cient to remove the necessity of anticipating the probable cost of probable requirements. It is a fact without the slightest qualification that any refusal to line up with the common foe is certain to elicit the charge of disregard for law and order, of having no personal, commercial, and professional honor and integrity, or patriotism, or that respect and esteem which clean industrious life receives from civic, social, political, and industrial recognition. And this is the voice, indeed the spirit and practice of the common foe, the tyranny and despotism of the men who control the New York Times, American Industries, the Octopian Trusts, corporations and great establishments as it orders and directs them, one and all, to oppose the industrial principles and purposes of the public's best friend, the people's defender, organized labor. It is indeed a time to look forward with serious thought and action to apprehend the next silent, subtle, secret movement of such a foe. There was a time when David M. Parry was the head of this foe. He and his immediate successor saw the defender grow stronger. Mr. Van Cleave lived to see his own immediate business associates deciding to support the wisdom of the people's friend, to realize that whatever might be its life principle it is in existence with a more vigorous and sturdy growth. Narrowing down the responsibility for the high cost of living, the disorder in the salary, wage earning and profit-producing world, and the misery, misfortune, and depression throughout the country and among the people, the tracings find the poor man and the little rich, the small merchant, manufacturer, salary and wage masses slowly but surely lining up with organized labor against the foe. If there had been a general advance of salaries and wages keeping step alongside the upward cost of living, there would have been fewer strikes, safer investments and no cause to raise profit above the normal. The profit that has been derived by the raising has in itself been greater than the total cost of labor, business and the people occasioned by strikes which have occurred in the last twenty-seven months, a statement clearly supported by reports, carefully gathered by the Government for its branches and for Congressional committees. As conditions arose and continued to expand, it would have been better for the general good had salaries and wages been raised and prices held stationary, as then there would have been less unpreparedness, less apprehension, and a stronger tone of peace and prosperity over the industrial world. The fuse, the bomb, the dynamite stick are blots upon civilization, but they never can be erased by the blacker blot of human slavery. We had a war in this country that lifted the chains of servile toil from the human-black in skin, but white in soul. When the human being-especially the creature clear in blood, clean in character, white with honor, bright in intellectuality, skilled in mechanical life and sturdy and steady in industry-is compelled to be as a begging beast of burden, then have we a blot upon civilization-that blacker curse, industrial servility. The tidal wave of deeper souls Into our inmost being rolls, And lifts us unawares Out of all meaner cares. -Longfellow. TRADE EDITORIAL. By SAMUEL GOMPERS. One stirring truth relative to trade unionism sinks deeper and deeper into the working-class observer's mind with time and experience. That truth begins to make its impressions when he sees the direct effectiveness of his union. With a knowl edge of the results of that effectiveness, gained through a quickened keenness of perception, the mind of the union member becomes more and more open to conviction through the daily practical workings of his union as compared with movements based mostly on mere faith or misty theories. THE HOPE. When a trade unionist, in association with his fellow-workers, cuts down the number of hours he must work in a day for a given wage, he feels sensible of having accomplished something tangible. He has thereby indeed often accomplished much more than he is aware at the moment. He learns in time that by participation in that act he has developed self-confidence, a better feeling toward his shopmates, a firmer hope for the future, an acquaintance with the common needs and possible attain ments of all the people of his calling, and, as his mental horizon widens, he sees that his own craft has its part in the work of a great practical labor movement. All this to him is educative. The numerous lesser truths of trade unionism become united in one comprehensive truth. This is that the trade union is doing a great, needed work now. It is necessarily preliminary to further social work. Men may philosophize on the promised developments of society, may speculate as to the finalities of social evolution; they may hotly denounce society's present wrongs," may upbraid the men they hold as the workers' oppressors; they may organize for many purposes associated with an