Montana news. [volume], June 22, 1911, Image 1

About Montana news. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1904-191?

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YOTHE CAP
_______ MONTANA. ON NEWS
VOL. VIL HBLINA, MONTANA, AY, JUNE 22, 1911. N{O. 36.
BERGER GIVES
CONGRESS A TALK
Socialist Tells Representatives
of the Old Parties a
Few Facts.
Washington, D. C. June 14.-The
voice of the first Socialist in Congress
was heard 'o-day.
Taking the tariff as his text, Victor
L Berger, the Socialist Represent
ative of Wisconsin, delivered his maid
en speech In the House this afternoon.
He spoke for nearly an hour, and
throughout his address he had the
close atention of the members of the
House and the spectators in the gai
tlries.
That Bekrger made a hit with him
first speech is evide.nt when it is noted
that the capitalist newspapers admit
that fact. The Washington Star, own
ed by the president of the. Associated
Press, said:
"Representative Victor Berger got
a lattering reception in the House to
day when he arose to make his maid
en speech. Apparently evey member
of the body now in the city was on
hand in the chamber at noon, and
when Mr. Berger arose the aplamse
was loud and strong. Undoubtedly a
good many members were actuated by
motives of curiosity, by a desire to
hear the brotherhood of man enunlci
ated in the National Legislature for
the first time by one who subscribes
to its idealist theories.
Mr Berger was interrrupted at vari
ous points in his speech by members
Wt the Meosm who perM thlmselves
on their knowledge of political econ
omy, and the interchanges that re
suited were interesting, Mr. Berger
acquitting himself very well indeed.'
At the conclusion of his address,
Berger was showe red with congratu
lations by many representatives of
both old parties and Socialists of this
city.
"Some of the gentlemen here have
repeated the old threadbare fallacy
that the high tariff is to protect
labor." said Berger,
"Now I want it understood that
there is no such thing as protection to
labor in your tariff bllas. I want
to say this in the name of the many
millions of enlightened workingmen
in this country an din all other civil
ised countries who think for them
melves. They refuse to be swinalea
by the agents of the capitalist class
on the political flead after they have
been robbed on the economic field.
"Moreover, gentlemen, you are not
in the habit of making laws for the
protection of labor.
"You are continually making laws
for the protection of life and property.
for the protection of the lives f thos'
who own the property and for the
protection of that property. You ars
continually making laws to protect the
manufacturing, banking and com
merce-.aws for manufacturers, bank
ers and merchants.
"But the working man who has no
other property than his labor power
gets scant protection indeed.
" It he wants to be protected he
must commit a crime. He must steal
or get drunk and disturb the peace
or become a vagrant. Then the law
gets a hold of him and gives him pro.
tection. Then he gets the protection
of the Jail or penitentiary.
"As long as he is well and decent
the law does not protect him. The
high tariff does not protect him.
Berger traced the history of the tar
iff showlng that at all times it was a
subsidy to the manufacturers. "It
meant," said he, "that the nation was
paing the manufacturer a bonus for
Investing his money In manufactur
Ing."
The high tariff is not wholly respon
stble for the growth of trusts, aocord
ing to the goeiadet Representative,
It is responsible for the trusts only
Ua it stimulates competition mad sub'
sidlies maauflttureres, he said.
"But the outcome of competition is
always the same." deolared Berger.
"Competition always kills competition
In the end. We find trusts In high
tariff America and in free trade
England. We find trusts in Germany
and even in little Holland. As smat
ter of fact, every flourishing industry
winds up in a trust."
At. first, said Berger, manufacturers
want protection to conquer the home
market. "They demand it," he said,
"as a matter of patriotism. Business
men are always patriots when there
is profit in sight.
But the business man after he had
gained control of the home market,
and reaches out for the profits in
other countries, changes from the pat
riot to the cosmopolte. lie suddenly
finds that the high tariff is a chain
on his legs when he wants to conquer
the world market. Therefore he is
willing to drop the tariff."
To substantiate this assertion, B r
ger quoted Carnegie as being in favor
of a reduction of duties in the iron
industries.
