The Wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, November 21, 1908, Image 1
' 1 r- V--"- ; , - (..- . fc-u t-V .w. ,.: v.'- v . 3 TUT VOL,. 5 LINCOJX, X KBLtASIvJV. '.NOVEMBEB 31, liOf 3STO. 34 ... t n rr i i i s 01 I c oj , JAY I ml H'l l a (J lNpggorHY THE UNION LABOR VOTE AT THE RECENT GENERAL ELECTION WILLIAM J. BRYAN IN THE COMMONER Now that the election is .over anil our party defeated, the ex plainer is abroad in the land. Some of the explanations arc based upon observations in a precinct, some upon the conditions in a state, and othersrtake- a national view of the 'situation. The Commoner has received several letters containing complaints that "the labor vote was not cast for the democratic ticket" and that "the labor planks alienated more votes than they won." Until the returns arc nil in and tabulated it is impossible to make any intelligent estimate as to the relative influence exerted by the various causes which contributed to the party's defeat, and it is not fair to announce a conclusion until a substantial foundation can be laid for such conclusion. While an adverse vote in a city containing a large labor element might be accepted as prima facia evidence that the laboring man did not support the ticket, a closer inspection of the returns might show that the labor vote was actually cast for the ticket, but that losses in other parts of the city overcame the gain. . Mr. Oompers and those closely associated with him as labor loaders must be credited with sincere, earnest and effective support of the democratic ticket. Their arguments may not have convinced as large a percentage of the vote of organized labor as was expected upon this subject the statistics are not yet available but it must be remembered that under present conditions it is necessary to do more than convince. A great many people were convinced that the democratic position was the correct one,, and yet were afraid to follow their convictions. The republican leaders confessed this them selves when they began to appeal to the fears of the employes. Many cases have been brought to our attention where employers warned their employes not to vote the democratic ticket under threat of rcduetion in wages. . At. Newark, Ohio, Mr. Bryan called attention to such speeches made by representatives of the New York Central Railroad. There were cases where the support of the ticket in labor precincts perceptibly diminished when these threats were applied. It is easy-enough to say that a laboring man ought to stand by his convictions and vote as he believes, regardless of threats, and yet human nature must always be considered in passing judgment upon human beings. After forty-eight years of almost continuous republican rule, the wage-earners are living so near to the hunger line that a few weeks' loss of employment brings the family face to face with want. The election comes in November just at the beginning of winter, with fuel to buy, house rent to pay and Warmer clothes to provide for the children, i The laboring man is under a constant duress. A laboring man who has but little, if-anything, laid up for the future, must have a strong heart to defy the expressed wish of his employer and cast his ballot for something which he believes to be permanently good, at the risk of passing through a period of idleness before that good can be secured. Four months elapse between the election and the inauguration four cold months. Be not too harsh in judging the man who bends to the lash and surrenders his citizenship when his conscience tells him that ho Bhould resist injustice and vote for better conditions. Be not too harsh in judgment even in the holiest wars there are deserters: even when free covernment is at stake, many have turned back rather than" endure the Jiardships and privations called for by the struggle. Let us rather be thankful that there were as many heroes among, the laboring men as there were even if there were not enough. , It must be remembered, too, that not all labor is organized, and the leaders of organized labor are not in touch with unorganized labor. On the contrary, the enemies of labor lost no opportunity to array the unorganized laboring men against the democratic party. There ought to be no feeling of antagonism between organized and unorganized labor for every advantage secured by organization for t hose who are members of the organization is soon enjoyed by those who are not members. When wages are raised or conditions i im proved, all labor ultimately enjoys the gain, although the burdens of securing the improvement falls upon the members ot the organization It is also true let it be admitted with a blush that there are those so prejudiced against laboring men as to be alienated from the democratic party by the very fact that our platform contained labor planks. Rome of the officials of the Manufacturers' Association, of which Mr. Van Cleave is president, boldly appealed to this prejudice and attempted to make the labor question paramouut in the minds of all those who look upon the laboring man as a sort of dangerous creature who, if not surrounded by actual bars, ought to be under constant surveillance. Then, too, it must not be overlooked that a large percentage of the population seems to be entirely indifferent to the laboring man's condition and to his demand for remedial legislation. The merchants, while they may not sympathize with the hostile attitude of some of the large employers, are not brought into sympa thetic connection with the employes engaged in wealth production. The clerks in the stores do not count themselves in the same class with the laboring- men; they do not regard their interests as identified with those of the toilers. The farm laborers also regard themselves as in a different class und they labor under conditions quite dissimilar from those which surround the factory worker or the miner. '.The farm laboi'er is employed by an individual rather than by a corporation. His per sonal acquaintance with his employer protects