THOMAS HARDY, THE GREATEST LIVING NOVELIST.
mm—mmmmwmmmmmmmmmmm■mmmmmmmammm^mtmm
This is the latest portrait of Thomas Hardy, who issued his first book
In 1865, and was recognized as a master of art nine years later, when he
*rote “Far from the Madding Crowd." He has written some Eplendid poems,
, STATION IS UNIQUE
>' Railroad Porters Near Asylum
Have Peculiar Experiences.
Some Harmless Inmates Allowed to Go
at Large and Are Frequent Visit
ors—Make Singular Inquir
ies of Emplryes.
London.—Unique in its way is the
station of Coulsdon, a small roadside
lalt nestling in the Surrey hills some
ux miles south of Croydon.
Coulsdon is the station for three
great lunatic asylums—the London !
:ounty, Caterham and the Surrey coun- j
:y—institutions which between them j
shelter just under 5,000 lunatics.
The porters at Coulsdon are tall,
strong, mild-mannered men, and be
yond learning his official work the sta
tion master has undergone a special
.raining in the treatment of the insane
it the hands of Sir James Moody of
he London county asylum.
Some of the station hands have some
idd experiences to relate.
"Taking them on the whole, the lu
• latics we get here are exceedingly well
behaved,” said one of them, “and less
:han six months ago I ‘unloaded’ some
100 or more from one special train and
saw them all Installed in the asylum
arakes without the slightest hitch of
iny kind occurring.
“On the other hand, however, a sin- j
gle lunatic passenger will often prove
factious, even though his mania takes
ao more dangerous a form than sit
ling down suddenly in the waiting
room, exclaiming that he Is i.he prince
if Wales or Edward the Confessor, and
drmly declining to move until he ima
gines that everyone has had time to
■ealize the importance of the occasion.
“But all my experiences have not
been quite so mild.
'Some years ago, for instance, two
unhappy men dashed into the station
n a state of semi nudity, rattled on the
booking office window and threatened
the astonished clerk with sudden and
violent death if he did not quickly pro
duce two tlckats for the north pole.
“Then only last Saturday evening a
well dressed woman, with a far away
look In her eyes, walked into the office
md asked for a ticket to Croydon. Be
fore she could be supplied an asylum
attendant ran ir. after her and seized ,
her from behind.
“A violent struggle ensued and it
was some time before we could pacify \
the woman and arrange for her return j
to the asylum.
"Many of the harmless cases' are (
given the complete run of the neigh- i
borhood and it is no unusual thing for j
:,ome of them to call in here and ask !
for a ticket somewhere.
"Their manner or their dress, how
ever, always betrays them, and our in
variable practice on these occasions is
to give them the ticket they ask for.
show them into the waiting room and
then quietly communicate with the
asylum officials.
"In nearly evc-y case they return
placidly enough.
"Despite the easy access to the rail
way line here 1 cannot recall any case
ot actual or attempted suicide.
But the inmates do occasionally
stray on to the metals and have before
now been found sketching the bridges
trom underneath or gazing in profound
abstraction at a signal post. But they
have always managed to stand quite
out of danger.
"Regularly about four days a week
for years one old man used to come to
the station and ask endless questions
about the type of the engines, the
time; of the trains, scan timetables
and so on.
“But one other regular caller we still
possess. He tiptoes into the station
most mornings of the week and, with
an air of intense mystery, buys a daily
paper Then he tiptoes out again.
"You can see for yourself,” conclud
ed the official, "that the lunatics here
are not really very dangerous.”
And he pointed to a small plantation
almost adjoining the staion, where
three lunatics, with a uniformed at
tendant. were engaged in cuttrng trees.
With immense delicacy of touch two
of them were employed in setting a
ladder against a tree, while the third—
a white-bearded old man wearing a
dark opera cloak and a felt hat—was
humming a tune and beating time with
a small rusty- saw.
HOUSE FLY COSTLY
Almost Incredible What Damage
Is Being Done by Pest.