expression of social wrongs, may cry out that they ought to have rights which unjust laws withhold from them-all this may engage their time, their energies, their contributions in hard-earned dimes or dollars; but too often persons so engaged find that in thus talking and agitating they have only trudged and toiled around and around in a narrow circle, like the ox in the old-fashioned bark mill, with only enough given them by their master as reward for their labor, to keep them going, like the ox. The day, however, they clearly see that their labor may at once, by their own action, be controlled collectively, and they proceed to so control it, they change the current of their thought; they descend from the clouds of vain hopes and doubtful speculations; they emerge from the shadows of mere sentiment and of indefinite hope and come out into the clear, open plain of cold, hard fact. The real, material circumstances of life touch us at the present time. We are hungry now; poorly housed now; poorly clothed now; in trouble from over-work and under-pay now. And the time to study the mastery of these troubles is now. The great, stirring, irremovable, convincing truth of trade unionism is, then, its effectiveness, right at hand. That effectiveness stands as a firm foundation for things better and better. A hundred times we have said it, and we say it again, that trade unionism contains within itself the potentialities of working-class regeneration. It is practical democracy; it affords within itself daily object lessons in ideal justice; it breathes into the working classes the spirit of unity; it provides a field for noble comradeship, for deeds of loyalty, for self-sacrifice beneficial to one's fellow-workers. In contending for the political and economic rights of its members, the trade union teaches those rights to the entire working class. And on a knowledge of those rights, society will establish its future development. Fellow-workers, when in one of your pessimistic moods, you feel that your efforts are not speedily successful, that improvement comes slowly, that poverty and deprivation of opportunity has been too long your fate, that combination of wage-workers is at times and for the moment fruitlessat such moments of depression, cast about in your mind to discover in its faithful records what human institution has really come to your aid, has checked your tyrannical employer, has put cash in your pocket, has actually done you service, and, what is of the greatest importance, left you the more a man or woman, with higher self-respect and independence. If it has not been the trade union, little can be risked in saying you have not been helped at all as a wage worker by any human institution whatever. Take to heart, consequently, this fundamental truth as a wageworker. You have your choice. Stand alone and submit to whatever conditions your employers dictate, or unite with your shopmates, your fellowtradesmen, your fellow-workingmen, the men and women of the international trade union movement, to help yourself and the people of your class today, tomorrow, and tomorrow's tomorrow. WHERE THE It is plain that in the furious concerted attacks on trade unionists now being conducted throughout the country, its enemies have agreed that the most vulnerable point to be struck at by them is the labor leadership. The character of the men prominent in organized labor is to be assailed by every device possible -by insinuation or unsupported rumor, or through the assumption of truth in fictions as to perversions of leadership long ago disproved. The "irresponsible leader," the "hot-headed walking delegate," the "arbitrary chairman of the meeting," the "stifling of general opinion by the strike committee"-such derogatory phrases are plentiful not only in the news columns of the press but they are slipped into other forms of writing in such a way as to imply that all well-informed people know that their import is true. They are not true. How, in an association of men acting under equal rights can leadership continue otherwise than is determined by the mass? As a matter of fact, how is the "labor leader" usually developed? Who bosses him but his comrades? Why do they elect him? For what purpose is he put for the time being at their head? What do his fellowworkers expect from him? There is another set of questions. When the "labor leader”—a term more likely to be used by the enemies than the friends of organized labormakes a mistake, gets wrong, or fails in the duties assigned him in his union, where does the power exist to bring him to book? If the members do not end his career, where does the fault lie? Is the joint "labor leadership" a self-perpetuating oligarchy, or is it no more than the creation of constituencies? And what constituencies do, can they not undo? These questions answer themselves. The members of the unions know the replies to them. There's not a day in the year when the officials of every local or general union in the United