Leaving the subject of the tariff
from the manufacturers' point of view
on the ground that they "are well able
to take care of themselves and a..i
exceedingly well represented in the
House," Berger deiled that the tarif
was meant to protect the workingmat.
"That pretense was simply an after
thought because the workingmen have
votes. Only American manufacturers
have dared to tell this falsehood to
their workingmen. Why? Because un
tl' very recent years American work
ingmen were more ignorant on econ
omic and social questions than their
brothers in Germany and France."
Berger advised the Representatives
who assert that the tariff has bene
fitted "not to make such a claim be
loure an audience of workingmen of
Pittstburg, Chicago or Milwaukee just
where there is a strike on for living
wages in an iron industry.
Declaring that while manufacturers
have enjoyed a protective tariff, the
American workers have in the last 20
years have had to compete with im
ported labor with a lower standard of
living, Berger said:
"In the steel mills of Pittsbur,.
Chicago and Milwaukee, where thirty
years ago, the so called princes of la
bor used to get from $10 to $15 a day,
the modbrn white coollese et $1.75 for
12 hours a day, seven days in the
week, having no time to praise the
Lord and no reason either.
"As fort he manufacture of woolen
goods, Bulletin 57 of the Census Bur
eau, which gives figures on manufac
tures for 1905, shows that 44,452
youthstand men, 24,652 girls and wo
men and 3,743 children under 16 em
ployed in the manufacture of woolen
goods receive a yearly average of $3111
and a weekly wage of $7.01
*T-he same bulletin shows that 32T 63
youths and men, 32,130 girls and wo
men and 7,238 children under 10 em
ployed in the manufacture of worsted
goods receive a yearly average of $379
and a weekly average of $7.30.
"Acording to social workers who
have made a study of family budgets,
the minimum requirement in the
United States for a decent living for
a family consistinla of father, mother
and three children is $750 a year
I believe that estimate is much to3
low and that none of the gentlemen
of this House want to live on it. How
ever, the average wages in these high
ly protected industries are but little
more than half this sum."
While being opposed to ad tariffs,
high or low, Berger declared that he
did not belelve free trade would be a
panacea. Free trade, said Berger,
would mean that a great deal of our
manufacturing would be done accross
the sea.
"labor does not need the so-called
prqtectlon of tariffs," bee aid. It has
protected itself by strikes and boy
cotts, which have been deolraed
by the United States Supmre.r
Court to be illegal. But hllegal or not,
I hope labor will continue to use them
to resist the forcing down of the
standard of the bulk of our populatlon
to a Chinese level. For we have been
coming down contlnualy.
Pointing out the fact slaves because
of their property value were given
good care by their masters prior to
the abolition of chattle slavery, Berger
mid:
"The case is entirely different with
the white workingman, the so.called
free workingman. When th,. white
man is sick or when he dies the em
ployer usually loses nothing.
"And the high tariff, or tariff for
revenue only, or free trad--ilke "the
flow, rs that I.loom in the Spring
hate nothing to do with the case.
"The fact is that the capitalist, the
average employer to-day, is more con.
cerned about a valuable horse-about
a fine dog-about a good automobile,
than he is about his employ,, or about
his employe's family "
Showing that the keen competition
in the ranks of labor often destroys
the worker's home, converts him Into
a tramp, and sends his wife and child.
ren to the factory, the Socialist Re
presentative declared:
"Women and children do not g
Into the factory for the fun of I
they are brought there by dire nee
sity-by competition. In the cotton
factories of the South, where my dem
ocratic free-trade friends come from.
the women and children compose two
thirds of the working force "
Berger here traced the industrial
development from the simple hand
tool owned by each worker to the
modern machine owned by the capi
talist and with A hich he exploits many
workers. He said:
"All the advantage of all the new
inventions, machines and improve
ments now goes mainly to the small
class of capitalists, while on the other
hand, these new inventions, machines,
Improvements and Mabor devices d4.
place human labor and steadily S_.
crease the army of unemployed, w
starved and frantic, are ever ready
take the places of those who
work, thereby still further dep
the labor market.