Expert Says People Lose 170,000,000
Years of Life and $20,000,000,000
by Insect — Extermination
Huge Task.
New York.—One hundred and sev
enty million years would be added to
the lives of the people of the United
States, or 4,000,000 lives of the pres
ent average length, and $20,000,000,
000 would be saved if the house fly
were annihilated.
In these startling figures Dr. Daniel
D. Jackson, a member of the Mer
chants’ association water pollution
committee, told the New Jersey Sani
tary association his estimate of the
damage by the common household
flv.
“It Is almost incredible wliat dam
age is being done by the pest,’’ Dr.
Jackson said. “Figures help to con
vey it in a way, but no figures can tell
the whole tale. However, when I tell
you that if the pestiferous household
fly could at one swoop be annihilated
two years would be added to your
life, my life, and that of every man,
woman and child in the world. That
means something. And when we go
further and find that this means the
saving of 4,000,000 lives of the present
average length, or a total of 170,000,
000 years of life, that means a great
more.”
Dr. Jackson is an authority second
to none on the subject. For years he
has investigated the fly in its bearing
on disease, and he is convinced that
in doing away with the pest we will
also do away, in a very large degree
with typhoid and other contagious fe
vers.
In investigating the pollution of the
waters of New York harbor, Dr. Jack
| son found flies were most numerous
in '.be neighborhood of sewer outlets,
and that in the same neighborhoods
typhoid fever and other.Hntestinal dis
I eases were most prevalent. Thou
sands of flies were caught and exam
ined, and upon them millions of dis
ease germs were found.
In the paper delivered before the
Jerseymen. Dr. Jackson told of one
model tenement block in Manhattan
where more than 100 cases of typhoid
fever developed in the recent epidem
ic. The health authorities were in
clined to ascribe the fever to milk,
but it was shown that other neighbor
hoods geeting milk from the same
source had little fever.
Investigation showed that two
stables in unsanitary condition were
immediately behind the model tene
ment and millions of flies swarmed
from the two places, carrying on their
legs and wings the filth from the
stable refuse. So it was shown that
th* flies had caused the epidemic.
As to the possibility of exterminat
ing the fly family, it is shown by sta
tistics that the task is a monumental,
if not impossible, one. A few months
ago State Entomologist Bruner of Ne
braska said a single house fly could be
the progenitor of one hundred and
ninety-five quadrillions of flies in ten
generations, which means In one
year’s time. One hundred and ninety
five quadrillions is about 195,000,000
bushels of flies
England Draws at Chistmas.
I-ondon.—The popularity of Great
Britain as a place wherein to spend
Christmas is show’ by figures com
piled by an official of a big steamship
lin Between December 13 and De
cember 24 seven steamers arrived
1 om New York and three from Hali-.
fax, with a total of 10,289 passengers.
Not quite all are booked for England,
j but ~ vast majority will remain here.
Flowers Shipped in Ice
Unique Bouquet from Australia Re
ceived at His London Residence
by Joseph Chamberlain.
London.—Sitting in his library at
40 Prince's gardens, Joseph Chamber
lain was presented with a bouquet of
strange but beautiful blooms.
Picked over 11,000 miles away, they
had traveled half round the globe be
fore reaching the politician in his
home.
With Sir Gerald Strickland, gov
ernor of Western Australia, lies the
credit of the charming idea of send
ing this bouquet from a far-off land.
He and Mr. Chamberlain had ex
changed letters. Sir Gerald had eulo
gized the brilliant colorings of the
flowers of Western Australia. The
result was the plan to send a collec
tion of blooms to Mr. Chamberlain
so that he might inspect them at his
leisure and contrast their brilliance
with the winter gloom without
The problem naturally was how to
preserve the freshness of the flowers
during their long journey. Sir Gerald
Strickland hit upon the idea of send
ing them over to England in ice.
Eight specimens, both of flowers and
Widows Woo Rich Rancher
Farmer Receives Wheelbarrow Load
of Letters from Unattached Who
Seek Mate.
