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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 1920)
THE BEE: OMAHA, WEDNESDAY. JANUARY' .28. 1920, Political Action of Labor Is in Hands of Old Parties; New Awakening Is Needed - Opposing Groups of Workers, Labor and Capitalists ; Both, Watching Signs Fitzpatrick and Gompers Represent Conflicting Ideas Mission of Labor Party Set Forth Greater Problem, Here Than in Europe. . - By RAY STANNARD BAKER. Article X. One striking product of me pres ent upheaval of industrial unrest is a new national labor party, born at a convention at Chicago last Novem ber. It is important to inquire, if we are to understand the present situation, just what this movement represents, who compose it, and how much it trreans. We know what a tremend ous power the labor party is becom-J wg in the politics of Gieat Britain; dojs this new movement presage a similar development in America? -' I attended the convention at Chi cago, as I aiso attended the conven tion of tht- British labor party in London, June, 1918.. at which v the widely heralded report upon recon structipn really thp declaration of the. new general oollcv of labor in -he cntish Isles' was adoDted. ' Several features of the convent! n at Chicago are worthy of note. In the first olace. the fact that it was held at Chicago is significant. Labor s more closely organized, more selt conscious, more advanced in its views, in Chicago than in any other American city. It was the first large city to nave a local labor party; m the last campaign (1919) it polled 36,000 votes for John Fitzpatrick for mayor while the-socialist candidate polled 28.000 votes. This, then, was the friendliest atmosphere for such a convention that could be found in the country. , " ' Rnn From Floor.' It was an unexpectedly spontane ous convention. It was run from the floor and not from the rostrum. It was not cut and dried. I think-the number of. delegates who ' came (there were about 900 from 35 states) rather, surprised the. pro moters or tne enterprise, a great many false reports were dissemi jiated about it; that the convention 'split hopelessly on .several issues, one of them prohibition, and that the delegates from the Farmers' Non- ?ier at their head, had withdrawn. As a matter of fact, it was an un usually harmonious convention which did the work it set out to do, and Governor Frazier did not with draw because he was never there, and the Nonpartisan Uague fraternal delegates remained to the end. The new party was organized and is pre paring to place candidates in nomi nation not -only for national offices at the election next fall, but also to paigns as possible. Split on Political Action. . Two warring attitudes toward po litical action have lone existed in the ranks of organized, labor in Amer ica. One of them is represented by the .conservative wing of the A. F. vt L headed by Gompers. : Gdmpers has always fought independent po litical action or a distinct labor party. " He has been for the policy of working just as the corporations have alwavs worked, as the Anti- Saloon league and the Woman Suf frage association have worked with in the old parties, or by lobbying in congress or legislatures, or, by sup porting this or that candidate upon a .declaration of , his views concern ing certain demands of labor. He lias never even.been as, advanced in his method as the Farmers' Non partisan league of the, northwest, which accepts - the old two party system, but tries to seize control of one of them from within as it has succeeded in doing in North Da kota. ' , GompetS's policy for years was at tacked by the radical wing of the A. F. of L., led chiefly, by the social ists, aVid once or twice he was near ly unseated. The war smashed the bld socialist party, but by no means altered the views of the left wing of xlabor regarding political action. And the convention at Chicago was in reality the independent expression of . these radicals. Some 61 its chief leaders" like Max Hayes and Dun can McDonald, president of the Illi nois coal" miners,, were formerly members of. the socialist party. Its chief leadef, John Fitzpatrick, rep resents thc'Lhicago crowd" which, while maintaining their position within the A F. of Ware more or less openly inrevolt against Gom pers and many of his pplicies. The Chicago corjvention was counten anced by Gompers in .no way, nor did "anjMnational union send official delegates; the convention was a rank-and-file movement made up of delegates from local or central or ganizations; in 35 states. " t Fitzpatrick Typified Convention The spirit of the convention was tather well typified by the- person- amy OI US principal iMuci.juuu Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick was born in Ireland, is a horse-shoer by trade, worked as a youth in the packing Irouses at Chicago. He is a Catholic and a total abstainer. .He has been for years active in the labor-movement, and president of the Chicago Federation of Labor.. He is a powerful built man, smokes a pipe continually, is a whirlwind orator, and much trusted by his following. He is an excellent organizer; but he represents a type of labot leader that, in passing the herce'Iy oratori cal, ' denunciatory, heavy-fighting