The Oklahoma Labor Unit (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 2, No. 21, Ed. 1 Saturday, November 12, 1910 Page: 4 of 8
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OKLAHOMA LABOR UNIT
\ clean conservative, lnd*p«iident,
non i>nrtiMHn n*wip«p r for
th huuie
Published every Saturday by the
I. \H"H i NIT 1*1 "• <*.
501-2-3 State National Bank Bldg.
Phone Plack 3114
(Addrean all communications to The
Oklahoma Labor Unit.)
Kutered at the Oklahoma City, Okla-
poatofflca as second class mall,
under the act of March 3, 1S7J
BUBHOUIPTION (payable In advance !
y* ar |1.00
tfMx months 60
Three months *s
Heffular contract and flat raten for ad-
vertlsliiK <" application.
#
,> 0 PH/N?;
'I COUNCIL
I ABFL
• M.I.I I' *. W I
IIOW A IIII >1. I tM.KII
*1 nuiiar r
THE ELECTION.
Returns from Tuesday's elect lou
are too incomplete to furnish a basis
for intelligent analysis, and it is
probable several days will elapse be-
fore iMunte fifursi will obtain
able. However, thu data already in
hand Indicates clearly thai the Dm
ocrats and progressive Republicans
have made inroads on stand put Re-
publlcan territory. It is useless to
deny that the result is not significant,
albeit not unexpected. Its chief sig-
nificance, however, does not He in
the fact that Democrats or Kepublle-
ans gained victories. The conditions
of the campaign were not such that,
in the event of winning, either party
••ould fairly claim its victories to have
been rewards of merit. Chief satis
faction in the result, considering the
matter from the standpoint of the
people, ib to be derived from the
fact that the Independent voter has
asserted himself In an unmistakable
manner. He luta spoken against the
enemies of his own welfare; in that
lies Justification for self-congratula-
tion.
It is difficult to believe that any-
one Is surprised by the result. Those
who observed the change in party
lines between the fifty-ninth and six-
tieth congresses and between the six-
tieth and sixty-first congresses could
not have failed to anticipate the out-
come of Tuesday's balloting, even if
they had been denied all other
sources of Information. Republican
strength in the house of representa-
tives of the fifty-ninth congress de-
creased in the sixtieth congress from
two hundred ind titty to two httn*
dred and twenty-two votes, and Dem-
ocratic strength Increased from one
hundred and thirty-six votes to one
hundred and sixty-four. Much of this
deflection was in states that com-
monly are strongly Republican. The
Democrats gained four representa-
tives in Illinois, one in Iowa, two in
Indiana, one in Minnesota, live in
Missouri, one in Nebraska, three in
New Jersey, one in New York, one in
North Carolina, four in Ohio, six in
Pennsylvania and one In Wisconsin.
Their only loss was of two congres-
sional districts in Kentucky. All that
time, attention was directed to the
significance of the Republican deser-
tions, and emphasis was again laid ,
on the importance of the deflections
when it appeared that the Democrats
in the sixty-first congress had made
still further gains, increasing their
numerical strength in the house of
representatives from one hundred and
sixty four to one hundred and seventy-
two and cutting the Republican ma-
jority to forty-seven votes. The re-
sult Tuesday was plainly but a log-
ical development of unrest which
manifested Itself several years ago
and that has since been rapidly de-
veloping.
The American people arc a prog-
ressive people, and the American vot-
er has developed beyond the point
where he can be voted as a member
of a herd. He Is no longer Influenced
unless perhaps negatively, by appeals
to party loyalty. On the contrary, he
has come to realize that his loyalty
to party, his willingness to vote blind-
ly year after year for the nominee
of a certain political organization, is
profitable only to a limited number of
men.
The American citizen has begun to
vote for his own interests.
Do men gather cantat^npes of cactus
or sweet potatoes of sage brush? No
more can good, flourishing homes be
gathered of low wages anil long hours
As wages rise the home rises. He who
aims to lower the wages of the work-
ers is an enemy of the American home.