Spokane, Wash.—The Wilson Creek
(Wash.) bachelor rancher, Edwin W.
Hyde, who won a homestead valued
at $10,000 in the drawing for Indian
lands in the Flathead reservation in
western Montana, is carrying his mail
home in a wheelbarrow these days,
and the local postmaster threatens to
resign because of overwork.
He is besieged by widows, spinsters
and romantic young women who are
eager for the position of housekeeper
on his new ranch. He has also re
ceived a half hundred proposals of
marriage from women in New York.
' Chicago. Boston and other large cen
ters.
He says the flood of letters was
started by the publication of his pho
tograph in^eastern and western news
papers at the time of the drawing,
when the correspondents announced
i
that he needed only a helpmate to
make life complete.
BID FOR FARM BY TELEPHONE
V-rrinia Auctioneer Kept Busy and
Man at Some Distance Away
Makes Highest Offer.
Luray, Va.—A novel public sale In
this county under direction of the
Page county circuit court, has Just
taken place in Luray. The Philip
Ruftner farm, in this county, has for
several weeks been advertised by the;
commissioners. A great many farm
ers have had the purchase of the
place under consideration. Their
anxiety for the place has been adroit
ly concealed, however. When the
day of the sale arrived a few pros
pective buyers were on hand. Bidding
was lively for a time. During a lull in
the bidding the auctioneer was called
to the ’phone. When he resumed his
shrubs, were carefully picked In the
neighborhood of Perth, Western Aus
tralia Then they were frozen into
the heart of blocks of ice and packed
in a special case and deposited in the
hold of the steamship Ophir.
When the case came to be delivered
at Prince’s gardens the flowers were
still frozen deep in the ice. And by
the evening the ice had not melted
away, although the blocks were vis
ibly shrinking.
When the butler presented the flow
ers to Mr. Chamberlain they were
still in their shroud of ice, but the
ice resembled panels of glass, and
was perfectly transparent, revealing
all the beauty of the flowers in their
original freshness.
There was the Ricinocarpus glaucus,
a charming pink aster like a flower
shrub There was also the Southern
cross, a snow white flower. There
was the candolea, a beautiful yellow
flowering shrub. In the bouquet also
were the boronia, a striking red shrub;
I the mesembryanthemum elegance
(red), the cynaphea polyinorpha
(white), the Banshee (three species,
red and yellow) and the anigozanthus
l or kangaroo paw (three species).
“crying” he announced that he had
another and better bid then the last
one made. Fight for the future own
ership of the farm began between the
bidders present and G. T. Long a
farmer many miles away, the farm
finally being “knocked down” to Mr
Long for J3.600.
Red Squirrels Jealous.
\\ insted. Conn. — Dewitt Smith
game warden of Berkshire county
who was trying to discover who was
tearing down printed copies of the
fish and game laws and cloth signs
bearing the words : “No shooting’on
the premises," found that the depre
dations about Sheffield were the work
of red squirrels.
He loitered about the Sheffield
woods and caught a red squirrel de
stroying a cloth notice. Smith thinks
the red squirrel was jealous, as the
game laws provide for a closed sea
son on gray squirrels, but do not pro
vide for any protection for the reds.
Running.
To run into debt isn't half so an
noying as to run into our creditors._
New York Times.
Letter in the Rivet Keg.
There have been romances and ro
mances, but the latest undoubtedly la
the romance of a keg of steel rivets.
The outcome of this is being eagerly
awaited by 150 men employed at the
plant of an iron company at Con
ihohocken.
j The keg arrived at the plant yester
! day. When the head was off the
j workman was surprised to see on
top of the commonplace rivets an en
j velope addressed in a pretty, girlish
• hand, “To the one who opens this
| keg.”
The ironworker called a comrade or
two and they opened the note and
: read, written on a dainty bit of pa
per, a few sentences which asked the
: finder to communicate with the writer.
A girl's name was signed at the bot
tom, above an address in a Massachu
i setts town.