States are not subjects of discussion among groups of the membership. Is Blank honest? Is he impartial in the chair? Is he competent to meet employers? Did he succeed in the last trade dispute? Are his ideas on trade unionism sound? To the members this last is a question that goes deep. All experienced trade unionists doubt the official who is too ready to compromise with employers. There is one concession that all old union men know an official ought not to make-if the union is to be preserved-the "open" (nonunion) shop. Because he will not make the concession, the employers select him as the target of their fire. That's the secret, in many a case, of employing-class criticism of the union leader. When he insists on the union shop, he becomes, with the designing employer, heartless, arrogant, offensive, tyrannical, and all the rest of it. It is true, the busy investigator with an animus may always find here and there a union member ready to talk against his official. But, then, is not that true in any party, church, or organization of any kind? Staunch and true union men know what their duty is when they are persuaded that there are good grounds for suspecting the integrity or capability of any official. It is, to look into the matter themselves, giving the man doubted a fair trial in their own minds first. Then, if they believe him unworthy of his position, before them lie the opportunities for righting the matter that exist in the most democratic organization of the purest character. Brothers, it is the enemy today who is shouting down your chosen representatives. Will you, in this crisis, play sheep and keep mum, or will you fall into a panic and deny your friends, or will each of you act the man's part and rally to the defense of your officials; in other words, to the defense of your union? "This is a good number," you say? Friend, why not read every number? THE The latest developments in "The McNamara Case" occurred at Indianapolis, Ind., when the Grand Jury presented indictments against Detective Burns and Detective Hossick for unlawfully and MCNAMARA by force taking McNamara out of that State. As time goes CASE (II). on and the people get to understand the facts in the terrible outrage committed against these imprisoned men, the indignation becomes keener, and former belief in the men's innocence ripens almost into positiveness. The physical taking of men from their liberty without a warrant of law or authority, and locking them up in the private residence of a policeman and keeping them in solitary confinement for nearly two weeks; and the atrocious "third degree" brutally applied to force so-called "confessions" have convinced the people that in just two utterances has Detective Burns spoken the truth. One was when he said: "I do not suppose if we had given time for the raising of all sorts of technicalities that WE SHOULD EVER HAVE GOT HIM (MCNAMARA) OUT OF THE STATE." And again when this same Burns declared to the newspaper men of New York that he might be put down on record as saying that "MANY PRIVATE DETECTIVES ARE THE BIGGEST LOT OF BLACKMAILING THIEVES THAT EVER WENT UNWHIPPED BY JUSTICE." Is it difficult to imagine Burns in his vanity looking in a mirror and portraying his own characteristics? Burns is a "private detective." Time will tell the tale, and in the meantime it is the duty of labor and all fair-minded people to bear in mind McNamara's declaration that HE IS INNOCENT OF ANY INFRACTION OF THE LAW IN WORD OR ACT; that he is confident that it WAS NOT ASKING TOO MUCH OF THE PUBLIC TO SUSPEND JUDGMENT IN THESE MATTERS UNTIL OPPORTUNITY FOR A FULL AND FAIR DEFENSE HAS BEEN AFFORDED. But of this, more anon. We must all apply ourselves to the conditions which exist and take advantage of every opportunity to aid in the establishment of the truth and for the thorough defense of the men against whom a great crime has been committed. * * From many sources in the ranks of labor has come the urgent request for the American Federation of Labor to take such action as circumstances may warrant in order that proper and adequate defense may be afforded the kidnapped labor men who are now incarcerated in Los Angeles; so that not only their innocence may be established before the courts, but also that the perpetrators of the outrageous kidnapping of these men may be prosecuted and punished, and to prevent a repetition of such proceedings in the future. The Executive Council of the American Federation of Labor, having these facts in mind, invited the executive councils of the Building Trades Department, the Metal Trades Department and the Union Label Trades Department to a conference in Washington, D. C., for the purpose of formulating such tentative plans as were found to be immediately necessary. The conference also had the benefit of the advice in consultation of Hon. Clarence S. Darrow, chief counsel retained in these cases, and it has been plainly made manifest, not only to the conference but to all right-thinking |