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Newspaper Page Text
MARGARET HALEY FIGHTS COOLEY BILL The people are being told that 'all the "prominent business men 4 of the" city" have indorsed the Cooley vocational school bill. . Many of the "prominent busi "ness men of the city" have, and that's one of the best reasons fori Suspecting that bill. " Two weeks ago, the Society of Criminal Law and 'Criminology ' arranged a meeting for the dis cussion of the bill at the LaSalle hotel, The society invited to that meeting such "organizations as the State Bankers' association, the Association of Commerce, the Hamilton club and the Civic ped- 'eration. You'll notice that these are all organizations" cdmposed of "prominent business men." 1 And you'll also notice that 'there are none of them which could even pretend to represent the teachers nor Chicago s 2,000, Q0O or so plain, ordinary, every day citizens. Margaret Haley, business agent of the Teachers' Federation, heard about the meeting and pro tested to the Federation of Labor gainst the slighting of the plain people. iid JNockeis, tne secretary-or the Federation, went to Nathan W MrChesnev. Illinois commis sioner of the Crime Society, and asked why labor had been slighted. McChesney explained that it was all a mistake; that it had not 'een intended to slight labor, and that he would be glad to hav6 the Federation of Labor represented. He did not look pleased, how ever. The Federation of Labor asked Margaret Haley to represent it at the meeting. Miss Haley went to the meet ing. She told the meeting that behind Cooley was Clayton Mark, the man who gave the Tribune the notorious midnight lease of school lands. She went into the midnight and other secret leases of school lands and demonstrated that the people and the School children had been cheated in the interests of the big newspapers and the bank of which Clayton Mark himself was vice president. These remarks were received in stony silence by the "prominent business men" there assembled. They did not seem to be inter ested in the stealing the school children's land, nor in the back ing of the Cooley bill. Then Miss" Haley went further, and showed how the National As sociation of Manufacturers, the sworn enemy of organized labor, was behind the bill. To Miss Haley's very great surprise, ' this revelation was cheered. The Society of Crime and the "prominent business men" it had got together evidently felt it was among friends when the name of that notorious association of cap italistic highbinders was men tioned. It is even as the trust news papers which got the stolen leasee