'The average of wages, the certain
ty of employment, the social privileges
and the indepen'.ence of the wage
earning and agricultural population,
when compared with the increase of
flONEST MMfN.
* (By National Socialist Press.)
Washington, D. C June 10-Detect
1ev W. J. Burns, Roosevelt's "honest
man", was proven to be a deliberate
liar by Attorney Leo Rappaport, 'f
the Structural Ironworkers' Union, at
the hearing on Representative Ber
ger's resolution for a Congressional
probe of the McNamara kidnapping
case, held before the House Commit
tee on Rules.
Itappaport submitted a certified
copy of the requisition papers which
showed that Assistant District Attor
ney Ford, of Los Angeles, swore that
McNamara was under arrest at Indl.
anapolls, April 15. Ford's affidavit
contained a telegram from Burns, in
which the detective stated that he had
McNamara under arrest at that date.
The undisputed fast is that McNa
mara was not arested until Apdll 22.
one week later.
Rappaport said Burns lied in that
telegram, and Ford perjured himself
in that affidavit, which was the basis
basis for the requisition papers issued
by the Governor of California.
Representative Berger, author of
the resolution, President Ryan and
Attorney Rappaport of the Ironwork
ers' union addressed the committee.
A leter from President Gompers of
the American Federation of Labor was
read by Chairman Henry of the com
mittee.
In opening the hearing. Berger
said that he did not want the com
mittee to consider the guilt or inno
coene of McNamara. The courts are
to settle that question, he said.
"I am primarily concerned, said
Berger, "with a series of flagrant and
ot us breaches of the taw by
civil officials in whlah a eitisen's con
stitutionl safteguards have been vilo
ftalth and social production, ar.
pIdiy and rapidly decreasing
'Things cannot go on like this ilndo
Wit, ly," declared Berger. ' Sotn1. day
tUrT. wlll be a volcanic eruption. A
Ilrful retribution will be enacted on
t capitalistic clams as a class, and
innnocent will suffer with the:
Jteferring to the various re medics
tMt have been proposed such as the
ehlc of these would improve the con
dion of the worker. Ile call, d at
laftion to the big strike now on at
iah. tax, free silver, etc., lierger said
V~.icouver, British Columbia, a city
which has been painted in glowin4
a~,rs by itepresentative lienlry George
1 because of its adoption uo the smn
tax.
"There can be no social fr.edom,"
dIared Berger, "nor a , ,niplete
ic'e, until all become th i. employers
the employed of soci t(
"This social freedom, tlis <.,nl,,tei
tic,, can be accomplishl ,I ,nrla Iby
co'lective ownership zatl ,idenl
tic management of the e,.,.,,l l'. ans
production and distributi,lon.
I realize that all this *.alnot I'I
ught about by a singl.l sirl,k.--by
one day revolution. But I know
t all legislation, in ,rd, r to be
ly progressive and \a lueson"l,
mt move in that directioin.
'"Legislatlon that does noat tnd to
increased measure of control jin
part of society as a whole is nit
line with the trend of economic
lution and cannot last
"'l.gislation that Interf rs ith th.'
tural evolution of Industry means
taking of backward st'.ls and can
at succeed.
"Legislation that divides nations in
4t armed camps, that creates useless
ingie.s, that puts up Chinese walls b.
.n peoples eager to trade aith one
ther, is reactionary and cannot en
c.
.|tefering to the Underwood 1,1; for
$e revision of the woolen schedule
nward, then under discussion.
ger said:
"'he measure now under discussliot
of small Immediate concern to the
rking clis In Itself it means
material change In the cond tions
the working men and working wo
3ut becaume it Is lI line with
social and political evolution; because
it tends to break down the barriers
between nations and to bring into
closer relations the various peoples of
the world, I shall support the bill."
lated, and I am further concerned
with the power of the National Legis
lature to assert Its right to intervene
in such a case."