The finder of the note told others
about it and they in turn spread the
j news until nearly every one at the
plant heard it. One hundred and fifty
i men wrote to the fair correspondent
j !ast night, some sending letters and
, others picture postcards.—Pliiladel
i phia Public Ledger.
increased Price of Elk Teeth.
“During the last five years the value
of elk teeth has more than trebled,”
said a western traveler at the Fred
eric, according to the St. Paul Dis
patch. “In 1904 you could get any num
per of fine specimens in Idaho, Mon
;an.i, Washington and bordering states
or $2.50 apiece. Now' you will pay
’rom $7.50 to $10, and they are hard
.o get for even that. The Apache,
Sioux, Comanche and Chippewa Indi- !
ms used to have dozens of them in |
.heir possession and traded them for
rinkets. But the redskin got wise to i
:heir value, and you can buy them
'rom a regular dealer cheaper now
han from the Indian. The passing
)f the elk and the great demand made
>y the members of the Elk lodge for *
eeth for emblems have boosted the
mice."
The traveler recited an incident of
in Oklahoman who bought a robe cov
med with elk teeth from a Wichita
ndian for $100. He cut off the teeth
tnd cleaned up $2,200 on the deal.
Happiness in marriage would be
nore prevalent if a man would handle
lit? wife as tenderly and carefully as
le does an old briar ripe.
Boy’s Lucky Find.
A remarkable book find by a poor
! Jewish youth In Whitechapel, London,
England, is reported, which argues an
eye for books and a business intelli
gence of a high order. He bought for
a cent from a barrow in Mile End
Road a copy of Goethe’s poems, en
riched with Thackeray’s signature and
crest and a number of his thumb-nail
sketches scattered throughout the
book. The covers were in bad condi
tion, but the pages were clean. The
youth had the shrewdness to make
the most of his find himself, and after
many negotiations he has now sold
the volume for about $100.
French Taxes.
According to statistics of taxes,
w-hile there were 94,123 billiard tables
in France in 1S92, in 190G there were
only 89,230, whereas if the game wrere
holding its own the number should
have increased as the children grew
to billiard playing age The decadence
of the game, which has had famous
votaries, is ascribed to the success of
outdoor sports, and especially to the
intense and widespread interest now
taken in motoring.—Vogue.
—
A Lesson in Economy.
“I notice you always fling the driver j
your purse when we take a convey- i
ance,” said the heroine of the his- I
torical novel.
"I do." admitted the hero of the i
same.
"How do «you expect to support a i
wife? Give him the exact legal fare
hereafter.” — Louisville Courier-Jour
nal.
The Novice.
Old Lawyer (to young partner)—
Did you draw up old Moneybag’s will?
Young Partner—Yes, sir; and so
tight that all the relatives in the 1
world cannot break it.
Old Lawyer (with some disgust)— |
The next time there is a will to be
drawn up. I’ll do it myself!”—New
York Sun.
And Mother Officiates.
Eddie—Do you have morning pray
ers at your house?
Freddie—We have some kind of a j
service when father gets in.
—
Occasionally we meet people who
spend half their time telling what i
they are going to do and the other half j
eynlajnine w-bv they didn't do it.
Golfer to Honored.
It was agreed at a committee meet
ing held in St. Andrews to erect a
bronze panel representing the head
and shoulders in life size of the late
Tom Morris. The panel will be placed
in the west gable of the royal and an
cient clubhouse. The balance of the
memorial fund after paying the ex
penses for this erection will be used
to endow a bed in St. Andrew"s Cot
tage hospital to be known as the Tom
Morris bed and upon which golf pro
fessionals and caddies are to have
first claim.—Pali Mall Gazette.
Woman Would Be Legislator.
Miss Gina Krog, of Christiania, has
been nominated by the radical party
of Norway for deputy in the parlia
mentary elections now pending. Miss
Krog visited the United States last
spring on her way to the Interna
tional Council of Women in Toronto.