him from the injustice to whichthe 'employe of the corporation is subjected. The fanners do not as a rule understand the labor situation. Their business does not bring them into contact with the industrial life of the city, and the relations between themselves and their em ployes, instead of informing them on industrial conditions, ' is apt to give them a wrong impression as to the city laborer. Now, what is our party to do? Admitting that the laboring men are not as free as they should be to vote their sentiments; ad mitting that unorganized labor does not feel the sympathy that it should feel for organized labor; admitting that some of the larger corporate employers are distinctly hostile to labor as a class; and :;dmitlki that merchants, clerks, farm laborers and farjners do not thoroughly understand the legislative needs of the industrial laborers, what is the democratic party to do? Should it follow the. example of the republican party, and. form an alliance with the forces that seem to control politics? Should it cater to the corporate employers; should it encourage the indifferent by misrepresenting the attitude and the plea of the laboring men? The democratic party is a per manent party and an universal party.: "While free government ex ists and wherever it exists, there must be a democratic party a party in-sympathy with the common people and devoted to the wel fare of the common, people. If the party which calls itself the democratic party fails to meet the requirements of the situation, Homo Industries Worth Fostering A Series of Articles Relating to Lincoln Business Enterprises that Should Command Lincoln Support . THE CITIZENS RAILWAY COMPANY. The average American municipality is wonderfully pa tient sometimes to the point of.asininity. And Lincoln was for many yeais no exception to the rule. But Lin coln finally rebelled. For years it submitted, with many a murmur and many a useless protest, to a street ear ser vice that was abominable in the extreme. The powers that managed the street railway acted on the presump tion that it had a "lead pipe ciuch" and did not have to spend any of its receipts in extensions or betterments. As a result the growth of the city" was retarded and the recording angel kept working overtime keeping the ac counts of citizens who said thufir nd thought things hardly suitable for publication in a great rcligous jour nal like The Wageworker. , ' Finally, when forbearance had ceased, to- be a virtue, some longheaded and enterprising men got together and organized the Citizens Railway company. This company is essentially a "home institution," because its stockhold ers are, with one or two exceptions' Lincoln business men, and the one or two exceptions noted own so little stock that they do not, fortunately, count for much in the man agement of the company's affairs. There was very little of flourishing of trumpets about the organization of this company. The organizers were business men who have the habit of saying little and doing a whole lot. The old street railway company's managers living in New York, laughed the new company to scorn. "We've got the franchise, and we've got .the streets ; what can a new company do?" they asked. But the new company did not waste any time in ex planations. It secured a franchise long dormant and proceeded to build its lines. It went into territory long " neglected by the old company, and it built "for keeps." It took the people into its confidence, and it also shared the proceeds of its business with the people who own the . -streets 'and let the "company usethem. The city council acted promptly, because the couneilmen knew the temper of a long suffering public, and the new company was given every reasonable thing it asked. Those parts of the city that had been longest neglected were the first taken care of. Then the new company went gunning for busi ness in what might properly be ealled competitive terri tory. So successful has been its management, and so ad equate its service, that the Citizens Railway Company is now operating unwards of twelve miles, and is building additional miles all the time. The latest line to be opened by the Citizens' Railway Company is the College View line. The first car was run over the new line on Friday, November 13, the day and date showing that the company pays no attention to ancient superstitions, but goes right ahead doing husiness. This line operates on South Twelfth street to South street, east on South street to Twenty-seventh street, and thence in a southeasterly direction to College View, going across the crest of the divide without either cut or fill worthy of mention, and opening up a new residence section that will in a short time be the pride of Lincoln. Franchise and right of way have been secured for a line through University Place to Havclock, and work on this extension is being pushed with all possible speed. It ap pears that this enterprising company is determined to make Lincoln the hub of a lot of radiating spokes of in terurban rails. The New College View line is shorter by a mile and a half from Twelfth and 0 to College View than the Traction company line. The equipment of the Citizens Railway company is of the latest model and make. Everything that will add to the comfort and convenience of its patrons is given espe cial attention by the management. In brief, the managers, contrary to custom, are acting on the presumption that they owe something to the public ; that they are in duty (Continued on Page Five.) some other party will step in arid , become the champion of the masses. It is impossible for any party to become a successful rival with the republican party for plutocratic support. If the democratic party were to adopt a. platform entirely satisfactory to the bene ficiaries of privilege and favoritism, it would simply commit suicide, for. its record and the record of its leaders would make it impossible for the democratic party to secure any considerable portion of the plutocratic vote, while "an abandoning of the democratic position would alienate the rank and file of the party. The hope of our party, therefore, lies not in apostasy to demo cratic truth; not in the surrender of ideals; not in the desertion of the cause of the people, but in education. The laboring men should be strengthened to resist the tempta tion which is presented every four years, when they are asked tci accept the promise of temporary employment in exchange for the hope of better things. It is an old saying that "no one need be a slave who has learned how to die;" bondage is only possible because men prefer bondage to death. With equal truth it may be ; said that no one need suffer injustice in a free country who is willing to risk his all in the effort to secure justice. .