i6 



11 \ K' 1) W () ( ) n K I' ( " O R D. 



The Ma^rv About To\vn. 



THE PEOPLE WHO PREY. 



If I wen' ciilli'il U|n>ii to ilivldc tlic ppo- 

 |)lo of tills ciuintry into two dl visions 

 whoso liilerosts nre most :\iitngonisti(.- — 

 Into two fn*aiul illvlsloiis which nre foHl.iy 

 nrniyiHl !i;:iilnst each other — I i^hould draw 

 tlip line lictwtvn the P»>oi(lc who do Things 

 nnd the l'eoi>l<> who (Jraft. Such a divi- 

 sion, if It could lie iiiailc. woidd briiiK the 

 honest men in one nii^'lit.v hatnllion. ar- 

 rnyiHl against the i-ojjues In another 

 nilKhty liatallion. 



And however nuich the matter may lie 

 coufu.sed In the minds of the people, that 

 Is the division today, and the struKsle 

 for supremacy l>i>tween the two Is the 



issue. 



* " • 



The man wlm dix's things, no matter 

 in how liumlile a way. is entitled to res- 

 spect and considemtion. The man who. 

 when nifrht comes, has acIiiov(Nl somethinf; 

 which has added to the wealth or knowl- 

 odjie of the world, and who does tills day 

 after day. year after year, is of the salt 

 of the earth, whether he be an employer 

 or employe. It is these men who have 

 made this country and all counlrlcs. Tliey 

 have recl.iimed the wilderness and made 

 it blossom and bear fruit; they have built 

 the cities and towns and villages; they 

 have constnicted the railroads, bridged 

 tlie rivers and tunneled the mountains. 

 And it iii to be regretted that they should 

 di.sagree aniong themselves. 



Last Monday was "Labor Day," and 

 was celebrated in Chicago by a parade of 

 nearly JiKMKHi men. And the men in that 

 line of march had my respect. They were 

 union men. And while there are many 

 things which the unions do that I do not 

 endorse. 1 felt that the men and their 

 unions were entitled to my respect, and 

 they had it. 



I'ei-sonally. and aside from their organ- 

 izations, the men ai-e entitled to the re- 

 gard of all honest citizens. They are 

 hardworking men wlio give value received 

 for the wherewithal to live, and when 

 they die they leave the world their debtor. 

 There is not a man .Tack of them but is 

 worth all the idlers and dawdlers and 

 grafters you can stand up between here 

 and sundown. The man who honestly 

 eiirns two dollars a day and lives within 

 his income is a better man than the most 

 elegant idler or most gifted gi-after in the 

 world. I'd rather have him for a friend 

 and a neighbor, and Td rather live in a 

 community which his kind controls. 

 » * * 



An amiy of 100.000 men makes an im- 

 posing spectacle, and the parade on Labor 

 Day was none the less impasing because 

 it was an army of peace. It was an army 

 of builders and not of destroyers. An 



UY C. D. 8TR.ODE. 



:ii iii\ <■! >iiM.ly. sober, industrious men 

 who earn their bread In the sweat of th'Mr 

 face. 



1 am ill faviir of I.iibur li.iy. I am glad 

 the men who give of their strength and 

 sweat that they and their families may 

 live in comfort, honestly and lawfully, 

 have a day set aside as a special recogni- 

 tion of the dignity and importauco of their 

 position in this great nation. 



.Vnd the employers, the merchants, nnin- 

 ufacturers. architects, builders and b.ank- 

 ers. and all that mighty army which fur- 

 nishes the brains to direct the army of 

 labor, and the capital for the commissary 

 dep;irtment, should celebrate Labor Day 

 with their employes. Then we would 

 liave all the element.s which lend to the 

 upbuilding of such a community as Clii- 

 c.igo marching under one lianncr. We 

 would have all the forces that make for 

 gcMMl government where wo could get ac- 

 tion on tliem. 



Then I should like a day set aside in 

 which all the grafters could be got out 

 into the open and made to march in pub- 

 lic procession. That would be a proces- 

 sion worth going far to see. if wo could 

 make them all march together. 



