will get no meat for
their tables, unless they pay ex-
orbitant prices, and the cattle
owners get away with it, without
mourning much public criticism,
while, at the same time, >any Incl
dent that seems to discredit organ
lied labor is given conspicuous
space in the press and announced
with alarming emphasis over the
radio"
Going back to the early days
when organized labor was in its
infancy and it was common oc-
currence to black list any worker
who engaged in union activities,
he suggested, II think we should
refute this malicious propaganda
by reminding the people Of this
generation of the conditions which
brought organized labor into ex-
istence in this country. Originally
we were an agricultural nation.
But as the nation grew and became
dotted with mills and factories we
saw children of tender years en-
ployed in factories for mere pit
tance, so that the owners could
make large profits. We saw sweat
shops where people toiled under
disease breeding conditions for
starvation wages. In some locali-
ties we saw employees compelled
to live in company houses and pur-
chase their goods from company
stores at prices that kept them
constantly in debt to the company.
We saw men compelled to sign
yellow dog contracts, agreeing not
to join labor organization, and
many of them had to do so in
order to get job. We saw employ
ers using a black list to prevent
certain men from being employed
in any plant in the industry, be-
cause they had engaged in union
activities. We saw or heard en-
ployees told how they must vote if
they expected to have job after
the election. We saw crippled en-
ployees who had been injured in
industry and the widows and chill
dren of those who had been killed
thrown upon charity of society,
because there were no workmen's
compensation laws to take care of
them in those days. We saw en-
ployees compelled to work as high
as eighty-four hours a week. We
saw private detective agencies
growing rich in the business of
supplying men to act as decoy
members of labor unions to spy
on labor leaders and foment trou-
bic that would furnish an excuse
to secure am injunction or to call
out the troops in time Of strike.
"And while they were doing
these things to labor these same
czars of finance were carrying on
an orgy Of financial expansion
under which number Of concerns
were consolidating into one giant
whose stock was wat
cred to such an extent as to pro-
vide enormous fortunes for the
at the cost of the
consumer. These gigantic unions Of
dollars which were organized to
control the market and crush com
petition for the purpose of making
excess profits, were looked upon
with responsibility, and the men
who controlled them occupied the
places Of honor and influence in
civic affairs. Some of them actul-
ly thought that they had a divine
right to rule. During the anthra-
cite soal strike about 1901 or 1902
George T. Baer, a Pennsylvania
coal operator said:
"The rights and interests Of
the laboring man will be protect
ed and cared for-not by the
labor agitators, but by the
Christian men to whom God in
His infinite wisdom has given
the control of this country"
an a book published in 1911 |
Frederick Townsend Martin, a
socialite who had in
herited large fortune said:
at matters not one iota what
political party is in power, or
what president holds the reins of
office. We are not politicians or
political thinkers; we are the
rich; we own America; we got it,
God knows how; but we intend
to keep it if we can, by throw
ing all the tremendous weight |
of our support, our influence,
our money, our political connec-
tions, our purchased senator's,
our hungry congressman, our
public speaking demagogues in
to the scale against any legisla-
tion, any political platform, any
presidential campaign that
threatens the integrity of our
estate"