type, which came up doing great service in the hurly-burly of the early days of labor organization. He knows well the strategy of strikes, but has done no real constructive or political thinking; has no states manlike clan. - His argument for a new labor par ty is based upon the conviction which is shared by a" very large and growing proportion of . organized labor that the two old parties are controlled , by capitalists and Wall treet, that the courts are used by employers' interests to defend the aspirations of labor, that many pub lic offices are filled by "labor-haters;" and there being no justice or right to be expected from either of the old parties, the only alternative is for labor to have its own political organization. A Fitzpatrick's speech at the' convention was described by one of the delegates as the "groan of the other speeches it was shot through with a spirit of revolt; and there was ammunition a-plenty at hand for every speaker. They denounced the government . miunc' tion against t the miners; the threatened anti-strike provisions in the Cummins railroad bill; the de portation; the treatment of strikers in the steel centers; the profiteers, Mission of Party. The mission of the Labor party was thus set tortn jn tne resolutions: "The Labor party was organized to assemble into a new majority the men and women who work but who have, been scattered as helpless minorities in the old parties under the leadership of the confidence men of big business. "These confidence men, by ex ploitation, rob the workers of the product of their activities and use the huge profits thus gained to fin ance the old . political parties, by which they gain and keep control of the government They withhold money from the worker and use it to make him pay for his own defeat "Labor is aware of this, and throughout the world the workers have reached the determination to reverse this condition and take con trol of their own lives and their own government "In this country this can and must be achieved peacefully by the workers uniting and marching in un broken phalanx to the ballot boxes. It is the mission of the Labor party to bring this to pass." But when the delegates who, like Fitzpatrick, expressed their sense of the injustices and wrongs that la bor suffers came to the forging of a platform a constructive policy they exhibited the greatest possible contrast to the British Labor party. Nothing had been thought out or worked out. Instead of a careful, studied plan of social reconstruc tion such as British labor adopted, their platform represents a miscel laneous collection of remedies sug gested more , or less extemporan eously, by various delegates. Ap parently they put in every reform that any delegate wanted from the nationalization of unused land to the abolition of the United States senatet Other provisions aim to reach the radical farmers' group, for example: Credits for Farmers. Credits for farmers "as cheap and available as those afforded any oth er legitimate and responsible in dustry." Women's organizations are favor ed in these planks: Single standards of morals in en forcement of laws affecting divorce and the sexual relation, with age of consent for both sexes at 18 years. A wage based upon the cost of living and the right to maintain a family in health and comfort with out labor of mothers and children." iTOnibition of labor, or children under 16 years. Among the other planks are lega cies from the old . r'opulist party, the "Bull Moose" movement, and planks aimed to satisfy the more advanced Socialists and other radi cal groups, the municipal reformers and the trade unionists, as follows: Repeal of the espionage act. Freedom of speech and assem blage. A league of nations based upon the 14 points. . 1 "All basic industries which re quire large scale production and are in reality upon a non-competitive basis" railways,' mines and forests to be nationalized. Endorsement of the Plumb plan for railroad control. Heavier income and inheritance taxes. ."The i banking business "to be placed in the hands of the federal government." An executive budget in congress. Abolition or curtailment of the su preme court's right of veto over na tional legislation. Popular election of federal judges. Guaranteed right of workers to bargain collectively. State or federal aid to provide land and homes for residents of town and country. To Protect Workers. Workers to have a real voice in the management of business and industry. Abolition of detective and strike breaking agencies. ' Protection of workers from the rnmnetition of "convict-made, sweat shop or child labor products or goods brought from otner countries that are prduced by cheap labor for h nurnose of under-selling the A maximum working day of eight hour and a 44-hour week. Abolition of unemployment by va- methods. Continuation of war-time soldiers' and ailors insurance and the exten sion of such life insurance by the . i . r t - . 1 ! crni'f rnmcnt. witnour Dront. 