She delivered several lectures to suf
frage societies in New York and spoke
to the Norwegian women in Brooklyn.
She is said to have had more to do
with obtaining the ballot for the wom
en of Norway than any other individ
ual, man or woman.
Knowledges Enough.
At the moment ot their fall Adam
and Eve, being innocent, were used to
doing things in an unconscious man
ner.
That is to say, they didn't Fletcher
ize.
With the result that they failed of
getting the full effect of the apple—
all the proteids and carbohydrates.
However, in thier blind, blundering
way, they attained to enough knowl
odge of good and evil to matte them
terrible bores to themselves forever
after, and to all their descendants litte
wise unto the present generation.—
Puck.
His Business.
“You see that man across the
street? Well, you can always get cut
rates from him for his work.”
“What is it?”
“Trimming trees and hedges.”—Bal
timore American.
Where Pepys Won Fame.
“Who was this fellow Pepys, and
what is his claim to fame?”
"His claim to fame is well founded,
my friend. He's the man who kept a
diary for more than a year.”
Tomato Bread.
Bakers are not perhaps generally
aware that up to a certain point to
matoes can be used with advantage
In the manufacture of a bread that
has the fine flavor of the fruit, with
its stimulating and nourishing propen
sities; while besides, the bread will
keep longer and moister than ordinary
bread.
The bread has the characteristic
color of the tomato. All that is re
quired is that the tomato mash, after
being submitted to a sterilizing tem
perature, should be carefully screened
through a sieve and then used as part
of the mixture.
New Chair in Rome University.
A chair in Christian archaeology has
been established in the University of
j Rome by direction of the minister of
j education, and Prof. Marucci has been
| appointed as its first occupant. “Mar
I icci, whose entry into the faculty has
created much excitement in church
circles, is known as the best informed
archaeologist of the Vatican,” says
Figaro, "and the only surviving pupil
of Rossi, who made the catacombs a
life study.”
Interesting Information.
In an interview published in the
Kieler Neueste Naehrichten, Grossad
mirr.l von Koster says many interest
ing things about his visit to New
York, among them the following: "In
the absence of President Taft, who
was away on a trip to the Mexican
frontier, the place of honor was
taken by the vice-president of the
United States, Secretary of Stato
Sherman of New York.”
Graphic Variations.
"Civilization,” remarked the canni
bal king, “promotes some strange
ideas.”
"To whom do you especially refer?”
inquired the missionary.
"Among you the ultimate con
sumer is regarded with sympathy.
Here he is considered very lucky.”
Mistakes Will Happen.
Lady (to her sister, a doctor! —
There—I cooked a meal for the first
time to-day and I made a mess of it.
“Well, dear, never mind; it’s noth
ing. I lost my first patient.” '
If you see a fault In others, think
of two of your owm, and do not add a
third one bv vour hasty iudgment.
Don’t Weep At
The Ice House.
borne people swell up on “emotion”
brewed from absolute untruth.
It’s an old trick of the leaders of the
Labor Trust to twist facts and make
the “sympathetic ones” “weep at the
ice house.” (That’s part of the tale
further on.)
Gompers et al sneer at, spit upon
and defy our courts, seeking sympathy
by falsely telling the people the courts
were trying to deprive them of free
speech and free press.
Men can speak freely and print opin
ions freely in this country and no
court will object, but they cannot be
allowed to print matter as part of a
criminal conspiracy to injure and ruin
j ether citizens.
| Gompers and his trust associates
started out to ruin the Bucks Stove
Co., drive its hundreds of workmen
out of work and destroy' the value of
the plant without regard to the fact
that hard earned money of men who
worked, had been invested there.
The conspirators were told by the
courts to stop these vicious “trust”
methods, (efforts to break the firm
that won’t come under trust rule), but
instead of stopping they “dare” the
courts to punish them and demand
new laws to protect them in such de
structive and tyrannical acts as they
■ may desire to do. * * * The reason
Gompers and his band persisted in try
ing to ruin the Bucks Stove Works
was because the stove company insist
ed on the right to keep some old em
ployees at work when “de union” or
dered them discharged and some of
“de gang” put on.