Stories are told of battles in which
chasms have been filled up with bodies
of the dead, over which finally other
brave men passed to victory, that la-
bor is able to lift Its head in protest
and aspiration today is due to the sac-
rifices of many who fell in the struggle
apparently in defeat.
VOTING MACHINES.
The adoption of u b.vau-iii for con-
ducting elections that would insure
absolute honesty in returning the vote
of the people would constitute a no-
table triumph in the progress of free
government. Frauds in elections are
uowaduys no longer confined to bal
lot box stuffing. The old system of
padding the registration list which
list was devised as a means of puri-
fying the ballot, is not now useful
except as It enhances the opportunity
of increasing the fraudulent returns
for or against some pro|>osition or
candidate. The effective work of the
modern election corruptlonist is done
In the voting places after the polls
have closed. The question before the
election officials then becomes one of
"How many votes shall we give
them?" rather than one of "How many
votes did they gen?" it is an exceed-
ingly simply matter to falsify the fig-
ures, the election officers finding It
necessary only to make returns that
do not show fraud on their face. They
must not, of course, return more
votes than were actually cast, and
they must give the man or measure
tn whom or i« which they are op-
posed enough votes in each voting
district to prevent the detection of
fraud through the comparison of notes
by limited numbers of citizens; In
other words, the chief point to he
taken Into consideration Is not to be
loo hoggish.
It appears from this statement of
facts that it is equally as important
to the public to insure an honest
count of the votes as it is to taku
steps to prevent Illegal voting. The
courts have made the necessity the
greater in some stales by ruling
against the legality of opening ballot
boxes to Investigate alleged fraud.
This hus tended to pave the way for
election thieves and to secure them
against detection, even where it Is
fairly well established that the figures
returned do not correspond by many
hundreds with the actual vote cast for
or against a given proposition or can-
didate.
There is not now In force any sys-
tem of voting or of vote counting that
Is so well adapted to the prevention
of fraud as the machine system. The
voting machine not only reeorfis the
ballot exactly as it is cast, but it to
tals the votes for each candidate with ,
the accuracy of the adding machine,
it leaves to fallible and corruptible
man only the duty of seeing that noj
one is permitted to operate the ma-
chine who Is not entitled to th> so,
and to see that each voter opt4rates
It but once. The chief obstacle in
the way of the general adoption of
the machine system is that the prop-
osition to change the voting plan of-
ten has to be submitted to the voters
for approval—and the corruptlonists
count the votes.
Since Tuesday the frost has been on
something besides the pumpkin.
Everybody "tried" to vote early. |
The "blind tiger" has not as yet
been caged.
Vou must judge Oklahomans by the
way they vote, not by the way they
say they will vote.
Many politicians who have been on
the stump for several weeks are now
up a stump.
He who is doing something for his
fellow-man is showing his right to live
and enjoy earthly hapiness.
Now that some of the candidates
have "come back" all the "down and
outers" can take hope and bide their
time.
It's all right to talk of going back
to the simple life that Adam and Eve
led, but how are some of us golug to
make a living if we do.
The candidate who shook your hand —
Gave you a welcome great and grand.
From this glad greeting he now has
flit;
He's changed the play to the frozen
mitt.
In New York a lunacy commission
is wrestling with the problem of
whether or not a man gave evidence
of Insanity by reading his yellow jour-
nal upside down. Probably not; the
chances are that he was only trying
to get at the truth of the article he
was reading. .
Who is the enemy of the non-union
worker—the union worker who is
striving for higher wages and shorter
hours of labor, or the employer who
pats him on the back and encourages
him to assert his independence by ac-
cepting lower wages and longer hours?
Whose program promises him the
more personal benefit? Which indi-
vidual does intelligence indicate as the
logical enemy?
Reciprocity is everything in this
world. In other words, give and take
is the principle of modern civilization.
Neither give without taking or take
without giving, it Is a poor rule that
won't work both ways. The toller Is en-
titled to a living just as much as the
millionaire. One could not get along
without the other. Therefore, be sen-
sible. Equalize things on both sides
as far as possible. Live and let live.