10 arin and women. All government work to be done directly, not by contract Union label on all federal, itate or local eovernment supplies and Full oolitical rights for railroad and civil service employes. Home rule for municipalities. Amendments to the United States constitution to be submitted to the direct vote of the people. Initiative, referendum and recall Here are 32 planks a mixture of political, economic, social ana nnan cial reforms representing big and little ideas from every source, and intended to attract all groups of re volt No Large Vision Revealed. , And yet, although it welcomes to its ranks workers of both "hand and brain" in support of the "principles of political, social and industrial de mocracy," it reveals no large vision as do both the British and French labor movements of broad owblic and national needs. Take the single matter of large and efficient produc tion, which is today tor tne publics of all nations becoming a crying is sue. In both England and France immediate and large production is beinsr recognized as truly the con cern of labor as well as of other ele ments of the population. Here, for example, are some sentences from the resolutions of the British labor partv: - , What the nation needs is un doubtedly a great bound onwards in its aggregate productivity. But this cannot be secured merely by press ing the manual workers to more strenuous toil, or even by encourag ing the 'captains of industry' to a less wasteful organization of their enterprises on a profit-making basis. What the labor party looks to is a genuinely scientific reorganization of the nation's industry, the equit able sharing of the proceeds among all who participate in any capacity and the adoption of those systems and methods of administration and control that may be found best to promote, not profiteering, but th public interest. The French confederation of labor at its congress at Lyons in Septem ber also shows that it sees .clearly the need of greater production, es pecially since the war. Its resolu tion says: "To continue production in order to satisfy the heeds of men, to in crease it in order to put at the dis posal of all a greater total of con sumable wealth, these are questions to which the world situation result ing from the war has given a formid able importance. The labor movement affirms that it should and can answer to this ap peal, but it also declares that any ef fort in this direction is irreconcilable with the maintenance of the-present regime. - That appeal to labor to which all laborers are ready to re spond must henceforth rest upon the complete recognition of the rights of labor." Problem Greater Here. It is probably unfair to compare this young labor party with the much older and more experiences movements of Europe; but we must try to see exactly where it stands. It faces a much greater problem, in other ways, than the British labor party. Here the new party has not even the support of its own group, as in England, for the powerful fol lowing of Gompers is in opposition. It thus represents only one wing of the labor movement America is also a huge country with far more diversified interests than any European country. . Here the agricultural and small-town vote is still" enormously powerful; and the new labor party has not yet con vinced even the radical farmers of the northwest. While it expresses the old revolts, it lacks as yet any flaming' creative vision or mora! Appeal which, in: America particu larly, is essential to any strong popular movement. And yet' it is plain to see that American, workers and American farmers arc rapidly awakening to political consciousness; to the ne cessity of some political expression to supplement the direct economic pressure of labor and co-operative organizations and strikes. No one who talks with labor leaders or at tends labor gatherings can avoid this conclusion. "They all agree to it, but differ as to method. The fu ture is at present largely in the hands of the old parties and the old party leadership. If the old parties offer programmes of reconstruction which convince the labor groups as being genuine and honest, they may hold for some time the great masses of organized laber now wavering between the conservative policy of m w t i i iris rivM-for r saaaaaaaaaaaaai mM Cough Drop 1 .Saaa (ana. IfcaBar. I AB BflWiMWM M eooshinf who tta Mow awMw-f ill srOTptsaMof action that Ul-vtn.OtatBMBt aaa a- Jll mot to the. tau mod d fjmm pemUMr effects. Publia 2lf M "P"? mod tnw taxi Hi Tr of Healing. Head and Chest Colds and Sore Throat Quickly. Effectively and Pleasantly Relieved The active principle of the eucalyptus tree ("the tree of healing") has been incorporated in a remarkably effective remedy known as ULYPTO OINTMENT . Subbed npoo the throet, Ulypto Ointment pots an end to throat soreness with a speed and surety that is astonishing; to those who have not learned of the almost magical promptness with which eucalyptus deals with inflammations. Applied to a the chest, bead or nose, the heaviest colas are qtticklybrokenapand dissipated, congestions and Ulypto Ointment cannot abide together. One test Uenoagbtoconvince anyone. And It' pleasant to use ; cannot blister or hurt A Fee to Pain. Pain usually means congestion n inflamed condition. Since Ulypto breaks bp conges tions and soothes away inflammations, just as the sun evaporates water, Ulypto is the logical pain killer. . Ulypto Ointment should be la every borne, ready for the first cold, sprain or