Now let us reverse the conditions
and have a look.
Suppose the company had ordered
the union to dismiss certain men from
their union, and, the demand being re
fused, should institute a boycott
against that union, publish its name
in an “unfair list,” instruct other man
ufacturers all over the United States
not to buy the labor of that union,
have committees call at stores and
threaten to boycott if the merchants
sold anything made by that union.
Picket the factories where members
work and slug them on the way home,
blow up their houses and wreck the
works, and even murder a few mem
bers of the boycotted union to teach
tuem they must obey the orders of
“organized Capital?”
It would certainly be fair for the 1
company to do these things if lawful
for the Labor Trust to do them.
In such a case, under our laws the
boycotted union could apply to our
courts aud the courts would order
the company to cease boycotting and
trying to ruin these unipn men. Sup
pose thereupon the company should
sneer at the court and in open defiance
continue the unlawful acts in a per
sistent, carefully laid out plan, pur
posely intended to ruin the union
and force its members into poverty
What a howl would go up from the
union demanding that the courts pro
tect them and punish their law-break
ing oppressors. Then they would
praise the courts and go on earning a
living protected from ruin and happy
in the knowledge that the people's
courts could defend them.
How could any of us receive protec
tion from law-breakers unless the courts
have power to, and do punish such
men?
The court is placed in position where
it must do one thing or the other—
punish men who persist in defying its
peace orders or go out of service, let
anarchy reign, and the more powerful
destroy the weaker.
Peaceful citizens sustain the courts
as their defenders, whereas thieves,
forgers, burglars, crooks of all kinds
and violent members of labor unions,
hate them and threaten violence if
their members are punished for break
ing the law. They want the courts to
let them go free and at the same time
demand punishment for other men “out
side de union” when they break the
law. * * * Notice the above refer
ence to “violent” members of labor
unions The great majority of the
“unheard” union men are peaceable.
upright citizens. The noisy, violent
ones get into office and the leaders of
the great Labor Trust know how to
mass this kind of men, in labor con
ventions and thus carry out the lead
ers’ schemes, frequently abhorrent to
the rank and file: so it was at the late
Toronto convention.
The paid delegates would applaud
and “resolute" as Gompers wanted, but
now and. then some of the real work
ingmen insist on being heard, some
times at the risk of their lives.
Delegate Egan is reported to have
said at the Toronto convention:
"If the officers of the federation
would only adhere to the law we would
think a lot more of them.”
The Grand Council of the Provincial
Workingmen’s Ass'n of Canada has
declared in favor of severing all con
nections with unions in the U. S., say
ing "any union having its seat of
Gov't in America, and pretending to be
international in its scope, must fight
industrial battles according to Ameri
can methods. Said methods have con
sequences which are abhorrent to the
law-abiding people of Canada involving
hunger, misery, riot, bloodshed and
murder, all of which might be termed
as a result of the practical war now
in progress in our fair provinces and
directed by foreign emissaries of the
United Miners of America.”
That is an honest Canadian view of
our infamous "Labor Trust.”
A few days ago the daily papers
printed the following:
(By the Associated Press.))
Washington, D. C., Nov. 10.—Char
acterizing the attitude of Samuel Gom
pers, John Mitchell and Frank Mor
rison of the American Federation of
Labor in the contempt proceedings in
the courts of the District of Columbia,
in connection with the Bucks’ Stove
and range company, as “a willful, pre
meditated violation of the law,” Simon
Burns, general master workman of the
general assembly, Knights of Labor,
has voiced a severe condemnation of
these three leaders. Mr. Burns ex
pressed his confidence in courts in gen
eral and in those of the District of
Columbia in particular.
APPROVED BY DELEGATES.
This rebuke by Burns was in his an
nual report to the general assembly of
his organization. He received the
hearty approval of the delegates who
heard it read at their annual meeting
in this city.