That's the idea.—Baltimore Labor
Leader.
It la reported that Arizona will prob-
ably adopt the recall. It Is evident
that she would simply be missing an
opportunity to protect herself if she
should not.
All who heard Kate Barnard at the
Auditorium in her pre-election address
wondered why she couldn't make her
I s behave.
Herr de Bourbon is in this country
from Spain. He should come to Okla-
homa and start a joint.
Let's change their names to "Won-
der How" Taft, "Funny Jim" Sherman
and "Tedious Teddy."
Bryan, the loser, won this time, but
he had to pick a republican in order
to get by.
In the next house, Uncle Joe's num-
ber will be 23.
Those who are untrue to their or-
ganizations are traitors to themselves.
The Independent voters did the work.
MINIMUM AND MAXIMUM
There Is much misunderstanding on
the part of many people regarding the
real object of labor unions in fixing a
stated sum for which their members
shall labor.
Many believe that the unions in ad-
dition to fixing a minimum also estab-
lish a maximum wage, and this is
where they fail to see the justice of
their actions.
A conversation overheard this week
between a prominent real estate man
and a local trade unionist prompts us
to briefly state a part of the conver
sat ion.
The real estate man spoke of his
friendliness to labor, and how he be-
lieved It was a good thing for laboring
men to organize, but that there were
many things the unions practiced to
which he took exceptions, and referred
In particular to the equalization of
wages for good and poor workmen in
wage schedules, and their persistency '
in having their wishes carried out.
He believed it was wrong to expect
an employer to pay a poor workman as
much wages as he was obliged to pay
to a good workman, and for that rea-
son he had never been able to sanc-
tion the act8 of labor unions, and he
further stated that he knew person-
ally of many business men who had
little use for labor unions because of
this particular reason.
Mr. Trade Unionist listened atten-
tively throughout the exceptions taken
by the real estate man, and in a few
words convinced hi in that he and his 1
friends were wrong. He told him that
the unions established no maximum in
their wage scales. As a rule, he said,
the minimum is fixed at what is be-
lieved will bring the man a fair re-
muneration for Ills services, and suffi-
cient money with which to care for
those dependent upon him. He ex-
plained that the amount of work that
a man should do in return for his
wages was not based on the capacity
of the "swift," but rather on that of
the average man, and that there was
absolutely no objection on the part of
the union for an employer to pay his
"swifts" just as much money as he
wished to.
"The union," he said, "does not fix
a maximum and it is entirely up to j
the employer If he wishes to pay some
of his men more than the schedule of
wages demanded by the union."
The real estate man expressed much
satisfaction over the explanation, and
confessed that he had learned some-
thing that would surely make him feel
different towards labor unions In the
future.
There are many people who, while
having much sympathy for the cause,
however, draw the line on many things
because they don't understand. They
will, unfortunately, take for granted
what they read and hear from those
who are antagonistic to labor, and un-
til they have been convinced as In the
above instance, their friendliness or
sympathy for the cause amounts to
little.
There lies the necessity for promin-
ent labor men to become alflliated
with business and economic organiza-
tions. The opportunities presented p
the meetings of these organizations
are inestimable and the sooner labor
| men take advantage of these opportu-
I nities the sooner will the aims and ob-
i jects of the movement be better under-
I stood by the public.
Gov. Haskell has again roped Roy
Stafford. Roy had gotten so far off
ths reservation lasl week, when he
purposely carried republican advertis-
ing knocking the governor, that it be-
came necessary for him to be roped
and forced to apologize for his com-
plete change of tune. No doubt now
but that he is tame enough to eat right
out of the governor's hand. The Ok-
lahoman is becoming dangerously in-
dependent, but there's money in it.
The Actress and
The Spotlight
The actress craves the spotlght as she craves success-
She knows that powerful Ugh focused upon her,
isola'es her personality and concentrates attention up-
on her beauty and charm.