He then told the committee who
McNamara had been forcibly taken
away from his office, denied coun
eel and in the dark of the night
hurried out of the city in an auto
mobile filled with private detectives
The seisure of McNamara's private
papers and the ransacking of the of
fice were also denounced by the Soc
lalist member of Congres.
In support of his charges, Berger
quoted a number of decisions perti
nent to the case. One of these was
the dissenting opinion of Justice Mc
Kenna in the case of Moyer, Haywood
and Pettibone. Berger urged an in.
vestigation so that Congress may en
act stringent laws to prevent a re
petition of the Indiana outrage.
President Gompers, who was in New
York at the time of the hearing, said
In his letter that the President of the
United States would give more con
sideratlon to a fugitive from justice
wanted by a foreign potantate than
was given to McNamara by the Indi
ana officials.
The arrest of McNamara, he said.
was a high-handed outrage repugnant
to our common conception of human
Justice. He urged the adoption of the
Berger resolution.
The story of the kidnapping and
looting of the Ironworkers' office at
Tndlmnapolil was told by an eye-wit
em.-sPrleident Ryan. He msaid that
the ezecutlve board of the union was
foreibly detained in the office for
aS*ly three hours
That the detectives stole $422 from
the sate which they blew up early
(Contlaved on Page 3.)
SOMETHING DOING
IN LOS ANGELES
Class War in California is in
Full Swing- -Labor
Victories.
(1y National Socialist Press.)
Los Angel.s, C'al., June 10 "A death
trap as bad as the old Times building
trap as Iad as the old Times building"
is the \erdict of the.fire inspectors
who nvestigated the auxilliary w her
the machinery is in op, ration f,r
publishing th,. Los Angeles Times.
"Ninety men working In the com
posing rum, crowdied into close quart
.rs, the gas and fumes frim the metal
pots making the atmosph.ere almost
unbearable; windows hea \Lly barred
and two of the three doors locked
and blockaded, h.e loss of life in ca-.
of another gas explosion, would
amount to nearly every person con
lined in the old fire trap." The
above is the utterance of a man \\h')
inspected the old ramshackle Ibulildlng
where H. G. Otis is sweating his em.
ployes in San Fernando street.
Another Times shop where a portion
of the mechanical work is done, at
Broadway, near First street, ilre
'hief Eley found only one exit. 150
feet from the stre t. Bars were a.ross
the only window. Gas pipes were a X.
posed and tables and stock prev\-nt .d
easy access to the only exit. The bars
to the windows were ordered cut away
and the doors in the San Fernando
street rookery ordered unlocked. The
owner of he Times was censured .by
the fire chief for conducting death
traps.
Otis also secretly owns the Los
Angeles lHeraid. The ownership has
been denied a thousand times but that
has been a part of the hypocricy that
has been practised on the public. The
Herald is run as a Democratic-Goad
Gove.rnment newspaper; the Times is
IRepublican reactionary. No matter,
then, who has been elected to office
Otis has virtually ow ned and operated
the city and county government. Th..
value of this was demonstrated by his
ability alfter the, gas explsioln hadll
destroyed the Times, to select a coron
r's Jury, a grand jury and the' munici
ipal investigating comnlittee
The Herald plant Is another Itis
death trap and has long been so recog
nized by the men employed there.
The composing plant is within a few
feet of the Broadway plant of the
Times.
This is the sort of places maintained
by the man who is exerting every
effort to convince the public that un
Ion labor men blew up his plant with
dynamite. Armed thugs surround
the Times plant and every pretense
Is maintained to bolster up the theory
that labor unions are dangerous in
stitutions.
Witnesses by the score are being
unearthed by the defense, and no mat
ter how strong the frameup, or the
character oft he "confessions" there
will be little difficulty in showing that
dynamte wars not used in the destruct
ion of the Times. Nearly all evidence
showing the presence of a dangerous
amount of gas In the buhiding Just
previous to the explosion was care.
fully kept from the "investigating"
committee and from the public.
DEFENCE WINS FIRST SlIRMISII.