.Vnd you'd be surprised at what a pro- 

 cession it would make. I don't mean 

 merely those whom you lock your hou.se 

 c\gain.st— the sneak thieves, porch climb- 

 ers and burglars, the jiickpockets and 

 highwaymen. I should want the promo- 

 ters of dishonest schemes and their shys- 

 lering attorneys; the brilio giver and the 

 false witness; the tax fixer and the dis- 

 honest official; the prostitute and the emi- 

 nent citizen who rents his property for 

 lier use; the policy boss and the police 

 officer who shares his gains; the ward 

 politician who is on the city payroll with- 

 out rendering any service; the men wlio 

 buy public fi-anchises and special privi- 

 leges, and the men who sell them. In 

 short, if you could get all the grafters of 

 a city such as Chicago — all of them — little, 

 big, great and small — into one parade, 

 you'd have such an array as would, in 

 jioint of numbers, outvie our Labor Iiay 

 parade. 



For their is a host of them. Miserable 

 curs, all, in whom I make but little dis- 

 tinction, and what distinction I do make 

 is in favor of the common, ordinai-y thief, 

 .igainst whom we lock our door and bar 

 our window. For his is a hard and unat- 

 tractive life which does not tend to cor- 

 rupt the youth of the land. He is what 

 may be called an "honest gi*after," it 

 such a thing is possible. You are warned 

 against him and prepared for him. His 

 life is a hard one and full of risks and ho 

 js a respect.tble personage alongside of the 

 "sure thing" gi-after who sits in a higli 



plio 1- :ii]d heirays the trust tiiat Is placed 

 In him. 



.\s I stood reviewing the p.irade an old 

 Kentleiiiiin who was stiiinling beside me 

 shook his head and sahl to me: 



"It's all very line, but It's a menace 

 to the i-ounlry." 



I didn't ask him what he meant, but 

 he no doubt meant that organi^.ed labor 

 Ih n menai-e to the country, and while 

 there is no doubt that he voici-s the sen- 

 tinieiii of M respectable elemc-nt of our cltl- 

 zenshl|i. I ihink ho is wrong. 



I am not afraiil of the man who works. 

 The man who works eight or ten hours n 

 day, building houses or bridges, making 

 boxes iir bedsle:ids. Is not a menace to any 

 community or to any country, and the 

 more intelligent he is the less of a menace 

 he is. Such a man is in favor of good 

 schools and good churches and good gov- 

 ernment. 



It Is the army of gratters that Is a 

 menace to this country. And like as not 

 the old gentleman belonged to this army. 

 There are a number of gentlemen, citi- 

 zens of Chicago, who own stock In the 

 street i-ailway companies of Chicago and 

 are aware of. and heartily approve of, the 

 attempts that have been made to secure a 

 renewal of franchise by bribing the city 

 council rather than by making an honest 

 deal with the city; and there are a good 

 many who own jiroperty from which they 

 .secure eNorbilnnt rental because that pro]>- 

 erty is n.sed for unlawful jiurposes. 



And I he ;irmy of graft is especially the 

 enemy of organized labor. The Sunday 

 precetling the Labor Day parade the Chi- 

 cago Federation of Labor met to make 

 arrangements for Lalxtr Day. and at that 

 meeting a committee report was made 

 recom mending that a number of labor 

 leaders be expelled because of charges of 

 "grafting, stealing and traitorous con- 

 duct." 



The grafters are ten times more the 

 enemy of the union than the employers 

 are. .\nd the grafters are ten times the 

 enemy to the employers that, the unions 

 are. 



If the grafters could be eliminated the 

 empli>.\eis and the unions could get along 

 witlioni much trouble. 



* * « 



One tiling that the Liilior Day parade 

 in CliicMgo demonstrated was that the 

 cause of organizeil labor is not on the 

 wane. It was the greatest parade in 

 point <•( luiiiibers ever held in Chicago, 

 even excet'ding the "Sound Money" pa- 

 rade of l.SOO, and being nearly double 

 that of Labor Day of a year ago, which 

 was the greatest parade of organized la- 

 bor up to tliat time. The parade was im- 

 pressive becau.se of numbers and also be- 