Every retail business needs the spotlight of Electric
Show Window Lighting to concentrate public attention
upon the merit of of its merchandise.
Not all electric window lighting is what it should be,
because sufficient care has not been given to the in-
stallation.
We have illuminating experts, competent and glad to
assist you as part of the service.
The Pointer makes apologies for car-
rying political advertising, after beg
ging and pleading and even advertis-
ing for it lor several months. And
Roy Stafford, he who speaks right out
In meeting and says powerfully ugly
things about the grand old party and
the corrupt ways it has fallen into, newspaper offices of Denver would be
makes public apology on the first page blown up, like the Los Angeles Times
of the democratic Oklahoman for car- building, before the pressmen would
rying political advertising, and on the give In.
same page boosts republican Dick Mor- immediately the enemies of organ-
gan for congress. I hey remind the j7e(j jai,or took the matter up and used
Telephone
Oklahoma
PBX 14
Gas & Electric Co.
writer of one of Private John Allen's
the Associated Press report as a basis
stories of the negro girl, for there is for fur^er bitter attacks upon trades
no doubt but what both of these great unjons> ,\o thoughtful member of the
purveyors of reliable news have ac-
tually been '"mint." We are anxious-
ly waiting for the Times. Next.
trades union believed that Kreitler
had been guilty of any such anarchis-
tic utterance. Organizations like the
Printing Pressmen and Assistants are
not given to putting in places of auth-
ority or responsibility men who would*
be so silly or so anarchistic as to give
The truth has now come out, as us-
ual the daily papers that printed the
original lie under glaring headlines
content themselves with giving the
truth in a most inconspicuous way.
u" The facts are these:
And now the Garment Workers of
Chicago are struggling with the big
manufacturers for improved eondi-
tions. Judging from the severe strug- to"8'uch sentiments"
gle which the unions are experiencing!
with the police, who have clubbed
union men and women, as well as
sympathizers, on the merest pre-
tense, the manufacturers have a big
pull with the police, and with this aid
believe they will be able to break t"
strike. But the strikers are acquaint-1 In a conversation between Kreitler
ed with the troubles experienced by and one oi the struck employers the
the New York. Philadelphia and Baltl- employer said:
more strikers, and are prepared to | "I would see the newspaper build-
fight it. out until victory is theirs, as ing blown up before I would settle
was the case in the other cities with the Pressmen's Union."
named. jn jjjg address to the Denver Trades
■ ~ land Labor Assembly Kreitler quoted
To whom does the average business |j8 utterance of the employer. That
and professional man look for sup- wa8 ajj Associated Press at-
port? Is it not to the working man. tributed the language of an incendiary
What is it that governs the expendi- employer to the representative of un-
Continental
Casualty Compan}7
CHICAGO
H. G. B. Alrxandrr, President
The GREATEST
Health and Accident Insurance Company
in the World
Only One Operating in Every State
and Territory
i
?
rUTl _
STANDARD ENG. GO.
rET
5 W.GRAND AVE. j
Bast Equipped Plarvt f
irx the <5o\jtkvue.st
OKLAHOMA CITY j
'EVERY TIME the CLOCK TICKS
Every Working Hour
IT PAYS
A Dime to Somebody, Somewhere
Who is Sick or Hurt"
MORE THAN $1,000,000 A YFAR
Dr. ALBERT G.DENNIS
CHIROPRACTIC
Treats all Acute and Chronic Disorders
Without Medicine.
Calls Answered Promptly. 904 W Grand
tures of the working man? Is it not
his income? If his wages are small, the
lonism.
In this manner are
the enemies of
stringency is felt by all with whom he V ;,,,B
has to <lo." Truly has it been said: The unionism seeking to poison the minds
druggist, the merchant, the doctor, the
actor, etc., are less prosperous when
the wage-worker has less money; and
the monopolists' dream of producing
wealth with machinery and monkeys
would be the death of all business.