-':') ';.- ' ' Unorganized labor should be taught that its interests' are in dissolubly linked with the interests of those, who through organiza tion, are seeking to improve the condition of all ' who toil. The employer should be taught that industrial peace and harmonious co operation between labor and capital are possible only, upon, a basis of justice and that it is short-sighted to deny , to the laboring man iegal protection in the enjoyment of his rights. It is time that the large corporate employers were forced to abandon the cant and hypocrisy in which they indulge when they express solicitude about the protection of non-union men from the union men. They are no more interested in non-union labor than they are in union labor. They used unorganized labor to defeat the demands of organized labor, but they are just as ready to oppress the unorganized work ing men as they are to oppress those who are organized. - They arrogate to themselves the championship. of law and order, and yet, they know that order can, better be observed by the enactment of remedial legislation than by the continuation of abuses that have grown up under the law or because of the absence of needed law. The democratic platform contained"T6ur 1 demands . for legisla tion asked for by the laboring men. First,, the creation of a depart ment of labor with a cabinet officer" representing the wage-earners. Is this revolutionary tWe-haTe ti department- of Commerce1 and Labor now, but commerce overshadows labor, and this department, without giving to labor the representation it deserves, is used as an answer to the laboring man's demand. Who would say that it would be dangerous to the country, or "that it would "work an in justice to any class to give tohe toilers a spokesman in the, presi dent's council? And yet this is one of the labor planks of our platform which was opposed by the large employers. Our platform demands an amendment of the anti-trust law ex-: eluding the labor organizations from the operation of that law': Is this revolutionary? It is only five years ago that this very demand was endorsed by a republican house of representatives in the fed eral congress. , When the Littlefield anti-trust bill was before the house, the democrats . introduced an amendment exempting labor organizations from the operation of the. law, and the amendment was adopted by a vote of two hundred sixty to eight. Must our. party be assailed now for urging an amendment which was so re cently endorsed by republican congressmen on a roll-call? , Another plank of our platform demands a limitation- of the writ of injunction so that the writ will not be issued in a labor dis pute unless the conditions are such as to justify an injunction even if there were no labor, dispute. Is this revolutionary? Should a labor dispute be in itself a cause for the issuance of a writ of in junction. Should a court of equity be permitted to issue an injunc tion to prevent a labor dispute or to end one already begun,' when no injury is threatened to life or to property? That plank in our platform cannpt be misunderstood, . and yet the republican leaders constantly endeavored to misrepresent it because they were not able to meet the proposition which the platform itself presentd. And what of. the fourth proposition, namely, the demand for a trial by jury in cases of indirect contempt? Is that revolutionary? Our platform express and specifically . endorsed a measure 'that passed a republican senate twelve years ago , by a vote so over- whelming that no roll-call was demanded. In fact, it is stated, by a senator who voted for the bill and who was instrumental in se curing its passage, that only one vote' was cast against it; .Are we to be condemned for endorsing a proposition so sound and element ary that twelve years ago republican senators dared not present an argument against it? . ? . And yet these are the planks' of our platform that were made the basis of an appeal to the prejudices of large employers and a basis of misrepresentation to those, not thoroughly . informed as to labor's needs. The democratic party seeks to build society upon an enduring basis; it seeks to promote peace and good will among those who must necessarily co-operate in thev production of the nation's wealth. Our party's platform, and our party's purpose are entirely in har mony with the spirit of the report of the President's Board of Arbitration in the anthracite coal strike, as set forth in the language of -Bishop Spaulding, one of the commission: "All through their investigations and deliberations the eon viction has grown upon them that if they could evoke and confirm a mora genuine spirit of good will a more conciliatory disposition in the operators and their employes in their relations toward one another they would do a better and more lasting work thanany which mere rulings, however wise or just; may accomplish. Fairness, forbearance, and good will are the prerequisites of peace and har monious co-operation in all the social and economic relations of men. The interests of employers and employes are reciprocal. Th success of industrial processes is the result of their co-operation, and their attitude toward one another, therefore, should be that of friends, (Continued on page four.)