1 nere is no trust or combination of
capital in the world,” said Mr. Burns,
“that violates laws oftener than do the
trust labor organizations, which resort
to more dishonest, unfair and dishon
orable methods toward their competi
tors than any trust or combinations in
the country.”
Mr. Burns said the action of “these
so-called leaders” would be harmful
for years to come whenever attempts
were made to obtain labor legislation.
“The Labor Digest,” a reputable
workingman’s paper, says, as part of
an article entitled “The beginning of
the end of Gompersism, many organ
izations becoming tired of the rule-or
ruin policies which have been en
forced by the president of the A.
F. of L.”
"That he has maintained his leader
ship for so long a time in the face of
his stubborn clinging to policies which
the more thoughtful workingmen have
seen for years must be abandoned, has
been on account partly of the senti
mental feeling on the part of the or
ganizations that he ought not to be de
posed, and the unwillingness of the
men who were mentioned for the place,
to accept a nomination in opposition to
him. In addition to this, there is no
denying the shrewdness of the leader
of the A. F. of L., and his political sa
gacity, which has enabled him to keep
a firm grip on the machinery of the or
ganization, and to have his faithful
henchmen in the positions where they
could do him the most good whenever
their services might be needed.
“Further than this, he has never
failed, at the last conventions, to have
some sensation to spring on the con
vention at the psychological moment,
which would place him in the light of ,
a martyr to the cause of unionism, and t
excite a wave of sympathetic enthusi
asm for him, which would carry the
delegates off their feet, and result in
his re-election.
“That his long leadership, and this
apparent impossibility to fill his place
has gone to his head, and made him
imagine that he is much greater a man
than he really is, is undoubtedly the
case, and accounts for the tactics he
has adopted in dealing with questions
before congress, where he has unneces
sarily antagonized men to whom or
ganized labor must look for recogni
tion of their demands, and where labor
measures are often opposed on account
of this very antagonism, which wouid
otherwise receive support.
“There is no doubt but what organ
ized labor in this country would be
much stronger with a leader who was
more in touch with conditions as they
actually exist, and who would bring to
the front the new policies which organ
ized labor must adopt if it expects to
even maintain its present standing, to
say nothing of making future progress.”
We quote portions of another article,
a reprint, from the same labor paper:
“Organized labor, through its lead
ers, must recognize the mistakes of the
past it' they expect to perpetuate their
organizations or to develop the move
ment which they head. No movement,
no organization, no nation can develop
beyond the intellects which guide
these organizations, and if the leaders
are dominated by a selfish motive the
organization will become tinged with
a spirit of selfishness, which has never }
appealed to mankind in any walk of [
life at any time since history began, j
“It can be said in extenuation of cer-!
tain leaders of organized labor that f
the precarious position which they oc
cupy as leaders has had a tendency to
cause them to lose sight of the object
behind the organization. The natural
instinct in man for power and position
is in no small measure responsible for
the mistakes of the leaders, not neces
sarily in labor unions alone, but in
every Drancn ot society. This desire
for power and leadership and personal
aggrandizement causes men who have
been earnest and sincere in their ef
forts in the start to deteriorate into*
mere politicians whose every act ana
utterance is tinged with the desirs
to cater to the baser passions of the
working majority in the societies or
organizations and this is undoubtedly
true when applied to toe present lead
ers of the Federation of Labor. We
mention the Federation of Labor par
ticularly in this article,, because that
organization is the only organization
of labor which has yet found itself in
direct opposition to the laws of the
land. There are other organizations of
labor whose leaders have made mis
takes, but they have always kept them
selves and their organizations within
the bounds of the law and respected
the rights of every other man in con
sidering the rights of themselves and
their constituency; whereas, the motto
of the Federation is just the reverse,
and unless the leaders conform them
selves and their organization in accord
ance with the laws of the land, the
leaders and the organization itself
must be disintegrated and pass into
history, for in America the common
sense of mankind is developed to a
greater extent than in any other nation
on the earth, and the people, who are
the court of last resort in this country,
will never allow any system to develop
in this country which does not meet
with the approval of the majority of
the citizens of the country.