Trade is kept up not by the occasional
purchase of a luxury, but by the
steady, every day purchase of high-
class necessities. It depends 011 buy-
ers, and buyers must get money before
they can spend it. Poorly paid work-
ers buy very little, and machines buy
nothing at all."
The question of good wages, there-
fore, is one of profound business in-
terest. It is one that should concern
every person who depends upon the
patronage of the public. The labor un-
ion
should
agement of all aggressive business and
professional people.
of the public at large against the most
beneficent force now at work for the
social and economic uplift of the work-
ing masses.—Wageworker.
Its Policies Protect
Your Income When Sick or Hjrt. ASk
R. L. IRWIN, City Mgr.
222 Baisett Building. 115 1-2 North Broadway
Phone 662
Oklahoma City, Okla.
THE SHORN LAMB.
While the weather man predicts
freezing weather the man with a job,
to a large extent, is wondering where
his last summer's wages have gone.
It always was that way. Other things
SCOTCH-TONE COLD TABLETS
WILL CURB A COLD IN ONE DAY
All DriiffUts, or by Mail Pcttpili, SO Con ti
SCOTCH TONE REMEDY CO., Oklahoma City,
LEARN WIRELESS & R. R, TELEGRAPHY
change in a world of progress, but, account of 8-hour law and extensive "wireless" deve'opments We
this condition never. There formerly operate under direct supervision of Telegraph Officials axid 'posi-
tively place all students, when qualified. Writd for catalogue.
NATIONAL TELEGRAPH INST., Cincinnatti Philadelphia, Memphis,
Davenport, la., Columbia, S. C., Portland, Ore.
existed a general belief that the pop-
ular quotation, "Cod tempers the wind
to the shorn lamb," was a sentiment
from the Bible, and there appeared to
exist a disposition to rely on the dec
as the aeencT of cood wapph 1 d U,DPUB,L1U" lu 1ucu*
i r «atv • , " n ,.fi . laration and the promise. But it was
d receive the neartlest encour-
discovered by some one with a pen-
chant for research that the hopeful
and inspiring promise was not to be
found within the covers of the Bible.
Still the man with the modest job con-
tinued in the time-honored way to live
the gay butterfly life while the flowers
bloomed, and to wonder, when the
frost fell on the pumpkin, where his
summer's wages were. There'll be
HOW ORGANIZED LABOR
IS MISREPRESENTED
Another sample of how organized la-
bor Is misrepresented by the dally
press oomes from Denrer.
A few weeks ago the web pressmen many sunny days before the steady
of Denver went on strike to enforce cold and storms of winter come and
the findings of a board of arbitration, there yet may remain opportunity
which findings the employers refused to, in a measure, retrieve wasted for-
to abide by after agreeing to leave the tunes by the purchase of fleece-lined
matter to arbitration. garments and woolen socks.
Recently Albert II. Kreitler, third
vice president of the International HERE FROM McALESTER
Printing Pressmen and Assistants' Un-
ion, who is in charge of the Denver sit- Mr. and Mrs. M. Q. Wilson of McAl-
uatlon for the striking pressmen, ad- ester are the guests of their son, Ollie
dressed the Denver Trades and Labor S. Wilson, secretary of the Typograph
Assembly. The next morning the daily leal Union, 919 West Fourth street,
papers served by the Associated Press Miss Edyth \t llson, a sister of Mr.
announced under glaring headlines Wilson, will arrive tomorrow for a
that Kreitler had declared that the short visit.
Marshall-Harper Co.
Successors to J. H\Marshall Co.
Funeral Directors and Embalmers
Private Ambulance
120 North 3)roadway
"Phones 900 and 1836
WtlMW
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Wilson, Ollie S. The Oklahoma Labor Unit (Oklahoma City, Okla.), Vol. 2, No. 21, Ed. 1 Saturday, November 12, 1910, newspaper, November 12, 1910; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. (https://gateway.okhistory.org/ark:/67531/metadc106933/m1/4/?q=music: accessed July 17, 2024), The Gateway to Oklahoma History, https://gateway.okhistory.org; crediting Oklahoma Historical Society.