bruise. All druggists save it is 2oc ana sue jars. L U E.in mm Ml m Fa I MM. aw MacMffiaa " R.fv&ll CbanicalCsa If Ifil Falls City f I Nabraafa ' Vj )J Gompers and the radical new party idea ot Fitzpatrick. For the whole labor movement in America is now, as never before, in a plastic or fluid 'state. If the old parties, on the other hand, exhibit no vision of the needs of the new a: r .i , nine, or h uiey maKe insincere pro posalsas they have so often done in the past to catch the labor vote, then the drift to a new radical party movement iwnether Cased upon this inicago jaoor party or some other) win oe swiit ana sure, ine war has made a profound impression upon labor here and in Europe and old party leaders who think that taoor is going DacK quietly to its old-Jime status are doomed to dis appointment. As the irreconcilable! view the situation, the democrats cannot af- ft. . f . . iora to agree to ratincation uoon mere verbal changes, considering tne stand they have taken and the announcements of the president against the acceptance of the Lodge reservations. See Death of Treaty. Unless therefore, "the ground is cut from under the democrats" by an announcement of the allied gov ernments ot their willingness to take the treaty with the Lodge res ervations the irreconcilables believe the treaty cannot be resurrected. For the allied governments offi cially to express theirs willingness to accept the ratification of the treaty by the United States with the reservations only slightly amended would be a sad blow to President Wilson. It would put him in the position of having misunderstood the attitude of the allies and, through his misunderstanding, misrepresent ing the situation to the American people on his speaking tour of the country to urge ratification. It may be that consideration for President Wilson's feelings may in duce the allies to withhold the statement which, it is understood here, Lord Grey returned home pre pared to advise. But on the other hand, they may conclude that they cannot afford to put consideration for President Wilson's . feelings above their own interests. Their own interests unquestionably are be ing seriously affected by the failure 1 of the United States to ratify treaty. . Many Matter Pend. , . Many important matters . which ought to be taken up without delay are being held up pending the de cision as to the participation or non par ticips tion of the United States. One of these important, matters is the appointment of the commission for governing the Saar district The delay over the naming of this com mission is irritating to the French. There was much interest here to day in the cable announcement that ifi his communication a fortnight ago stating the conditions under which he would agree to convoke the first meeting of the council of the league of nations, President Wilson had . formulated demands which were regarded by the allies as tieing their hands. If the president has imposed upon them any conditions which they deem to be hampering, the allies may feel that some announcement by them which will bring a definite decision on the treaty from the sen ate may be necessary. Mayor Smith Won't Back Hoover Until He Explains Views Mayor Smith is not realty to in dorse Herbert Hoover as a presi dential candidate. He believes Mr. Hoover should announce himself on public questions oetore being seriously considered. ' la reply to a query from the New York Worlff the mayor yesterday addressed the following telegram: "Ihe world, New York City. N. Y. Before Herbert C Hoover is endorsed as presidential candidate, the public should be advised of his position on ratification of treaty with league of nations covenant: his views concerning ownership or control of railroads; his attitude to ward labor, and his views on proper method of settling labor controver sies and other vital matters affect ing the welfare and prosperity of our country. Ed. P. Smith, Mayor of i Omaha, Neb." CONANT HOTEL BUILDING SIXTEENTH STREET An U nnsual Showing of - Mid-SeasQ Very Specially Priced at , : $7.50 $0.95 $C.OO batin and Straw combinations, all straw, Ba tavia cloth and crepe combinations in a variety of styles, including sailors, chin chins, tricbrns, draped and gold-stitched effects. MILLINERY SECTION SECOND FLOOR NEW YORK SIOUX CITY LINCOLN OMAHA . CONANT HOTEL , BUILDING SIXTEENTH STREET) A For Wednesday Phenomenal Money Savm Sale of SSES GO ATS and ORB Extreme Reductions ! Garments Priced For Quick Disposal Regardless of Cost Further Reductions in WINTER COATS In Three Great Specials ...... ', r " Plain and Fur-Collared Models Values $19. 5Q to $35.00 $14 95 Velours Kerseys Meltons Mixtures Fur-Trimmed and Distinctive Models Values $35.00 to $49.50 $2295 Silver tones Duotones Velours 'M ixtures Fur-Trimmed and Plain Tailored Models Values $49.50 to $69.50 $3295 Tinseltones Velours B olivias Plushes DRESSES Radically Reduced for. Glearame Smart Models in Variety of Styles , Serges Values up to $35.00 $1050 17 Satins . Taffetas Braided, Embroidered and Beaded Models Values up to, $45.00 $? 1,75 Velours Tricotines Satins 'Serges Very Chic Models in Becoming Styles Values up to $59.50 SOQ75 Tricotines Georgettes .Taffetas Velvets COAT AND DRESS SECTIONS SECOND FLOOR