LABOR'S POLITICS WHAT HAS IT BROUGHT?
GOTTESMAN, EDMOND
LABOR'S POLITICS WHAT HAS IT BROUGHT? Labor Day Provides an Opportunity to Take Stock of Gains and Losses By EDMOND GOTTESMAN Zrr—T Neckwear Worketi Union g IN CE 1882 American Ubor tj$ baa...
...A system that permits such conditions is wrong snd requires s thorough chsngs...
...defeated...
...Labor Day Provides an Opportunity to Take Stock of Gains and Losses By EDMOND GOTTESMAN Zrr—T Neckwear Worketi Union g IN CE 1882 American Ubor tj$ baa celebrated the first jfcodsy in September as Labor tiff' Th'8 day nM 1)6611 aP ¦tinted by the State Legisla ySf?t sa a holiday, presumably, (precognition of the important jjrvice that Labor renders bo3fey...
...The thoussnds of miners who work in the bowels of the earth to extract coal therefrom to keep us warm in the winter are in » number of states persecuted and denied the right to organize...
...After being takep out to e deserted roadway, we were thrown < ut of the cara and our clothes torn from us...
...Today many workers livs in poverty while their employes livs in luxury snd idleness...
...Coolidge, tried to make the workers believe...
...A bill providing for State ownership and development of hydro-electric power...
...One sat on our feet end another upo.t our heads while the rest took turns flogging u's with heevy leather straps until they were tired out...
...Onee a year politiciens, governare and presidents flatter, glorify and decloro the dignity of Lsbor, but when confronted with concrete pre* poule to abolish industriel abusa* they defeat all efforts of Labor as indicated In the report of tha Nsw York State Fedcrstion of Lsbor...
...The Centrsl Trsdes end Labor Council of New York snd Vicinity have invited to their Labor Day Celebration this year President Coolidge, Gov...
...The only way the strikers could have spproached or appsalsd to ths strike-breakers wee by preying, and thia the sheriff forbade them to do...
...Injunctions have been issusd forbidding them to address strike-breakers and to urge them to lee ve their jobs...
...Let us examine the record of these parties with reference to Labor and leave it to the judgment of every intelligent working-man or woman whether Labor ia following a course intended to emancipate the workegs from industrial and economic subjugation...
...In 1920, the textile worker's wages were reduced 22 H per cent after striking several weeks...
...Coolidge...
...Those who will attend will undoubtedly shower prsises snd exslt the dignity of j Lsbor...
...In every industrial State right now children of tender age are exploited in shops, mills and factories, working long hours without due protection as to health and morality, for a mere pittance...
...detested...
...Both the Republican and Democratic platform contained definite pledgee to ratify the amendment and members of both parties had been elected on such pledges The Legislature, is defeating all the above bilia, ia on record as favoring all the above evils...
...If Lsbor wsnts to bs emsncipstsd it cm only sceomplish it by the organisation of s powerful Lsbor psrty of their own...
...Last July another reduction ' of 10 per cent was forced on the textile workeri in the face of the fact that itock dividends rsngtng from 50 to 2000 per cent had bean voted by certain textile companies...
...Labor therefore deserves much higher consideration...
...We believed that s man is free to worship and to prey, but it seems when this interferes with the buaineaa of the mine owners it is forbidden...
...Tens of thousands of men who have devoted tht ir lives in useful productive work when they reach old age are thrown out from their work as old and feeble and on the evening of their lives are left to drift for themselves depending either on charity or to be sent to the poor-house...
...The textile werkers now know that high wsges do not follow from a high tariff as ths Republicsn Party of the textile inulti millionaires, like Butler, who hss been the campaign manager of Mr...
...The National Committee for the Prevention of Blindness in its report On Eye Hazards in Industrial Occupations states that 15,000 workers were blinded from industrisl csuses and that 200,000 received major or minor injuries to thsir eyes...
...defeated...
...The politicians, ths servants of capital, claimed that a high protective tariff will insure the textile workers good wages...
...Organized Labor of this city and other cities, where Labor Day is a holiday, willhold celebrations in which politicians, mayors, governors and legislators will participate, and praise and exalt Labor...
...In the Labor Bulletin, Ji?ne 1, 1925, issued by the New York State Federation of Labor, I find that a bill establishing a State Insurance Fund as the sole insurance carrier under the Workmen's Compensation' Law, which, if enacted, would reduce the cost of such insurance to a minimum of the present cost tnd assure speedy and equitable adjustments without the delaying litigation that | occurs under Casualty Insurance I Company participation, was defeated...
...In Tulsa, Oklahoma, the sheriff forbids striking mlnsrs to get down on their knees in the rood end pray...
...In the textile industry hundreds of thousands of mill workers receive en average wage of $10 to $18 a week...
...Here is the story ae related by one of tha strikers...
...The Ststs snd Federal Legislatures do not represent Lsbor...
...Davis, Democratic candidate for the presidency...
...Thousands of workers in the various states and industries are today restrained by injunctions from their legal rights to strike against^ reduction of wages to maintain a decent standard of living...
...In the last Presidential Campaign John L. Lewis, President of the United Miners, indorsed Mr...
...A few weeks sgo the Executive j Council of the Americsn Federation of Lsbor in session decided to continue the old policy, of "rewarding and punishing our enemies," as ths most logical policy to pursue...
...It also says that most of the men blinded in the factories would still be seeing if specified precautions had been taken by the employers...
...And finally the Amendment to the Federal Constitution to authorize a National Child Labor Law to replace the law declared unconstitutionsl by the United States Supreme Court, which was submitted to the states for ratification,, was not acted upon by the Legislature of thia State...
...Major Berry, of the Printing Pressmen, and the Trades*.snd Lsbor Council' of New York, indorsed Mr...
...defeated...
...Labor produces all values snd Is entitled to the enjoyment thereof...
...I doubt that tha Legislature of New York State, when it eat the first Monday in September ae Labor Day, wei prompted in iti action by the ipirit of Abraham Lincoln, who said : "Capital ii the fruit of Labor and could not exist if Labor had not first existed...
...In ths Florida turpentine camps floggings of workers are a frequent occurrence...
...Smith, Secretary of War Weeks, General Summerrall and Colonel Droth...
...A bill to restore direct primary nomination of State officers and judges...
...This was also in line with the policy of the American Federation of Labor...
...These men are representatives of the State and Federal Government...
...Recently members of the Transport Workers' Union went on strike against tha Gulf Southern Line...
...defeated, A bi'l prohibiting manufacture of certain hat ornaments and parts of wearing apparel in tenement houses because young children are employed in this work...
...Prior to this trestment the Miami Police freely used black-jacks on the heeds of the strikers...
...The textile industry is the beneficiary of a high tariff known as Schedule K. This Schedule K, protecting the profiteers of the textile industry sgeinst foreign competi ,tion through a high protective tariff, is evidence of the influence the textile barons are able to exert over Congress...
...In State and municipal elections of New York the same policy is followed: either the Republican or the Democratic candidates get the indorsement of organized LaboT...
...A bill to eetabltsh an eighthour work day for worn m and minors in industry...
...defeated...
...A bill amending the AntiMonopoly Law to declare that the labor of a human being is not e commodity or an article of commerce...
...A bill to provide Minimum Wage Boards for women and ninors in industry...
Vol. 2 • September 1925 • No. 36