Clarence Darrow and Job Harriman
chief council for the defense of the
McNamara brotheres, had little diffi
culty in wlnnnig their first skirmish
with the prosecution when the hearing
was given on the defence's request for
more time to prepare a plea.
District Attorney John D. Freder
icks interposed a number of object
ions to the request for more time to
plead but he made no impression and
the date for the pleading was set for
July 5.
At tha time Darrow and Harlrman
will ask that the indictment all be
quashed. Strong representation will
require several days to go over the
request. An Investigation of the
makeup of the grand jury that return.
id the Indictments is one Iof th,, plans
of the d flen... " uome startlinllg s
hlosures are expected as t, th,. affil
ations, syinlpathiesl and l it, r.'sts .1f
,llin of the jurors.
(',arenc.e Darrow will gt, Inlhin
Iiapolis and take up Int ^tiMg.itin of
the. casl at that end. J.,i, larrinian
aill hult.. full charge of th. gase in
Los Angel..
I(cTO(iY FR)lt TIIIE I(OltkEI:lits.
Jib IlH rrlir an a\\ l . lctur) Lor tll
aorkers .Iunda) morning when tlih
cases against "b striking blructural
iron work.rs awre dismniiss 1 in Juidge
S'hanlbers' department of tlb. city)
court
The imen aw re charged a itl c'ns.ir.
ing Lu break the infamous antl-pick, t
ing ordinance which was iplatcd en
the books at the instigation ot ti,.
Merchants and Manufacturerte As.
sociation in hope of breaking the
strike of the set\eral thousand bri. \
cry aorkers and the metal tradte ull.
ions of Los Angeles. Th, re hait c I. ti1
i\ter 4.0 urrests under tlue ordinance
and only tour colnictions. Tao score
of ao rkers are awaiting trial now uon
th, chliarg of picketing. Man) of
tli se are Irca \ ry workers a ho ha\.e
won their strike and gone back to
wurk. P. rsecutlons under the anti
plcket la\\ continue and a small mers
st ngeir buy Is awaiting trial on a
charge ot \liolating the ordinance.
At thle I, c nt Socliaist cit) coti
\lention resolutions were adopted con
demning the so-called Gou(d Uouter.r
mentl administration for petrecutiloni
iof a orilers under the inlainuus la..
The Sociiists pledged their moral alnd
LlinaIineal support to the strikers ;ai:,I
the l. r.e.cuted workers.
CAlt'ENTE~lt WI'l THEIt STRKll E.
tiler a tlnousand carpenters a(ieL
on strike 1I1 Lo) Angeles Mai 1, die
inanding 14 a da), ti,, mininnumn scale
In other cities on thIl lIacilic coast.
The strike has pro\, n successful anl
all x.ept about 15.o llen have return.
ed to work at the increased schedule
BAKERM tGiLET IBElTER HOURS.
Los Angeles bakers are winning
their battle for shorter hours. on
May 1 a demand was made for a re
duction of hours of ,'abor. A nine
hour day was the stand taken by the
men and nearly every bakery of m
portance has signed the agreement.
A strike is on in the shop of the Met k
lBaking Compan) and one other large
establishment. Bociallsts of Los An
geles and vicinity are exerting esery
effort to assist the strikers, and their
work among the grocers is hourly
having a good effect In bringing the
employers to time.
EIGHT HOUR LAW RE L'LT8.
Thousands of tolling men and ao
men are enjoying the benefits of the
reduced time of labor under the eight.
hours-for-women law which went in
effect May 22 Only labor-haters
and merciless exploiters of women are
objecting. Southern California Hotl
mens' Association has a fund, flched
from the women under a wage reduct
lon, to fight the bill.
U1. G. Otis, publisher of the Times.,
has discharged eight women employees.
They were among the "heroines of the
fire, and had been promised life time
employment for their fidelity. The
foremen of the department where
they were employed arranged a satis
factory schedule for the women under
the law but Otis rejected it declaring
they could not earn their salaries un
les they worked 1 hoears.. He ordered
their immediate discharge.
F. Ira Bender, A. B. Maple and Bert
H. Connors have been Indicted on a
Continued on Fourth Page.