“This must have forced itself upon
the leaders of the Federation by this
time. If it has not, the leaders must
be eliminated. The organization w hich
they head has done many meritorious
things in times past and the people are
always ready and willing to acknowl
edge the benefits which their elforts
have brought to their constituency as
a whole, but at the present time labor
organizations in general, and the Fed
eration of Labor in particular, stand
before the bar of public opinion, hav
ing been convicted of selfishness and a
disposition to rule all the people of
the country in the interest of the few.
The people are patient and awaiting to
see If the object lesson which they
have been forced to give to these lead
ers is going to be recognized and if they
are going to conform themselves and
their future work and actions in ac
cordance thereto.”
Let the people remember that com
ment, “The Federation of Labor in par
ticular stands before the bar of public
opinion having been convicted of sel
fishness and a disposition to rule all
the people of the country in the inter
est of the few.”
The great 90 per cent of Americans
do not take kindly to the acts of
tyranny of these trust leaders openly
demanding that all people bow down to
the rules of the Labor Trust and we
are treated to the humiliating specta
cle of our Congress and even the Chief
Executive entertaining these convicted
law-breakers and listening with consid
eration to their insolent demands that
the very laws be changed to allow
them to safely carry on their plan of
gaining control over the affairs of the
people.
The sturdy workers of America have
fome to know the truth about these
‘martyrs sacrificing themselves in the
noble cause of labor” but it's only the
hysterical ones who swell up and cry
aver the aforesaid “heroes,” reminding
one of the two romantic elderly maids
who, weeping copiously, were discov
ered by the old janitor at Mt. Vernon.
“What is it ails you ladies?”
Taking the handkerchief from one
swollen red eye, between sobs she said:
“Why we have so long revered the
memory of George Washington that
we feel it a privilege to come here and
weep at his tomb.'
“Yas’m, yas’m, yo’ shore has a desire
to express yo’ sympathy but yo’ are
overflowin’ at de wrong spot, yo’ is
weepin’ at de ice house.”
Don’t get maudlin about law-break
ers who must be punished if the very
existence of our people is to be main
tained.
li you nave any surplus sympathy it
can be extended to the honest workers
who continue to earn food when threat
ened and are frequently hurt and
sometimes killed before the courts can
intervene to protect them.
Now the Labor Trust leaders de
mand of Congress that the courts bo
stripped of power to issue injunctions
to prevent them from assaulting or per
haps murdering men who dare earn
a living when ordered by the Labor
Trust to quit work.
Don’t “weep at the Ice House” and
don’t permit any set of law-breakers
to bully our courts, if your voice and
vote can prevent. Be sure and write
your Representatives and Senators in
Congress asking them not to vote for
any measure to prevent the courts
from protecting homes, property and
persons from attack by paid agents of
this great Labor Trust.
Let every reader write, and writ#
now.
Don’t sit silent and allow the organ
ized and paid men of this great trust
to force Congress to believe they rep
resent the great masses of the Amer
ican people. Say your say and let
your representatives in Congress know
that you do not want to be governed
under new laws which would empower
the Labor Trust leaders with legal
right to tell you when to work, Where!
For whom! At what price! What to
buy! What not to buy! Whom to
vote for! How much you shall pay
per month in fees to the Labor Trust!
etc., etc., etc.
This power is now being demanded
by the passage of laws in Congress.
Tell your Senators and Representa
tives plainly that you don’t want them
to vote for any measure that will allow
any set of men either representing
Capital or Labor to govern and dic
tate to the common people, who prefer
to be free to go and come, work or
not ,and vote for whom they please.
Every man’s liberty will disappear
when the leaders of the great Labor
rrust or any other trust can ride rough
shod over people and mass their forces
to prevent our courts from affording
protection.
“There’s a Reason.”
C. W. POST, Battle Creek, Mich.
